Sermons Archive - Greenview Church: Recent Episodes
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People are looking for wisdom, and it’s on offer everywhere. Everywhere that you look, it’s on offer. Now, people don’t call it wisdom.
(0:13 – 0:38)
They call it things like life hacks, personal development, or self-help. But through books, podcasts, social media feeds, people want to skill up in every area of their life. They want to eat better, sleep better, parent better, feel better.
(0:38 – 1:03)
They want to be better communicators, be better at handling conflict. And in all these things, they listen to the experts, the people who seem to know, seem to have cracked it, and they look to them for the insight that they need. Humans are hardwired to want wisdom.
(1:04 – 1:27)
And this morning, we’re starting a new series in the Bible, a series in the Old Testament part of the Bible that offers us wisdom. The book of Proverbs is a book of profound wisdom. And not just any kind of wisdom, but God’s wisdom.
(1:28 – 1:50)
This book is the Creator’s wisdom for life in the Creator’s world. And so, we’re going to start to look at it this morning. We’re going to find our bearings in the opening seven verses of chapter one, and it would be good just to open your Bible once again to that passage.
(1:50 – 2:12)
Now, just to orientate you a little bit, chapters one to nine of Proverbs is a lengthy introduction to the whole book. It’s a huge introduction to the Proverbs proper from chapter 10. But the first seven verses of the book are an intro to the intro.
(2:13 – 2:37)
It’s kind of like the front door before you get into the porch. And in these verses, we get some important insights into why Proverbs was written and how we can benefit from it. So, let me suggest there are four things to learn about Proverbs and about wisdom this morning.
(2:38 – 2:55)
Firstly, wisdom has one source. Wisdom has one source. There is, if you like, one expert that we are going to be listening to in the book of Proverbs.
(2:55 – 3:11)
He’s identified in verse one as Solomon. And we’re going to hear Solomon’s wisdom through the means of Proverbs. Notice there, verse one, the Proverbs of Solomon.
(3:12 – 3:28)
Now, Proverbs are what the book of Proverbs is most famous for. And they’re mostly found from chapter 10 onwards. But what are Proverbs? Let’s give you just a very brief definition at the beginning of the series.
(3:29 – 3:48)
Proverbs are short sayings that give you greater insight in the skill of living. So, for example, here’s a short saying that will give you insight into the skill of living. This is from Proverbs 26, verse 15.
(3:49 – 4:05)
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. Here is a man so lazy that his hand is stuck in the bowl of popcorn.
(4:06 – 4:27)
And it’s a funny, it’s a sad, it’s a pathetic picture, but it’s a wise little prompt to tell you don’t live your life like that. And Proverbs is full of these sorts of sayings. And the source of them is largely Solomon.
(4:28 – 4:51)
Now, that’s intriguing, isn’t it? That Solomon is named as the sole author. Because actually, when you read the book carefully, and some of you might have read the whole book through, you’ll know that there’s actually a few other authors who have cameo appearances. So there’s a little group of wise men in chapters 22 to 24.
(4:51 – 5:09)
They’re just called the wise. And then at the end of the book, near the end, you have a man named Ager in chapter 30 who gives you his wisdom. And then at the start of chapter 31, there’s King Lemuel and the wisdom that his mum taught him.
(5:10 – 5:27)
So it’s not all Solomon, but it’s mostly Solomon. Solomon’s wisdom fills chapters 10 to 22, and it returns in chapters 25 to 29. He is named as the sole author.
(5:28 – 5:44)
And I think that’s intentional. I think God wants us to see Solomon as this one great source of wisdom. Why is that so? Well, I think one of the reasons is that it ties Proverbs’ wisdom to God’s wisdom.
(5:46 – 6:00)
If you know the story of Solomon, he was an extraordinary individual who lived an extraordinary life. Very famously, God asked him for anything that he wanted. Just imagine God said, you can have anything on the menu.
(6:00 – 6:24)
And it struck me that Solomon must have been a pretty wise guy to begin with, because he had the wisdom to ask for wisdom. And God poured out unprecedented wisdom into Solomon’s mind and gave him an unprecedented amount of insight. Maybe he, perhaps he was the wisest man since Adam.
(6:25 – 6:44)
And he becomes this enormous fountain of wisdom. The book of Kings tells us that he wrote over 3,000 Proverbs, wisdom’s kind of flowing out of this man. And for a period of time, Israel flourished under this wise king.
(6:46 – 7:10)
Things would go awry eventually, when even great Solomon made foolish choices. But the point here is that the wisdom of Proverbs, because it is coming from Solomon, is therefore coming from God. The one source of wisdom is ultimately, through Solomon, God himself.
(7:12 – 7:37)
And that means that we can trust the wisdom of Proverbs. With all due respect, we can trust this wisdom far more than the wisdom of the best-selling life hack book in Waterstones. And also notice just something else here briefly, that Solomon is described as the son of David, king of Israel.
(7:38 – 7:44)
Just notice the kingly theme there. Notice that Solomon is the son of a king. He himself is a king.
(7:45 – 8:03)
And therefore, his son will also become a king. And one of the themes of this book is that Solomon is instructing his son in how to be a wise king. And I’m not gonna develop that much now, but just to note that, that this connects the book of Proverbs with kingship.
(8:05 – 8:25)
And there’s going to be lots in this book about how a king should rule wisely. And that’s important because it ties the book of Proverbs into the rest of the Bible. It ties Proverbs into the theme of a great story of humanity needing a great and wise king, ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.
(8:26 – 8:43)
So it’s an intriguing start. Proverbs is presented as having one source of wisdom, but if it has one source, it also has many dimensions. Secondly, wisdom has many dimensions.
(8:43 – 9:04)
And here we start to wrestle with what wisdom is. Now, when I started researching this book, one of the things that everyone pointed out was the meaning of the word wisdom. And folk pointed out that the Hebrew word for wisdom, it actually means skill or skilful.
(9:05 – 9:23)
So for example, in the Old Testament, when the craftsmen were building the tabernacle, the temporary worship place for God, Exodus describes them as skilful craftsmen. But actually the word the Bible uses there is the word wisdom. They were wise craftsmen.
(9:23 – 9:36)
It’s the same word that’s here. The craftsmen had the wisdom, the skillfulness to know how to build that complex structure. So that’s a helpful starting definition.
(9:36 – 9:54)
Wisdom is skill and how to live. But in verses two to six of Proverbs 1, that’s filled out in a lot more detail. And the author gives us various words and shows us the many dimensions of wisdom.
(9:55 – 10:14)
Wisdom is more like a many-sided jewel than a simple 2D image. And so it includes things like understanding words of insight, verse two. And it’s about receiving instruction, verse three.
(10:15 – 10:28)
And about listening, verse five. And adding to our learning. And wisdom, verse six, is about understanding Proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
(10:30 – 10:59)
And just grouping some of those dimensions together into a bit of a ball, all of those ones I’ve just mentioned there are something to do with understanding, with content, intellectual knowledge content. Wisdom, at least in part, is information that you need to know. Or to put it another way, people are often unwise simply because they don’t know any better.
(11:00 – 11:11)
Like they actually don’t know any better. They don’t know enough. That’s why children need instruction from their parents, even though they hate it.
(11:11 – 11:31)
Because left to themselves, they won’t receive enough insight into life at a quick enough pace. They need information on how the world works. And so wisdom is the skill of living, and it’s partly to do with understanding things.
(11:32 – 11:48)
But notice it’s also acting on that knowledge. Verse two speaks of gaining wisdom and instruction. And the word instruction there in verse two, it probably has a corrective tone.
(11:48 – 12:08)
It could be translated discipline rather than instruction. So wisdom is the instruction of a disciplining parent. It’s telling the five-year-old to stop standing so close to the curb when they’re beside the road.
(12:08 – 12:25)
It’s instruction for behavioural change. Verse three talks of instruction in prudent behaviour. Verse five, about the discerning, getting guidance, knowing which path to choose.
(12:27 – 12:46)
And it’s about wise dealing in what is right and just and fair, verse three. Notice there’s something important about wisdom that sometimes we need wisdom to know what is right and just and fair. And we might think that’s strange.
(12:46 – 13:25)
Isn’t just right and wrong, just simple and clear? Sometimes in life, some things are very clear and straightforward and black and white. And the law of God says, you know, do not murder or do not steal. But we all know this, don’t we, that there are many situations in life in our workplace, in our relationships, and how we handle money, where we need great wisdom in knowing what is the right thing to do here? What does justice and fairness look like in this particular situation? And it’s not always immediately obvious.
(13:25 – 13:37)
We have to wrestle for the wisdom to know what the right thing is. And so that’s something of what wisdom is. It’s hard to kind of put it all in a bottle.
(13:38 – 13:51)
It’s skillfulness in living. It starts with insight, intellectual knowledge, and it leads to the best course of action. And we need this in our lives.
(13:52 – 14:25)
It’s not just Israelites in Solomon’s day who need wisdom. One of the reasons why I chose the passage last week from Philippians 1 was so that we would see that, that wisdom is still needed in the Christian life. What was Paul praying for last week in Philippians 1? He prayed that they would have knowledge and depth of insight in order that they would discern what is best and would live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ.
(14:27 – 14:44)
That is very proverbial. We continue to need this wisdom. But the question is, are we hungry for it? Do you and I want it? Because the next thing we see is that all of us need wisdom.
(14:45 – 15:10)
Our third point this morning is that wisdom has multiple audiences, and it includes us all. So did you notice in verses two to six that it also tells us who wisdom is for? Look at verse four. Forgiving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young.
(15:11 – 15:21)
Good news for you if you’re a young person. I don’t know who this morning would categorise themselves as young in the Bible. It’s under 30, usually, is how the Bible considers it.
(15:22 – 15:34)
But if you’re in that age range, the book of Proverbs is for you. You are a target audience of this book. And that’s reflected in the rest of the long intro.
(15:35 – 15:49)
We’re gonna see a father instructing his young son in how to live wisely. Our society idolises the young. And there are many brilliant things about being young.
(15:50 – 16:20)
If you’re 46 like me, you kind of wish you could go back to when you were 26 or 16. And yet, and yet, one of the difficult realities of being young, one of the few downsides is that you need to grow in wisdom. There is so much about life you don’t get yet, which is why, incidentally, many people do their most foolish things in life when they’re young teenagers or in their early 20s.
(16:20 – 16:28)
That’s just kind of how it is. No human being is born wise. You have to become wise.
(16:30 – 16:43)
And the designation of verse three adds also that this is for the simple. Now, the simple is a little bit different to the young. Simple is not just someone, by the way, who lacks intelligence or lacks the ability to learn.
(16:44 – 17:04)
The simple is someone who is naive about the world, someone who does not know how the world works yet. And therefore, it’s someone, the simple person is someone who is easily led by others because they don’t know any better. And so this book is for the young.
(17:04 – 17:16)
It’s for the simple, the naive. Those folk are invited to learn wisdom. And yet, it’s not just for the young and simple, is it? Have a look at verse five.
(17:16 – 17:33)
Let the wise learn and add to their learning. And let the discerning get guidance. And so in the school of wisdom, we never graduate from the course of wisdom.
(17:35 – 17:51)
You don’t get the PhD and just start dispensing the information. We’re all in school till the very end of our life, Proverbs says. And part of being a wise person is continuing to grow in your wisdom.
(17:52 – 18:17)
If you’ve had the privilege of being around people that you would consider wise, just picture in your mind, there’s someone probably coming to your mind right now, probably an older person or an older couple. You know the sort of people who just drip wisdom and you just wanna, they’re the folk you wanna hang out with at the coffee break. So if someone comes up to you afterwards and chats, maybe they think you’re wise, I don’t know, afterwards.
(18:17 – 18:41)
But that kind of person, you want to chat, you want to gain the nuggets. And there’s something about their life that you admire. Now, if you’ve had the privilege of getting up close and personal with people like that, say you’ve had the pleasure of staying with them for a few days in their house and you really see their life up close, one of the things you notice about the wise is that they are still learning.
(18:43 – 18:59)
They learn something in their Bible time in that morning. They ask questions of people. Yes, they’re the wisest person that you know, but they ask questions because they assume that they still don’t know things.
(19:00 – 19:19)
And they continue to benefit from sermons in church, even although they know as much as the preacher and they’ve heard a thousand sermons. But they still come away and say, I learned something today. And so wisdom is for the old as well as the young.
(19:20 – 19:34)
It’s for the wise as well as the simple. And we can therefore say that Proverbs is wisdom for everyone. Now, I’m labouring this point because we really need to nail this down with Proverbs.
(19:35 – 19:46)
Here’s why. This book sometimes gets a bad rap for being very narrow in its focus. And it’s true that this book will go on to address a male son, that is true.
(19:47 – 20:13)
And it’s also true that it will have many lessons for kings and rulers, and presumably none of us here or most of us here wouldn’t be in that sort of category. And yet the opening of the book, the first seven verses says nothing about just young sons or males or rulers at all, actually. This book in the opening makes clear that God wants the wisdom of Proverbs to be available to everyone.
(20:14 – 20:46)
Young and old, men and women, inexperienced, and those who are wise. So whoever you are, whatever age, whatever stage you are at, are you open to learning God’s wisdom? It’s possible, isn’t it? To get stuck in the simple stage. It’s possible, isn’t it? For various reasons, to just continue going through your life without that upward trajectory and you continue to be naive.
(20:47 – 21:17)
And then to wonder, why is my life such a mess all of the time? And it’s also possible, it’s also possible to have stopped at a plateau. You know a plateau, you’re climbing up a mountain and then you’re making good upward progress and then you come to the flat bit and you just get a bit tired. And you just lay down and start having a rest for minutes that become hours, that become days, that become months, that become years.
(21:18 – 21:44)
And all of a sudden, we’ve actually stopped thinking and learning and growing, both in what we know and in our application of God’s word. And it may be that the book of Proverbs is challenging that. And it may be that we haven’t started or that we’ve kind of got stuck along the way because we’re neglecting the fourth and final observation today.
(21:45 – 21:56)
Really, the final point is a key. It’s the great key to living wisely and it’s this. Wisdom has one starting point.
(21:57 – 22:11)
Wisdom has one starting point. Now we’re looking now at verse seven. And what we have in verse seven is a kind of foundational principle without which we cannot grow in wisdom.
(22:12 – 22:32)
It’s a nugget of wisdom in itself. Some people view verse seven as the first proverb in the book of Proverbs. We’re told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(22:33 – 22:53)
Notice there that this is the first mention of another category of person who stands in contrast to the wise, the fool. And we learn here that fools despise wisdom. They hate it and they despise God’s correction.
(22:54 – 23:05)
Notice that it’s not that they’re unintelligent. It’s not that they lack mental capacity. Fools, in the Bible’s view, can be bright.
(23:05 – 23:22)
They can have PhDs, but the issue is their attitude to God’s wisdom and to God himself. They don’t buy into the whole life mindset of verse seven. They don’t fear the Lord.
(23:23 – 23:32)
Which is the beginning of knowledge. Let me just say as a side note there, don’t be thrown by the word knowledge. It’s the same thing as wisdom.
(23:32 – 23:49)
If you look at, there’s another repeat of this in chapter nine, verse 10, and the word wisdom is in place of knowledge there. So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It’s kind of like the gate that then leads to the path of wisdom.
(23:49 – 24:06)
You can’t get on the path of wisdom unless you go through this gate. It’s the beginning of wisdom. And it’s not that once you get through the door, you just sort of forget about fearing the Lord, because the way in is the way on.
(24:08 – 24:34)
And yet the entry point is the fear of the Lord. And you’ll notice that it’s not the fear of God in some sort of general terminology, but the fear of the Lord. All capital letters in our translations, because that’s translating God’s revealed name, his personal name, sometimes expressed as Yahweh.
(24:35 – 25:13)
In other words, this is not fearing any God or a God of our own construction. It is fearing the revealed God of the Bible, the God of Scripture, the God of Israel, the God who called Abraham, and the God who revealed himself to Moses, and the God who rescued a people from Egypt. It’s the God who made the amazing promise in the Garden of Eden that he would send a new human ruler, a wiser and better human ruler who would crush the head of the lying serpent.
(25:13 – 25:30)
It’s that Lord that we are particularly to fear. And there’s a lot of discussion about exactly what that means. I mean, what does it mean to fear the Lord? It’s a very rich concept, I think.
(25:30 – 25:43)
I think it’s hard to nail it down as one thing. But I think it does include the idea of the word that it uses. After all, it doesn’t speak of the love of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom.
(25:43 – 25:53)
It could have chosen that word. But it does choose the word, the fear of the Lord. And so it must include some element of reverence or respect.
(25:55 – 26:17)
Don Carson, commenting on this verse, says that God is no domesticated deity. He is not only a good God, says Carson, but a terrifying and awesome God. Even as we love God and have peace with God, we ever stand in awe of God.
(26:17 – 26:31)
He’s God. Sometimes a young toddler or a young child, I mean, it’s kind of humorous when you become a parent that this happens. But there’s this little window where they’re in awe of you.
(26:33 – 26:40)
Maybe it’s just because you’re so much bigger than them. And you can, maybe particularly as a dad, like you can do things, you can lift things. They can’t imagine lifting.
(26:41 – 27:13)
And at some point, that completely vanishes. But it strikes me that if a child can feel that way about a parent who is, after all, only a more developed human being, then how much more should we be in awe of the eternal, invisible God of creation? And so this isn’t less than reverence, I don’t think. But it is even more than that.
(27:14 – 27:35)
Because the fear of the Lord in the Bible is also tied up with relationship with God and with a right relationship with Him. And it’s sometimes described as actually a wonderful and enjoyable thing to experience the fear of the Lord. It’s something you would even want in Proverbs 19, 23, for instance.
(27:36 – 27:57)
We’re told that the fear of the Lord leads to life. Then, if you have the fear of the Lord, then one rests content and untouched by trouble. Isn’t that an amazing verse? If you know this deep, reverent relationship with God, you will be content and you will be deeply satisfied.
(27:58 – 28:29)
And so the fear of the Lord is essentially living your life in a right relationship with the revealed God, where you respect Him and trust Him and love Him. It’s living your life with the Lord at the centre of your life, not on the fringes, not as an afterthought, and not rejecting God altogether, because that would be foolish. It’s living gladly and gratefully in relationship with Him.
(28:30 – 28:53)
And this is the entry requirement to the course of wisdom. You know, some universities, they’ve got the, well, they’ve all got, haven’t they, entry requirements? And you need so many A’s or so many B’s. The entry requirement to God’s course of wisdom is a personal relationship with the Lord of the Bible.
(28:54 – 29:19)
There’s no point trying to cherry-pick the wisdom of Proverbs. There is no point trying to skill up in money management or relationships or whatever other area there may be if we haven’t gone through the gate of fearing the Lord. Maybe you’re here today and you know you haven’t done that yet.
(29:20 – 29:50)
You haven’t started that relationship with the Lord where you take God seriously. You’ve heard His words, but you’ve not taken them seriously. His serious words to repent of your sin, His serious words to believe in the good news about Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to come under the submission of the Lord’s authority.
(29:51 – 30:27)
Let me say to you this morning that you start a life of wisdom by relying on the same Lord that you are called to fear. That personal Lord who came in the flesh, who from the beginning of His life, we should be so very relieved, the Lord Jesus Christ feared His heavenly Father. Did you know that Jesus feared the Lord? Hebrews 5 verse 7 says, Jesus’ prayers were heard because He prayed with reverence.
(30:29 – 30:48)
The Son of God perfectly feared the Lord. And He therefore grew up to be perfectly wise. And right till the end of His life, He lived with a perfect, wise obedience when He made that final choice of obeying the Father’s will and dying on the cross.
(30:50 – 31:00)
And that’s wonderfully freeing. Our attitude to fearing the Lord comes and goes. It’s right one minute and it’s not right the next.
(31:00 – 31:48)
But the good news this morning is that we rely on the perfect fear of the Lord that was consistent in the Lord Jesus. And we then depend on His sacrificial death for our sins and His resurrection which can give us that access into the presence of a holy, holy, holy God where the trembling fear of judgement is removed and there’s just a loving awe and reverence of Him. My question for you this morning is, have you relied on the Lord, the same Lord who calls you to fear Him? And if you are a Christian believer today, and I know many of you are, the way you start is the way you go on.
(31:50 – 32:10)
And it begins with our attitude to the Lord. We can listen to thousands of sermons and read hundreds of Christian books. We can sit through many Bible studies and yet not be changed because our heart posture to the Lord is not what it ought to be.
(32:11 – 32:53)
What is your heart posture to the Lord at the moment? Could you insert the word fear there in the sentence of your own heart? Or would there be another word that would have to take the place of that at this time? If we are taking God lightly these days, we cannot expect to flourish in a life of wisdom. It’s as we keep the Lord at the centre of our lives and choices that we will be able then to grow and keep growing in the rich wisdom that Proverbs has for us. Amen.
The post Wisdom Starts Here – Proverbs 1v1–7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
How do you partner in a message of good news? I think the answer is when you read the rest of this letter, that the Philippian church were working with Paul in a supporting role as he took the gospel to new places and new people. They were joining him in gospel enterprise by supporting him financially, prayerfully, and relationally. And notice that the Philippians have shared in this partnership from the first day until now.
(0:38 – 0:56)
That likely speaks of the first day that the gospel was grasped and received by the Philippian believers. On the first day, they immediately signed up to be gospel partners with Paul. They realised that the good news was too good to just keep it to themselves.
(0:58 – 1:31)
And so they supported Paul in his ministry. And I think I need to say something really important at this point that kind of flows out of this particular verse, verse five, that you cannot be a partner in the gospel until you have first received the gospel. It would be a tragic contradiction, wouldn’t it, to act like a gospel partner, yet not be a gospel recipient.
(1:32 – 2:06)
To be, for example, someone who is a leader in a holiday Bible club or in a church youth group or something like that, and you’re telling people about Jesus, but it’s a Jesus you don’t know yourself. That’s the reason, incidentally, in our particular church, we restrict all of the roles where there is word ministry to Christian believers who are members of the church, because you can’t give away what you haven’t, first of all, received. There needs to be that first day beginning.
(2:08 – 2:34)
And maybe that will be a memorable first day for some of us, a day marked in the calendar. Or maybe, like for many people, you won’t be able to remember the exact day, but you’ll know that there must have been a first day. I was thinking of an illustration of one of these massive house renovations, you know, the kind of thing where they completely change the house.
(2:34 – 3:03)
It might take a couple of years for them to absolutely change it. And I imagine if you’re the couple, maybe, that own the house, and it’s 18 months, 19 months in, you easily could forget the exact day and the exact date that it all started. But I’m guessing as you looked around the house and saw that everything was changed, you would know, wouldn’t you, that there must have been a first day when the work commenced.
(3:04 – 4:03)
And that’s the Christian life, isn’t it? There needs to be that first day that then leads to the many days of gospel joy and gospel partnership. And I really do hope that as a church, we will keep embracing this as a focus. As we support our mission partners consistently and enthusiastically, as we maybe perhaps come alongside some of the evangelistic work we’re doing, as we come alongside some of Lucy’s initiatives as our church outreach worker, and as we’re right alongside her in presence and in prayer, sometimes one, sometimes both, is that a way we’re expressing this? Or as we do the ordinary ministries of the church that, yes, sometimes is building up Christians, but always has that gospel endeavour right at the heart of it.
(4:04 – 4:24)
A church that keeps focused on gospel partnership will often remain united with a sense of joint mission. So that’s the first commonality, the gospel, gospel partnership. But the second commonality is closely connected.
(4:24 – 4:42)
From gospel, we come next to grace. And notice that this is Paul’s next thought in verse six. Paul’s been joyful and thankful in his prayers, but now in verse six, he’s confident in God’s gracious work.
(4:43 – 5:13)
Notice that he’s not confident in himself or confident in the Philippians. He’s not even confident in a kind of direct way in their partnership itself, but he’s confident that underneath that partnership, the grace of God is working. He’s saying really in verse six, the reason our partnership exists is because God has been working in you as he has been in me.
(5:15 – 5:36)
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The Philippians gospel change and the Philippians gospel partnership that followed are a result of God’s creative work. Paul calls it God’s good work.
(5:37 – 5:52)
Perhaps a hint back to God’s creation activity, his good work. God is doing a new creation work in Philippi. And it was started by him, and it is continued by him.
(5:53 – 6:07)
And if you read about it in the book of Acts, you see the kind of power of God’s gracious work, don’t you, in Acts 16. And we get these little examples of conversion. And there’s Lydia, this woman who comes to faith.
(6:08 – 6:31)
And it’s interesting how the Bible describes her conversion. The text says, verse 16 of Acts 16, that the Lord opened her heart to receive Paul’s message. God had started a good work in this church, and God was carrying it on until the day of Christ.
(6:32 – 6:52)
That is the day of completion when Christ Jesus returns. God is not like the dodgy tradesman who comes and starts the job and then says, I’ve got a few other things I need to see to, and then you never see him again. God’s not like that.
(6:54 – 7:13)
Every genuine local church and every genuine believer will be a finished project. And this is at the heart of Paul’s relationship with the Philippians. In verses seven and eight, he returns to speaking of his love and affection for them.
(7:14 – 7:48)
He says, whether he’s in prison, which he is at this point, or whether he’s out and about, whether he’s defending and confirming the gospel, he says either way, in all situations, I have you in my heart. And yet the reason for this deep connection is found at the end of verse seven. What is it that really draws them together in relationship? He says, all of you share in God’s grace with me.
(7:49 – 8:14)
So God’s not just doing a good work in the Philippians’ lives he’s doing it in Paul’s life too. Paul’s a recipient of grace and the Philippians share that grace with him. Just by the way, grace is not some kind of substance that God sort of drops onto your life.
(8:15 – 8:25)
Grace is not a thing. Grace is not something separate from God that he gives to you. Grace is God’s disposition towards you.
(8:26 – 8:45)
Grace is God’s attitude of undeserved kindness towards sinful people. And Paul says, we share in God’s grace together. We together live our Christian lives under the smile of a gracious father.
(8:46 – 9:12)
And Paul doesn’t lose sight of this. Even after speaking about partnership in the gospel, even in a letter that is so focused on mission and giving and serving and the gospel task, Paul never reduces the church to a mere set of tasks. The Philippians aren’t mere business partners with Paul in ministry.
(9:13 – 9:42)
They are sharers in grace with him. A constant danger in Christian churches, particularly among believers who are A-type people, is to become so focused on the outputs of church and ministry that we stop resting in the grace of God that is among us. And it all becomes about the success and the output of our particular ministry.
(9:44 – 10:10)
But Paul saw that they weren’t just gospel partners. They were also sharers in grace. One of the reasons I love our times of communion is that it is a space in church life where we pause from the business of ministry, the hubbub of ministry, and we just sort of let out a breath together, a collective exhale.
(10:12 – 10:47)
And we simply rest together that we are sharers in the grace of God. And how we view one another, how we treat one another, how we serve alongside one another is so shaped by whether we have this perspective on each other or not. When a church doesn’t keep grace to the forefront, it quickly becomes a church that’s full of activity and ministry, but becomes characterised by pride, judgmentalism, and mere functionality.
(10:49 – 11:09)
Gospel partnership brings us together, keeps us together. The grace of God is something that begins our unity together, and it keeps us together. But thirdly, under Christ, we can add a third G. We share together thirdly, and finally, in growth.
(11:10 – 11:35)
We share together in growth. And this is seen in Paul’s prayer in verses 9 to 11, a wonderful prayer. Alec Mateer, whose commentary on Philippians I highly recommend, he points out that the imagery of growth, perhaps even the imagery of the garden or the field is subtly present in this prayer.
(11:36 – 11:48)
It’s the sort of underlying image that we should have in our minds. I mean, in verse nine, there’s the language of more and more, the language of abounding. It’s a kind of a growth language.
(11:49 – 12:13)
But it’s much more explicit in verse 11, because the end of it all is being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which appears to be the end of the growth process. And so this is all about growth. Last week, you might remember, we studied the prayer of Jabez, and it was another prayer.
(12:13 – 12:20)
It was a prayer born out of pain. This is a bit different. It’s a prayer characterised by joy.
(12:21 – 12:50)
But what is similar about this prayer and that prayer is that Jabez’s prayer was expansive. It was all about growth, in his case of territory and blessing. But I suggested last week that under the new covenant, prayers tend to go in the direction of spiritual growth, prayers for the expansion of the kingdom of Christ, and prayers for the church of Christ to grow in likeness to him.
(12:51 – 13:02)
And this is exactly the kind of prayer we have here. Paul prays for a Christian as if they are a growing tree or a growing plant. That’s what the church is like.
(13:03 – 13:14)
The gospel seed is planted. Life begins, all of grace. And as the seed grows, it grows up into love.
(13:15 – 13:36)
Pretty much the first thing that identifies a new believer is the presence of love, love for God and love for other people. Jesus says in John’s gospel that love is the characteristic of the Christian disciple. And yet this love is a growing thing.
(13:37 – 13:53)
It starts small in the beginning and it grows. And as it grows, it grows in knowledge and depth of insight. This is not love by itself, and it’s not love as we define it.
(13:53 – 14:09)
This love grows up, notice, with knowledge and depth of insight. Knowledge is the kind of content of what we know. It’s more the objective truths that we know about God and about the gospel.
(14:10 – 14:30)
It tends to be more intellectual, and that then marries with our experience. And then depth of insight, well, that’s more about kind of moral perception of God’s truth. It’s not just knowing lots of information, but it’s perceiving the goodness of things and the wickedness of things.
(14:32 – 14:52)
And so you put that package together, and what you’re starting to see is a young Christian who is growing into maturity. Their love is getting bigger. It’s growing more persistent, more gracious, more sacrificial, and their knowledge is expanding.
(14:53 – 15:16)
That’s a very important part of Christian maturity, that you know more of the Bible and more of God’s will. And as you’re growing in that, you’re also growing in moral perception. So that as you mature, you increasingly discern what’s best in your life, and you begin to make the best daily choices.
(15:17 – 15:48)
Paul speaks about choosing what is excellent, not just choosing the moral option, although it includes that, but actually choosing the best option, the most excellent way of living. It’s the wisdom that we’ll start to look at next week in the book of Proverbs. And as this kind of life of love and knowledge and discernment grows, it then leads to a purity on the inside and a blamelessness on the outside.
(15:49 – 16:12)
Purity and blamelessness is godliness inside and out. And all of this comes to its final culmination in verse 11, when one day we will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. I think verse 11 is the end of the process.
(16:13 – 16:34)
When every branch of the tree is filled, the language is, it’s completely, there’s not a piece of fruit missing in terms of the righteousness of Christ. And this righteousness comes through Jesus Christ. Notice that Paul says it’s generated by him.
(16:34 – 16:46)
It’s all of grace. And therefore, it is for the glory of God. He gets all the praise for your Christian life growing to fruitfulness.
(16:48 – 17:10)
And so when we take verses nine to 11 together and we kind of reflect on this growth project that Paul is praying for, I think there’s kind of two sides to this. On the one hand, this is very encouraging. And this should encourage us to positively pray and pursue growth in our Christian lives.
(17:11 – 17:37)
We should be pursuing growth. We should be not content with the height that we’ve reached, if you like, in our stature of Christ. And we should be praying about that above all, praying for one another as well as ourselves, praying big prayers and not being defeatist about our lack of love, knowledge, and discernment.
(17:39 – 18:42)
And yet the very fact that it is growth, the very fact that it’s on the day of Christ and not before when the tree will be filled with the fruit of righteousness, that should temper us and it should make us patient, shouldn’t it? Patient with ourselves and patient with each other. I was chatting to someone a couple of months ago from a different church, and they asked me a question that I was kind of stumped by when they asked me. They said, if Jesus is at work in the church, then why is the church sometimes so disappointing? You know, if Jesus is working in us, why sometimes is there so little evidence of his presence? And I fumbled around trying to find an answer, but one of the, I mean, the thing that occurred to me at the time was, you know, sometimes the tree’s not even alive, right? That’s possible, isn’t it? Sometimes when you don’t see any fruit is because there’s no life there at all.
(18:43 – 19:12)
But the other point to make, and it never occurred to me until I was studying it this week, is that the New Testament itself says that Christian growth will be slow growth. Inevitable growth, wonderful growth, but slow growth. You cannot skip the growing to fruitfulness any more than a child can jump from one foot to six foot.
(19:13 – 19:42)
There must be a slow process. And so there’s a kind of healthy tension between patience and persistence, between waiting for growth to happen and praying hard that it will happen. And we’re all on the same journey, even though it’s true that some people might be a little further on in the process than others, but no one is there yet.
(19:43 – 20:10)
And that should bring a sense of cohesion and togetherness when we realise that. One of the things that unsettles unity in a local church is when people start to think that everyone else needs to grow except them. When we grasp that we’re all growing, it just kind of lets air into the room, doesn’t it? And we can admit when we get things wrong.
(20:11 – 20:23)
We can be less self-protective. And we can encourage other believers by saying, you know, I’m still growing in this too. See the thing you’re saying you’re struggling with? I’m struggling with it too.
(20:23 – 20:35)
And I need your prayers and you need mine. The church is not united by sports or music. It’s united by something much more profound.
(20:36 – 20:48)
We are united together in Christ. And because of him, we share in a gospel and a gospel partnership. We share in the grace of God.
(20:49 – 21:13)
And we share in a growth towards a final goal and it’s not just a hopeful aspiration, but it will become a reality that every piece of fruit will be present on that day. That’s what brings us together and that’s what will keep us together. Let’s pray.
(21:14 – 21:33)
Father God, thank you so much for the wonderful seed of life that you plant in our hearts through faith in Christ. We thank you for how that grows up into so many wonderful things. We thank you for the church that is born out of that gospel.
(21:33 – 21:49)
We thank you for the unity we share in gospel partnership. We thank you for the wonder of sharing in your amazing grace. And we thank you that together we are growing up into the righteousness of Christ.
(21:50 – 22:04)
Lord, may we grow more and more so that we look more like Jesus and so that we draw more people to hear the good news about him. And it’s in his name we pray, amen.
The post Gospel, Grace, Growth – Philippians 1v3–11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
If you would keep your Bibles open at Psalm 13 and we’ll have a brief prayer. Father what we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us.
And what we are not, make us. For our good and for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
(0:29 – 4:28)
On Sunday the 2nd of September 2012, a man dressed in a black suit walked into the Kelvin Grove Park just at the beginning of the West End. He stood by a bench that overlooks a children’s skate park area where a lot of children were playing at the time, cycling or playing on their skateboards or generally running about. He took a bottle of vodka from his bag which he proceeded to drink and after which he produced a can of petrol which he poured all over himself.
Then he set himself on fire and became a human fireball. No one knows why he done it but those who witnessed it said they could hear him crying out, I just want to die. I just can’t live with the pain any longer.
Well no one knows what was causing him so much pain. Was it the death of a loved one? Maybe a spouse or a child? Maybe the pain of watching a loved one that was at one time so full of life but now can’t do anything for themselves and life is slowly agonisingly ebbing away? Was it the break up of a marriage? Maybe due to adultery or being told I don’t love you anymore, I don’t want to be with you anymore? Was it the pain of living with a terminal illness or an addiction that he had failed on several occasions to overcome? Or maybe the excruciating pain of living with guilt and shame? But whatever it was, it was real, it was real pain. It’s a terrible story.
A terrible story of real anguish and real pain that many people face daily. Not just in this city but also all around the world. They just want to die because they can’t live with the pain any longer.
And friends we know that as Christians we are not immune from pain. Life is full of hardships, horrors and heartaches for the non-believer and the believer alike. But surely as Christians we are immune from the type of pain that would make us think and say, I can’t stand this pain any longer, I just want to die.
Well that wasn’t the case for the writer of our second hymn, William Cowper. He was born in 1731 and at the age of 21 in 1752 when he wasn’t a Christian at the time, he sank into his first paralysing depression. Many others would follow.
In 1763 after attempting suicide three different ways, he was committed to St. Albans Asylum. But it was here in this place of all places, six months into his stay, he became a Christian. The light of the gospel invaded the darkness of his life.
But ten years later in 1773 during another bout of depression, triggered by what he called the fatal dream. Now he didn’t say what the dream was, but only that a word was spoken that reduced him to spiritual despair. Something to the effect of, it’s all over with you, you are lost.
He had repeated attempts at suicide. In 1786 he entered his fourth deep depression and again he tried to take his own life. And the last days of his life brought no relief.
In March 1800 he said to a visiting friend, I feel unutterable despair. He died just one month later, the 25th of April in the year 1800. What a life, eh? A life that couldn’t stand the pain of living.
(4:29 – 7:06)
With goodness knows how many attempts to take his own life. And yet even a life like that produced hymns that we know, hymns that we love and sing to the praise of God and we encourage one another with. And it’s exactly the same with the Psalms.
I think this is why generations of God’s people love the book of Psalms so much. For in the Psalms the writers pour out their hearts before God and their outpourings contain frightening honesty, refreshing openness and a very large dose of realism about the life of faith. It’s no wonder then as we read, we often take great comfort and great assurance from the experience of the Psalm writers.
And if we’re honest, the honesty, openness and realism that we read in the Psalms, we don’t often hear too much from each other. Maybe because we’re scared to say anything about how we really feel or how we really think or how really broken we are. As everybody else in their family looks so happy, they look as if they’ve got it all together.
It’s as if we are scared that thinking or feeling this way is somehow unspiritual or shows a lack of faith. Well I am so glad that David didn’t just feel these things or think these things or say these things. No, he was inspired by God to commit these things to writing so that they would be part of scripture and in order that they would help and bring comfort and assurance amidst the anguish of life to generations of God’s people.
I’d like to take the Psalm under three headings. Firstly verse one and two, David’s pain of struggling with his feelings. Verse three and four, David’s prayer for the defeat of his foes.
And then thirdly and lastly verse five and six, David’s praise to the God of his faith. Well firstly then verse one and two, David’s pain of struggling with his feelings. Notice that this Psalm is written by David, the great warrior king of Israel.
He is the one who defeated Goliath the giant, the one who penned Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Well here in this Psalm there is definitely a want with David.
I think it’s fair to say he wasn’t having a good week. He certainly wasn’t having his best day. He is somewhat under the weather.
(7:07 – 7:47)
Four times in two verses in anguish he screams to God, how long Lord? How long is this going to go on for? Verse one and two, how long oh Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? These are the cries from the heart of a man who definitely can’t stand the pain any longer. These four how longs make up three complaints. Three complaints that centre on God, on himself and his enemies.
(7:48 – 8:34)
You could say his complaints are theological, psychological and sociological. Well firstly the theological, the complaint that centres on God, verse one, how long oh Lord will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Of all David’s troubles, these troubles that he feels with God are surely amongst the most agonising. He feels deserted, deserted by God and that he is totally on his own.
He feels forgotten and forsaken. What a dark and distressing experience to feel that God has forsaken and forgotten you. Now these cries could only come from a heart that had previously known fellowship with God.
(8:34 – 9:09)
Someone who had never known fellowship with God would never say that this was the problem and atheists would never say that. But that’s what real faith does friends. Real faith comes to God with its doubts about God and that is what David is doing here.
In anguish he is screaming Lord I feel forgotten by you. You’re the God who remembered Noah, you remembered Rachel, you remembered Abraham. You told your people never to forget you, never to forget your character, never to forget all that you have done and never to forget your commandments.
(9:11 – 9:45)
But Lord I feel forgotten and forsaken by you. If David thought there was an end in sight or there was maybe light at the end of the tunnel he could have maybe hung on in there. But being forgotten by God he feels will last forever.
God’s face is also hidden from him. How long will you hide your face from me? David seems to be reflecting on the wonderful benediction that Aaron and his sons were to pronounce on the people. The Lord bless you and keep you.
(9:46 – 11:07)
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. But this is not what David is experiencing.
He is asking the Lord to give him the blessing that he has promised. The blessing of God’s presence. Now it’s common for us to say to friends or family members that we haven’t seen for a wee while you know I long to see your face.
Well I suppose it depends on the face. But we do long to see them but what is really meant by that expression is I long to be in your presence. I long to be with you.
David feels totally forgotten by God and that the Lord has removed his presence from him. Many of you will remember a couple of years ago my wife Charlene was really unwell. Our son Phillip was delivered 10 weeks premature by Caesarean section and Charlene spent the best part of four weeks on a ventilator.
My minister and I, Wally Phillip and I had a meeting with her consultant and the consultant said Charlene doesn’t look like a woman who has been on a ventilator for four weeks. She looks great. To which Wally Phillip replied aye that’s because she’s had four weeks away fae Terry.
(11:09 – 11:43)
Well she did spend four weeks on a ventilator and there were a few scary moments when things were touch and go. But do you know friends I have never experienced the presence and closeness of God like I did during those four weeks. I was in despair and anguish about what the days ahead might bring into my life.
But I knew that the Lord was with me. The Lord was at hand and with his presence in my life I would get through it. Come what may.
(11:44 – 13:47)
But friends that’s not the case here for David. His most severe suffering was that he felt God’s presence had been withdrawn. The circumstances he faced were one thing but being abandoned by God was worse than all of that.
Can God forget us? Well best to let God’s word answer for him. We read in Isaiah 49 but Zion said the Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgoten me.
That was Zion’s complaint and here is the Lord’s answer. Can a woman forget her nursing child? That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget yet I will not forget you. Behold I have engraved you on the palm of my hands.
Well how do we square these two things up? Well I think it’s fair and true to say that pain and grief have a way of clouding our thinking, our feelings and our judgement. But I think too the Lord also allows for us to go through these times in order to refine us. Maybe to discipline us so that he will teach us the value of his presence.
Or maybe to show us the extent of our own weakness. Or maybe to remind us of his great salvation. To remind us what it was to be lost without Christ.
You may remember the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2 verse 12. Writing to the Ephesians and he says remember you were at that time separated from Christ. The Apostle Paul it seems never wants us to forget.
What a wonder it is that God has revealed his beautiful face to us. Removed the separation, stepped in, lifted the veil and made his face bright to us in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the gospel. David feels deserted by God.
(13:47 – 16:09)
His second complaint, the psychological as he feels depressed within himself. Verse 2. How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day long? He’s saying God you’re not listening. And I’m wrestling here with my thoughts over and over again.
He feels totally cut off and isolated and that there is no one who cares. He’s become turned in on himself and it’s like he’s going over the situations and the circumstances he’s in over and over again. All the while increasing the turmoil that he’s in.
And he’s talking to himself in ways that are totally unhelpful. Now there are times when speaking to ourselves is called for and can be really helpful like in Psalm 42 and 43. The psalmist speaks to himself in a helpful way.
Why are you downcast oh my soul? But here in Psalm 13 it’s unhelpful. He’s turned in on himself. Taking counsel in his own soul and his self help he finds out is no help at all.
He is as we would say stuck in his own head and it’s constant. There are no breaks from this depression. Sorrow in my heart all the day long.
Now sometimes throughout any given day we can go through different emotions. Our emotions may change. We may begin optimistic in the morning, discouraged in the afternoon and then optimistic again in the evening.
But no not here. There are no changes in his emotions. There is no relief for David.
Sorrow in my heart all the day long. David feels deserted by God, depressed within himself. And his third complaint, the sociological, well he feels defeated by his enemy verse 2. How long shall my enemy triumph be exalted over me? Well we’re not told who or what the enemy was which is helpful as we can fill in the blank ourselves.
But maybe as David is the king he is facing opposition against his service to God. And you don’t need to be King David to face this kind of opposition. His enemy is exalted over him.
(16:10 – 21:37)
There is nothing worse than the sound of laughter coming from an enemy. It’s horrible. It’s hard to take in isn’t it? An enemy rejoicing over your demise.
Maybe this fits perfectly with circumstances or situations that you face personally. And what we need to understand is this friends. Sometimes God allows this to happen to his people in order that we learn to trust him.
That we might be taken into a deeper relationship with him and learn to walk by faith and not by sight. Well you would maybe think that David is done for. He is a man who is drowning and he will definitely sink.
But all hope hasn’t gone. Why? Well because David is still talking to God. Faith hasn’t disappeared.
Friends faith is being exercised. Listen to this from Sinclair Ferguson. When we begin to speak to God about the fact that he has deserted us we are no longer at our lowest point.
The tide has turned and we are on the way up again. You see friends that’s the difference between unbelief and belief. Unbelief turns away from God in anger shaking its fist.
But faith turns to God in anguish lifting its hands in prayer. Firstly David’s praying of struggling with his feelings. Secondly verse 3 and 4 David’s prayer for the defeat of his foes.
David’s prayer for the defeat of his foes. Well what do you do when you’re facing personal pain? Part of which you feel is that God has forgotten and forsaken you. Well I don’t know about you but I would stay in bed and opt for the death by duvet approach.
But what does David do? Well David goes on praying. What else can he do? Where else can he go? Then back to the one whom he feels forsaken and deserted by. It may well be that when the world has plunged you in its deepest pit you find the saviour there the hymn writer writes.
For when you are deep down in the pit the evidence of true faith is revealed in you. So what is the believer to do when God gives us no answers? We go on praying. We persist in our petitions.
Look at verse 3. Consider and answer me O Lord my God. Or as the NIV puts it, look on me and answer me Lord my God. Remember he feels the Lord has hidden his face from him.
He is saying look on me. Turn your face to me. He hasn’t given up on the Lord.
He is hanging on to the Lord. Look on me O Lord my God. All the way throughout this psalm David uses the covenant name of God Yahweh.
Anytime you see the Lord in capital letters in your Bible it’s referring to the covenant name of God Yahweh. He is the promise making, promise keeping God. The God who has bound himself to his people in covenant love.
The God who has promised to save and redeem his people. And David is praying consider me. Look on me and answer me.
Turn and listen to me Yahweh. David is crying for God to listen to him. To look on him according to the character of God.
He is saying this is who you are. And this is what you are like. And listen also according to what you’ve already promised Lord.
This is what you’ve said. And friends we need to do this. We need to store up the promises of God in our hearts like a wee squirrel does with nuts getting ready for winter.
We need to store up God’s promises so that when nor if when the dark times and the hard times come we can stand in those promises by faith. That’s what the words from the hymn encourage us to do. Standing in God’s promises.
Words that can’t fail. When in the storms of doubt dark fears assail. My hope is anchored fast within the veil.
Sure in his living word I always prevail standing on God’s promises. Well what does David pray for? Well he prays for light verse 3. Light up my eyes. He will give three reasons for this request in verse 3 and 4. And they are all in connection with the defeat of his foes.
In the ESV each of these begins. Lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say I have prevailed over him.
Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. David prays light up my eyes. This isn’t a phrase that we would usually use and it can seem a bit puzzling.
He’s saying Lord let me see clearly your hand in all of this. Illumine my understanding that I may see your plans and purposes in all of this. But also give me fresh strength, fresh energy and stamina to face all the battles that I am going through.
(21:38 – 25:26)
David doesn’t pray take these battles and difficulties away. No that’s not my greatest need. My greatest need is to see all that you’re doing through this and to have fresh energy strength and stamina to face it all.
And friends that was the case with the apostle Paul when he was in prison. Many of his friends were distressed and discouraged by this imprisonment. But Paul was able to comfort them and encourage them with all that God was doing.
And he wrote to the church in Philippi I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Being in prison brought great opportunities to Paul for sharing Christ and it’s the same for us. Some of the darkest and hardest times in our lives. Things that we would never volunteer for can often provide great opportunities for us to grow in faith and grace.
And opportunities for sharing the hope and trust that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel. Seeing these opportunities and all that God is doing doesn’t come easily to us. And just like David we need God to light up our eyes so that we can have a divine perspective on our situation and the strength and energy to endure it all.
Sometimes we won’t see for years if at all what God’s plans and purposes in the darkness have been. And that was certainly the case with Joseph as we read his story in Genesis. Thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery by them, falsely accused of rape and then thrown into prison for a great number of years.
I’m sure during all these years of darkness Joseph felt deserted by God and cried out many times, how long oh Lord will you forget me forever? But by the end of Genesis in chapter 50 verse 20 Joseph could say of that whole dark period in his life, as for you, you meant evil against me but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. And that may be your experience too friends as individuals or collectively as a church. God’s plans and purposes in the darkness and the difficulties that we go through may only be understood by us years later if ever at all.
David prays, verse 3, light up my eyes, give me strength, stamina and energy to keep going amidst all these battles. And now he gives three reasons or three arguments in this request in verse 3 and 4 and they are all in connection with the defeat of his foes. As I said in the ESV they begin with the word lest but I’m going to read them another way.
David prays, light up my eyes so that I won’t sleep the sleep of death. Light up my eyes so that my enemy won’t get the better of me. Light up my eyes so that there will be no rejoicing from my foes because I am still standing.
I will not fall. David is praying, Lord don’t let me die. I don’t want that mob dancing at my funeral.
(25:27 – 28:46)
David is using arguments. He is presenting his case to Yahweh as to why he should answer his prayers. I wonder do you pray that way? Do you give the Lord reasons as to why he should answer your prayers? Can you make an argument for the prayers that you bring and why God should answer them? Again when Charlene was ill there were people praying for her all around the world from America to Australia and everywhere in between and there were a lot of non-Christians looking on.
A lot of them were friends and family members and I mind pouring my heart out to the Lord and saying to him, Lord please deliver Charlene. Please send her home to me. I mean Lord how can I look after four wee boys? I can hardly look after myself.
And Lord what about the ministry of Hope for Glasgow as it was at the time? What about the ministry of Hope for Glasgow to those with addictions up and down the country? If I have to stay home and look after four wee boys, Lord that ministry will fold. Lord there are huge implications for me if my wife doesn’t come home. But Lord there’s more at stake for you in all of this.
This will reflect badly on you. All those non-Christians looking on will think badly of you. If you don’t deliver they will say well all that praying was a complete waste of time.
They will say that you’re no real or that you couldn’t be bothered to listen. They will say either you were too weak to do anything about it or not that you’re weak but that you’re wicked because you don’t care. So deliver her Lord so that ultimately it will be for the honour of thy name Lord.
As much as David was concerned for his own needs, he was concerned even more with the glory of God. Tied up in the defeat of his foes is a concern for God’s glory, a concern for God’s honour. David is reasoning in his prayer.
He is making arguments in his prayer as to why God should answer him. If I die they will triumph and if I die it will be because you won’t deliver me. It will reflect on you Lord, your reputation and your name.
So vindicate your servant and make yourself known. David’s pain of struggling with his feelings, David’s prayer for the defeat of his foes and thirdly and lastly verse five and six, David’s praise to the God of his faith, David’s praise to the God of his faith. But I have trusted in your steadfast love.
My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. I read these verses and I think to myself, what’s going on here? Is this the same guy? I mean one minute he’s going how long, how long, how long, how long and now he is declaring I will trust, I will rejoice, I will sing.
(28:47 – 36:46)
What’s going on? Is this guy unwell? Does he have a kind of a spiritual by poor or something? I mean one minute he’s full of anguish but now he’s full of assurance. There is a total turnaround in the tone of these verses from that of verse one and two. In verse one and two he was overwhelmed with grief but now here in verse five and six he is overwhelmed with goodness.
He has changed from a man who was screaming how long and he is now really declaring as long as it takes. Well why? And why this change? What has happened between verse four and verse five? What has changed in his circumstances? Well if you look with me, can you see it there between verses four and five? You’ll have to look very, very carefully. Can you see it? No and neither can I because there’s nothing there to see.
There is nothing. Nothing has changed but he has changed. His prayer of verse one through four may not have changed his circumstances but they have changed him which is always a far better result.
He gets a hold of himself with God’s help and he says the hand I’ve been dealt is the hand I’ve been dealt and with God’s help I’m going to trust. With God’s help I’m going to rejoice and with God’s help I’m going to sing. The man who was wrestling is now trusting.
Why? Well because of the Lord’s ‘hesed’, his steadfast covenant unfailing love. Instead of sorrow in his heart all the day long, his heart is filled with rejoicing. Why? Because of the Lord’s salvation.
The man who was screaming to the Lord will now sing to the Lord. Why? Because the Lord is good and he has dealt bountifully. He has been good to me.
David is declaring here the same as he writes in Psalm 23, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And friends I want us just to note there has been no deliverance yet for David. No, that is still a long way down the road but it’s like it’s already taken place in his experience.
But what is the basis for this? Well it’s the character of God. David has remembered Yahweh and he is trusting him. It’s not about how much faith we have but the object of our faith, where our faith is placed, what our faith is resting on.
And David is declaring here in praise to Yahweh, I am leaning on your proved, tried and tested character. That’s the basis of my praise because that is the way you are. God’s character is the basis of his praise and God’s character is the basis of his assurance.
And friends that’s one of the greatest needs that we all have is to know what kind of God God really is. He is the God whose character has been proved, tried, tested and never once found wanting. Friends some of us may be going through real darkness, real difficulties just like David.
You may feel in your experience that God has forgotten and forsaken you. Well let us try and learn and take something from the experience of David of what got him through difficulties and the darkness. What brought him from pain through prayer to praise.
How did he overcome the inward struggle with his feelings, the outward struggle of his foes? Well he did so by the upward look to the God of his faith. David remembered and trusted himself to the character of God. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. The circumstances that we are in or we face may not change but standing in God’s word, storing up his promises in our hearts, standing on them, remembering his unfailing love, remembering his unchanging grace, rejoicing in his wonderful salvation and singing to the Lord because we have been overwhelmed by his amazing goodness. These things will see us through.
But friends there, maybe some amongst us, real believers who feel unutterable despair just like William Cowper, it seems that there’s no release, no relenting. Well we have to keep praying, keep trusting, keep hanging on to God and his promises. There may not be relief here in this earth, in this time, but one day the end of this psalm will be the reality, a fully realised reality in all of our lives when he will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
Death shall be no more, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain. On that day we will rejoice and be glad in it and we will sing like never before. But there are some here today friends that these truths won’t get you through the darkness.
The truths of this psalm won’t do you any good. The reason why? Because you’ve yet to taste and see that the Lord is good. You come to this service often.
You may come every week. You’re convinced by the truth of the gospel. It looks good, but you’ve never tasted.
Why don’t you taste the thing and experience the goodness of God? The goodness of God that was fully expressed in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He really was forsaken and forgotten by God on the cross so that we might be forgiven. God did really hide his face from him and he really did face the darkness of God’s wrath so that he might bestow on us the light of God’s love.
Today would be a good day to trust him. Why don’t you do that today? Let us pray together. Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
Father, we give you great thanks for your great goodness to us. We ask that you would help each of us to store the truth of this psalm deep into our hearts. We may not be experiencing the darkness of feeling forgotten and forsaken by you today, but one day we will.
Help us then to know that there is a hope that lifts our weary heads, that lifts our eyes beyond the beckoning grave, to see the matchless beauty of a day divine when we shall behold your face. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The post Anguish of Faith to the Assurance of Faith – Psalm 13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, a vast amount of ink has been spilt on the great subject of prayer. If you go into any Christian bookshop up and down the land, there’ll be a whole section on prayer. Because we find it difficult, it’s not easy.
(0:14 – 0:39)
We know it’s important, but are we people who invest in time with God? Do you enjoy prayer? Do you love prayer? Do you love spending time with God? My colleague, Steve, is an evangelist based up in Perth, who was in a church recently, not dissimilar to this church, where a Christian of many years standing said, Steve, I don’t really pray. And Steve said, why? And he said, because I can’t understand prayer. So I don’t.
(0:39 – 0:57)
And you think, do you need to understand it? I mean, I don’t understand what consciousness is, but I don’t sleep 24-7. I have no idea how my laptop works, but the PowerPoint seems to be okay this morning. I’m not sure we need to fully understand every mystery around prayer to engage in it.
(0:57 – 1:40)
And certainly in our text today, the Lord Jesus Christ has given us two parables, which don’t give us unlocking deep mysteries around prayer, but do encourage us to get on with it, to engage in it, even when there are mysteries around it. The Lord focusses us this morning on the practise of prayer, even if it is difficult. Do you pray? Do you pray diligently, sporadically, passionately, coldly? Did you used to pray, but have got a little cold? The famous author, the late Timothy Keller, interviewed lots of pastors as they were dying, and he found that their two greatest regrets were that they didn’t spend enough time in prayer, one, and with their family, second.
(1:41 – 2:08)
Dying pastors at the end of lifetimes of ministry looking back say, the one thing I would have done differently, to spend more time with the Lord in prayer. And so in these two parables that we’ve had so nicely read for us this morning, Jesus isn’t calling us to prayer as some kind of horrible works, or some kind of irksome duty that we have to do. He’s actually talking about engaging our hearts with Him.
(2:09 – 2:37)
The privilege the gospel gives us is access to God. We often think about the exclusivity when Jesus says, no one comes to the Father except by me, but we don’t often enjoy the privilege of saying, in Christ I can come to the Father. There is an exclusiveness to that, but also what an extraordinary privilege there is too, that God saying, you can come to me.
(2:38 – 2:49)
Prayer is of course life giving. You know when the Apostle Paul says, everything is a surpassing loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. Everything else is a complete loss.
(2:49 – 3:03)
It’s a waste of time, it’s like manure, it’s dung. All my life achievements are a waste of time compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. Yeah, we know Him, we see Him through a glass darkly now, but we have a foretaste of what’s to come.
(3:04 – 3:30)
We get to speak with God, we get to be with God. This is the most unspeakable privilege, and God offers it to sinful human beings like you and I. In Christ we can come to the Father, and it’s where in fact we are most truly alive. This world is stacked full with many blessings and good things from God, but I don’t think any of us are any more truly living than when we are in the presence of God.
(3:31 – 3:52)
And a congregation, a church, a group of people in God’s presence can in fact become almost like a lightning rod conducting the blessings of God down to earth. History is silent about a revival that didn’t start in prayer, but yet a church in God’s presence can be a lightning rod for God’s blessing. Prayer is life-giving, it’s also extremely difficult.
(3:53 – 4:18)
I was intrigued recently, the Evangelical Alliance put out a survey last year. They did some detailed interviews with people who are new Christians, and it was called the Finding Jesus Report. They interviewed I think about 200 Christians, people who had come to faith in Christ as adults, and they asked all sorts of questions about where were you before you came to Christ, and what did you believe in, and how did you come, how did you first hear the gospel, and it was very interesting things.
(4:18 – 4:39)
They said, what was the most significant thing for you in your journey to putting your faith in Christ? The best two answers, the Bible and prayer. Later on, what are the two things you found most hardest as a Christian? Guess what? The Bible and prayer. So the two things we find most life-giving are also the most difficult.
(4:39 – 4:55)
They present a challenge for us this morning. So this morning I’m not going to try and explain prayer to you, or present a clever thesis that unwraps the mystery of prayer. What we’re going to seek to do, as I challenge you and challenge myself, is to obey what Jesus said about prayer.
(4:55 – 5:19)
We need Christian people today who really love God, who really pray, who really worship Him, who really experience His presence, who believe in His truth, and can intercede for this lost world. And that’s why we turn to these two parables that Jesus told in Matthew 11 and Matthew 18. Before we go into them, we have to sort of point out that these are parables, not allegories, if you know the difference.
(5:20 – 5:39)
Well, an allegory is one of those very clever stories when every part of the story represents some other truth, like the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. You know, every single part of that represents a different part of the truth. A parable, on the other hand, tends to communicate one spiritual truth, and the rest is the narrative that makes it work.
(5:39 – 5:54)
If you try and allegorise these parables, you are going to be in big trouble, because the unjust judge, he wants the woman to go away. He’s not welcoming her. Both stories, you have someone banging on the door persistently, who is our model for prayer, and someone on the other side of the door who just wants them to go away.
(5:54 – 6:07)
Now, Jesus wants us to know that we are supposed to bang on the door of prayer relentlessly. He’s not asking us to get a picture of God from these texts. Well, where’s God in this text? Well, that’s Jesus telling the story.
(6:08 – 6:18)
And what does it say? I tell you this story so that you will pray persistently and not give up. So Jesus is saying, I’m the Lord, I actually want you to come to me. I am not like the unjust judge.
(6:18 – 6:30)
Jesus is saying, I want you to come and keep coming to me consistently and persistently. Pray and not give up. So don’t try and allegorise the parable.
(6:30 – 6:37)
If you start reading God in as the unjust judge, you’re going to be all over the place. That is not our picture of God. So this is how I want to do it.
(6:38 – 6:54)
I want to draw back from the text to start with, and think about who God is. This God who says, I want you to pray to me persistently and consistently. And then we’ll dive into the text to see how we should respond to this God.
(6:55 – 7:06)
What kind of God do we find here in the text? Well, he’s not awful and mean like the unjust judge. He is quite the opposite. I love that phrase in one of the songs we had this morning about God being beautiful.
(7:07 – 7:15)
You just spot that in the hymn. The first time I heard the idea that God was beautiful was a Keith Green song in the 80s. And the first time I heard it, you know, oh Lord, you’re beautiful.
(7:15 – 7:30)
And I thought, oh, Americans, they’re so kind of gushy, aren’t they? We don’t go there, do we? Is God beautiful? I said that to one of my American friends, and they said, well, you think we’re emotionally incontinent. We think you’re emotionally constipated. Too gushy.
(7:30 – 7:42)
We don’t go there. And then, I think it was last year at the FIEC conference, they were preaching on the Good Shepherd. And they unpacked the language, and they said a good translation would also be that Jesus is the beautiful shepherd.
(7:43 – 7:55)
Beautiful. The Lord is incredibly attractive. You know, that the very best of the love that we have in this world, Christian marriage, is supposed to be, at its very finest, a glimpse of Christ in the church.
(7:56 – 8:03)
And yes, we deride some modern songs and say, oh yeah, those terrible Jesus is my boyfriend lyrics. Yuck. But we mustn’t also forget that he is our husband.
(8:03 – 8:18)
That we are the bride of Christ, and the love and marriage here is supposed to point to a deeply passionate relationship between God and his people. He’s won our hearts, not just our minds. We love him, and he is morally beautiful.
(8:19 – 8:31)
Glorious. Every piece of beauty that we find in this world is but a signpost to the true beauty of God. That’s why he’s littered this world with the Kulin Mountains, and the Cairngorms, and waterfalls, and the sea, and the cry of a newborn baby.
(8:32 – 8:42)
Littered this world with things of beauty, all pointing to the true beauty of God. That’s why prayer isn’t a dreadful duty. It’s the highest privilege of mankind.
(8:42 – 9:02)
That we can enter into the throne room of the living God, where his beauty dwells. How can you and I enter into the presence of a God like that? It’s quite extraordinary, and quite wonderful. And we meet this God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
(9:03 – 9:16)
One God in three persons. And we bow before him in his glory, and his majesty, and his perfection. God is love, and that perfect love that exists between those three persons.
(9:16 – 9:42)
Father, Son, and Spirit. And there’s that extraordinary promise in the New Testament that describes Christian people like you and I in Christ as partakers of the divine nature. Is that not the most extraordinary phrase in the New Testament? How can you and I be partakers of the divine nature? How can the living God say to people like you and I, come in? When we know we deserve to be thrown out.
(9:43 – 9:50)
But in Christ he says, come in. You can partake of the divine nature. That is an extraordinary phrase.
(9:50 – 10:01)
So let’s think just for a minute about God as our Father. Because immediately in these preceding verses before that parable, we have the Lord’s Prayer. When Jesus tells us to pray, our Father who is in heaven.
(10:02 – 10:11)
My wife and I did a parenting course a few years ago. We’ve got three kids, several of whom have been an interesting experience parenting. They’re great.
(10:12 – 10:20)
But parenting is a challenge, right? So we did a parenting course. And the most challenging thing on that parenting course was a diagram. We discussed it in couples.
(10:20 – 10:34)
And they put this diagram up and asked you to sort of explore your own parenting. What parenting style do you have? And you can see that the axes are warm to not warm, firm to not firm. And of course there are all sorts of different parenting styles.
(10:35 – 10:48)
Those who are not warm and not firm are absent parents, negligent parents. But God’s not that kind of Father. We don’t serve the God of the deists who set the world spinning into motion and cleared off.
(10:49 – 10:56)
That’s not our God. He’s here. He’s actively engaged in his world.
(10:57 – 11:03)
Other parents are warm and not firm. All cuddly, all present, spoiling their children. No boundaries, no discipline.
(11:04 – 11:19)
I once saw a kid on a plane running up and down the aisles and they couldn’t take the plane off. And the pilot, the captain came out and said, Will you get your child to sit down? And the parents were mystified about the idea of telling a child anything. It was all presents and toys and games but no discipline whatsoever.
(11:19 – 11:25)
But that’s not our God. I was reading Jeremiah yesterday. The God who judges the nations.
(11:27 – 11:37)
This is not our God. He’s not all just dispensing toys and things for us to enjoy. He’s the living God who we had better listen to because he has all glory.
(11:37 – 11:45)
The opposite extreme is the caricature of Victorian parenting. Firm and not warm. That is authoritarian parenting.
(11:46 – 11:51)
Cold, distant, savage, harsh. Always on your back. Always criticising you.
(11:52 – 12:05)
And equally, that is not a picture of God, our Father, who we approach this morning. Because God is also the one who, you know, when the prodigal comes down, the path comes running to him and throws his arms around him and says, Kill the fatted calf. We’re having a party.
(12:05 – 12:20)
My son has come home. This is our God who, though he has all glory, though he judges all nations, is also incredibly warm and engages us with his love. God, of course, is the authoritative parent.
(12:21 – 12:36)
Because he is both absolutely in control and full of glory and yet throws his arms around his children. This is our Father. Rejoice with trembling, Psalm 2 says.
(12:36 – 12:44)
Rejoice, why? Because his arms are open. Tremble, why? Because he is the living God. And anybody that doesn’t tremble before him is a fool.
(12:45 – 13:02)
Rejoice with trembling. Enter into the embrace of God in prayer. This is our God.
We pray to the Father. This is a picture of John F. Kennedy in the White House at the height of the Cold War. This was really the most powerful seat anywhere on Earth.
(13:02 – 13:08)
From there he could control the nuclear weapons. He could launch nuclear attacks. He controlled all the countries across NATO.
(13:08 – 13:19)
All the telephone lines in the world connected there. That’s the centre of power on this Earth at that stage in the early 1960s. I’ve covered up the bottom of the picture, but let’s reveal the bottom of the picture.
(13:20 – 13:44)
That’s his son crawling around under the desk. This is the kind of access we have to the throne room, not of this world, but of the whole cosmos. The living God says, you’re my children.
You can come. In fact, Jesus tells us to pray persistently. He says, I give you this parable so that you pray persistently and don’t give up.
(13:44 – 13:56)
Yes, he has all authority, but yes, he says, come to me. We are called to pray to the Father. Jesus says consistently, but we’re called to pray through the Son.
(13:57 – 14:28)
How can people like us approach the living God? How can you and I with our sins and our faults and our follies and our mistakes and our brokenness and all the things we’ve got wrong approach a holy God? How can it be that you and I can come and God will listen to people like you and I? The answer is because we come through the Son. We approach God the Father in Jesus Christ the Son who takes away our sin and gives us his righteousness. He shares the intimate relationship he has with the Father with us.
(14:29 – 14:35)
That’s why we can come to the Father. That’s why we can approach. That’s why prayer in the Bible is always to the Father and through the Son.
(14:36 – 14:47)
Because it’s the Son who gives us access to the Father. John Calvin wrote this most beautiful illustration of that. He said, imagine if you were standing before a crowd of thousands of people.
(14:48 – 15:13)
And of course this was in the days before amplification, he wrote this. And he said, and you try to sing to them all, but your voice is poor and thin and weedy and you can’t get projected and you can’t be heard and it can’t get out. But then you are suddenly joined on stage by the world’s greatest opera singer with this enormous voice who begins to sing the most amazing melodious tune and the tune fills the stadium and goes out into the streets outside.
(15:13 – 15:38)
And then he says to you, sing with me, sing with me. And you blend your little weedy voice in with this great opera singer and together your song travels out and fills the stadium. And it’s his picture of prayer.
He says, on your own, do you think your voice can reach the heavens? Of course not. But Jesus says, sing with me. And you and I can speak to God.
(15:39 – 15:53)
And our thin, weedy, puny voices that are not fit to be heard in heaven are carried heavenwards by the Son. This is the gospel in action. You see, the gospel is in action not just the moment you became a Christian, but when you kneel down to pray.
(15:53 – 16:03)
It’s that same gospel that gives you access to God the Father. He says, come, come and speak to me, to the Father, through the Son. But let’s complete the picture.
(16:04 – 16:18)
He also says in Scripture, we pray to the Father, through the Son, but in the Spirit. We pray in the Spirit. Something happens in us and to us when we come into the presence of God.
(16:19 – 16:25)
The Holy Spirit stirs our hearts. He pours petrol on the fire. He groans within us, in fact, sometimes.
(16:27 – 16:45)
I was deeply struck by what the great Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote about this in his commentaries and sermons on Ephesians. He describes in the passage on Ephesians about praying in the Spirit an experience he had of someone on whom the Holy Spirit came when he was in a prayer meeting. Let me just read you a few words from Lloyd-Jones.
(16:46 – 17:02)
He says, praying in the Spirit, anyone who knows anything of this experience will know exactly what it is, but how difficult it is to put into words. And if Lloyd-Jones can’t find the words, I don’t think anybody can. He says, I can look back by the grace of God and I thank him for it.
(17:03 – 17:15)
Two public prayer meetings in which I was present when this presence of the Spirit was experienced in an exceptional manner. I shall never forget them as long as I live. A prayer meeting started one night at 7.15 in a church in South Wales.
(17:15 – 17:31)
It was a hot summer’s evening on a Monday night. Two men had taken part in prayer. Then a man stood up whom we all knew so well, an unimportant man, not a gifted man by any means, a man whose prayers could be stilted and formal and dry and even discouraging.
(17:31 – 17:42)
He began to pray and suddenly something happened to him. The whole man was transformed. His voice deepened and he began to pour out one of the most eloquent prayers I’ve ever heard in the whole of my life.
(17:42 – 17:51)
And he lifted up the entire meeting, myself included. Every one of us was in the Spirit, in the realm of the Spirit. And on the meeting went, one after another praying.
(17:51 – 18:00)
Men and women who I’ve heard on other occasions praying were now praying as I’ve never heard them pray before. Language, thought, everything was perfect. And the warmth and freedom and liberty were remarkable.
(18:00 – 18:06)
On and on it went until 10 minutes to 10. We’d forgotten time. We were in the realm of the Spirit.
(18:06 – 18:09)
We were in eternity. Time did not matter. Nothing mattered.
(18:09 – 18:18)
This is what you get in revivals and we were given a taste of it. And this is the thing which the Apostle Paul is exhorting us to in Ephesians. Formal prayers are not sufficient.
(18:19 – 18:37)
The world and the church being as they are today, we need this praying in the Spirit. We need to lay hold of God to give Him no rest and to use those dramatic, expressive words of the prophet Isaiah, and you will never lay hold of Him unless you are in the Spirit. This is the kind of prayer that the Lord is inviting us to.
(18:37 – 18:51)
Pray to the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit. We need to be hungry for this. Have you ever glimpsed that? We had a small glimpse of that, nothing like that, but a small glimpse of it in Perth in February.
(18:51 – 19:08)
Our pastor had called us to 21 days of prayer and fasting for the life of the church. And then at Solas, there was a girl who had contacted us because she had been going through our website and had all sorts of questions about the Gospel. So we sent her a Bible for her Christmas present and she began to read it and came back with all sorts of questions.
(19:09 – 19:20)
And then we arranged for her to go around and meet a Christian. This was in the north of England. And the night she was meeting that Christian, we had a prayer meeting in Perth and something happened and we were praying for her and we almost felt something shifting.
(19:20 – 19:26)
And we almost said, we think she’s home. We think something’s happened. There was a sense of the Spirit in the prayer meeting.
(19:26 – 19:35)
And then I phoned my boss Andy to say, I think something’s happened. He said, we had a similar experience in Swindon praying for the same girl. And then she emailed the next morning to say, I brought my boyfriend.
(19:35 – 19:42)
He thought he was a Christian until last night. And then he said, I’ve realised tonight I’m not a Christian. And they both put their faith in Christ that evening.
(19:43 – 19:51)
But we felt something happen in the prayer meeting. And I’ve no explanation for that. I’ve got no detailed theology.
(19:51 – 19:58)
But I know the Holy Spirit was at work. And it didn’t leave me with lots of answers. But it left me very, very hungry for more of that.
(19:58 – 20:15)
Now, that is not to dismiss or diminish the value of prayer meetings when it’s hard work. Because sometimes prayer is hard work. But are you not just hungry to pray to the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit? Like Lloyd-Jones describes in that text.
(20:15 – 20:27)
This is the God we pray to. So that’s pulling back. To say, who’s the God who invites us in? Now let’s draw down into the text and tell us how we should approach this God.
(20:28 – 20:34)
How we should approach Him. Well, the persistent widow we have here. We are told we should pray like her.
(20:34 – 20:46)
Because she banged and banged and banged on the door until she got what she needed. It says there. And Jesus is telling us that prayer could be prevailing, wrestling, perseverance, seeking God.
(20:46 – 20:52)
And prayer is personal. We live in an impersonal world. We’ve shifted our purchasing from the high street.
(20:52 – 21:00)
When you go in and you buy your stuff from someone you know over a counter. To clicking an anonymous machine on a screen. But prayer is not like that.
(21:01 – 21:10)
We don’t click our orders into God anonymously and then wait for the delivery. We need to engage with the Lord face to face. To seek His face.
(21:10 – 21:20)
It’s more like mining your own gold. And then in the other text did you see that with a midnight friend. He was told that he’s going to get what he needed.
(21:20 – 21:28)
The bread in this case. Because of his shameless audacity. Did you spot those words in the text? Shameless audacity.
(21:28 – 21:36)
I love those words. I tell you, even though He will not get up and give you the bread because of your friendship. Yet because of your shameless audacity.
(21:36 – 21:49)
He will surely give you as much as you need. So the Lord Jesus is commending us to come before the Father with shameless audacity. How should we pray? Cringing and scared? No.
(21:49 – 21:56)
Vague and nonchalant? No. Formal and ritualistic? No. With some vague woolly spirituality? No.
(21:57 – 22:05)
Undemanding and distant? No. We should come before the throne of God Himself with shameless audacity. Lord, help me to pray.
(22:06 – 22:10)
Lord, it’s a struggle this morning. Send your spirit and help me to pray. I need your help.
(22:11 – 22:18)
And keep going. Jesus encourages us to be a bit of shameless audacity. I wonder if we’re just sometimes a little bit too polite in the wrong way, if you know what I mean.
(22:19 – 22:25)
Holding God in massive respect obviously. But Jesus says, press in. Lord, send revival.
(22:25 – 22:31)
Lord, come back soon. Lord, save my friend. Pray and don’t give up.
(22:32 – 22:46)
And there’s that beautiful picture you have towards the end of the Bible. A prayer being pictured as incense drifting up from the people of God before His throne as a fragrant offering. Now, I know literal incense isn’t a very Greenview thing.
(22:46 – 23:09)
I’m not suggesting literal incense. What I’m talking about is that beautiful picture you have of those prayers rising up from God’s people into His very presence. God’s house must be a house of prayer in which we persistently and consistently press into God for what we need.
(23:10 – 23:19)
And of course, you know when Jesus went into the temple and it wasn’t a house of prayer, He tipped the tables over. He said, no, this is a house of prayer. Well, you and I, we should be part of a house of prayer.
(23:19 – 23:36)
Now, obviously in the old covenant, the one place where heaven touched earth was in the Holy of Holies, in the temple. And that’s all gone because the true temple is the Lord Jesus Christ where heaven touches earth, where deity meets humanity. The one meeting point when it all comes together is in Christ Himself.
(23:36 – 23:43)
And Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are supposed to be a house of prayer, my friends.
(23:44 – 24:03)
And I just wonder when I look at my own life, if Jesus wants to come in and tip over a few tables and say, priorities, Gavin. What are your priorities? Is spending time with me your priority? I think Jesus wants to turn over some tables in my heart. I wonder if that’s the same for you.
(24:04 – 24:38)
Maybe your church, and I have shamelessly audaciously nicked your church logo and put it on the screen there, just to ask you, is your church a house of prayer? Or does the Lord want to come in and turn over a few tables like He needs to do in my life as well? Jesus says, don’t hold back. It’s prayer before the living God, to the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit that shakes the earth, that has ushered in every revival in the history of the church since Acts 2 to the present day. It’s prayer that makes demons tremble, that makes devils flee.
(24:38 – 24:54)
It’s prayer in which salvation breaks out and church grows, the kingdom comes. It’s prayer during which people will see the glory and indeed the beauty of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let me tell you about two people I know who model this wonderful, shameless audacity.
(24:55 – 25:08)
There was one man in the church where I grew up whose son was a bit of a prodigal and he’d gone astray. And this man, prayer meeting after prayer meeting, would start to pray for his son. And people would tut and roll their eyes and say, oh, there he goes again.
(25:08 – 25:21)
But do you know what? He was in tune with our text this morning. He was banging on the door saying, Lord, give me what I need, save my son. And he did not stop praying for his son for the whole of his life.
(25:21 – 25:26)
Shamelessly audacious, like our text. Persistent banging on the door, like our text. Wonderful.
(25:27 – 25:41)
And there’s a man in my church in Perth who lives in a village way outside Perth where there’s no gospel church. And you don’t need to prod him for more than about 10 seconds before he’s pleading for a gospel church in his town. And again, some people will tut and roll their eyes, but I love his shameless audacity.
(25:41 – 25:51)
Lord, bring a gospel church to my village. Lord, raise up a work in my village. Show the people in my village your church, your people, your truth, your gospel, your son.
(25:51 – 26:31)
And you can’t stop him when he wants to pray because the Lord has put this kind of thing on his heart. Because if we read that parable on its own, it sounds a bit like hard work. Which is why we drew back to say, have you seen the glory of God? Have you glimpsed him? Have you seen his majesty? Have you stood before the empty tomb where Christ walked out and conquered death itself? Do you know he’s coming back to put this rotten world right? Who would not want to be in the presence of a God like that? Who would not want to share his gospel with a broken world for which there is no other hope, no plan B, no second route? It’s Christ or nothing.
(26:31 – 26:35)
It’s Christ or loss. It’s heaven or hell. It’s glory or loss.
(26:35 – 26:52)
Would you not talk about a world like that? We need to bring this world before a God like that because he is the only hope for this city, this town, this country, this world. Christ alone is the hope for this world. Let’s approach him in his glory and his beauty and his majesty.
(26:53 – 27:21)
And how about a bit of that shameless audacity that we’ve been talking about? I want to maybe suggest four things that we can pray about this morning as we go forward in persistence and shameless audacity. The first is our country. And so as we cover the length and breadth of the country, it’s really interesting in the moment we are at at the moment with the loss of new atheism and people all over the place on a deep search for truth and meaning and hope.
(27:22 – 27:37)
And we know that they will try every false alley and Christ is the only answer. We need to be praying for our country at the moment. Somebody said that our country was drowning in new atheism and they’re all starting to come up for air.
(27:38 – 27:56)
Whose hands are out to lift them and show them Christ? Well, we need to be praying for our country at this particular moment. And I know that all the Quiet Revival stuff has had a big sort of big discussion about stats and data sets and all the rest of it. But as we travel up and down the country, we find people who are deeply ignorant of what the Bible says and deeply hungry for answers.
(27:56 – 28:11)
At a postgraduate seminar recently, our director, Andy Bannister, was chatting to some postgrad students. And one of them turned to him and said, you Christians read the Bible, don’t you? And he said, yes, we do. And he was starting to rehearse all his different apologetic answers for different objections to Scripture.
(28:12 – 28:36)
And then he waited for the question, you Christians read the Bible, what is it? A postgrad student, literally the question was, what is it? So we are currently painting on a canvas of almost total ignorance, but yet openness to discuss Jesus like we’ve never had before. Now is the time to intercede for our country. God could do remarkable things.
(28:36 – 28:53)
God can do remarkable things. And he needs people here who are going to step up with some persistence and some shameless audacity to intercede for our country because nobody else can. Why? Nobody comes to the Father except through me, Christ says.
(28:53 – 29:03)
That means the only people in our country who can intercede for it are those with unfettered access to the throne room of God. That’s the church. That’s the body of Christ.
(29:03 – 29:23)
Now is the moment to pray, I think, for our country. And what about our rulers? The king who is wanting to water down the covenants he made before God in his coronation this week to defend all faiths with some pernicious legislation coming down the road in the coming parliaments. Pray for rulers.
(29:24 – 29:31)
Pray for leaders. They are lost. And our country is like sheep without a shepherd with some very dangerous legislation being planned.
(29:32 – 29:48)
Only the church can stand in the gap and pray for our nation. I just finished reading Jeremiah last night where God judges not just his own people but all the different nations of the earth in the last five or six chapters there. I need to pray that God will have mercy on our nation.
(29:49 – 30:01)
God will respond to wickedness. And as you look even at the history of our country, it will either be in judgement or with a blessed revival when he turns vast numbers of people back to himself. We need to step into that moment.
(30:01 – 30:10)
And be people who pray for our country. I was at a wedding on Friday. And I saw two very typical things.
(30:10 – 30:17)
One was the groom, a new Christian. Very happy to talk about his faith in front of all his non-Christian friends. A young lad who has come to Christ in the last few years.
(30:18 – 30:30)
And then someone sitting next to my wife who has walked away from the Christian faith when she was in her twenties. And that’s very typical around the country. Many, many young people coming into the church.
(30:31 – 30:45)
But isn’t there a whole generation of prodigals out there? People who have heard something of the gospel but have walked away. People who know something of who God is and have rejected him. People who are in the far country, in the pigsty, whose lives are falling to bits.
(30:46 – 30:50)
They don’t know where they are. They don’t know where they’re going. They’re without God and without hope in the world.
(30:52 – 31:00)
And what’s Jesus’ attitude? Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the shepherds. How I long to gather you under my wings. But you weren’t willing.
(31:02 – 31:14)
Oh, isn’t it the moment for us to pray? Not just thanking God for the new Christians who are coming into our churches. In Perth, we don’t know where to put them. We haven’t moved them out of the room because there are so many young people coming to Christ and being baptised.
(31:15 – 31:29)
Glory to God! But what about the generation before? That prodigal generation, those many decades of church decline and growth. You know, loss of growth, church decline, people who have walked away. Will you step up this week? You have a prayer meeting this week.
(31:30 – 31:35)
I love the thing on your slide, by the way. It said, the gospel is the only answer. This week is our prayer meeting.
(31:36 – 31:48)
I mean, perfect. But will you pray for that lost generation? And then finally, what about your city? I hope you like that photo I got, which symbolised Glasgow. I thought that was magnificent.
(31:50 – 32:07)
And which Scotland has taken around the world in the last few weeks as well. The traffic going on their head. But what about the state of your city? And if your city is to be one back for Christ, it will happen as missionaries and evangelists and pastors go around and share the gospel.
(32:08 – 32:17)
But the sea change will happen here in the prayer meetings. You know, the Hebridean revival didn’t break out in Lewis when the evangelists went out. It broke out in the prayer meetings.
(32:18 – 32:38)
It broke out when people prayed relentlessly, month after year after year, until God came down. You know, oh, that you would render heavens and come down, Isaiah says. Shouldn’t that be our prayer, not just for our country, but also for your city as well? Persistence and shameless audacity.
(32:39 – 33:00)
My pastor in Perth is Brazilian, and he’s got a very interesting story. He was kind of converted in the major revivals that took place in Brazil, a lot of it amongst the Pentecostal churches, and he was converted out of folk Catholicism. And when he came to Scotland, one of the local ministers in one of the established churches said to him, our policy here is managed decline.
(33:01 – 33:12)
And his eyes nearly burst out of his head. He said, never heard anything so outrageous in all my life. The book of Acts, managed decline? Are you kidding me? No, we will call a prayer meeting.
(33:13 – 33:25)
We will pray and fast until we see normality restored. What’s normality? I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That’s reality.
(33:26 – 33:29)
That’s the truth of Scripture. That’s what he’d experienced in Brazil. That’s what he’d read in the Scripture.
(33:29 – 33:40)
So he calls us to pray. And what happened? Well, it wasn’t revival, but ones and twos started to come to Christ. We saw a sea change in what was going on, because he called us to prayer like we’d never done before.
(33:42 – 33:47)
Let’s just backtrack one. Lack of prayer. That is the biggest delusion of adequacy.
(33:48 – 33:53)
If you don’t pray, you think you’re adequate. Well, forget that. You realise how out of your depth you are.
(33:53 – 34:06)
Just cast yourself on the mercy of God. And this is the God to whom we cast ourselves. God the Father, the living God, the God of all glory, who stands above it all, and will judge the living and the dead.
(34:06 – 34:18)
It’s the living God who allows us to come to him through Christ. Everything that we need provided for on the cross that we’re about to celebrate in communion. Christ shed his blood for us so that we could come to God.
(34:19 – 34:32)
All our sins removed, and the inexhaustible riches of Christ given to us. It’s all here in bread and wine, pictured for us. We come to God, the Father through the Son, and he’s here by his spirit amongst us.
(34:32 – 34:41)
He makes it real, he makes it live. Not just in our minds as good doctrine, but he sets our hearts on fire. He gives us that sense that he’s here with us.
(34:41 – 34:54)
His spirit testifies to our spirit that we are the sons of God, it says in Romans. You get that sense of God throwing his arms around us and saying, You’re my people. And what a privilege it is for us to come to God.
(34:54 – 35:02)
And we have access. Let’s not squander that access. But let’s be people of prayer.
(35:03 – 35:08)
Because no one else can. It really is up to the people of God. Amen.
The post Rekindling a Passion for Prayer – Luke 11&18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
We are concluding this series in hospitality called Open Table, and throughout this journey we’ve been finding out that biblical hospitality is far broader, bigger, and harder than we think, and it’s more than cooking meals or entertaining friends. We’ve been learning that God’s message to all people is itself one great act of hospitality. Rooted in the heart of a God who is a supremely generous host, and we’ve been learning that for us it includes the radical love of strangers that moves towards people who might not be in our circle, perhaps those who are not like us, perhaps those who are on the outside, and it brings them in, helps them belong, and it’s expressed to those who are in our church family and those who are not yet, and there’s an emphasis on need and vulnerability and those who are marginalised.
It certainly includes the physical but also the spiritual, and it’s something we’ve been learning that we are to practise. It doesn’t necessarily come easy. It’s certainly not straightforward, so we’re to practise it, make it a habit.
(1:32 – 4:09)
It’s something that we’re all to be involved in and in a variety of ways. So finally today then we’re going to turn to Luke chapter 14. It’s another example of hospitality that Jesus is involved in, and in this particular chapter we’re going to see how hospitality is fundamentally to do with the kingdom of God, and we’re going to break our reading this whole chapter into three parts, but firstly Jesus contrasts a true versus false practise of hospitality, and in verse 1 to 14, so if you turn your pew bibles again to page 1047, and the words are on the screen as well, one sabbath when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
There in front of him was a man suffering from an abnormal swelling of his body, and Jesus asked the pharisees and experts in the law, is it lawful to heal on the sabbath or not? But they remained silent, so taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Then he asked them, If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on a sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out? And they had nothing to say. When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable.
When someone invites you to a wedding feast place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited, and if so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, give this person your seat. Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you’re invited, take the lowest place so that when your host comes, he will say to you, friend, move up to a better place.
Then you will be honoured in the presence of all the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Then Jesus said to his host, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives or your rich neighbours.
If you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
(4:10 – 5:12)
Jesus is at this meal. He’s invited by a Pharisee, one of the Jewish religious rulers, and a number of other people are present. But what they thought and understood and practised as hospitality is going to be challenged by Jesus.
In fact, what Jesus is doing is he’s reorienting their practise of hospitality as a kingdom of God matter. Jesus gives two examples to demonstrate this. Two examples that characterise the giving of true hospitality in contrast to false hospitality.
And in the first example, Jesus shows us that hospitality is more about merciful care and not rules. So an opportunity to give kingdom of God-like hospitality was given by way of the man at the meal who was in need of healing. And here Jesus is not simply performing a miracle.
(5:12 – 5:28)
He’s intentionally touching an untouchable who was at the feast. He’s restoring someone whom the religious leaders who were there would have viewed with a moral dislike. It was a Sabbath day.
(5:29 – 6:10)
Jesus simply asked them whether it’s lawful or within the rules to heal this man. And they didn’t answer. Is it because they didn’t know? Or did they know they were being challenged and so didn’t like to answer? Well, we’re not told why, just simply that they kept silent.
So Jesus presses in more. He says, imagine you have a child or an ox, a person or property that’s valuable to you, it’s fallen down a well. Would you not pull them out? But again, they’re silent.
(6:11 – 8:02)
The opportunity is for physical care to be given, for mercy to be shown. It’s this kind of action that characterises God’s kingdom. It’s the same kind of physical care of hospitality that was given, remember, by the Samaritan to the Jew on the road to Jericho.
But they couldn’t answer. And in that silence, Jesus is challenging their reliance on rules, their performance to a standard that made them look good on the outside, on keeping laws at this superficial level, when in fact they were breaking the more important, greater law to love your neighbour, to not do harm or evil towards another. You see, in God’s kingdom, failure to provide physical care is a harm.
To bring healing is a mercy. But they were more concerned about keeping the laws than showing mercy. God said the same to the people of God and the leaders of Israel many, many years before.
He warned them in Micah chapter six of three core principles that God requires of his people. He has shown you o mortal what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Zechariah says a similar words. He said, this is what the Lord Almighty said, administer true justice, show mercy and compassion one to another. But their silence is deafening.
So Jesus gives another example. He shows them that hospitality is an opportunity for humility. It’s not about gaining in social status.
(8:04 – 8:17)
And in verses seven to 14, he unpacks this with two issues that he lays bare. The first issue that he lays bare is their pursuit of honour in verse seven to 11. So they’re scrambling for seats.
(8:18 – 8:36)
Who can be closest to the host? Because these places bring greatest honour and greatest status. And Jesus turns this thinking upside down. His lesson ends with the statement, everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled.
(8:37 – 10:06)
But whoever humbles themselves will be exalted. You know Jesus is not giving out social advice. Instead he’s getting to the root of who they thought they were.
He’s focussing on their view of self. It wasn’t endearing. It’s not commendable.
This practise of hospitality was more about their own status in comparison to others around them. That’s issue number one. But there’s a second issue here.
And here Jesus speaks about patronage and favouritism. This is about how they viewed others. And this view leads to practising hospitality to get a leg up.
He’s calling out the problem of using hospitality as a strategic deal-making way where they invite others so that they in turn can be invited back. This was the custom of the day. To invite people who could return the favour and in turn bring them social and financial benefit.
And Jesus again is overturning that thinking. You see in God’s kingdom hospitality is not about gaining status or earning rewards. True blessing comes from God as you welcome those who cannot repay you or improve your standing.
(10:08 – 11:09)
And neither this nor the pursuit of honour is genuine hospitality. You see what these practises that they were doing reveals is a manipulation. It’s a heart of manipulation rather than a heart of love.
It’s the antithesis to the kingdom of God’s hospitality. They’re treating people as a means to gain honour, status and favour. But love seeks the good of others for no return.
Manipulation calculates. It gives out to get something back. But hospitality shaped by the values of God’s kingdom is given not to manipulate to get something in return.
Yes there is a reward in giving hospitality. But it’s fundamentally spiritual. Hospitality is a kingdom of God matter.
(11:10 – 11:33)
And Jesus teaches that life in God’s kingdom transforms even our hospitality. It works on us as much as it works on others. And we are to become more concerned with showing mercy and walking humbly before God and towards others which is expressed in that humility with others.
(11:34 – 12:30)
Instead we’re freed from finding security in status or possessions. So much so that we can give generously out of what we have. And we can give generously in a sacrificial way.
We can prioritise the vulnerable over personal comfort. And we trust God to reward what is done for the good of others and for God’s glory. So we come to the next part of our Bible reading.
Follow me then in chapter 14 again but starting from verse 15. When one of those at the table with him heard this he said to Jesus, blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. Jesus replied, a certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.
(12:30 – 12:56)
At the same time of the at the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who’d been invited, come for everything now is ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, I’ve just bought a field and I must go and see it.
Please excuse me. Another said, I’ve just bought five yoke of oxen and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.
(12:56 – 15:03)
Still another said, I just got married so I can’t come. The servant came back and reported this to his master and then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town, bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Sir, the servant said, what you’ve ordered has been done but there’s still room.
Then the master told the servant, go out to the roads and the country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house may be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet. So one of the guests at this meal, remember Jesus is at this meal, and one of the guests at this meal speaks out to Jesus and says, blessed is the man who will eat the feast in the kingdom of God.
Now we don’t know what relies behind this expression, this comment. Is it a genuine expression of truth? Is it religious showmanship or something else? We don’t know. The text does not tell us.
But what we get next is Jesus telling a story about a great banquet. With this story, Jesus has taken the opportunity to teach about God’s way of hospitality. So we’ve been hearing about the false way of hospitality.
Now Jesus is expressing what God’s way of hospitality is. And so he tells us that there’s this certain man, prepares a great banquet and as was the custom, sends out an initial invitation to the guests. And then a second call when everything is ready.
It’s like a save the date card goes out first and then come to the meal. So Jesus uses this to point out to a wider gospel story that God has already been sending out invitations to this kingdom feast. Save the date cards have already been mailed out to the world.
(15:05 – 15:36)
There’s this inner witness of conscience that we all have as God’s people. There’s a revelation of God in creation. And there’s the message of the prophets that has come down through history, down through the ages.
All of this forms part of the first invitation. But the second invitation is more specific and timely. And it lines up with what Jesus has been telling the people since he’s arrived on the scene.
(15:37 – 17:20)
When Jesus arrived on the scene he says to people, repent and believe for the kingdom of God is near or has now come. Jesus spoke of his own coming into this world as he came to seek and save the lost. He said elsewhere, I came to give my life as a ransom to many.
And what Jesus is doing is revealing again and again his greater purpose at this time here on earth where he would live and die and to bring a way of salvation and forgiveness for sin for all people. And again and again through what Jesus said in many parables and stories, many of his interactions and demonstrations of his power through miracles, that he pointed to the specific invitation to join in and be part of God’s kingdom now. People were to repent.
People were to believe. People were to listen and to follow Jesus’ teaching. And Jesus’ point that while there had been an invitation to come and know God through conscience, through creatorial revelation and through the prophets that spoke to the people down through history, Jesus is declaring now everything is ready.
Come and join the feast in the kingdom of God. But this story that Jesus tells, in the story that Jesus tells, the invited guests offer pretext. That is they give bogus excuses not to take up the invitation.
(17:21 – 17:47)
They offered other reasons in order to conceal their true motivation. It’s a deceptive tactic. It’s used to justify a behaviour while hiding actual purpose.
It’s like someone being at a party and they want to leave early and they tell everyone, I’ve got an emergency at work. I need to go. But the true reason was simply that they just wanted to go home.
(17:49 – 21:27)
The excuses given here, buying a field, testing some oxen, getting married, they may feel kind of distant to us, but they carried real weight in that culture. The first two relate to business and property and the third to relationships and together they reflect areas of life in the Near East and they still speak powerfully today. We too are shaped by the same concerns in business, for example our work, our careers, our education, the results, the effort that drives all that We too are concerned about property matters, what we own, what we’re saving up for, homes, cars, finances, everything associated with that.
We too care deeply about relationships, family, friends, work colleagues, leisure and all that sustains and is involved in keeping up relationships. These things are not wrong. These things are to be engaged in and pursued.
It’s good and a blessing to have a job, to contribute to society. It’s wise and prudent to save and to have savings and investments. It’s right and good to think that we should build up relationships because life can be lonely and hard, so we nurture connections and cultivate bonds and prioritise people.
But the point Jesus is making in this story is that these legitimate things of life, they are being used as excuses to reject the invitation to join in and be part of God’s kingdom. These good and lawful practises or activities are being turned into stumbling blocks. It’s stopping them taking up the invitation to the feast.
So Jesus continues in his stories and says the master that’s hosting the feast widens the invitation and so now urban poor are invited, those in the streets and the alleyways, those who are poor, crippled, blind and lame. And you might ask why were these people not, these outsiders not invited from the beginning? Well in Jesus’ story I think the first guests in a sense represent Israel, the ones whom graciously, God graciously chose. Not because they were greater than any others but because he’d rescued this people from Egypt.
He’d gave them their law. He’d provided a sacrifice for sin and spoke through the prophets yet they repeatedly rejected God’s ways. And rather than loving their neighbours they burdened each other with man-made rules and they excluded the poor and the blind and the lame and the marginalised.
But God’s hospitality reaches to those on the outside and so the master is sending his servant beyond the city, beyond the roads to the fields to say there’s still room at the feast. Those outside are urged to come because such grace seems too good to be true to these people. I wonder if you might feel that way.
(21:28 – 22:36)
Do you ever feel like you’re on the outside? Too distant from God for the invitation to really include you? Maybe past experience with Christians or church has left you feeling that you are not good enough. But the truth is we’re all in the same place before God, all in need of his grace. No one stands righteous on their own.
Yet God does not affirm our wrong and sinful behaviours. Instead he calls us to himself to forgive us and to transform us. There’s room for all of us.
That was Jesus’ way. He consistently reached out to those who are far from God. He met them.
He spoke with them. He ate with them. Yet he still called them to repent and believe.
And wherever he went he showed that compassion for both physical and spiritual needs. Yet not everyone responded. Yet the invitation was always extended.
(22:38 – 24:25)
He didn’t hold out so much for those who thought they were righteous though, who had other priorities. He particularly focused on those who knew they needed him. And so the invitation still stands.
Whatever our past or present may be, God calls us into his feast. We are invited and there is room. The question is whether we will come or perhaps do you find yourself offering reasons to decline, to stay away.
Perhaps these kind of thoughts sound familiar to you. Not now but later. When life is less busy.
When I finish school. I’m too young. When I’m done studying.
When I’m settled in a job. When I have more time. When I’m retired.
When I need God. I’m too old now. Later.
Not today. Reminds me of a story I heard when I was growing up, of a young boy who saw a bike in the shop window. The sign read, today you pay, tomorrow you get it for free.
All excited he returned home expecting the next day to get the bike at no cost. But the owner asked for a hundred pound. Confused the boy protested and points to the sign and the owner replied, read it again.
(24:26 – 24:35)
Today you pay, tomorrow it’s free. You see the boy had missed the point. Tomorrow never comes.
(24:37 – 28:07)
You see Jesus is giving a warning in this story. The invitation is only valid for so long. The warning is to all who are invited but who reject the invitation for whatever reason that may be.
He says quite quite bluntly in verse 24, I tell you not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet. The bogus excuses by those initially invited reminds us that there can be a real difficulty for those who are caught up with the things of life. The Bible speaks into this reality.
We can be so taken over by life, by living, by earning, by parenting, by relationships, eating, clothing, security and so on that we can simply miss out. Another challenge is that when we surround ourselves with life and with living that we’re satisfied with and we’re engaged in and we’re fulfilled by. So business and work and career, learning and education, property, finance, investments, friendships, family, they provide enough for us.
Friendships and family but we simply don’t believe we need anything from God. Our lives are busy and full of things that take us away from God. Not necessarily wrong in themselves but where the problem is when they become the most important and they replace God.
Yet the invitation to God’s kingdom is truly only seen by those whose eyes are open to their need. It’s often the case that when material things are taken away, you know, through loss, instability, disappointment, we begin to see how fragile and dissatisfying they really are. It’s often the case that as we lose our business or our work or if something rocks our financial stability or our relationships are affected in some way through breakdown or death even, that when that happens we realise we’ve built our lives on things that just don’t last.
But in their place God offers true hospitality, shelter, refuge, peace, purpose, belonging, forgiveness and lasting security. And only those who see that they really need these things and they cannot find it within themselves or the things that they surround themselves with, only the humble can receive this kind of invitation to know this kind of feast. You know, we don’t read of any excuses offered by those who are poor, lame, crippled, marginalised, outsiders, those who are in the fields.
Perhaps because their lives were so stripped back they were humble and ready to see the invitation for what it was. Perhaps they could really see what was being offered and there was nothing holding them back. You see the psalmist puts it this way, today if you hear God’s voice do not harden your hearts.
(28:08 – 36:34)
Paul the apostle says now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation. Which brings us to the last section, we’re to consider the cost. Look with me down at verse 25.
Large crowds were travelling with Jesus and turning to them he said if anyone comes to me and does not hate mother and father, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower, won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you’ve enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying this person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.
Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king, won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10,000 men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000. If he is not able he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Salt is good but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile, it’s thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. In these final verses of this chapter Jesus is warning again and that whilst the invitation to receive God’s hospitality is free, there is a cost to consider.
Colin spoke about this in our first sermon of their series from Isaiah 55, that the price of entry to this banquet is free. That’s the unbeatable hospitality of the kingdom of God. That God has sent his servant Jesus who bears the sins of the people, pays the price that their sins deserve, dies in their place.
The servant lays down his life and the offer is made to you and me and it’s free at the point of receipt. Jesus has paid for it but there are costs to consider. There’s a personal investment required and Jesus expands that truth in these verses and he says to the disciples, if you’re going to be disciples you must hate your father, mother, spouse, children, even your own life.
This word hate used in this way in the original language really means to love less. Jesus isn’t commanding his followers to literal hatred, he’s simply saying we’re to love God first and if forced to choose then the disciples love for Jesus and his priorities, his purposes, his kingdom is to come first. Jesus said it elsewhere, he said love God and love others.
Our love for God would then influence our love for others. He said to his followers, seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added to you. Jesus is saying we’re to carry our cross and follow him which means that followers of Jesus are on a one-way journey just like those being executed by way of crucifixion with the crowds around them jeering and criticising and hurling insults.
It’s accepting that following Jesus can lead to that kind of rejection and mocking from those around you, that’s a cost to consider. Also we’re to see this discipleship journey as a long-haul endeavour. It’s not a short-term commitment, it’s not a casual decision, it’s not simply for when you feel good and things are going well.
It’s through thick and thin, the ups and downs of living in a limited body and a weak body and even as a sinful person still in a hard and sinful world where bad things happen to us, it’s a spiritual commitment that must be committed to through to the end. Jesus also says it’s something we are to give everything up for. This discipleship involves distancing ourselves from materialistic attachments in the world for the sake of the kingdom of God.
You see following Jesus means counting the cost. It means recognising his authority over business matters, career and work and education and ambitions, that is a real cost. It means submitting our possessions to Jesus, our homes, our finances, talents, even our bodies, yes, to his rule, that is a real cost.
It means yielding our relationships to his lordship, allowing him to shape our choices and priorities in them, that too is a real cost. When it comes to discipleship, following Jesus and all that this means, then it impacts all of our life, our personal devotions and building relationships with God. It influences what we do with our time and our resources and how much we will invest in the kingdom of God here in a church family like Greenview or elsewhere, whether we simply turn up to church to consume or whether we engage and participate and actively serve one another.
It all points to a way of life that indicates we don’t give what’s left over to Jesus. We give it all as we go about business and work and careers and education and accumulate property and wealth and as we live life in and through our relationships. Jesus is not asking for what’s left over and that’s a cost.
The man who spoke out in verse 14, whether he really understood it or meant it, we don’t know, but he was right when he said, blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. God has provided blessing after blessing after blessing. He has poured out the riches of his grace through the giving of his son, Jesus.
Belonging, acceptance, forgiveness, security, cleansing, healing, adoption, all these amazing, amazing gifts and blessings that are ours as we join the invitation to his kingdom. He’s generously lavished his love on us, ultimately in the laying down of Jesus’ life for us. In response, we take up this free invitation to come and follow our saviour Jesus.
Today we can enjoy the ongoing generous hospitality from the father by his spirit with our fellow guests, our church family. Today we can offer that same hospitality to each other to show mercy and care and spiritual encouragement. By that way, we and they, we and you are blessed.
Today we offer that same invitation we’ve accepted to you, to join in with us so that we and you together can be blessed today and eternally. Let’s pray. Father, we do thank you that you are an hospitable God who generously has poured out your love at the riches of your grace and mercy.
(36:35 – 37:14)
Thank you for this great invitation to the feast. Lord, as we receive this invitation, help us to consider the cost, but to take it up, to know that it’s worth it, that what we receive in blessing from you is far, far more than what can be had for a short term here in this time. Help us with these things, we pray.
Encourage us. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
The post Re-orienting Hospitality – Luke 14 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Let’s pray briefly together, Father we ask now that you will open your word to our hearts and that you will open our hearts to your word for we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus and the extension of his great kingdom, Amen. One of the hardest things we face in life is letting go. Parents spend years raising their children only to discover there comes a moment when they have to let them flee the nest and they must release them into adulthood.
Business owners pour hours and years into their lives building companies only to face the challenge at some point of handing over to someone else. Even church leaders who invest their lives in ministry eventually realise and have to accept that they will not be the ones to carry that forward forever and letting go is difficult. It’s difficult because we know our strengths and weaknesses and we make all sorts of allowances for all of that but we’re never quite as confident about those who come after us.
Will they preserve what we’ve built? Will they make wise decisions? Will they share the same convictions? Will they be faithful when we’ve gone? And those questions become even more pressing when the work involved is God’s work and as we come to 1 Chronicles 28 right at the end of this first part of the summary of Israel’s history written by the Chronicler, King David stands at one of the great transition points of his life. He has led Israel through battles, he’s established their kingdom, he’s longed in his heart to build a temple for the Lord yet God has told him he won’t be the one to complete that task. The responsibility for that piece of God’s ongoing work will belong to Solomon and so David must do something that many leaders struggle to do.
He must hand over what he has given his whole life for to the next generation. This chapter isn’t really only a chapter about succession planning. It’s actually a chapter that teaches us the principles of what happens when God’s servants exit stage left and what the writer of Chronicles wants us to see is that the purposes of God are never dependent on one individual no matter how gifted, no matter how godly, no matter how influential, no matter how charismatic, small c, they may be in any of these ways and we are to learn here from Chronicles vital lessons about leadership, faithfulness and confidence not so much in God’s workers but in the God whose work never ends and every generation of believers eventually faces the same question.
How can we intentionally prepare the next generation to advance God’s purposes? So 1 Chronicles 28 teaches us the principles of transition, teaches us what faithful transition looks like and we’re going to see three vital truths as we prepare the next generation to continue the work of God’s kingdom in their lifetime. Truths about God’s purpose, truths about God’s pattern and truths about God’s presence. So let’s look firstly then in verses 1 to 10 about God’s purpose.
The next generation must understand God’s purpose. In verse 1 David gathers together the great and the good of Israel. Did you notice? It’s like a three-line whip.
Tribal leaders, military officers, the housing minister, the agriculture minister and the whole army. And the first thing David does is to share what his plans had been. Notice verse 2. I had desired to build the temple.
Back in chapter 17 David had expressed his concern, we covered that a few weeks ago, that he lived in a palace in luxury while the ark of God was lying in a tent in some back lot somewhere. And his concerns and desires and his plans were fundamentally God-centred and that was commendable within itself. But here’s the point, David’s purpose for God didn’t match up with God’s purpose for David.
And when that happens in a life, as it may have done in yours, there’s only ever going to be one winner, right? And it’s not going to be you. In verse 3 God says no. David you will not build the temple because your hands are stained with blood.
Your work is over David. The kingdom’s been established. The days of war have gone.
The days of peace are coming. You’re not the right man for peaceful dates. The next phase of my purpose for my people doesn’t involve you in a leadership role.
Now, humanly speaking, how’s that landing with David? If that were you, put yourself in that position, how’s that landing with you? Well, there are a number of reactions that we could have to that, not all of them positive. But David’s response is remarkable. However he felt about being sidelined, he doesn’t become a grumpy old man.
Do you notice? There’s no bitterness, no resentment. Instead, in verse 4, he joyfully embraces God’s will. And notice the framework within which he’s able to do that.
It is the framework of God’s sovereignty. Do you notice that in verse 4? The Lord God of Israel chose me. Verse 4 again, he chose Judah.
Verse 4 again, he chose my family. Verse 4 again, he chose me. And then in verse 5, he chose Solomon.
(7:09 – 9:45)
Now, for listening to the text of the Chronicler, the Chronicle wants us to know something that’s going on here, right? He wants us to know that God’s choice matters. He repeats it five times in the text. God’s choice, God’s choice, God’s choice, God’s choice.
David has a strong grasp of God’s sovereignty. God is in control and he isn’t. David is acknowledging that the future of God’s kingdom and God’s work doesn’t depend on him.
It depends on God’s sovereign choice and God’s sovereign purposes, not on his human qualifications or even his godly desires or ambitions. It depends on God’s purpose. He understands that building the kingdom is God’s work, not his work.
And that’s one of the great lessons of the entire book of Chronicles. As the writer has summarised it to show the nation its own history, the Chronicler wants us to know that God’s purpose through future generations will continue just as they have been preserved through past generations. In verses 7 and 8, David reminds the people that it’s their obedience to his word and their relationship with him that will define their future.
Do you notice in those verses? So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord and in the hearing of our God, be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God. So then in verse 9, David turns to Solomon and he speaks directly to his own son. And you Solomon, my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind.
Now notice what David does not do with Solomon. He does not sit him down around the table and discuss strategic issues about the future of the kingdom. He doesn’t focus on leadership techniques.
He doesn’t even talk about things like organisational effectiveness. These things are all good in themselves. David’s focus in preparing his son to take on the work that lies ahead is a focus on God himself.
(9:45 – 10:54)
Do you notice? Acknowledge the God of your father. Because the greatest need of the next generation isn’t innovation. It’s not even relevance or popularity or influence or even church planting within itself or church governance models.
It’s none of these things. The greatest need of the next generation is a genuine knowledge of God. When David says know God to his son, he’s not talking about an academic knowledge.
In Hebrew thought, the Hebrew idea of knowing God is always relational. It’s always experiential. It’s never theoretical.
And David is effectively saying to Solomon, listen son, my relationship with God won’t be of any use to you. A secondhand relationship with God won’t be enough, son. You need to know God for yourself.
(10:58 – 13:03)
You see, I think there’s a great temptation for us to make the mistake that in passing on a spiritual heritage, that will automatically produce spiritual reality. Let me just say that again. There’s a great danger in us thinking that simply passing on a spiritual heritage will automatically produce spiritual reality.
We’ve lived in a nation which has passed on a spiritual heritage for centuries, but where’s the reality? It would be a massive mistake for us to think that and to live like that in our generation. Children do not become Christians and continue as Christians because their parents are believers. And then they take them to church on a Sunday.
I remember a guy once saying to me, because both of my children at that point and at this point in the goodness of God were going on as Christians, what’s the secret of your success to me? Well, clearly he didn’t know me for a start, either as a father or a person. Children do not become Christians and continue as Christians because their parents are believers. It’s important to teach them, of course, but it has to be a firsthand faith, born of God’s sovereign purpose.
New Christians don’t become spiritually mature and go on to persevere in their faith for a lifetime simply by coming to church and sitting here every week. We’ve seen that over our lifetimes, haven’t we? I’ve been 46 years here and if everyone who has come here over those years and sat where you’re sitting now were here tonight, we’d have to open the extension and maybe the car park and a few other places too. Do you see? You don’t go on to spiritual maturity just by sitting here week after week.
(13:04 – 21:02)
New generations must personally know God in an experiential and relational way if his purposes are continued to work through the next generation. So if you’re a Christian parent today or a mentor to a younger believer, remember this. Education’s vital, for sure.
Opportunities matter, absolutely. Encouragement is important, but nothing compares to helping them know God and the greatest inheritance or legacy we can leave the generation behind us isn’t financial security, it’s that spiritual relational reality. That is how God’s work advances.
When one generation intentionally introduces the next generation to the living God and helps them know him, and that’s what David’s doing with Solomon here. So the next generation must follow God’s purpose, but they must also follow God’s pattern. Do you notice that in those rather lengthy verses of great detail and description about what articles had to go in the temple? 11 to 19.
In verse 11, David gives Solomon the plans for the temple and at first glance, these seem like nothing more than an admin job. A list of architectural plans, design specs, and job descriptions for the temple. But behind all this, there’s a profound theology at work.
You see, first up, David is not handing Solomon his own ideas. Verse 19 is crucial here in our understanding of that great long list. All this I have in writing, says David, as the result of the Lord’s hand on me and he enabled me to understand all the details of the plan.
In other words, everything about the temple design and everything about the temple building is God’s design, not David’s design. In other words, God has provided a pattern for this building and Solomon, you need to follow that pattern if you’re going to achieve God’s purposes the way he intended them to be achieved. Now, where have we seen that before in scripture? Well, the construction of the temple echoes the construction of the tabernacle.
When Moses is up Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments in Exodus 25.9, we discover that God says this to him, make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. In other words, the design for worship on earth originates in heaven. The design for worship on earth originates in heaven.
And the same principle applies here. How we worship God and how we do God’s work doesn’t rest on Solomon’s ingenuity. It rests on the pattern that God has provided.
Now, that’s enormously encouraging for us. Enormously encouraging. No generation begins from scratch.
We don’t have to make this up on the back of a fag packet as we go along. We aren’t asked by God to reinvent the wheel. Every generation is building on the evidence of God’s faithfulness in the lives of those who have gone before.
So Solomon inherits all the resources he needs. And if he commits himself wholeheartedly to the Lord, he will find all the plans, all the resources, all the organisation, all the leadership structures, and all the covenant promises that David had received and passed on that these things will enable him as Solomon to do God’s work in his generation. Now, why was it so vital that the details for the building of the temple were passed on accurately and followed perfectly? Why was it so important that the weight was measured out? Did you notice that repeated emphasis on the weight of gold and the weight of gold and the weight of gold and the weight of silver and the weight of gold and the weight of silver? And on it goes.
It’s glorious, this building, right? Its worth is immense, almost incalculable. And that’s because every aspect of the temple, in every detail, like the tabernacle before it, was pointing to something beyond itself, to something greater than itself. It was always anticipating something greater, something glorious.
So if you went into that temple and you saw that glory that we’ll see in part two of our Chronicles series later when we get there in 2 Chronicles, when we see that glory and we see the cloud descend and we see that magnificent edifice shining in gold and silver, we are meant to be in awe not so much of the temple itself but the God who designed it and the one of whom it speaks. Because throughout the Old Testament, God’s presence dwelt among his people in symbols and shadows. And then even though a temple was glorious and shining in gold and silver, it was still a shadow .
Then, in the fullness of time, God sends his Son. John tells us in chapter 1:14 of his Gospel that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word literally means tabernacled among us, built a tabernacle among us, a tent to live in.
Jesus becomes the true temple. He’s the ultimate place where God lives on planet earth. He’s the ultimate place where God and humanity meet.
He’s the ultimate place of sacrifice. He’s the place where forgiveness is secured, not just for a year but forever. He’s the ultimate place where God’s glory is revealed.
So the temple Solomon would build ultimately points to Christ. So every detail mattered. Now many believers worry about the future of the church.
They fret. Church leaders worry about declining influence. Christian parents worry about their children.
Leaders worry about what’s going to happen to ministry when older people retire and others go home to heaven. But 1 Chronicles 28 reminds us that the future of the church doesn’t depend ultimately on human personalities. It depends on the next generation remaining faithful to the pattern God has provided.
And what does that pattern look like for us? Well, it’s not a pattern that tells us to build a temple. It’s a pattern that teaches us how to build the church. And in 2 Timothy 1.13, Paul tells Timothy what that pattern is.
(21:02 – 21:28)
What you heard from me, he said, keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. We don’t pass on to the next generation a pattern that will build a temple for God to dwell in, but we pass on to them the pattern that will build the church of Jesus Christ where God now dwells in on earth with his people. The pattern of sound teaching, Paul describes it as.
(21:28 – 23:01)
Luke calls it the apostles doctrine in chapter two of Acts. Paul calls it the good deposit in 2 Timothy 1. Peter describes it as everything we need for life and godliness in 2 Peter 1. We’re not at liberty in the church any more than David was to pass on stuff that we make up. We’re not at liberty to do that.
We pass on what Jude describes in verse three of his little letter where he describes gospel truth as the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. The faith that once for all was entrusted to God’s holy people. We pass on what we have received already from God himself.
And where do we find that? We find that in scripture. That pattern will build God’s house. That pattern will build God’s kingdom.
That pattern will build God’s church. Do you see? And then finally the next generation must rely on God’s presence because without God’s presence, the purpose and the pattern are of no significance whatsoever. And so in verse 20 and 21 we reach the climax of the chapter in David’s final words to Solomon when he says in verse 20 there, do you notice it? Be strong and courageous and do the work.
(23:04 – 24:01)
Now at times of transition, strength and courage are often needed, aren’t they? And we’ve seen this before in Israel’s history too. After Moses died, the words that David gives to his son Solomon echo the words that God gave to Joshua when he took over from Moses at another great transition period in Israel’s life when they moved from being wilderness wanderers to conquerors in the land. Listen to this from Joshua 1, 6 and 7 and look for the parallels here.
God to Joshua, be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you.
(24:03 – 25:04)
Now here in Chronicles, another transition is taking place and another generation must take responsibility and David knows what the scale of the task is that Solomon is facing. It’s daunting. David’s been through every detail of it already.
He knows the size of the project. It’s immense. The responsibility seems overwhelming.
So where does David direct his son? Well it’s not firstly to the plans themselves, although they’re going to be important as we’ve seen. It’s not just stick to the process, Solomon. Nor is it the gifted people around him.
That team of people who will support that great enterprise. Where does David direct his son? He directs him to God himself. Do you notice that in verse 20? Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed for the Lord God, even my God is with you.
(25:05 – 25:32)
That phrase changes everything because the presence of God is the ultimate source of courage in the life of his people. Throughout scripture, God’s purpose is advanced through his people, not because they are strong and courageous within themselves. In fact, quite the opposite.
They’re weak according to the manner of this world. They’re feeble. They’re failures.
(25:33 – 25:55)
God’s purpose is advanced through his people, not because of their strength, but because God himself is present with them in their strength, in their weakness. God was with Abraham through his wanderings. God was with Joseph in the prison, in Egypt, in the years of obscurity.
(25:56 – 27:13)
God was with Moses on the backside of the desert for 40 years when he was in training and in Egypt before he ever led the people out of the promised land. And he was with him all the way through that too. God was with Joshua as he entered the promised land only with Caleb as an ally really, because the rest of the generation that had left Egypt didn’t really believe that they could do the job.
But God was with Joshua as he entered the land and as he defeated Jericho and took possession there. Then God was with David as the kingdom was established and Jerusalem was built as the centre. He’s with him here, and now God will be with Solomon.
Do you see? The echo to every generation from God is, as I was with them, so I will be with you. And the Hebrew concept of God’s presence isn’t a passive thing. It’s not like he’s in the next room.
It’s dynamic. It’s living. It implies active intervention and active provision on behalf of that person.
(27:15 – 27:54)
And where is that promise of God’s presence with his people fully realised? Where is that promise realised for us? Well, it’s realised in Emmanuel, the name given to the Lord Jesus at his incarnation, which means God with us. We don’t ask, we don’t need to ask God to be with so and so. We sometimes hear that at prayer meetings, don’t we? Lord, be with so and so.
(27:54 – 30:57)
Think about that for a minute. What are the options that he’s not with them? Would that ever be an option? I know what people mean when we pray that. We really mean, may people have a conscious sense of God’s presence.
Because God is with us. Always. And that, friends, is a foretaste of heaven itself.
Because heaven is heaven. Because we will enjoy a conscious sense of God’s presence with us forever. And the whole of God’s story in history, the whole of Scripture is moving to that glorious reality that we read of in Revelation 21, 3. When we read, God himself will be with them.
And he will be their God. So the next generation doesn’t just need good advice. It needs a conscious awareness of the presence of God.
It needs a reminder that God is with them in their generation. And he will continue to be with them all through their lives, just as he has been with you all through your life. And just as he was with the generations who have gone before us through all of their lives.
And in fact, David’s words in verse 20 are actually echoed in the final commission of the Lord Jesus himself, aren’t they? As he commissions his disciples to continue his work and build his church among the nations and through all generations. What does he say there in Matthew 28, right at the end? All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
So the question this evening isn’t whether a transition to the next generation will come. Oh, it will come, all right, and faster than you think. The question is, are we preparing the next generation faithfully for that transition? Are we intentionally investing in younger believers? Remember the church is only one generation away from forgetting the gospel.
So are we teaching them the truth of the gospel? Are we preparing them to be courageous in our increasingly secular society? Don’t protect your children from the world out there. Teach them to stand. Teach them to be brave.
(30:59 – 32:26)
Teach them not to be cowardly. Teach them to be courageous. And then entrust them with the responsibility to carry that out, confident that the one who began a good work in them will be faithful to complete it, just as he has with you.
David has learned and understood something that every faithful believer eventually has to learn. God’s work will continue without us. We might find that humbling, but it’s vital to acknowledge.
And remember, as we’ve seen from this passage this evening, our confidence is not ultimately in the next generation itself, any more than David’s ultimate confidence was in Solomon himself, because we know that Solomon didn’t exactly make a good job of it all, did he? Teaser trailer for part two. Our confidence is in God himself. It’s his work.
It’s his kingdom. And because his purposes can’t fail, we work faithfully in our generation, and we pass the baton confidently to the next generation, and we entrust the future joyfully to him. So as we finish then, we’ve been enjoying looking at the value of the church in our other series over these weeks at Greenview.
(32:26 – 33:08)
And I thought it might be a good way to end this series in One Chronicles with the last verses of Psalm 48, which we’ve been thinking about in our Thursday evening home groups. As we tie our spring season together and go into the summer, here’s what the Psalm writer says in Psalm 48. And remember, when he’s talking about Zion, he’s talking about the place where God dwells, the holy city, Jerusalem in that day, the church in ours.
Here are these words. Go in faith as you hear them. Walk about Zion.
Have a look at what’s going on. Go around her. Count her towers.
(33:10 – 33:34)
Consider well her ramparts. View her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God forever and ever, and he will be our guide even to the end.
Amen.
The post The Next Generation – 1 Chronicles 28 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Back in Greenview, and thank you so much for giving me an interesting passage to look at. I’ve had great fun digging into it this week. And I’d like to read with you, please turn with me if you have your Bibles, if not just look at the screen, just three very short verses from Hebrews chapter 13.
And the writer writes, guided by the spirit of God, keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who were ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering.
So reads God’s word. Well, God in his great kindness has given every believer a gift. Paul writes to the church, the Romans, and he says we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.
(1:16 – 2:50)
And these gifts are distributed not for our blessing and benefit individually, but for the blessing of others. So if you’ve received a gift, it’s not for your benefit, it’s for the benefit and blessing of others. But it’s also given, of course, for the glory of God, the glory of God.
And Paul writes to the Corinthians, and he says now about the gifts of the spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. There are some folks who say that if you count the gifts that are listed in Scripture, you’ll count maybe 19. Others will say, well, actually there’s 23.
I tend to think there are a few more, because there is what’s known as the gift of helps, and I think that can cover a multitude of things. And one of the gifts, and the gifts we’re focussing on this morning, is the gift of hospitality. One wag said that hospitality is the art of making people feel at home, even if you wish they were.
Well, that’s not actually biblical hospitality. That’s a little bit tongue-in-cheek. But at its core, hospitality is the practise of making folks feel welcomed and cared for.
Making folks feel welcomed and cared for. And while we might not individually feel that we have a special gift of hospitality, the truth is that we are all called to be hospitable. We’re all called to be hospitable.
(2:51 – 4:24)
And Christian hospitality takes the ordinary and commits its resources to extraordinary use. Now we know that God wants to live with us, because he says to us in Leviticus 26, I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.
So God made this world to share a home with us. And we know that Adam and Eve, our great-great-grandparents, who were the first stewards of this, our home, were deceived by Satan. And they disobeyed God.
And as a result, humankind has since that time experienced what we might call spiritual homelessness. And the gospel is wonderfully good news. It’s the news that God comes to us individually and touches our lives, deals with our sin, and then comes to live within us.
How wonderful is that? And if God is living within us, that means that our homes become outposts of God’s kingdom. You’ll have heard the expression, home is where the heart is. And if our heart is for God, well, then we shall have a real concern to engage with this hospitality.
(4:25 – 5:22)
You’ve also heard about, I’m sure, the Westminster Confession. And the first question in the Westminster Confession is, what is the chief end of man? And I’m sure if I asked you to raise your hands, you could all tell me what the chief end of man is, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. But let me use that question as a piggyback and ask you very simply, what is the chief end of your home? What is the chief end of your home? Now, for folks who don’t know Jesus, our homes can become safe places where we can ask questions, places where we can express our doubts without getting jumped upon, places where we might hear the gospel shared with us gently and carefully.
(5:23 – 6:55)
Our homes can become spaces where God tugs hearts towards his glory. In thinking about this topic just the other morning in my chosen time, we call it chosen time rather than quiet time because we choose to have it or not to have it as the case may be, I was reading through Jeremiah and I came across this very interesting passage. And Jeremiah says, does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? That was really expensive home decoration.
Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and the needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the Lord.
As I was thinking about that, I was reminded that it seems to me that the writer is saying that, listen, it’s not about doing, it’s about being. It’s not about performing because we have to. It’s about being Christ’s.
So we look at the world as it were through his eyes. Let me explain what I mean by that. There is around us a general acceptance of religious pluralism which has made many of our Christian witness efforts a little bit less effective.
(6:56 – 8:39)
And Christians are now being judged not by our teaching, not by what we say. They’re being judged by how we live and our lives. Bertrand Russell, that very well-known philosopher, wrote a famous essay entitled Why I’m Not a Christian.
And in this he presented what he believed were irrefutable arguments rejecting Christianity. And what he did was primarily to focus on the lives of Christians he had known or heard of who lived far less than exemplary lives. He wrote, I think there are many good points upon which to deal with Christ, a great deal more than many professing Christians.
I do not know that I can go on, that I can go all the way with him, but I could go with him much further than most professing Christians. The fact that Russell chose only examples that supported his preconceived notions instead of focussing on the truth of God’s word is very sad and he missed out. But is it not true that people won’t care what we know until they know that we care? People won’t care what we know until they know that we care.
You see, people read our lives more than they will read the Bible. That means that you and I might be the only glimpse our neighbours ever get of Jesus. That’s a challenge, isn’t it? I wonder what they see when they look at us.
(8:42 – 9:51)
Maybe that’s why we read in Matthew 5 those lovely verses, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. So let’s just focus in on what the text says. Verse 1, keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.
Now why do you think the writer wrote those words? Could it be because the bonds of love had become just a little bit frayed and maybe folks had become a little weary of one another? Perhaps life for them was very busy and in their busyness maybe there was a little impatience and maybe folks rubbed one another just the wrong way. Brotherly love is the natural outflow of the Christian life. It can’t be generated or manufactured, but it can be nurtured, but equally it can be stifled.
(9:52 – 11:03)
Paul is very direct in Romans 12. He says, be devoted to one another in love, honour one another above yourselves. And why is that important? Well, Jesus said, a new commandment I give you, love one another as I have loved you.
So you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. So God has given those outside the church the right to evaluate us and evaluate the reality of our faith based on the way in which we relate to one another.
So if somebody outside the church comes along and begins to pull your chain and asks you, do you really love that awkward angular person who attends your church? Well, they have the right to do that. And it should bring us to our knees to say, God, would you help me to be all that you desire me to be? 1 John 3, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
(11:03 – 12:01)
I really like the verse that Zach quoted earlier on today, dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. In other words, let there be a real harmony between what we do and what we say. This is really exceedingly important.
Well, the text goes on to say, do not forget to show hospitality to strangers. And we might wonder, why is there teaching here about hospitality? It comes at the end of a very long section of doctrine, and this is practical, but why are they teaching about hospitality? Well, I guess in Jesus’ day, inns were not congenial or healthy places for Christians. One author writes, asking a friend if he could tell him which of the inns had the least fleas.
(12:02 – 13:00)
Now, I’m not sure I’d like to stay in any of them, but which of the inns had the fewest fleas? Added to that, the fact that Christians were persecuted and ostracised both by society at large and even by their own families. Hospitality was really significant and important, particularly in Jesus’ day. But it was also very important in Job’s day.
When Job is kind of giving a defence for his life and character and behaviour, in Job 31, he says something really interesting. He says, no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the Isn’t that interesting that Job should raise that in his defence? How much of a challenge that is to us. Some of us have spare bedrooms.
(13:01 – 18:33)
It’s a really good thing to use them when we can. Love’s care is exhibited when we practise hospitality. We must note something that is both beautiful and convicting.
The word practise means to pursue or to chase, sometimes even meaning a strenuous pursuit. The idea is of a loving believer, not waiting for the stranger to show up on his doorstep, but going out and seeking someone to whom they can show hospitality. Hospitality to strangers reflects the undeserved mercy that we have received from God.
Matthew, Jesus says, freely you have received, freely give. And have we not received from God the most wonderful hospitality? You see, it’s not about doing. It’s about being.
That’s to be our default position. It’s about loving others because we have been loved. It’s an attitude.
We are surrounded by many people who don’t know Jesus. Have you heard of the expression friendship evangelism? It’s a very helpful and useful expression and it’s really powerful as a means of reaching out to people today. Because there are folks who live around us who view church as being something of a hostile environment.
And maybe they come and have one experience and they don’t like it. I can remember in ministry in Finley all those years ago, we came to the conclusion that when we said we’re going to stand and sing, we meant that the musicians were going to play an intro, and at the appropriate time we would sing. But the stranger coming into church hears the word stand and sing, so they stand up and become aware that they’re the only ones standing.
So they’re very ashamed. They go down again while everybody else is standing up. So we thought, well, let’s make it easier for folks.
So we won’t say stand and sing. We’ll just do this [signal by raising hands palm up] so that we can all get up at the same time. There are things that we can do, and perhaps ought to do, to make it easier for folks for whom church is a hostile and a strange environment.
Our homes can be used as a means of reaching folks who don’t go to church. Love expressed through hospitality can provide space for honest conversations. So the verse is challenging us to use our homes regularly.
I remember years ago in ministry, we had a lot of students come into the church, and we regularly used to invite them back to the manse after the evening service. I can remember one evening handing around nibbles, and I got to this guy, and I said, hi. I said, I don’t think I know you.
He said, I’m Richard, and I’m an atheist. I said, well, that’s okay, but it’s just nice to have you. And he came back a month or so later, and again, I was handing around the nibbles, and he said, I’m Richard, and I’m an agnostic.
I said, Richard, that’s real progress. Great to meet you. So glad to have you in our home.
And the next time he came to, he said, I’ve become a Christian. So it was wonderful because a lot of folks were involved in Richard’s life caring for him. He didn’t come to church.
It wasn’t an eloquent preacher that impacted him. It was the practical love of other people. And I look back, and I think of my own experience, because I was brought up in Southern Ireland.
Father was Irish, and mother was English. That makes me a mongrel, I guess. And my background was I was brought up as a Catholic, but when I was about eight, my father had Alzheimer’s.
And it was quite difficult, as you can imagine. We were packed off to boarding school at the age of eight, and we’d come home on holidays and used to look after my father, and that was very difficult. But I can remember one day, I was a bit of an angry young man.
I remember one day after I left school, one of my friends came and said, Mike, you need to become a Christian. And I said, well, I come from Ireland. It’s the island of saints and scholars.
We’re all Christians. I use a knife and fork to eat my peas. And he said, no, no, I mean a real Bible-believing Christian.
So he and his wife put me in their car, and they drove me up into the countryside, and they introduced me a lovely couple, and they said, tell Mike about becoming a Christian, and they left me there. So I was a captive audience. And these folks were very kind.
I knew nothing about them, but they loved me and cared for me, and they gave me a Bible. And they told me that in God’s eyes, I was a sinner. And I thought, who are they to tell me that I’m a sinner? They don’t even know me.
(18:34 – 18:42)
And I began to read the Bible to see if I could find something that would contradict what they were telling me. But it was like reading their telephone directory. I couldn’t understand it.
(18:43 – 19:52)
But they were so consistent in their love and care for me, I found it extraordinary. I used to turn up at their homes at meal times just to see if they would be so kind at inconvenient times as they were at other times. But they were.
And I have to confess to my shame that I even phoned them at midnight one night with a daft question. I wasn’t interested in the answer, but I was interested to see would they still be the same at midnight as they were at more civilised times of the day. I encourage folks, think back to the qualities in the hearts and lives of the people whom God used to touch your lives, and pray that those qualities might be replicated.
And that couple became like my spiritual mom and dad. It was maybe six or seven years before I came to faith after that first contact, but they were so consistent in their love not judgemental, but just caring. And I was so grateful to have spiritual parents like that.
(19:54 – 22:32)
The verse goes on and it says, Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. That’s rather interesting, isn’t it? Showing hospitality to angels without knowing it. I guess what it’s saying is that there are sometimes unexpected, unanticipated blessings that come from our acts of hospitality.
We never know how important and far-reaching a simple act of helpfulness may be. Perhaps that’s why Jesus said, Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose his reward. Isn’t it interesting that a simple act like that is so important to Jesus that he takes note of it? That little act of kindness.
40 something years ago, I had the privilege as a student of going to preach in Africa, in Nigeria. And when I was there, I had the opportunity of attending a conference for SAM missionaries in a place called Myango, which is not far from Joss. And the speaker that year was a man called Stuart Briscoe.
And I really enjoyed his ministry. It impacted me as the Lord spoke to me and told me there was something I needed to do. Fast forward a number of years, and my wife and I had just arrived into a pastorate church in Suffolk, East Anglia.
And we had some lovely friends who were in the FIEC, and we were invited to go to the FIEC conference in Cayster. So Anne and I, we were delighted to be able to go because we’re really busy. And a little break was called for.
And what was even better was that the main speaker at that conference is a guy called Stuart Briscoe. Now some of you will maybe know the name Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Well, we were in one of the sessions when Jill got up, walked up.
Her husband was in the pulpit, and he very graciously gave way. And she just said, look, I want to express that I have a burden in my heart for ministry wives. And I would be so grateful if you would meet me.
And she mentioned the time and mentioned the venue. So my wife said, well, I’m going to go. So I was given the task of looking after our kids, which was great.
(22:32 – 22:54)
And my wife went to hear Jill Briscoe share whatever she was going to share. Well, Jill Briscoe wanted to encourage ministry wives because many of them are really busy. And she told a story about her own ministry life when she was in America with her husband.
(22:56 – 23:53)
Stuart and Jill, having done ministry in Africa, knew a lot of Africans. Easter was coming, and Jill was saying, Lord, we have been so busy. Just give me four days over Easter, please, Lord.
Just no visitors, nothing, just so we can have quality time together. Not long afterwards, they got a letter from an African pastor whose daughter was studying in the States. And the African pastor said that my daughter has nowhere to go at Easter, so I’ve told her to come to you.
And Jill said, oh, no, Lord. Because she knew well enough that it wouldn’t just be one African girl turning up, but it would be several African girls turning up. Anyway, when the doorbell rang, all that Jill could do was to pray, Lord, please don’t let them know that they’re not wanted.
(23:56 – 24:12)
Fast forward a number of years. Judy, Jill’s daughter, had grown up. And Judy and Jill were going to write a book together about what it was like to grow up in a ministry home.
(24:14 – 24:33)
And Jill said to Judy, you write your bit, and I’ll write my bit, and then we’ll exchange, and we’ll make sure there’s no duplication, and we’ll work out where to go from there. And so that’s what happened. And Jill received from Judy the bit that she had written.
(24:34 – 24:49)
And as she sat and read it, she burst into tears. And Judy said, oh, mum, what have I done? What have I said? How have I upset you? I’m so sorry. But it wasn’t that she’d said something that upset her.
(24:50 – 25:20)
She was looking back to the visit of those three, four African young girls. You see, at that particular time, Judy had written that she was wandering away from faith, and beginning to make decisions and choices which would have had very negative impact on her life. But those African girls got alongside her and ministered to her, so her direction in life was changed and brought back to where it should have been.
(25:22 – 25:54)
And here, all those years later, her mother discovered that without being aware of it, maybe, just maybe, they’d entertain some angels unawares. The truth is that we don’t know what God can do with our service for him. We don’t know what God can do with our service for him.
(25:54 – 26:44)
Exercising hospitality is, in truth, a wonderful way of worshipping God. We do it for him, and if we do it for him, it becomes an act of worship, because anything we do for him is, in truth, an act of worship. Do you remember the teaching in Matthew chapter 25 about a coming judgement when Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats? Do you remember that? Do you remember what Jesus says? He says, Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you, since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink.
(26:46 – 28:19)
I was a stranger, and you invited me in. I needed clothes, and you clothed me. I was ill, and you looked after me.
I was in prison, and you came to visit me. Do you remember how the disciples, the crowd, responded, Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you something to eat? When did we give you something to drink? When we were stranger, how come we invited you in? We don’t remember this, God. When did we clothe you? When were you ill that we looked after you? And when were you in prison, and we came to visit you? Remember how Jesus responded? He said, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
Now I’m fairly sure looking around that you all don’t live in 50-room apartments, but you all live somewhere. And I think God is just gently asking us to do what we can and not what we can’t. And it might be a remarkable thing when we get to glory, to discover the splendid thing that God chose to do through an act of kindness.
(28:20 – 28:54)
I have this kind of dream in my mind of what it might be like to be in glory. I don’t, not suggesting it’s accurate, but I know that I’m going to get a new body, and I’m delighted about that because I’m going to be a bit taller. And I don’t know if this new body will have elbows, but the truth is that there we shall be standing in front of the Bema, the judgement seat of Christ, and we shall look and we shall see Jesus and we shall be like him.
(28:56 – 29:39)
And we’ll be so utterly captivated by what we see that our focus will just be on him. When maybe all of a sudden, if we have ribs and if we have elbows, you’ll feel an elbow in your ribs and you will tear your eyes away and there’ll be someone standing beside you. And they’ll say, I’ve just come to thank you.
Why? Because you showed me hospitality and shared Jesus with me. And I just want to introduce you to all the folks I brought with me. Is that a possibility? I think so.
(29:40 – 30:06)
What we do for the least of these, we do for him. Let’s pray together. Father, we bless you and praise you that in very simple, very practical ways, we can worship you by expressing care and love to those around about us.
(30:07 – 30:41)
And we ask, Father, just very gently that in this week that is to come, you would give us each one an opportunity of perhaps having a coffee with somebody or going for a walk with somebody or having somebody in our home for a meal. And we do pray, Father, that your spirit would work using us and our acts of hospitality for the great glory of your marvellous name in which we pray. Amen.
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Let’s turn in our Bible to 1 Chronicles please. 1 Chronicles and if you’re using the Red Bible it’s page 424. 1 Chronicles chapter 21 and we’re going to read through to the start the very first verse of chapter 22.
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.
But Joab replied, may the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My Lord the King, are they not all my Lord’s subjects? Why does my Lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel? The King’s word however overruled Joab. So Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem.
Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who could handle a sword including 470,000 in Judah. But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering because the King’s command was repulsive to him.
This command was also evil in the sight of God. So he punished Israel. Then David said to God, I have sinned greatly by doing this.
(1:44 – 1:57)
Now I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing. The Lord said to Gad, David’s seer, go and tell David, this is what the Lord says.
(1:58 – 6:01)
I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you. So Gad went to David and said to him, this is what the Lord says.
Take your choice. Three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies with their swords overtaking you or three days of the sword of the Lord, days of plague in the land with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel. Now then decide how I should answer the one who sent me.
David said to Gad, I’m in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into human hands. So the Lord sent a plague on Israel and 70,000 men of Israel fell dead and God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem.
But as the angel was doing so, the Lord saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people, enough, withdraw your hand. The angel of the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth with a drawn sword in his hand, extending over Jerusalem.
Then David and the elders clothed in sackcloth fell facedown. David said to God, was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I the shepherd have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep.
What have they done? Lord, my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people. Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the Lord.
While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel. His four sons who were with him hid themselves. Then David approached and when Araunah looked and saw him, he left the threshing floor and bowed down before David with his face to the ground.
David said to him, let me have the site of your threshing floor so that I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price. Araunah said to David, take it.
Let my Lord the King do whatever pleases him. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all this.
But King David replied to Araunah, no, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing. So David paid Araunah 600 shekels of gold for the site.
David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. Then the Lord spoke to the angel and he put his sword back into its sheath.
At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to enquire of God because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
(6:02 – 7:47)
Then David said, the house of the Lord God is to be here and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel. This is God’s word. Something we’re going to see lots of in the now underway World Cup is video action replay or as it’s sometimes called VAR.
Many football fans dislike it, but the idea when it’s working at its best is to give the referee a different angle on the action. So from his angle, the referee hasn’t spotted a foul. And then they call him over to the monitor and they show him another point of view.
And from the other point of view, he sees a shirt being pulled. It’s the same game, the same incidents, but a more complete picture is given when you see things from a different angle. And I think that might be a helpful way to think of First Chronicles.
First Chronicles is largely a replay of the book of Second Samuel. But while First Chronicles replays many of the same events and many of the same people, it comes from a very different angle. For example, the census in First Chronicles 21, this one we’ve just read is also recorded in Second Samuel 24.
(7:48 – 9:43)
And yet the angle is totally different. In Samuel, it says that the anger of the Lord burned against Israel and he, that’s the Lord, incited David to take the census. But in First Chronicles, speaking of the same incident, we’re told that Satan rose up against Israel and Satan incited David to take a census.
A casual reader could look at these two accounts and imagine that they are totally contradictory. But in truth, they are complementary. They are different angles on the same thing happening, observing the involvements of different individuals, different players, if you like.
So on the one hand, Israel had sinned and the Lord responded to that sin by bringing judgement. And in Samuel’s emphasis, it is God who permits the events of Satan’s tempting so that David will then do a foolish thing. And on the other hand, seeing it from another angle, the more immediate cause of David’s temptation was Satan himself.
And so one commentator writes, the sinful designs of Satan and David were used by the Lord as agents of his wrath. David was responsible, Satan was active, but God was sovereign. But in Chronicles, we are being shown the Satan angle.
(9:44 – 11:37)
And it’s all the more impactful when you realise that David at this moment in chapter 21, he has just subdued his earthly enemies. In chapters 18 to 20, in one battle after another, David and his army have defeated every other foe. From the Philistines to the Ammonites, all comers have been put to the sword.
Yet without a physical enemy now in the horizon, a spiritual enemy is hatching a devilish scheme. In a way that isn’t fully explained, Satan prompts David with the alluring suggestion of taking up a census. And contrary to the caricatured idea of having a devil on your shoulder, and it’s really obvious when you receive a devilish thought, actually Satan is much more subtle than that.
I doubt that David thought that Satan was prompting him with this idea. I was reminded of one of the darkest characters in the Lord of the Rings books, Sauroman. And I’m almost sure when I read Sauroman in that series of books, that Tolkien is basing Sauroman on the character of Satan.
One of the characteristics of Sauroman is the persuasive way he speaks. Tolkien says this in one place, suddenly another voice spoke low and melodious. It’s very sound an enchantment.
(11:38 – 13:37)
All that it said seemed wise and reasonable. Brothers and sisters, that is normally the way that Satan tempts us. It’s not that the room goes dark and suddenly it’s as if we’re in a horror movie.
It’s often more like a reassuring friend putting their arm around your shoulder and saying, I think that kind of behaviour, I think that decision you’re making is actually reasonable and justifiable. In fact, it might even be a good thing for you to make that choice. Satan is the master of suggesting that our sins are reasonable.
That’s what happens here when David is incited to take the census. But you might be asking, well, what was so wrong with this census? Why was it a bad thing to count people? Isn’t this what governments do sometimes? And isn’t it the case actually that in the Jewish law, there was provision for counting people in censuses as long as you followed certain stipulations. Sometimes censuses were allowed.
It is clear from Joab’s response and from God’s statement in verse seven that this census was evil. The difficulty is that the Bible doesn’t tell us why it was evil, neither here or in Samuel. We do know that this particular census was counting up military men, probably counting up all the possible conscripts, fit and able men that could have fought.
(13:38 – 15:06)
And so it could be the case that David’s sin had something to do with relying on his military power. Because if you think about it, it’s a strange thing to do at this point. David has just swept away all of his immediate circle of enemies.
And yet at this very point, David wants to assess the maximum strength of his army as if the strength of his army is the reason that he’s so victorious. Well, whether it was for that reason, his kind of pride in his own resources, or whether for some other reason, David’s right-hand man, Joab, warns him that this is foolish. If David insists on carrying this out, guilt will fall on the nation.
But David doubles down and Joab reluctantly obeys. And Joab travels up and down the land and he counts up the number. It must have taken him quite a long time.
And yet Joab is so repulsed at what he is doing that he doesn’t even fully complete the job. But when the results came in, David must have been ecstatic. His potential forces were huge.
(15:07 – 16:41)
It seemed that he had a sizable earthly army to fight any foe. I wonder if we sometimes fall into the same mistake of putting too much confidence in what is visible and tangible, and what seems to be part of our own strength. In our personal lives, for example, do we feel secure because of maybe the amount of money in our bank account, or maybe because of the resume we have? If something happens to our job, we’ll get something else because we’re very capable, very employable.
Or in church, do we feel a sense of security because of reasonably good numbers on a Sunday morning? Or maybe numbers in the church’s bank account? Or perhaps we look around and we see the gifts and abilities of people in the church. Or maybe it’s ourselves. Maybe we look at our own experience.
We’ve got a lot of experience as a Christian. Maybe a lot of experience in ministry. We’re going to do okay because we’ve got experience.
Maybe because of the number of books that we’ve read, the amount of theology that we know. And we can easily fall into the trap of relying on those things rather than relying on God. And so we’re relying upon our resources, not relying upon prayer.
(16:43 – 17:59)
We’re depending on the host of our armies rather than on the Lord of hosts. Well, David was at the height of his power trip, and he’s about to come down with a bang. A prophet named Gad appears.
He brings this terrifying message from the Lord. The king is given three options, three possible punishments. And in each of these three punishments, there’s a three involved.
So it will either be three years of famine, three months of military defeat, or three days of plague. There is no option not to be punished, but there is an option for David to decide. David, he doesn’t want to fall into the hands of human enemies.
But beyond that, he leaves the ultimate decision to the Lord. And so verse 14, a plague is chosen, and it’s an Exodus-like plague. In fact, if you’ve read the story of Exodus, particularly chapter 12 of that book, you’ll see so many echoes here.
(17:59 – 19:00)
On that night long ago, when an angel of the Lord went through Egypt, bringing a plague of death on the Egyptians. This time, an angel of the Lord carries out the same judgement, but this time among his own people. And 70,000 men, perhaps reflecting the fact David had counted the men, fall to a biological plague.
It’s a kind of interesting dynamic we’ve got to note here. There’s a kind of a physical, biological reality. People are dying of a plague.
That’s the physical reality. But behind that, as you draw the curtain back, it’s an angel of the Lord who, if you like, is swinging the sword and taking life here. Now, I think it’s probably important to pause for a moment and acknowledge as we read this, that lots of people read this and they struggle.
(19:02 – 19:57)
Isn’t this an over-the-top response or maybe an unfair response in terms of who is punished? Because David was the king, he ordered the census, the people sort of needed to go along with it, and yet 70,000 of them died for David’s choice. A couple of points that might be helpful here. The first one is that even in the text, David voices this difficulty.
David feels this tension. Look at verse 17. He knows that his decision has brought judgement on the whole nation, and he pleads with God to redirect the punishment from the people to him, the shepherd.
(19:58 – 20:30)
That doesn’t resolve the tension, but it does tell us that David felt it too. But the other point to make, which I find really helpful, is that this is not the only angle on the story. Again, we need to go to the monitor and have a look over in 2 Samuel, and when we check the monitor, what Samuel gives us is some additional information not mentioned in Chronicles, and David may not have been aware of this information.
(20:32 – 20:59)
What Samuel says is that the Lord was punishing Israel for her sin. In other words, there were already patterns of national guilt, which had already happened before Joab turns up with the clipboard. And so it is not as simple as saying that these people were innocent, as it appears to David.
(20:59 – 21:14)
They’re not innocent. The reason, in fact, this is happening is because God is punishing past sin. Well, David is aware of his part, and he takes responsibility immediately.
(21:16 – 21:59)
David is not a model of righteousness in this passage, but he is a model of repentance. He shows us how to confess our sin immediately, honestly, and hopefully. So he confesses immediately.
He holds his hands up straightaway, verse 8, and he confesses honestly. Unlike so many people who fail today, he isn’t defensive, and he doesn’t play down what he’s done. He says, I have sinned greatly by doing this.
(22:00 – 24:18)
I have done a very foolish thing. I was chatting to a woman this week from another church, and we ended up talking about blind spots in the church in the UK, and it’s always interesting to hear someone else’s perspective. And this woman said to me, she said, I think one of the biggest blind spots in the UK church is a lack of consciousness about sin, or at least the admission of it, particularly among middle-class Christian people.
I couldn’t really disagree with her. I see it too often in my own life. As elders, as ministry leaders, as husbands, wives, as parents, as colleagues at work, are we quick and honest in holding up our hands when we get things wrong and we sin? Do people around us get the impression that we just don’t think we ever sin? Because we never seem to take responsibility for anything.
We never seem to say so, pray so, act so. The irony of it is that as believers in God’s mercy, we don’t need to be afraid of confessing our faults, do we? That’s the third aspect, isn’t it? We can confess hopefully with the hope of David in verse 13, let me fall into the hands of the Lord for his mercy is very great. Even as judgement is falling on the nation in this kind of horrible way, David still believes that the mercy of God is very great.
And the first glimpse of this comes in verse 15. The Lord sends an angel to destroy Jerusalem, the capital city, the city of God. And as the angel was doing so, the Lord saw it and relented concerning that disaster.
(24:19 – 25:21)
Notice, it was not David’s confession of sin that caused the Lord to relent. It was the Lord’s compassion that caused him to relent. The Lord saw.
And when he saw the judgement unfolded, God said to the angel, enough, withdraw your hand, that hand of death. And really interestingly, we are told exactly where this happened. Now, it’s not obvious why we’re being told this immediately, but we are given the precise location where the Lord said to the angel, enough.
Verse 15, it was said at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Now, who were the Jebusites? The Jebusites were the people who David conquered in order to take control of Jerusalem. They were the original inhabitants of Jerusalem.
(25:21 – 26:16)
So, David conquers the Jebusites, but after he takes the city, some of the Jebusites are still living in Jerusalem, like Araunah. And not only that, but this man, Araunah, he actually owns a prime piece of land near by Jerusalem. The land was located on the top of the hill where Jerusalem was built.
Most people reckon that Jerusalem was initially built on the lower part of the slope of Mount Zion, because that was nearer to the water source at the bottom of the hill. But at the very top of the hill, probably just a stone’s throw away from the city wall, was a piece of land owned by Arunah. And this piece of land contained a threshing floor.
(26:17 – 26:54)
Threshing floors were large pieces of, or were flat pieces of land that farmers used, and they were always built on the top of a hill so that the wind would blow away the chaff, and it was used for winnowing wheat. And the angel of the Lord has reached this threshing floor. 2 Samuel makes it clear that the angel had been travelling through the land.
So, the angel’s been going through the land, and people have been dying. And now, the angel finally arrives at Jerusalem itself, at Araunah’s threshing floor. Now, Araunah’s threshing floor is not a target itself.
(26:56 – 28:19)
It’s a bit like the angel’s staging ground as it prepares to attack Jerusalem. So, the angel’s at the top of the hill, at the threshing floor, about to attack the city. And Araunah’s poor little sons are there, and they see this mighty angel of the Lord, and they run for cover.
But at this very moment, verse 16, David approaches from the city. And along with him, some elders, some of the leaders of the Jewish people, and they’re all wearing sackcloth, which is the clothing of mourners. And David then leads the confession of sin, with his face bowed down to the dirt.
David is the shepherd who has sinned. The people are the sheep who have followed in his folly. But David says, Lord, wouldn’t you let your hand of judgement fall on me and my family, and not on these people? There’s something Jesus-like about that, isn’t there? Yes, Jesus was not a sinful shepherd like David, but there’s a similarity in this selfless desire to take the punishment upon himself alone.
(28:21 – 31:13)
On the cross of Calvary, Jesus takes the punishment that his wayward sheep deserve. But actually, what David proposes doesn’t come to reality. David suggests he should die, but the Lord says, I have another idea.
And he commands him through the prophet to go up to the threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord. But in order to do this, David needs to buy this private land. So he negotiates with Araunah, who makes things incredibly easy for him.
And this is how you can tell that David was not a Scotsman, because when Araunah offers him the land as a freebie, David refuses it. And he replies in what is a now famous statement, shall I sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing? The cost of our salvation is not cheap. The cost of giving our lives to God as living sacrifices is not cheap.
It costs us something. It’s meant to cost us. The worship that we bring to God, not just on a Sunday, but in our lives, is meant to cost us in terms of effort and obedience.
If it doesn’t, is it really worth anything? So David buys the land at a huge price, and then he hurries to build an altar, and then he sacrifices burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. These were offerings to atone for sin and to bring the people back into fellowship with God. One of the striking things about this and Chronicles is that David is acting in ways that are very priestly.
David’s a king. He’s not a priest. And if you know anything about the Old Testament law, you will realise that kingship and priesthood are normally divided areas.
The king’s not a priest, and the priest’s not a king. And if you’re a priest or a king, you have to stay in your own lane. And yet again and again in Chronicles, in this final book in the Jewish Bible, just on the verge of Matthew’s gospel, if you’re reading it in the Jewish Bible, in this final book, the king is doing increasingly priestly things.
(31:15 – 31:32)
In chapter 15, David brings the ark to Jerusalem. In the same chapter, he wears priest wear, fine linen, and a golden ephod. In chapter 16, he makes sacrifices for the people.
(31:33 – 33:02)
In the same chapter, he organises the Levites and the temple servants as if he’s running the temple. In the same chapter, he leads the people in prayer to which the people say, amen, and praise the Lord. And in chapter 17, it is David who is concerned.
He’s a king, but he’s concerned that the temple is rebuilt. As we near the final curtain of the Old Testament, the roles of priest and king are converging into one person. And of course, when we get to the New Testament, it’s a very short step to Jesus who is both priest and king, which is one of the big arguments of the book of Hebrews.
David, in a preview of Jesus, is the king who makes sacrifices of atonement successfully. Notice that after the sacrifices have been made, it is only then that the angel who has withdrawn the sword, I think the withdrawing is a pausing of judgement, now finally puts the sword back into his sheath, which means there will be no more, no future judgement. Because only a sacrifice of atonement can deal with the judgement on sin.
(33:02 – 34:08)
The Lord answered David there on the threshing floor of Araunah. And I love how this story works because even by this point, right, and we’re almost all the way through, we’re still not quite sure what the punchline of this story is. I mean, is this story just here to teach us about a bad incident and the importance of confessing sin? No, the punchline of the story comes at the very end.
Verse 29 explains that at that time, the tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering were both at the high place in Gibeon. So the ark, remember the sacred box, the most sacred object in the tabernacle, it was in Jerusalem, David had brought it there, but the tabernacle, the portable tent, the temple, if you like, and the altar of sacrifice for that tabernacle, they weren’t in Jerusalem. They were at this time located in a place called Gibeon.
(34:09 – 37:37)
Why are we being told this? What this is telling us is that God’s meeting place had not yet been rehoused in Jerusalem. The ark was there, but the tabernacle wasn’t, the altar wasn’t. And why has it not been moved there yet? Because there wasn’t a place to put the house of the Lord.
And so verse 30, massive downside of this, David could not go before the tabernacle to enquire things of the Lord because there wasn’t a fully functioning meeting place with a properly functioning sacrificial system. And now the punchline finally comes. Chapter 22 verse 1, David says, the house of the Lord is to be here and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.
You can only assume that David has been looking and praying for an appropriate site for the tabernacle, a place where they could make their sacrifices and bring the altar and bring the tent. But through this incident, the Lord has made it clear that this was the right place. What better place could there be than the former threshing floor of Arunah? What better place than the highest point of Jerusalem, the place where sacrifice and prayer had brought God’s judgement to a standstill.
See, this is not just the story of a plague. It’s not just the story of David’s confession. It’s not just giving us some useful tips about how to repent, although it includes those, but this is showing us how they decided where the temple should be.
God decided it at the place where God said enough, at the place where the sacrifice prevailed. That was where the temple had to be. And this points gloriously to Jesus, doesn’t it? The one who is the tabernacle of God and the priest of God.
The one who is the shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. And the one who through the cross leads God to say enough. Withdraw the hand of judgement.
We can have even more confidence than David and the people had as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice. Because the price of this offering, this one great act of Jesus’ worship, this offering of atonement on the cross is one of infinite value. His blood is infinitely priceless and therefore no more payment is required.
And so we can live and confess honestly and hopefully. Even when we succumb to the voice that tells us that our sins are reasonable, even in those moments we can turn to the Lord and we can say the Lord’s mercy is very great.
The post The House will be Here – 1 Chronicles 21–22v1 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Evening folks, good to see you, good to be here as we continue on in First Chronicles. So if you’ve got your Bible handy, please turn to First Chronicles chapter 17. You’ll find that on page 420 of the Church Bibles.
And we’re going to read from verse 1 down to verse 15. So we’re just going to look at the first half of this chapter this evening. let’s hear God’s words. First Chronicles 17 verse 1. After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”
Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you.”
But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying: Go and tell my servant David, this is what the Lord says.
You are not the one to build a house to dwell in, to build me a house to dwell in. I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another.
Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people, why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now then, tell my servant David, this is what the Lord Almighty says. I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I’ve been with you wherever you have gone, and I’ve cut off all your enemies from before you.
Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth, and I will provide a place for my people Israel, and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.
I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you. When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever.
(3:00 – 3:14)
His throne will be established forever. Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation. May God bless to us this reading of his precious and inspired words.
(3:20 – 8:21)
The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it comes to us and it meets us at a whole range of levels. It’s firstly, of course, the grand narrative, the great explanation of everything, why we exist, why we struggle, why we die, but also why we can nonetheless have hope, the story of creation, fall, and redemption. Of course, within that great story are many sub-stories that echo the great story.
In those smaller stories are real men and women experiencing life in the great story, the lived reality of joy, sorrow, sin, death, temptation, pilgrimage, waiting, trusting, and so on. First Chronicles as a book within scripture is no different. It’s part of the great story of God working to recover paradise lost, but it’s also the sub-story of Israel.
Within that great story, the rise and the falls of the nation of Israel, and within Israel are individuals, Moses, Ruth, Saul, David, and God working in them individually. Throughout the Bible, God is working at every level to fill the big hole that we thought of that runs through the world, through the nations, and through every human heart. As we move into chapter 17 this evening, we’re going to see all those layers starting with David himself.
David, of course, as we have observed, is the model king, the greatest of all the kings in Israel’s Old Testament history. He’s the gold standard and the template for all other kings, supremely, of course, in his devotion to God, but he’s also a real human being. David was a man of flesh and blood, made of the same stuff as you and me.
He was a man of like passions. Some of those are vividly highlighted back in 1 and 2 Samuel. Even though in Chronicles, the focus is on the greatness and the best of David, Chronicles isn’t putting all its hopes in David, but rather who David represents and who David points us to.
And so when we come to the start of chapter 17, we see David, who after a very long and turbulent process of conflict and ups and downs, has established his rule in Israel. He’s united the nation under him. He subdued Israel’s enemies, and last week we saw how he brought the ark, symbolising the presence of God, back to the centre of the nation there in that new capital, Jerusalem.
And at the end of chapter 16, verse 43, it kind of sums up where we are after all that activity. It says, then all the people left, each for their own home, and David returned home to bless his family. It’s a wonderful little kind of encapsulation of the feel, the state of the nation at this point.
Everybody’s able to go home, but like Christmas, it’s a picture of peace and rest and blessedness. It’s almost a little mini-fulfilment of those words in Micah 4, where the prophecy is, the promise is, that everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid. And at the start of chapter 17, David is settled in his palace.
But there’s something on his heart, and he wants to share it with Nathan, the prophet. And what’s on his heart is a nagging doubt, I guess, that here he is sitting in his palace of cedar, cedar representing wealth and comfort and luxury. All the while, the ark, which symbolises the presence of God, is down the road in a tent, just doesn’t feel right.
It’s a bit like I’ve booked myself into the Ritz, and my parents are in the travel lodge across the road. So although it’s not spelled out in verses 1 and 2, David’s thinking clearly is, as we’ll see, I should build a permanent, suitably grand building for the ark, for God’s dwelling place. To which Nathan, in verse 2, perhaps somewhat glibly replies, sounds good, you should definitely go ahead and do that.
(8:21 – 10:01)
It’s a good thought, good desire, good plan, what’s not to like? But that night, God speaks in verse 3, go and tell David, you are not the one to do that, verse 4. Now we’ll see as we go on how God will turn this initial rebuff into something much more glorious, but let’s just pause for a moment on God saying no to a good desire, because this was a good desire, it was a noble desire. There’s no real criticism, I think, of David in this passage that he felt that way, would wanted to have done something like that. But what do we make of those situations in life where good desires are met, it seems, with a no from God, especially when, unlike David, we don’t have Nathan the prophet on hand to give us an immediate explanation of why not, or indeed the knowledge that something far better is on the way.
Well, I guess if nothing else, this passage tells us that not getting something doesn’t automatically mean it’s not a good thing for you to desire. Prayers for relationships, for family, for ministry, for health, for work are not bad desires. So don’t think that such longings or ambitions, particularly if God doesn’t seem to be granting them, must in some way be suspect or perhaps a bit selfish.
(10:03 – 10:27)
I’ve been very helped and reassured in this area recently reading a book, A Praying Life by Paul Miller. I never gave you my PowerPoint, did I? After all that, there you go. So it won’t be on the screen, but there’s a book called A Praying Life by Paul Miller, which by way of just a little application I would recommend you might want to get, if that would be of interest to you.
(10:27 – 10:43)
I found it very readable, very helpful. And in that book, Paul Miller notes four things right at the start, always to remember in our lives and in our prayer life. Firstly, God is sovereign.
(10:44 – 10:52)
God is sovereign. He is in control over every detail of my life. Never doubt that’s the case.
(10:53 – 11:03)
Secondly, God is loving. His concern, his heart is always for your good. Never doubt that.
(11:04 – 11:29)
Thirdly, God is wise. So he’s not going to do everything the way we would do it, because he knows better. And fourthly, God is patient.
He’s going to take exactly the right amount of time needed to get it right for us. He’s not going to be rushed. God is sovereign.
(11:30 – 16:41)
God is loving. God is wise. And God is patient.
Obvious points, nothing that we don’t know there, but points that we need to hold together in our prayer lives. It’s like the thought exercise, isn’t it? I’ve done this before, but you think of a time in your life, you look back to a time where you really, really wanted something so desperately, and you prayed and you prayed for it and you didn’t get it. And now years and years later, perhaps decades later, you look back and you say, thank you, Lord, that you didn’t grant that prayer.
I can see how that might not have been the best way forward for me. And looking back at your faithfulness since where I am now, I’m actually glad you didn’t answer that prayer. And then we might think ahead to the future and we think like, if there was a time in the future where I wanted something really desperately, but it wasn’t the best thing for me, it wasn’t going to keep me close to the Lord, would I want God to say no? And I think most Christians, all Christians presumably would say, please say no in that situation if that was going to be the case.
You see, we can cope with the past and the future Nos. It’s the ones now that hurt, but never forget that God is sovereign, God is loving, God is wise, and God is patient. But in his no to David, God wants to bring David into a deeper understanding of his relationship to God.
Now, it’s obvious, I think, from the accounts of David’s life that David, the man, was a man of action. He was brave. He fought lions with his bare hands.
He was skilful, great musician and songwriter. He was charismatic. He drew people to him who were hugely loyal and admired him.
He was visionary. He built Jerusalem. He was a doer.
And as someone devoted to God, he wanted to do things for God. That would have been his nature. So Lord, I’ll build you a house.
Well, you can almost kind of sense the divine smile, can’t you? Thank you, David, but I don’t actually need a house. Verse five, all the years going all the way back to Egypt, it’s not been a problem. If I had wanted such a house, I could have asked for it at any time, verse six.
And again, it’s just a reminder here that there is no neediness with God. He always has been, always will be, always is self-sufficient in himself. We can never add to him or enhance him or heaven forbid, flatter him.
God is just as glorious, just as powerful, just as loving, just as faithful in a tent as in a temple. What matters is his presence, not the wrapper. I can appreciate going to a cathedral on holiday as much as the next person.
You go in and you’re full of admiration for the architecture and the grandeur. We all had that little tingle down our back as we’ve looked up into a vast ornate vaulted roof. But the tingle isn’t God.
He’s not more present in a basilica than he is in a brethren hall. We need the eye of faith to see God, whether in a tent or in a carpenter. As Solomon will later say when he dedicates the later temple building, even the highest heavens can’t contain God.
And of course, as Jesus will later tell the woman at the well, the day was coming when all temples would be redundant. That’s not to say that the subsequent temple that would be built by Solomon was wrong or unimportant. Many ways it made good practical sense to do that, just as a nomadic people needed a portable temple one they could take down and move and set up again later.
So a people established and settled in their own land would be better served by having a permanent building. But the key is that the temple isn’t God’s need, it’s the people’s. So God’s got no neediness, doesn’t need somebody to build him a temple.
But secondly, the word comes to David, it’s nice, David. It’s great that you want to look after me in this way. But of course, David, the reality is I’m the one who looks after you.
(16:42 – 23:03)
Verse seven, who’s always looked after you. From the start, verse seven, when you were just a farmhand, I appointed you. I was the one who sent Samuel to pick out the youngest boy from that family of farmers.
All the battles, all the successes, your fame, the security of my people, verses eight to ten. It’s all my work, David. Remember many years ago, being the home of a relative, they had a very nice large house and somebody in that gathering said to the relative, you’re very lucky to have a house like this.
And they got quite indignant. I’ve worked every day of my life since I was 16. I’ve earned every penny I’ve ever had.
The implication being there’s no luck about this. This house is mine. I earned it.
Now of course, had they been lazy and irresponsible, chances are they probably wouldn’t have had a big house. But of course, there are so many variables in life that people have no control over. The natural abilities they’re born with, their health as life develops, all those random encounters and meetings and opportunities, the economy.
See it wasn’t that David wasn’t godly and brave and skilful, but ultimately that wasn’t a guarantee of a success. There were doubtless other brave godly and skilful men and women who perished in those years. Just a reminder to David and to us that whatever we have, whatever our abilities, whatever our circumstances, be humble.
Very tempting when success comes to let it go to our heads. By that I don’t mean that if you’ve worked hard and been rewarded that there’s not a satisfaction you can take in that. But resist in those situations starting to feel a little bit superior to other people.
Or if it’s Christian success, ministry success, your particular activity, your thing takes off and goes well, to resist that temptation that maybe I’m just a little bit special, a bit extra favoured by God rather than just being humbled and grateful as David will be in his prayer of response. Robert Murray McShane, famous for his ministry in Dundee and the revival there. An interesting story if you read his biography.
He initially, after being kind of ordained down in Annan, went and served for three years in St Peter’s in Dundee. And by all accounts it was a good, solid, albeit fairly standard, unremarkable ministry. And then in 1839 because of poor health, remember this was a man who died ultimately quite young, but because of ill health he was sent on a trip or given the opportunity to go on a trip to Palestine to go and visit some mission outposts there.
But also they thought it would help him to recover with the warmer Mediterranean air. And when he was away, revival broke out in St Peter’s under the pulpit supply of W.C. Burns and few people remember William Burns today. Now when McShane came back, that movement of God continued and because of his writings, his famous Bible reading plan of course, and particularly the biography that was written about him by Andrew Boner, we remember him.
He is still one of these massive church figures today. But I always thought that must have been a difficult moment for Robert Murray McShane. You know you minister away for three years in a church, you go off sick and then revival breaks out under the temp.
But I guess God was maybe making a point. It wasn’t that McShane wasn’t godly, he clearly was. But however godly Robert Murray McShane was, God was not dependent on him to do his work.
Revival hadn’t broken out because McShane had some special powers or William Burns for that matter, but rather God’s work is always God’s work. As the Apostle Paul put it, who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Be humble, be grateful. It’s God who’s looking after us.
Everything in our lives is a gift enabled and given by God. So David, don’t forget these things. But these are reminders rather than rebukes, because God now wants David to see the next stage of God’s provision for him.
And not just for David, but for the nation. Verse 10, David you want to build me a house, but actually I’m going to build you a house. And just to note if it’s not obvious that the word house has a range of meanings.
It’s true both in Hebrew and in English. So sometimes house can mean a physical building, a dwelling place. But other times it can refer to a family or a dynasty, the house of Windsor or the house of Soud.
And it’s in that latter sense that God is speaking about. God is going to build David a royal line of succession. And that takes us on to the next level, to the story of Israel.
God’s promise to David and his provision for Israel is that David’s descendants, verse 11, are going to reign and continue to reign over the nation. The Davidic throne, verse 14, will be established forever. And that’s great news for Israel.
(23:03 – 24:15)
Never again need there be a bloody power struggle as there had been with the house of Saul or civil war. No more switching between rival claimants, stability and permanence, peace and security. And I mean you can’t get a better guarantee than forever.
This is God’s promise, his covenant to David and to the nation. And of course its immediate fulfilment would come with Solomon, David’s immediate successor. Solomon who would take Israel to the very apex of its power and kind of territorial expansion.
Solomon who would build a physical temple for the Ark in Jerusalem. But how quickly after Solomon that forever dynasty starts to lose its shine. It’s assaulted from all sides.
Solomon’s son sees the breakup of the kingdom. The ten tribes in the north break away. So the Davidic throne at this point is just sitting over Judah and little Benjamin.
(24:16 – 25:12)
At other times in that history of Judah, that southern kingdom, the Davidic dynasty seems to hang by a thread. One point the last survivor, the last link in the chain at that point has to be hidden in a storeroom to prevent the line being wiped out. Eventually Jehoiachin, the last king to sit publicly on David’s throne is carted off to Babylon and the dynasty just disappears out of sight.
Not exactly what David and Israel probably imagined when Nathan spoke these words to David on that occasion. I mean you can imagine the awkwardness, can’t you, in the third century BC when the Baal’s witnesses knock on your door. They get out their Bible and they say, now it says in your Bible that David’s throne was going to be established forever.
(25:12 – 25:35)
Don’t we have some Egyptian guy ruling us just now? Well of course one mistake was to think that because I can’t see it, it can’t be. But the other mistake was actually to have too small a view of that promise. Because of course like many biblical promises, that promise has layers within it.
(25:36 – 26:34)
Often, and we know this, there is an immediate fulfilment to biblical promise or prophecy and there’s also a longer term ultimate fulfilment to a promise or prophecy. So Isaiah can prophesy about the destruction of Babylon, the literal city empire of Babylon, which happens of course in the centuries after Isaiah. But the New Testament picks up that prophecy and sees it as referring to the final destruction and overthrow of all worldly godliness, of all the systems that oppose the people of God and want themselves against the Almighty.
So look again at these promises in verses 11 and 13. One of your offspring, I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for me.
(26:34 – 27:27)
I will be his father and he will be my son. Who could this be? Well yes of course in the immediate sense, Solomon. But by the time of 1 Chronicles, never mind today, he’s long gone along with all the others who followed him.
Because of course there is only one descendant of David who could ever really, truly, fully, ultimately, lastingly fulfil this prophecy. Who after that royal line had weaved its way through all the ups and downs of Israel’s history and then it disappeared underground for 400 years. The one who in the time had fully come 28 generations later.
(27:28 – 29:08)
Matthew could sit down and write, this is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David. One of your offspring, Romans chapter 1, the son who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David. I will establish his kingdom.
Revelation 11, and there were loud voices in heaven which said the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign forever and ever. He will build a house for me. Hebrews 3, Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house and we are his house if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
I will be his father and he will be my son. Matthew 17, while he was still speaking a bright cloud covered them and a voice from the cloud said this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.
This is David’s hope. This was Israel’s hope. This is the world’s hope.
This is our hope. A king who will reign in righteousness forever. And because Jesus is that king, God’s covenant with David in 1 Chronicles 17 gives us hope.
(29:11 – 30:54)
Important to think of that, that this idea of Jesus as king is incredibly hopeful. If Jesus was only saviour, and I use the word only advisedly, but if he was only saviour, it would reduce the gospel to really just being a kind of personal thing. It would save me from the consequences of my sins.
It would rescue me from judgement and praise God for that. But if he’s also Lord, if he’s also king, the king whose kingdom will one day fill the earth, that it’s not just my personal rescue, but I can look forward to the end of all evil, all injustice, and all sorrow. To a time when peace and righteousness and justice will cover the earth even as the waters cover the sea.
Look forward to a renewed world. No more crime, no more rotten diseases, no more pain, no more death. Psalm 72, and we’ll finish with these words.
Great prophetic Psalm looking forward to the king of kings. Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.
May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy. May he crush the oppressor.
(30:55 – 31:18)
May he endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon through all generations. May he be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days may the righteous flourish and prosperity abound till the moon is no more.
May God bless these thoughts from his word.
The post Hope’s Covenant – 1 Chronicles 17v1–15 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, it’d be really good if you could open up a Bible to Romans chapter 12, and if you’re using one of the Red Church Bibles, it’s on page 1 1 3 9. So Romans 12, and we’re going to read from verse 9 to verse 13. Romans 12 verse 9 to 13. Love must be sincere.
(0:29 – 0:36)
Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love.
(0:38 – 0:54)
Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
(0:55 – 1:07)
Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality. This is God’s word.
(1:11 – 1:33)
Hospitality is not just a Christian practise, it’s a human practise. In all parts of the world, in many ways, and in many forms, hospitality is a thing. That’s true today, and it was also true in the world in which the New Testament was written.
(1:33 – 2:00)
Outside of the church, when Paul was penning Romans and saying practise hospitality, there was a version of it outside the church. So, for example, there’s a philosopher named Cicero, and Cicero tells a story of two friends. They go to visit a town somewhere, and they both pay their money, and they have an overnight in a hotel.
(2:01 – 2:25)
And the next morning, this is not a nice story, by the way, the next morning, one of the friends wakes up to discover that his friend has been murdered. And then he discovers it’s the innkeeper, the guy running the establishment, has killed him. And that story, I think, reflects the common view of hospitality at that time in terms of hotels.
(2:26 – 2:50)
They were seen as expensive, they were dangerous, and they were immoral places. And so the upshot of that was that most civilised people avoided hotels. If you’ve read the letters of Paul, the Apostle Paul, he sometimes speaks of this thing called letters of recommendation.
(2:50 – 3:15)
If you’ve read Paul, you may remember that. He talks about letters of recommendation. Well, that actually, that wasn’t just a Christian thing, right? Letters of recommendation was a common cultural thing, because what happened was when you travel to another city, and you wanted to avoid one of these awful seedy hotels, you would take a letter from a reputable person, maybe someone like Cicero.
(3:16 – 3:41)
And Cicero would write the letter, he was a well-known man, and he would say, I’m vouching for this person. I’m recommending this stranger to you as a good and proper person. And so letters of recommendation were essentially a safety measure for both the traveller and the host who was welcoming this weird stranger into their home.
(3:42 – 4:13)
Now, as well as this, as well as hospitality being a measure of safety and preservation, of course, people in the ancient world also offered hospitality to people they knew. People, just like today, would invite their friends and family, their neighbours, their work colleagues over for a guest party, dinner parties. But this was governed by snobbery and status.
(4:14 – 4:26)
Let me tell you another little bit of literature from the time. There’s a man named Juvenal. And Juvenal, he writes in the second century a satirical poem about this.
(4:27 – 4:42)
And Juvenal, he speaks in this poem about a wealthy Roman, a wealthy Roman by the name of Vero. And Vero is throwing this big dinner party for all of his fancy friends. And then someone pulls out last minute.
(4:44 – 5:18)
And so Vero’s desperate to fill this place at the table. And so he goes out into the street and he brings in this poor man who’s not got a penny to his name, and he gets the last seat at the table. But rather than treating this poor man like everyone else at the table, Vero gives him mouldy bread, water rather than wine, and eventually he has the man beaten up and thrown out of the party because he reached for some of the finer food.
(5:20 – 5:42)
And so we have other sources that corroborate this. In the ancient world, yes, people did hospitality, but it was often done as a social flex. It was often done in a way where I invited someone of my status over so that we can both revel in how high and wonderful and wealthy we are.
(5:45 – 6:16)
Now, when you think about those examples, you realise that hospitality is not a uniquely Christian thing, and yet there is something distinctive, something different about the way God calls his people to be hospitable. We’re going to see this morning there’s a higher standard that we are being called to, that we are to pursue hospitality out of goodness and love. This is what Paul is saying in Romans chapter 12.
(6:17 – 6:27)
It would be helpful probably just to reopen to there. So two points this morning. Paul is saying, number one, pursue hospitality.
(6:28 – 6:42)
Go after hospitality. The context is, of course, the letter of Romans. It’s a letter that, generally speaking, moves from gospel to godliness.
(6:43 – 7:08)
Chapters 1 to 11, Paul lays out his gospel, what he preaches everywhere. And then from chapter 12 to 16, the section we’re in, he’s speaking of the appropriate response to the gospel, the godly life that God’s people are to live. And you’ll notice in verse 1 of chapter 12, Paul summarises the whole gospel in two words, God’s mercy.
(7:09 – 7:51)
What is the gospel? It is God’s mercy to people who don’t deserve it. And then he goes on to say that in view of God’s mercy, with our eyes fixed upon his mercy, we are then to present our lives, our whole lives, Paul uses the phrase our bodies, but really he’s meaning the totality of who we are, as living sacrifices. He then goes on in verses 3 to 8 to put this in the context of the church because we don’t simply present our lives in an individual way, but we do it as part of the one body of Christ.
(7:52 – 8:26)
And so in light of all this, we then come to verses 9 to 21. And verses 9 to 21, when you first read it, it just looks like a bag full of random independent commands in no particular order. But I think on closer inspection, all that happens in this section is an outflow of verse 9, where believers are told to love sincerely and to cling to what is good.
(8:26 – 8:47)
Everything that follows it is an expression of love and moral goodness. And part of that love and goodness is verse 13. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need and practise hospitality.
(8:48 – 9:11)
So a major response to gospel mercy, an expression of love and goodness as part of the church is to practise hospitality. Now, just for a second, I want to talk about translations here. We read this morning out of the New International Version.
(9:12 – 9:41)
It says, end of verse 13, practise hospitality. If you’re using the English Standard Version, the ESV, it goes for show hospitality. I think my preferred version is actually neither of those, but the Christian Standard Bible, the CSB, it translates it, pursue hospitality.
(9:42 – 9:54)
That’s actually the most literal of the translations. The others adapt it. I think the reason they adapt it is because in English, we don’t tend to speak about pursuing hospitality.
(9:54 – 9:58)
That’s not a phrase we would use. So they go for show it, practise it. These are good translations.
(9:59 – 10:26)
But the word Paul uses means to pursue something. It means to hunt something down. This very same word is used in Philippians 3, where Paul speaks of his old life where he persecuted, it’s translated that way in the NIV, but it’s the same word, where he pursued, he hunted the church of Jesus Christ to throw them into prison.
(10:26 – 10:44)
Well, now Paul says, pursue hospitality. And I think that means that hospitality contains at least two characteristics. It means, number one, that it is arduous and it is active.
(10:45 – 11:12)
There’s a kind of double A to this. So on the one hand, if you are pursuing something, that is an arduous thing, isn’t it? We are to go after hospitality in a way that is inconvenient, tiring, and depleting. If you ever think that hospitality is hard work, then you are correct, because it is.
(11:13 – 11:34)
Now, thankfully, it is also more than that. It brings tremendous amounts of joy and positive outcomes, and it’s a wonderful thing to be the giver of, but it is arduous. And at the same time, if it is pursued, it is also active.
(11:35 – 11:59)
When you pursue something, it does not come to you, you go after it. Some of those examples I shared earlier about hospitality in the Roman world showed that it was often foistered upon people. They did it because they had to, because of safety reasons or maybe shame, because some well-known person was sending a letter and saying, you better put this guy up.
(12:00 – 12:19)
This is something different. The church is called to consider actively how it might reach out to people, seek people out that we might show hospitality to. And all of us are in this.
(12:21 – 12:33)
That’s why I gave you the context. Paul, as we’ve seen, verses three to eight, is writing to the whole church, the body. Hospitality isn’t just for people who have the gift for it.
(12:35 – 12:56)
Hospitality isn’t just something for church leaders, although, just as a little side note, it is a requirement of church leaders. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, elders must be setting an example in hospitality. But the active pursuit is a call for all of us.
(12:59 – 13:11)
How you are hospitable is flexible. That you are hospitable is not. Okay, so let’s go do it.
(13:11 – 13:28)
Amen. It would be a shorter sermon than normal, but I think it could be lacking in a little bit of practicality. Out of the six sermons, this is the one of them that is meant to be the most practical.
(13:28 – 13:48)
But rather than me standing up here and just suggesting what I think would be good examples of pursuing hospitality, I thought it’d be better for the Bible to set the agenda. So what we’re going to do in the second point is think about pursuing hospitality in practise. And this is a question I’m wanting to answer.
(13:48 – 14:09)
How did the New Testament church pursue hospitality? Because Paul doesn’t give us examples here, but we can see from the rest of the New Testament how they perceived the response of this to be. So four ways. Firstly, they used their buildings to bless the church.
(14:10 – 14:28)
They used their buildings to bless the church. Back in the first century, churches did not have separate buildings like this. The gatherings of the church, and remember the church is the people, it’s not a building, it’s not a location.
(14:29 – 14:49)
The members of the church would gather in the homes of members. From what we can tell, it was members who had bigger homes and therefore could accommodate a slightly bigger number of people. Here’s a list of some of the people who hosted churches in the New Testament.
(14:51 – 15:07)
Mary, the mother of John. Mary opened her home in Jerusalem for the prayer meeting. Do you remember the one in Acts where they prayed for the release of Peter in prison? And then Peter comes and knocks on the door and says, your prayer’s been answered.
(15:08 – 15:19)
That was Mary, the mother of John. She hosted the prayer meeting. Priscilla and Aquila, a husband and wife, they also had a church in their home.
(15:20 – 15:34)
I love this one. In Colossians 4, there’s a woman named Nympha. This is not absolutely sure, but because her husband isn’t mentioned, most scholars think she was probably a widow.
(15:34 – 15:46)
Almost certainly she was a single widow, her husband’s not named. And so this widow is opening her home for a church. Philemon had a church in his home.
(15:48 – 16:15)
And a man named Gaius, he was the host of the church in Corinth. For the Church of Christ to grow and flourish in the first century, the homes of the church members were essential. Now, of course, in our day, most churches either rent a building or they own a building like this, and that can be a great blessing.
(16:16 – 16:51)
Historians reckon that the bigger homes of the ancient world only could have hosted between 20 and 40 people, so the church couldn’t really grow that big. In a sense, a church building becomes a kind of neutral home that the whole of the church membership own together, that we all share, and which expands our capacity for hospitality and for outreach. And yet even when churches have a separate building, the homes of church members are still important.
(16:52 – 17:04)
In Greenview, for instance, people use their homes for personal hospitality. They’re used to host our small groups. Our youth fellowship often meets in homes.
(17:05 – 17:47)
Our young adults always meets in homes because they want the food. And so we’ve got all these things that depend upon the homes of the church family, as well as this large home that we’re so blessed to have here that we can use to bless so many others in this church and beyond. So whether it’s here in this building or in the properties that God has stewarded us, we can constantly be asking, how can I use this building, like John Mark’s mother, like Nympha, like Priscilla and Aquila, for the blessing of the church? First area.
(17:48 – 18:06)
Second way. They pursued hospitality by prioritising the vulnerable, prioritising the most vulnerable. Basically, they did the opposite of Vero in the story earlier, where he shamefully treated that vulnerable man.
(18:11 – 18:27)
Christians are to avoid a kind of tit-for-tat, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours sort of mentality. That was how it was done in the first century. You invite me into your home and I’ll invite you into mine, and it will be a good arrangement for both of us.
(18:29 – 19:02)
In Scottish culture, we have our own version of this, where your invite needs to be met with my invite or I’m going to be embarrassed. And where I cannot come into your home without bringing a gift with me. Nikki and I were going to someone’s home a few weeks ago and we were in the car and we already had some flowers and then we had a five-minute chat about whether this was enough, you know, should we stop and buy something else? So I’m guilty of this as much as anyone else.
(19:04 – 19:32)
But we need to be careful here, don’t we? Because that can come from a really good and generous motive. It’s a good thing, isn’t it, to bless one another? But not if it’s a kind of contract we have, not if it’s driven really by selfish motivations of shame and so on, rather than from love. Christians of all people should be able simply to receive a blessing without feeling we always need to contribute something.
(19:33 – 19:49)
So maybe we could actually get in a habit of not taking stuff to one another and simply just blessing one another in that way. Just a thought. In the New Testament, Christians were to show hospitality to the most vulnerable.
(19:50 – 20:17)
In James 2, when the poor man comes into the, remember it was a house church, James says, you are to give him the best seat, the best seat in the home. That was completely counter-cultural in the day that James was writing it. Similarly, in the New Testament, we see hospitality being prioritised among orphans and widows.
(20:18 – 20:40)
You might remember there was a big hoo-ha in Acts 6, a big argument kind of broke out. That was because the church in that day was basically taking food provision to widows who were in need and it wasn’t being fairly distributed. And so there are long-term vulnerabilities that the church has to prioritise.
(20:41 – 21:07)
And also, there can be short-term vulnerabilities that we need to become aware of. I was fascinated this week to note the incident in Acts 16 where Paul and Silas have been in prison. And you remember there’s that miraculous escape, the earthquake and so on, and the Philippian jailer is converted on the spot.
(21:08 – 21:20)
And it’s amazing, that story. The first thing that this newly converted man does is offer hospitality to Paul and Silas. It’s the middle of the night.
(21:21 – 21:43)
They’ve got nowhere to stay, so he invites them into his home. And the text actually says that before the jailer was baptised, right before it, he dealt with Paul and Silas’ wounds and then he got baptised. And Paul and Silas were not, in a typical sense, vulnerable people.
(21:44 – 22:02)
But in that particular circumstance, they were vulnerable people who needed that immediate support. And so there can be situations where people, through a circumstance, become the walking wounded that need the extra care of God’s people. So, questions to think about.
(22:03 – 22:25)
Who are some of the most vulnerable people today? Who could you think of blessing with hospitality that might be a little more of a priority because of their situation? It could be widows or widowers. It could be single people. It could be family living far away from wider family in a different country.
(22:26 – 22:39)
It could be people with additional needs, physically or mentally. And, of course, in our culture, people generally don’t move towards folk like that. It’s just seen as too much hard work.
(22:40 – 22:57)
Are we going to be distinctive in prioritising the care of those people? It could just be someone who’s going through a particularly rough time at the moment. And you think, it would just be really helpful to take them out for a meal or a cup of coffee. New Testament Christians did that.
(22:57 – 23:24)
Thirdly, the early Christians pursued a guest room ministry that advanced the gospel. Because of the dangers of hotels and the like, travelling gospel preachers relied on the hospitality of Christian strangers, people that they’d never met before. Near the end of Romans, Paul gives an example where he’s coming to Rome.
(23:24 – 23:38)
He’s wanting to head on to Spain, actually. And he says in a very kind of nice way, he doesn’t outright say, give me a room, but he says, I want to enjoy a visit with you. And I want you to assist me, please, on my way to Spain.
(23:39 – 24:06)
It’s a polite way of asking for hospitality. But when Paul writes to Philemon, he’s actually much more direct. And he says, Philemon, you will prepare a guest room for me, won’t you? These are just some examples of how the New Testament church, they opened up their guest rooms to enable mission work, church planting, and discipleship.
(24:07 – 24:22)
And the reverse of that was also true. Christians were not to aid and abet false teachers preaching a false gospel. We read of that sort of thing in the letter of 2 John.
(24:23 – 24:38)
Let me just quote from 2 John. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, that’s the truth about Jesus, do not take them into your home and welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
(24:39 – 25:02)
So yes, Christians have to be hospitable, but they have also to be discerning about who they are hospitable to. Most importantly, they must not aid and abet false teachers. This is an important note to sound in a series where we are just widely and rightly encouraging hospitality.
(25:04 – 25:17)
I mean, there’s other places we could also go, like the book of Proverbs that gives us some warning here. God is asking you to be generous. He’s not asking you to be naive in the way you open your home and life to others.
(25:17 – 25:32)
There are also wise considerations within that. We’ve already mentioned the New Testament letters of recommendation. And Paul is saying, or John is saying, there’s a category of people you should never put up.
(25:34 – 26:03)
How does that play out today? Well, do you have a guest room? Not everyone does, but do you? How can you use your guest room for the kingdom of God? In modern day, of course, hotels are nicer, and some people have the means to book an Airbnb. Some prefer to do that. Sometimes we have guest preachers, we offer them to stay up, they say, no, we’ll stay in a hotel.
(26:05 – 26:22)
But a lot of gospel work is made a lot easier because of the blessing of a guest room. Whether that’s putting up a missionary in your home for a short period, for refreshment. Whether it’s taking in a student, or maybe something like a ministry trainee.
(26:24 – 26:40)
Whether it’s assisting someone who is vulnerable for a short period of time, going through some kind of unexpected difficulty. And I know some of you do that. You’re just taking people into your house kind of in an instant because they’ve been kicked out of their own house temporarily.
(26:43 – 27:05)
Advancing the kingdom of God often happens when you give up a guest room. So using our buildings, prioritising the vulnerable, using a guest room to advance the gospel. And then fourthly and finally, using hospitality to reach unbelievers.
(27:05 – 27:20)
Using hospitality to reach unbelievers. Jesus famously ate with tax collectors and sinners. He did hospitality with dirty, rotten scoundrels.
(27:20 – 27:33)
People like us. And there have always been those in the church who think that that’s a bad idea. And that avoiding unbelievers is a kind of virtuous thing.
(27:34 – 27:42)
Just this week I was reading a biography of a guy called Chrysostom. He was a preacher in the fourth century. Amazing preacher.
(27:43 – 28:02)
But in his early Christian life, he had this sort of idea that to please God, he needed to move away from the world. And so he started by giving up his job and he moved into this kind of little monastery house on the edge of town. And he didn’t really go out much.
(28:02 – 28:08)
He just started to live this monastic life. He did that for a few years. And then he decided that wasn’t enough.
(28:09 – 28:24)
So he then moved out of the house in the town and he went into the mountains and into the caves where the really super spiritual Christians were. And he did some good stuff there. He memorised most of the Bible by heart.
(28:24 – 28:39)
So there were some good things that served him well. But after a while, he just realised this is not the call that the Bible is putting on my life. And he moved back into the city and he became a preacher of the gospel and a pastor.
(28:41 – 28:58)
And so we must steer clear of anything of that kind of mentality. Yes, we are not of the world, but we are in the world. And the New Testament church speaks of Christians spending social time with people who are not.
(28:59 – 29:17)
And this happens in two directions. So in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul speaks of an unbeliever coming into the church, which remember in those days was a house church. So the unbeliever is welcomed into the hospitality of the home.
(29:17 – 29:46)
And in that context, as the thing progressed, there would then be a church service and they would witness it. And Paul says that he prays that the unbeliever will when they see the love of the Christian community and when they hear the gospel, that they will say God is really among you. That it will be a conversion experience taking place in the home of these Christians.
(29:47 – 30:06)
And then there’s the flip side to that. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul speaks of believers being invited into the home of an unbeliever. And he says, if an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.
(30:06 – 30:19)
So he says you’re free to go into a non-Christian’s home. But if you do, be a low maintenance guest. And Paul says that for the very same reason.
(30:20 – 31:02)
So that God will be glorified and so that those outside the faith will be reached with mercy. So whether we invite people into our lives or whether they invite us into theirs, whether we invite them into our homes or whether they invite us into theirs, whether we invite people onto our turf or whether we’re invited onto their turf and their comfort zone, hospitality is an opportunity to witness to people without Christian faith. Zach told a story a couple of weeks ago about a woman named Rosaria Butterfield.
(31:03 – 31:15)
She was strongly anti-Christian. She was a leading academic of queer theory. And she was researching basically how horrible Christians were.
(31:15 – 31:30)
She was gonna write up a whole bit of research about it. And she got an email from a Christian pastor, Mr. Smith. And Mr. Smith and his wife said, why don’t you come to our home for a meal and we can chat about all of this.
(31:31 – 31:52)
And she speaks about how she was sitting in the car and her heart was racing and she really didn’t want to go in. But she thought, well, if I’m gonna research these awful people, I’m gonna have to meet with some of them. And she says this, I walked through the unusually thick July humidity to the front door and I knocked.
(31:53 – 32:07)
The threshold of their life was like none other. The threshold to their life brought me to the foot of the cross. Nothing about that night happened in the way I expected.
(32:08 – 32:42)
Not that night or the years after or the hundreds of meals or the long nights of Psalm singing and prayer as other believers from the church and university walked through the door of the house as if no door was there. Nothing prepared me for this openness and truth. Nothing prepared me for the unstoppable gospel and for the love of Jesus made manifest by the daily practises of hospitality undertaken in this one simple Christian home.
(32:43 – 33:08)
Long before I ever walked through the doors of the church, the Smith home was the place where I wrestled with the Bible, with the reality that Jesus is who he says he is. May our homes, may our lives be places where the welcome of Jesus can be seen and heard.
The post Pursue Hospitality – Romans 12v9–13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Evening folks, if you’ve got your Bible handy, it’d be great to turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 15 and you’ll find that in the church Bibles on page 418. I’m going to split our Bible reading tonight. We’re going to read from verse 25 of chapter 15 down to verse 4 of chapter 16 and then we’ll read the Psalm that takes up most of chapter 16 a little bit later.
Let’s hear God’s word, chapter 15, verse 25. So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went up to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with rejoicing, because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed.
Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams horns and trumpets and of cymbals and the playing of lyres and harps.
As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, watched down from a window. When she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart. They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God.
After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. Then he gave them a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman. He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to extol, thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel.” This is the word of God.
(2:27 – 4:18)
Well, last week we were looking in chapter 11 of 1 Chronicles, and we thought a bit about King David and his mighty warriors. We thought of David as God’s appointed and devoted king, reigning with his people, extending God’s kingdom. And we thought about its application to the first readers sometime before the beginning of the New Testament period, guessing say about third century BC, but thereabouts, the application to them, but also to ourselves all these centuries, a millennia later.
And we thought by way of application about the big king-shaped hole that it pointed to. Israel at this point in its history, when 1 Chronicles would have been written and read, was without a God appointed and devoted king. And we thought today that so many in our society today also lack such a figure, such a leader in their lives.
Because although we think of kingship as maybe a bit anachronistic in some ways, okay, we do have a king in the UK, but not a king with a lot of power. The idea of kingship is that leader, that one that we would follow, that we would get behind, that we would give ourselves to. And we thought about in the third century BC and in the 21st century AD, so many people lack that person.
No one worthy, it seems, to get behind, to follow and to give yourself to. No one to shepherd and to care. No one trustworthy with authority in a world that is out of control, where people can’t even govern their own hearts.
(4:19 – 6:46)
No great cause, no future hope, no kingdom worth building. No one who can unite and heal a fractured and divided world. And as we move into further into David’s reign, so remember this is recording the events of David’s reign and of Israel, which would have been, you know, a few hundred years before the time when Chronicles was written.
So this is a kind of retrospective, a looking back even at the time when first Chronicles was written. But as the chronicler takes the people of the third century BC through David’s reign, we come to another potential hole in the nation, to another potential missing piece of that jigsaw. And perhaps we could say in so many people’s lives today.
Whereas last week we thought of the hole being king-shaped, in chapters 13, 15 and 16, the chronicler turns his attention to another feature of Israel’s former glory days, which is also now absent, the Ark of the Covenant. Because there is also, if you’ll excuse us, the ark-shaped hole in the nation. So just to be clear, I’m sure we’re all kind of familiar with this, but just in case, the Ark of the Covenant was a sacred object.
I think there’ll be a picture of what it probably looked like from the description we have in the Bible and also a bit of its contents, which we will come back to. But this was a sacred object, part of the temple or tabernacle furniture. And the tabernacle was just the kind of pre-temple in that when they were in the wilderness, the temple building was a tent because it had to be mobile, had to be able to be taken down, moved and put up again as they journeyed to the promised land.
And then later, of course, in the promised land, a physical or a brick temple was built to house the ark and these other parts of the temple furniture. But the ark was essentially a wooden box overlaid with gold. It had two golden cherubims on its lid and in the ark were placed a number of items.
(6:46 – 7:32)
There were the two tablets that had written on them the Ten Commandments. There was a pot containing some of the manna that had miraculously fallen from heaven to sustain the Israelites in their wilderness journey. And Aaron’s rod was also placed there.
And again, we’ll come back to those. And crucially, the ark sat in the most holy and the innermost part of the tabernacle or the temple. And in doing so, it became the place, in a sense, it became the GPS coordinates where the God of the universe would dwell among his people in an extraordinary way.
(7:32 – 14:54)
The God of heaven making a home among sinful men and women. Quite an amazing thought. And in that sense, the ark became synonymous with God’s presence among his people.
The ark sat in the centre of the tabernacle and the tabernacle or the temple sat at the centre of the people. So in the Exodus journey, as they moved through the wilderness, all the 12 tribes camped round, covering the four points of the compass, round the outside of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was in the middle and they camped in groups of kind of three on each side, according to the points of the compass.
It was the ark that went ahead of them as they crossed the Jordan into the promised land. The Levites had to carry it into the water. The waters dried up and everybody passed by the ark into the promised land.
These were all signs of God being in the midst of his people. Hence, of course, the reason why David at this point wants to get it to Jerusalem, which is the capital, the capital city of God’s people. And such was the connection of the ark and God that speaking of the ark in many ways became a shorthand for speaking about God.
So if you’ve got your Bible there, look back to chapter 13 and verse 3. This is where David initially makes a decision that they should bring the ark up into Jerusalem, into the new capital city of the nation. And he says, let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not enquire of it during the reign of Saul. Now, I don’t think David, when he talks about enquiring of the ark, was imagining talking to, you know, a kind of talking box.
I think he meant of the ark, enquiring of the Lord. It’s like saying, have you asked, in our culture today, somebody might say, a journalist, have you asked 10 Downing Street? Of course, he’s not meaning have you asked a building, he’s meaning have you asked the prime minister. Nevertheless, if you want to find the prime minister, then you go to 10 Downing Street.
But more than that, the ark, the presence of God, symbolising the presence of God among his people in the nation, was also a blood splattered presence. Because that was the object which on the annual day of atonement, the most sacred, I think we can say, day in Israel’s calendar, the one day when even the high priest was allowed to approach the ark and look upon it, on that day he would sprinkle on the ark’s cover blood from sacrificed animals. So as Leviticus puts it, it will be on the screen, in this way he, that’s the high priest, will make atonement for the most holy place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been.
Peace secured in the dwelling place of God through the shedding of blood. But like the king by the third century BC, there was no ark in Israel. Just as the Babylonian invasion and exile had removed the monarchy, so it had plundered the temple.
Its sacred objects had been looted. Nobody knows what happened to the ark, whether people tried to hide it in advance of the Babylonians coming or whether it was stolen. But either way, by the time the exiles returned and built the temple, by the time we get to First Chronicles, it had gone.
It was lost. There was literally an empty space now at the heart of the nation. But what a contrast to go back to First Chronicles chapter 15, to that day when Jerusalem and the nation had rejoiced in the presence of the ark.
Verse 25, where we began our reading this evening. The city heaving with crowds, the procession, the horns, the cymbals, and the shouts. Verse 28, the ark carried by those Levites, weaving its way through the city towards the tabernacle to find its place there.
Chapter 16 and verse 1. Now, of course, if you had read back a little bit in First Chronicles or you know the story, you’ll know that that journey to the tabernacle to Jerusalem hadn’t all been plain sailing. Back in chapter 13, there had been something of a hiccup at the first attempt to move it to the tabernacle. On that occasion, in chapter 13, the ark had been moved on a cart.
And as it trundled along, with some cattle pulling the cart, the cattle stumbled. One of the bystanders, Uzzah, put out his hand to steady the ark, only to be struck down and killed. And of course, the reason for that was, if we didn’t know it by now, the ark was not any old object.
It symbolised the very presence of God, a presence of God that could not be touched by sinful human hands. It was a sacred thing. At the top of the tree of holiness in Israel, it was at the pinnacle in terms of those temple items.
And it wasn’t that this was a terrible kind of act of capriciousness by God. He had given clear instructions about how it could be moved and who could touch it precisely because it was so holy, because of what it did represent. Instructions that on that occasion clearly had been ignored.
Which is a sobering reminder that God’s clear instructions aren’t optional. And to reject God’s ways will sooner or later have consequences. And regarding that episode, that episode with Uzzah being struck down, I think it tells us two things about David.
Firstly, even in 1 Chronicles, remember last week I said in 1 Chronicles we get the very best of David portrayed to us. Even in 1 Chronicles, David is not infallible. He’s a great king, but he’s not a perfect king.
(14:55 – 16:49)
But secondly, and more positively, he is a humble and teachable king. Again, the type of characteristics that made him such a good king. You see that in chapter 15, if you just go back to verse 13, David has learned the lesson.
He says, It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not enquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way. So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.
And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord. David had learned the lesson. No more carts this time.
We’ll do it in God’s way. And again, just a very practical application. How do we respond to failures and indeed discipline in our own lives? Because the question for us this side of heaven is not, will you fail? And it’s not, might you be stung as a result of that failure? But when you do, when those things happen to you, how are you going to respond? David initially in chapter 13, I think it is so authentic, so human back in chapter 13 verses 11 and 12, he initially was angry, furious that his party had been spoiled in this way, that God had pulled the rug out from him.
(16:49 – 18:02)
It would have seemed and kind of humiliated him. And then verse 12, how human is this? He was afraid, but crucially he didn’t go off on a lifetime huff or even worse have a rant against the cart maker. But he clearly reflected.
He was open to better guidance. He recognised the error he changed. He had a teachable and humble heart.
And that folks is the prerequisite of wisdom. It was a difference between David and Saul. Pride and stubbornness is the mark, the Bible says of the fool.
We see so much of that in our society today. We see it in politics writ large as we look around the world, don’t we? Can’t admit a mistake, can’t say sorry, won’t change. But it’s not just in politics, it’s so often in relationships, even sadly in church life.
(18:07 – 19:29)
But Peter, that close companion of Jesus himself comes to us and simply says, God opposes the proud, but he shows favour to the humble. And who knows, maybe even tonight someone here or somebody who will be listening to this is digging in, is doubling down on their error, their failure, their sin. They’re aware they’ve got it wrong, but they keep pushing back against God and his words.
And perhaps they’re feeling the weight of that because that’s never a comfortable place. It’s never a happy place. And they’re feeling angry and afraid.
But listen to the word of God. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
But back to our passage. There are lots of details in these verses that we could expand upon. There’s Michal in verse 29, turning up her nose at David’s exuberance as the ark comes in and David is rejoicing and dancing.
(19:31 – 20:02)
It’s an interesting contrast, isn’t it? It’s quite a chilling contrast, her attitude set against all the celebration and the reality of all the good things that are happening. It says the old Puritans used to say the same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. Even in a day of joy, even in the presence of the king and the ark, some hearts stay cold.
(20:06 – 20:31)
I wonder if we ever feel like that. I wonder if we ever come to church and it just doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel happy.
And we’re tempted to get a bit cynical and to turn up our noses at others. And if you do ever feel like that and it troubles you that you do, then the answer to that is simply to pray. To confess those feelings to God.
(20:33 – 20:43)
It’s not like he doesn’t know. So don’t pretend. Ask God to forgive you for those times when your heart is cold and stony.
(20:45 – 20:59)
Tell him that, you know, you shouldn’t feel like that and you’re sorry that you do. And ask God in his mercy to soften and warm your heart. And here’s the thing, he might just answer that prayer.
(21:03 – 24:27)
And then there is David’s chapter 16 verses 2 to 3, blessing and giving gifts to the people. It’s a wonderful picture that even as we worship, we receive. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not one of those Old Testament monstrosities like Baal or Molech, whose worship took everything from the worshippers, even their children, and gave them nothing.
But as we give ourselves to our God, as we worship our God, he enriches us, he blesses us, he sustains us. Because as we spend time, as we’ve sung those hymns tonight, as we’ve heard those prayers, as we look at God’s words, we are moulded and shaped in Christ-likeness. We are spending time considering those things, as the Apostle Paul puts it, that are lovely and pure and praiseworthy and honourable and good for our souls.
Things that are helped, of course, by the organisation of the Levites to minister in the tabernacle, verses 4 to 6, and then at the very end of chapter 16. Qualified people, skilled people, you see that in verse 22 of chapter 15. Kenaniah, the head Levite, was in charge of the singing.
That was his responsibility because he was skilful at it. Isn’t it good that we have skilful, able, servant-hearted musicians and singers to help us in our worship? Again, it’s just a reminder that biblical worship is not a chaotic, confused, free-for-all. But as Paul again instructs in 1 Corinthians 14, it is something which is decent and ordered, comprehensible and beneficial.
Lots of things we could pick up on in these verses. But back to the ark itself. Because, of course, one of the dangers in Israel’s history when it came to the ark, indeed to any number of sacred objects, was that the ark’s centrality, and indeed its mystique, caused people at times to become quite superstitious about it, treating it as a kind of lucky charm.
Previous generations had made that mistake back at the start of 1 Samuel. At one point, the Israelites got it out and carried it into battle, superstitiously believing that it would guarantee them success, only for them to be thoroughly routed and humiliated. Because God wasn’t confined to the ark.
He wasn’t like a genie in a bottle. Rather, the important thing about the ark was the spiritual truth that it represented. Firstly, God’s desire and commitment to make a home and to dwell among his people.
(24:28 – 24:54)
But following on from that, and this is where we come back to some of the ark’s contents, that the God who dwelt among them was also the God who instructed them. The Ten Commandments there, the ways of life, the protection from sin and evil and destructive patterns of behaviour. The God who dwelt with them, instructed them, but he also was the God who sustained them.
(24:55 – 27:43)
The manna, the provision for their lives, every good gift, everything we have received comes from the hand of God. And he was also the God who shepherded them, Aaron’s rod. So when David commissions Asaph in chapter 16 verse 7 to write a commemorative psalm to mark this great occasion, guess what? Asaph doesn’t write a psalm about the ark, but he writes a psalm praising God.
God’s instructions, God’s provisions, God’s leadership, because to use the title of our sermon tonight, that is the heart of worship. So with those reflections, God’s dwelling, God’s instruction, God’s sustaining, God’s shepherding, let’s read the psalm together. Chapter 16 and verse 8. Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name.
Make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him, tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name.
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles and the judgments he pronounced.
You his servants, the descendants of Israel, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob, he is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant. To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit. When they were but few in number, few indeed and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
He allowed no one to oppress them. For their sake he rebuked kings. Do not touch my anointed ones.
Do my prophets no harm. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Proclaim his salvation day after day.
(27:44 – 27:56)
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. He is to be feared above all gods.
(27:57 – 28:09)
For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendour and majesty are before him. Strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
(28:10 – 29:35)
Ascribe to the Lord all you families of nations. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name.
Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness. Tremble before him all the earth.
The world is established, it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice. Let the earth be glad.
Let them say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Let the sea resound and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant and everything in them.
Let the trees of the forest sing. Let them sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
His love endures forever. Cry out, save us God our saviour. Gather us and deliver us from the nations that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
Praise be to the Lord the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said amen and praise the Lord. See the call of the psalm is not to seek after a box but the Lord himself.
(29:36 – 32:47)
Verse 11, look to the Lord and his strength. Seek his face always. The joy is not about a piece of furniture but the wonders that God has done.
Verse 12, it was God who shepherded them when they, verse 19, were few indeed. It was God who watched over them as they wandered. Verse 20, God who protected them, verses 21 to 22.
But don’t think that God is just some kind of localised deity. No, the God of Israel is to be declared among the nations, verse 24. He is the maker of the heavens to be feared above all, verse 25 and 26.
So ascribe glory and strength to him, verse 28. Worship him, verse 29. Tremble before him.
Let all creation, let every last twig and blade of grass sing for joy for Israel’s God, verse 33, will judge the earth. These are the realities that the ark was a visible reminder of. God with his people, among his people, instructing, providing, and leading.
And for people in the third century BC and for us today, we need that spiritual presence because without it, like them, we’re incomplete. We’re left with an ark-shaped hole in our lives. Now, I’m conscious on week two that the thing-shaped hole metaphor could get a bit confusing and you’ll end up not careful with an image of yourself with multiple cookie-cutter shapes missing from your chest.
So it’s important not to see the missing king and the missing ark as completely different things, but really they’re just different metaphors describing different aspects of the one big thing, which is the rule and presence of God in our lives. Because of course all these Old Testament pictures, the king, the priest, the offerings, the ark, and the list goes on, converge and will find their supreme fulfilment in the New Testament, in Jesus himself. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, for no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ.
They’re all fulfilled in him. It’s that perennial question, is Jesus the lamb or is he the high priest? Is he the door? What is he? Yes, he’s all of those things. As Jesus himself explained in beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.
(32:48 – 33:16)
All of which means, of course, that Jesus is the reality that the ark was only ever a shadow of. He is the presence of God among us. Emmanuel, God with us.
He is the presence that instructs us. My words are spirit and life. Those who build on my life are those wise people building on a rock.
(33:17 – 33:42)
He is the presence that sustains. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness but they’re dead.
But here is the bread that comes down from heaven which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.
(33:42 – 35:26)
He is the presence who shepherds and who laid down his life for the sheep. Jesus, our blood spattered presence. But the blood, of course, is his own.
Our peace secured by his sacrifice. Everything the ark represented is ours in Christ by faith. Many years ago when our children were very little, one of them was off school and Jessica had to go out.
So I said I would work from home at that time. And Jessica went out shutting the door behind her. And there was this terrible wail from the living room.
Mum! Mum! Because they thought she had just gone out and abandoned them, forgotten about them for the day. And I shouted through from the other room, it’s okay I’m here. They didn’t realise I was in the house.
And there was instant relief. The panic was over. Now Christians, we have the same comfort and reassurance wherever we are.
Lo, I’m always with you to the very end of the age. Wherever we have to go this week, whatever we face, whatever guidance or sustenance or shepherding we need, whatever protection, the presence of God are all there, are all ours, are all present in Jesus, a better ark by far. And may God bless these thoughts from his word.
The post The Heart of Worship – 1 Chronicles 15v25–16v43 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Luke’s Gospel, chapter 19. And if you’re using one of the church Bibles, it’s page 1,053. Luke 19, and we’re going to read the first 10 verses.
(0:22 – 0:35)
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
(0:36 – 1:03)
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, come down immediately.
(1:03 – 1:19)
I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, he has gone to be the guest of a sinner.
(1:21 – 1:48)
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, look Lord, here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham.
(1:49 – 2:12)
For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. The bell has rung for lunchtime. The young people shuffle in, they arrive in little clusters into the high school cafeteria.
(2:13 – 2:43)
And you wouldn’t notice it if you were there one day, but if you were there on multiple days, you would observe that they sit at the same tables or at least they sit in the same groups. There is an unwritten seating chart in the high school cafeteria. And as well as the little groups and the little cliques, you may also notice that there is a child sitting all alone.
(2:45 – 2:53)
No one ever wants to sit with them. No one ever wants to eat with them. No one ever wants to associate with them.
(2:56 – 3:21)
Now, what I am describing, I imagine is something we all can relate to. It may be some of our experiences if we’re that age, but it certainly was some of our experiences back in the day. And yet the reality is actually that as we even enter adulthood, not a lot changes in some of these social dynamics.
(3:22 – 3:53)
If you go into any large group of people, you will discover that there are subgroups. And in the dynamics of those groups, there are those who are included and those who are excluded. Now, as we continue our series in hospitality with the help of Luke chapter 19, we’re going to see that Jesus is about to socialise with a man who was pretty much excluded by everyone.
(3:55 – 4:34)
Yet Jesus came into this man’s home, sat down at his table and entered this man’s life. And as Jesus does this, we learn something not only about the nature of salvation itself, but we also secondarily, I think, learn something about how hospitality works and the fact that grace needs to sit at the very heart of a hospitable culture. So if you have a Bible before you, keep it open there at Luke 19.
(4:34 – 4:46)
We’re going to go through the story in three parts this morning. And we’re going to start in verses one to four. The story begins with an unpopular wee man.
(4:48 – 5:02)
I’ve always wanted to include the phrase wee man in a sermon, and I finally achieved it. An unpopular wee man. Glasgow, as you will know, is full of wee men, wee men doing this and that.
(5:03 – 5:14)
And in Jericho, there was a wee man. Now, it’s unusual in the Bible actually for Scripture to point out someone’s physical appearance. It only ever does it if there’s a significance to it.
(5:15 – 5:40)
And it’s going to play a key part in this story. But before we get to the height of this man, we need to, first of all, think about the lowness of his character, the lowness of his personality, because he was an unpopular wee man for very good reason. He was, verse two, a chief tax collector, and he was wealthy.
(5:42 – 5:57)
Tax collectors in the first century were a hated group of people. They were Jews by birth, but they were traitors by profession. They collected taxes for the Roman occupiers.
(5:58 – 6:19)
And so they were seen not only as collaborators with the Romans, but they were also known as cheats into the bargain. They were notorious for overcharging people as they took their taxes. So Zacchaeus is one of them, but even worse, he is the chief of them.
(6:21 – 6:37)
Zacchaeus is the godfather kingpin of Jericho’s tax industry. And it was clearly a lucrative business. I’ll not get into the strategic location of Jericho, but it was a strategic location, a very wealthy place.
(6:38 – 6:50)
But Zacchaeus, because of this, was wealthy. He was hated, yes, but he was loaded. And yet something draws this man to the Lord Jesus.
(6:52 – 6:59)
I’m reading a book at the moment. The title of the book is called Something-ism. Something-ism.
(7:00 – 7:36)
It’s all about a kind of well-known sociological trend that’s been written about and studied. It’s a trend that basically observes that many people, not only people who are religious, but just all sorts of people, including atheists and agnostics as well, many people, even who give religion a hard time, have a lurking, persistent sense that there is something more, something more to the universe, something more than this. Something-ism is what the sociologists have called it.
(7:38 – 8:13)
The author speaks in the book of a friend of his who’s an atheist, and the friend who’s the atheist admitted to him that he lies in bed every night looking up at the ceiling and asking the question, is this it? Here is a man who has lots of material possessions, but something is drawing him. Something is nagging at him. Jesus was passing through Jericho and he wanted to see who Jesus was.
(8:14 – 8:45)
Now, it doesn’t say that he was expecting to have his soul saved that day, just that he was curious for whatever reason to see Jesus. Salvation often begins with curiosity. As you’re searching for something more, you get curious about a Christian friend of yours whose life seems to be dramatically different and more deeply contented.
(8:46 – 9:00)
You get curious about a church that’s local to you and something just draws you in one day. Or you get curious enough perhaps to pick up a Bible and just start reading it. That’s where it starts for this man.
(9:01 – 9:15)
But his problem initially is practical. As he seeks Jesus, he was a wee man. He suffered from vertical limitations and a thronging crowd of people who were blocking his view.
(9:16 – 9:47)
He will not be able to see unless he finds a way, I was gonna say around this, but as it turns out, over this. And so he spots in the distance a sycamore tree, which was a fairly low, the branches were fairly low in this tree and fairly wide, and it was an ideal climbing spot. He runs to the tree, he climbs the tree, which in this culture completely lacked decorum for an adult man.
(9:48 – 10:06)
An adult man would not run and he certainly wouldn’t climb a tree. But there’s an eagerness to this. There’s a, I don’t care what anyone else thinks to this, such is his desire to see Jesus that all of the, what people think, all of the shame becomes irrelevant.
(10:09 – 10:24)
I have an acquaintance down in Liverpool who is a Liverpool fan. And when they won the league last season, he went to the victory parade, the bus parade. You know, hundreds of thousands of people, this bus snaking through Liverpool.
(10:24 – 10:35)
And he showed me pictures on his phone of the parade. And he said, see if you can spot me in this picture. Well, I’m looking at this picture.
(10:35 – 10:44)
There’s hundreds of people in the shot. I couldn’t see him. And then he says, look at the person hanging from the top of that traffic light.
(10:46 – 11:01)
And here’s this 40-something-year-old pastor in a church who’s hanging from the top of the traffic light to get the optimal view of the Liverpool team bus. I said, you’re in your 40s. He said, I wanted the best view.
(11:02 – 11:13)
Well, that was Zacchaeus. And so everything is set for the drama that now unfolds. The unpopular wee man is perched on his branch.
(11:14 – 11:35)
And from the unpopular wee man, we secondly come to an unlikely stop and stay, an unlikely stop and stay, verses five to seven. So Zacchaeus has coordinated things so that Jesus will pass His way. His expectation, I’m assuming, is that Jesus will simply pass by.
(11:36 – 11:59)
Because if you look at verse one, you will see that Jesus was passing through Jericho. It doesn’t seem as if He’s gonna stop anywhere. If Jesus were going to stop in Jericho, it surely would have been at the home of the great or the good, right? Like the mayor of the town or maybe at the house of some religious Pharisee.
(12:00 – 12:31)
But as Jesus reaches this sycamore tree, He stops and He looks up. And I’m sure to the surprise of the man who was perched there, Jesus says, Zacchaeus, we were just singing together, weren’t we? He’s calling us all by name, Zacchaeus. I imagine Zacchaeus was surprised when Jesus knew His name and called Him by name.
(12:33 – 12:46)
Do you know, incidentally, the irony of Zacchaeus’ name? I didn’t. His name, His Hebrew name means righteous or pure. Righteous or pure, that’s what Zacchaeus means.
(12:47 – 13:06)
So when His mum and dad, when they took Him up to name Him at the temple, they said, He’s going to be named little Righteous. He’s going to be named little Purity. May He grow up to be a pure and righteous man.
(13:06 – 13:18)
Well, he had fallen short of his name, hadn’t he? And yet Jesus knows His name. And He calls him by name. And He calls him down.
(13:20 – 13:55)
And then Jesus invites Himself on the spot to Zacchaeus’ house. How forward, I mean, we’re talking about hospitality this series, this is breaking all the decorum, isn’t it? Even today, nevermind in that culture. Jesus doesn’t say, can I come to your house today? Or might I have a meal at your home today? He says, I must stay at your house today.
(13:56 – 14:16)
There’s a divine necessity to this. God has made an appointment with Zacchaeus. One of the dynamics in this story that we mustn’t miss is that not only is Zacchaeus seeking Jesus, but Jesus is seeking Zacchaeus.
(14:18 – 14:37)
It’s an interesting question to ponder, isn’t it? Who is seeking who in this story? Who is seeking who? We might be tempted to say, well, Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus. He’s the one clambering up the tree to see Jesus. But it’s Jesus who then slows and stops.
(14:38 – 14:47)
And it’s Jesus who then calls him down. And it’s then Jesus who invites Himself in. Well, Zacchaeus was looking for Jesus.
(14:47 – 15:13)
He then discovered that Jesus was looking for Zacchaeus. It’s a remarkable realisation, isn’t it? That a seeker of Jesus can come to when they awaken to the fact, maybe slowly or maybe suddenly, that the Jesus they are looking for is already on the hunt for them. Jesus stopped and Jesus said, I’m coming to stay.
(15:15 – 15:27)
To my knowledge, this is the only occasion in the Gospels where Jesus invites Himself to anyone’s home. The only occasion. People invited Him.
(15:27 – 15:50)
This is the only occasion He says, I’m coming to your home. And of all the people to do it to, this unpopular, wee collaborator and cheater. I mean, the reaction of verse seven, when all the people saw this, they began to mutter, He’s gone to be the guest of a sinner.
(15:51 – 16:13)
It’s not all that surprising, is it? This is how people normally react to folk who are perceived to be the lowest of the low. How timely some things are. Over the course of this week, as I’ve had my Bible, if you like, in the one hand, I’ve also had the news app in the other.
(16:14 – 16:47)
And I’m reading, like the rest of you, the news of an ex-party chief who is embezzled over 400,000 pounds. Now, even if I hadn’t read that story, I would have known about it because about seven different people during the week brought it up in conversation. Usually starting with the words, isn’t it terrible that? As collectively, every single person expressed their outrage at this sort of unrighteous behaviour.
(16:49 – 17:13)
I’ve not met a single person who has anything good to say about that particular man that we’ve been hearing of in the news. And yet, as I reflected on it, what I realised was that that guy in the news is this guy in the Bible. Zacchaeus is exactly that guy when you think about it.
(17:14 – 17:35)
A known cheat, universally condemned, utterly written off. And out of all the decent folk in Jericho, Jesus goes for lunch to that guy’s house. You can imagine Jesus’ disciples whispering in his ear, you know, the PR team.
(17:36 – 17:47)
Jesus, this might not be so good for your public image. There’s a scandal to this, you see. There’s an unlikeliness to this stop and stay.
(17:48 – 18:05)
The forgiveness that God extends goes beyond what we think is reasonable. See, here’s the reality. Many of us think that forgiveness is good and well so long as the person receiving forgiveness isn’t too bad.
(18:07 – 18:15)
A little bad is fine. We’re all a little bad. But there’s a line when it comes to some things.
(18:16 – 18:34)
And some people cross over the line and they never deserve to be welcomed back across the line. Yet while all the people were muttering, Jesus went. When all the crowd were angry, Zacchaeus was joyful.
(18:35 – 18:51)
And he welcomed Jesus gladly. And so we go with Jesus and Zacchaeus into the home of Zacchaeus, which is where we’re going to end the incident. And in this home, we’re gonna see a third and final thing.
(18:51 – 19:13)
Really two things together. We’re gonna see an unmistakable change on Zacchaeus’ part and also an unmistakable mission, a mission that Jesus is on. Now, the change is undeniable, isn’t it? The change is signalled in the words of Zacchaeus.
(19:15 – 19:32)
Jesus is now the guest in this sinful man’s home. And we’re actually really not told much about what happened. Were they sitting around a meal? I mean, he must have been sitting or maybe lying at this point, because the text says, verse eight, that at some point, Zacchaeus stood up.
(19:32 – 19:49)
He stands up to make a little speech. And the essence of this little speech Zacchaeus makes is spiritual and personal. How important it is that we notice this.
(19:50 – 20:03)
You know, we’re currently doing this series on hospitality. And we’ve seen so far that God is hospitable. We’ve seen so far that we as his people are given the instruction to be hospitable.
(20:04 – 20:20)
And we’ve seen, haven’t we, that in a sense, hospitality is a good thing in itself. It is a reflection of the hospitable provision of God. This was a good and nice occasion for Zacchaeus to be hosting Jesus.
(20:20 – 20:47)
But what we must learn from this incident is that there are more important matters at play than what did they have for the first course, right? None of that’s mentioned here, even though presumably they had a full day of meals and whatever else they had. None of the hospitality details are mentioned. What is mentioned is the spiritual conversation that took place.
(20:49 – 21:12)
Having presumably been further impressed by Jesus, Zacchaeus stands up and acknowledges Jesus as his Lord. The man who was in charge of the Jericho tax cartel now has a new boss. Zacchaeus is under new management.
(21:13 – 21:39)
And this is demonstrated both inwardly and outwardly. And you say, well, how can you identify an inward change? Well, you can see it, can’t you, in his attitude here, his willingness of heart when he says, I will give away half of my possessions to the poor. Half of his possessions to the poor.
(21:40 – 21:59)
Half of your house, half of whatever’s in your bank account to the poor. There’s a change of heart, a change from greed to generosity. And in addition, the cheating man now puts things right.
(22:01 – 22:27)
All the folk that Zacchaeus had defrauded will be paid back four times the amount. In Jewish law, if you defrauded somebody, depending what kind of stealing it was, you either had to pay back the amount plus a fifth or double the amount or an absolute maximum. Only in one particular case, you had to pay back four times the amount.
(22:28 – 22:41)
Zacchaeus chooses the maximum repayment plan under the Jewish law. So wait a minute, do the numbers here. He’s already giving away half of his money.
(22:42 – 23:02)
And now in addition to that, he is repaying the people he’s defrauded four times over. Now, I don’t know how rich he was, but you wonder how much he had left once he’d given all of this away. But such was the change that God had worked in his heart.
(23:04 – 23:16)
We need to understand what’s happening here. Zacchaeus is not paying for his own forgiveness. He is not buying his way back into God’s good graces.
(23:17 – 23:35)
And the reason we know that is because of verse nine. Jesus doesn’t say, today, Zacchaeus has managed to set up a payment plan. And, you know, in a few months time, he’ll have paid off all the debt and then salvation might come his way.
(23:36 – 23:57)
He says, no, today. Today, before Zacchaeus has actually actioned any of this, salvation has come right now to this house. And verse 10, where Jesus’ unmistakable mission is revealed for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
(23:58 – 24:19)
You see, this is the core of the, this is why he saved. Jesus has sought him and Jesus has saved him because that’s what Jesus does. Jesus seeks sinners, he saves sinners, and then he shapes them and he sanctifies them into new kinds of people.
(24:21 – 24:29)
Zacchaeus turns from greedy to generous. He turns from deceitful to honest. And all because Jesus has brought salvation to his door.
(24:29 – 24:41)
And look at the other changes as well. Verse nine, Zacchaeus moves from being an outsider to an insider. Jesus says, this man too is a son of Abraham.
(24:42 – 24:51)
That was the way of speaking of someone who was a Jew. A Jew was a son of Abraham. Newsflash, nobody thought Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham.
(24:52 – 25:17)
Even though he was born Jewish, they thought that by his behaviour he had made himself an outcast. He needs to forever sit at the wee table in the corner and wallow in how excluded he is. Yet Jesus says, by virtue of encountering me, you can now sit at the table of the children of Abraham.
(25:19 – 25:29)
This is what Jesus does. And this is the pattern of how Jesus operates. Do you see there, that’s what verse 10 is doing.
(25:29 – 26:09)
Verse 10 is going from the particular case of Zacchaeus and it’s saying, this is part of a general concept. The reason salvation has come to Zacchaeus’ house is because the son of man, Jesus, is operating in this way and doing this sort of stuff. You know, if you look up Jesus’ public figure Facebook page or if there was a LinkedIn in his day, that people have always got a thing that they do, there’s a summary of kind of who they are and the job of Jesus, the skill of Jesus, his thing is seeker and saviour of the lost.
(26:10 – 26:22)
That’s Jesus’ thing. If we don’t understand that about Jesus, we’ve not understood Jesus. He is seeking and finding countless lost people.
(26:23 – 26:33)
And of course, we’re all lost without Jesus. We’re all lost. And yet that lostness can look very different depending on who we are.
(26:34 – 26:48)
There’s religious people who are lost and there’s people with no faith who are lost. And there’s people who have nothing who are lost, humanly speaking, and there’s people who have everything. And yet they’re lost.
(26:50 – 27:11)
There’s a film out just now in the cinema about the pop idol, Michael Jackson. And there seems to be a resurgence of documentaries about him. I happened to see a clip of one of his bodyguards towards the end of his life who saw him from the inside.
(27:12 – 27:32)
And he spoke of how in the last years of his life, he lived entirely alone. He said even his own father and brothers had to make an appointment to see him and he didn’t really want to see anybody. The bodyguard said he was one of the most rich and famous people in the world and yet he was lonely and lost.
(27:35 – 27:51)
Being lost is not just the guy down and out on the street or living in prison, going to the Bible study. Being lost can be the person in the nicest house in Newton, Mearns. And yet they know that something is wrong and badly missing.
(27:52 – 28:08)
God sent his son to take our wrongs, our sins upon his shoulders. Jesus traded places with us to endure the consequences that we deserve from a perfectly righteous God. Because here’s the thing about God.
(28:08 – 28:14)
God lives up to his name. God is righteous and good. God does bring his justice.
(28:14 – 28:47)
He will bring his justice one day to a world full of sin. But because Jesus paid it all on the cross, if you acknowledge Jesus as your Lord, if you trust in Jesus as your Saviour, then he will come into your life and he will save you if you welcome him in. It used to be said, maybe somewhat simplistically, you become a Christian by inviting Jesus into your heart.
(28:47 – 29:03)
That was how my cousin said it to me when I was five. Said, how do you become a Christian? Invite Jesus into your heart. We’ve seen this morning, haven’t we, that it is also true that Jesus invites himself into our lives, actually.
(29:05 – 29:44)
But it is also true that Zacchaeus must joyfully welcome Jesus into his life. The most important act of hospitality is opening your heart to Christ so that what Paul later can say becomes true of you, that Christ dwells in your heart through faith. Your curiosity may have brought you here, but Jesus now stops, as it were, by your seat or wherever you are, and he says, I must come into your life.
(29:45 – 30:05)
Have you welcomed him? Have you joyfully brought him behind the front door of who you are? He sorts out your sins. He shapes your behaviours going forward. And then he sets an example, doesn’t he, for his church to follow.
(30:06 – 30:21)
And so just something briefly for the church as we finish. Here’s the problem for us. If by grace you’re sitting at the table already, too often the church has the same attitude as the muttering crowd.
(30:22 – 30:43)
Too often the church grumbles in the same way as the crowd do in verse seven. Too often when everyone else is piling in and damning people to hell, we’re right there with them. Back to that story I mentioned earlier.
(30:43 – 30:57)
I use it because I think it is particularly pointed about that chief of that particular party. Everyone is rightly angry about that. There is a rightful anger about sin, isn’t there? People should be held accountable.
(30:59 – 31:23)
But I wonder if it occurred to us as we were having those chats with people that while sharing a rightful sense of the wrong that we as Christians could bring another angle to that story. We could have said in that conversation, yes, it was awful and corrupt. And it reminded me of a story in the Bible where there was a guy just like that.
(31:25 – 31:48)
And everyone thought he was beyond the pale except Jesus. And yes, he did need to repent and he did need to be shaped to change, but he wasn’t saved by how he changed, but he was saved by Jesus and then he started changing. The one note that the world is often playing in these scenarios is one of judgement.
(31:49 – 32:20)
But we can also strike another note of grace. Christians always have another angle to bring to the story of the lost. And the question is, are we bringing that attitude to people and in our conversations about people? Christians should sound a bit different, shouldn’t we? As those who’ve experienced the grace of God.
(32:22 – 32:34)
We should be full of grace and truth. And that should affect then our assumptions about people. I was chatting, I asked Lucy if I could use this.
(32:35 – 33:03)
I was asking for her help to sort out the mess of my sermon this week. And she was explaining that when she worked with Christian students, they would give out leaflets on campus. And one of the temptations for the Christian students was to avoid certain people, avoid giving the leaflets to certain people because it looked like they wouldn’t be interested because they had piercings and tattoos or maybe they were wearing a certain kind of religious clothing.
(33:04 – 33:22)
And so the students were self-selecting who they thought might receive the leaflet. And they encouraged them not to do that because here’s the thing, the appearances were often very deceptive. And often it was the person with the tattoos and the piercings or the whatever it was who actually was very glad to have a conversation.
(33:25 – 34:19)
This is actually a phenomenally challenging series because it’s not just about the depth of your fridge, it’s about the depth of your love and the extent of your grace and my grace. I guess I’ve barely mentioned this morning really how this works out in practicality, but I think it’s almost self-evident, isn’t it? Because if this is where it starts in our hearts and our attitudes, then it actually starts to play out in practical ways somehow, somewhere. It will surely play out in who we actually spend time with, who we might ask out for a cup of coffee, whose invitation into their home we might accept, not make an excuse to get out of, and who we might invite into our home.
(34:23 – 34:44)
Gospel transformation often comes out of an act of gospel hospitality. If we really get the grace of Jesus, it will start changing the tables we sit at and the people we will invite and say, come and sit down. Let’s pray.
(34:47 – 35:33)
Father, thank you for your Son’s astonishing mercy, His almost scandalous grace that He should stop at the tree of the worst guy in the whole town and say, I’m coming for lunch. Father, help us to have hearts that reflect His, draw us to Him, draw us to fellowship with Him, to faith in Him, if that’s not been our experience yet. And if it has, Lord, then may we reflect Him more and more in our attitudes and in the ways that we live.
(35:34 – 35:36)
And we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.
The post Table of Disruptive Grace – Luke 19v1–10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Thanks, Colin. Evening, folks. If you’ve got your Bible to hand, let’s turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 11, and you’ll find that in the Church Bible on page 414.
Let’s hear God’s words. All Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns.
(0:37 – 1:03)
And the Lord your God said to you, You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler. When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, he made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David king over Israel, as the Lord had promised through Samuel. David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus.
(1:03 – 1:19)
The Jebusites who lived there said to David, You will not get in here. Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, which is the city of David. David had said, Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander-in-chief.
(1:20 – 1:38)
Joab, son of Zeuriah, went up first, and so he received the command. David then took up residence in the fortress, and so it was called the city of David. He built up the city around it, from the terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city.
(1:39 – 1:57)
And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him. These were the chiefs of David’s mighty warriors. They, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend over the whole land, as the Lord has promised.
(1:57 – 2:10)
This is a list of David’s mighty warriors. Jehoshabim, the Hachmanite, was chief of the officers. He raised his spear against 300 men whom he killed in one encounter.
(2:11 – 2:32)
Next to him was Eleazar, son of Dodai, the Ahohite, one of three mighty warriors. He was with David at Pasdamon, when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place where there was a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines, but they took their stand in the middle of the field.
(2:33 – 2:55)
They defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory. Three of the thirty chiefs came down to David to the rock at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephium. At that time, David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.
(2:56 – 3:28)
David longed for water, and said, O that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem. So the three broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gates of Bethlehem, and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it.
Instead, he poured it out to the Lord. God forbid that I should do this, he said. Should I drink the blood of these men who went at the risk of their lives? Because they risked their lives to bring it back, David would not drink it.
(3:29 – 3:43)
Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors. Abishai, the brother of Joab, was chief of the three. He raised his spear against three hundred men whom he killed, and so he became as famous as the three.
(3:44 – 4:01)
He was doubly honoured above the three, and became their commander, even though he was not included among them. Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzil, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors.
(4:02 – 4:16)
He went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. And he struck down an Egyptian who was five cubits tall. Though the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver’s rod in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club.
(4:16 – 4:28)
He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. Such were the exploits of Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. He too was as famous as the three mighty warriors.
(4:29 – 4:46)
He was held in greater honour than any of the thirty, but he was not included among the three, and David put him in charge of his bodyguard. This is the word of God. Let me start with a question.
(4:47 – 5:15)
Is there something missing in your life? Is there a void, a nagging gap, an empty space leaving you feeling a bit incomplete? It’s a big searching question, and of course it’s not just one that preachers ask. It’s a staple point in books and movies, the restless soul. In rom-coms, the missing thing is usually finding Mr. or Mrs. Right.
(5:16 – 5:47)
If you’re old enough, you might remember the 1990s film City Slickers. Billy Crystal plays a man who, on the face of it, has a very successful and full life. He’s got a loving family, a good job, he’s got friends, but he feels dissatisfied, so he goes off on a kind of wild west adventure to find, as one of the characters puts it, that one thing, the missing piece of the jigsaw in his life.
(5:48 – 6:21)
Well, coming back to the context of 1st and 2nd Chronicles, for 3rd century B.C. Israelites or thereabouts, roughly about the time where this book was probably written, people living in very humbled circumstances, they might well have asked themselves that same question. What’s missing? The glory days when Israel stood tall were very much a distant memory at this point. This is a people who’d been thoroughly routed and humiliated by foreign powers.
(6:22 – 6:42)
The survivors, many years before, shipped off to Babylon, then after a few decades, that little trickle of refugees made their way back to the land. But Israel now, at this point, was very much a provincial backwater, a spent force. Surely there must be more than this.
(6:43 – 7:21)
And as Colin introduced us to the book last week, under God’s hand, a writer, a chronicler, is sitting down and bringing together lots of bits of Israel’s history in order to help answer that question. And we’re going to see, as he reminds them of their history, that among other things, the big hole in their lives, in the nation, in their hopes, was king-shaped. There was a big king-shaped hole in the nation.
(7:22 – 7:47)
And I say that because the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, remember, originally this is just one book. It’s been divided in our English Bible into two, but originally in the Hebrew, this would just be one book. So the 65 chapters in our English Bibles that make up 1 and 2 Chronicles, of those 65 chapters, 28 of them are going to be centred on David and Solomon.
(7:48 – 8:06)
Because they were, of course, the two kings, above all the kings of Judah and Israel, who stood at the very apex of their history. Israel was never greater. It was never more blessed, never more united, never more glorious than when David and Solomon ruled.
(8:07 – 8:29)
And never mind the slow decline after David and Solomon where it all started to fall apart and you had all those ropey kings that led to disaster. Now they didn’t even have any king to put their name to. No, they just had provincial governors and foreign viceroys.
(8:29 – 9:01)
Oh, to have a king again like David, someone anointed by God, devoted to God, to rule the people. Last week as we came into these chapters, we looked at Israel’s first king, Saul, and a king who proved himself to be unfaithful to the Lord. That was the great kind of judgement on Saul that we read at the end of chapter 10, verse 13.
(9:01 – 9:22)
Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance. As Matthew Henry very chillingly puts it, a man who even went as far as knocking on the door of hell for guidance rather than being faithful to God.
(9:22 – 9:55)
And, of course, the result of that was a nation that was defeated, that was disunited, and that was torn apart. But God in his mercy had a better king to take Saul’s place, a king, a man even after his own heart. And in chapter 11 and over the next 18 chapters, although we’re not going to cover them all in detail, the chronicler wants to take us back and to take his first readers back to David.
(9:56 – 10:13)
And what we’re going to see is what made David a great king. That’s also going to be true when we get to Solomon. We’re going to see the blessings that a king devoted to God brings to his people.
(10:14 – 10:26)
And so let me just be very clear. You’ll know this if you’ve read ahead in the book. This account of David and Solomon is not a warts and all account of those two kings.
(10:26 – 10:52)
You need to go back to 1 and 2 Samuel for that. In fact, so positive will chronicles be about David and Solomon that you might be tempted to think as you read it, isn’t this a bit of a whitewash? Isn’t this the spin doctor’s version of their history? Well, I think there are two answers to that. Firstly, David’s sins are very well documented in scripture.
(10:53 – 11:28)
If anything, the author of Samuel kind of goes to town in the amount of time that he gives to David’s failures and his shortcomings and the consequences of that, his adultery, his disobedient census taking, his weak parenting. So there’s no cover up going on in the Bible. But secondly, what we have to appreciate about chronicles is that chronicles wants to show us the best of David because the best of David is a model of kingship at its best.
(11:29 – 12:00)
Key to that being that David, unlike Saul, was a man whose heart and disposition was fundamentally orientated towards God. So that his life, when you take it as a whole, was a life that was rooted in God and for God. And that’s just a reminder by way of application that lives are usually best measured in the rounds over years, indeed over a lifetime.
(12:01 – 12:24)
We’ve been advertising, you might have seen the slide when you came in, a pastoral seminar in Edinburgh next week, the author and speaker, Kelly Cappock. And in his book, that’s going to be, I think, the theme of that day, ‘You’re Only Human’, he touches on this danger of judging life’s too hastily. One of the quotes from the book will be on the screen.
(12:24 – 12:58)
He says this, might one of our great challenges be that when we judge how we’re doing, we try to assess the whole by only looking at a part. What I mean is this, we imagine what a faithful and rich life looks like and then any given morning, we dislike the person we see staring back at us from the mirror. His point is that we often rush to judge life by their immediate circumstances.
(12:58 – 13:38)
I think we have a particular tendency to do this about ourselves, don’t we? I mean, never mind all the decades that you have lived, never mind your family life, education, work, Christian service, we feel useless and rubbish and we write ourselves off because this particular bit that I’m in at the moment isn’t going well. Well, thank God that he sees the bigger picture and not even just of this life, but he sees what we will be in eternity to come. It wasn’t that David’s failures didn’t matter, but they weren’t the whole story.
(13:39 – 13:58)
He was, by God’s grace, when all was said and done, still a good king. And that’s an important point. You’re still a good mother, you’re still a good friend, you’re still a good servant despite the mess that you might be in at this point in your life.
(13:59 – 14:35)
If, like David, your hearts and your hopes are anchored fundamentally in Jesus. But back to chapter 11. It begins with two words, ‘all Israel’, verse 1. That’s a phrase which is going to be repeated a lot by the chronicler in future chapters, this idea of Israel being united and together, because remember, though it’s not recorded in the Chronicles, between the end of chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter 11, there had been a civil war in Israel.
(14:36 – 15:12)
But David is the king who unites God’s people. A shepherd and a ruler, verse 2. Somebody who’s been promised and appointed by God, verse 3. Recognised by God’s people, a king and his people binding themselves together in covenant, verse 3. We’ll see much more about covenant in future weeks, particularly God’s covenant with the people through his king, David. Then united, we read on under the king, the city of the king, the city of David, verse 5, is established.
(15:13 – 15:51)
Jerusalem becomes the capital, it’s restored and built up there in verse 8. This is a king who is growing in strength, his kingdom extending over the whole land, verse 10, and crucially, verse 9, because the Lord Almighty was with him. And again, let’s just note here a very important lesson about the unity of God’s people. This once divided people are united, not because they have the same views on taxation or farming policy, not even because they’re all best friends.
(15:51 – 16:04)
There’s just been a civil war, for goodness sake. But they are united by the king. They’re united by giving the king their allegiance and their loyalty.
(16:05 – 16:16)
And that’s true for Christians today. That’s true for us who are part of Christ’s family. We’re not united because we agree about everything.
(16:17 – 16:27)
We’re not united because we’re all best buddies. Rather, we are bound together by our allegiance to the king. To King Jesus.
(16:30 – 16:52)
John Calvin, the church theologian, put it like this, he said, the only true bond of church unity is Christ the Lord. It’s Christ the king. And that means, of course, that even when we disagree, even at those times where we don’t get on brilliantly with each other, we still recognise each other as brothers and sisters.
(16:53 – 17:38)
We still strive to love and to forgive and to support and to hold on to each other because that is what the king has commanded. And not to do that isn’t to break with fellow Christians, it’s to break from the king. Well, all this, these reminders of David, of David unifying the people, of David extending the borders of Israel, of David restoring the glory of that tattered nation, for those Israelites in the third century living in the ruins of Jerusalem being bossed about by pagans, was just a big reminder that there was a big king-shaped hole in their midst.
(17:39 – 18:46)
No one now to unite them, no one to shepherd them, no one to rule them, no one to build God’s kingdom. And that question, “What’s missing in your life?”, is still one that begs an answer today, isn’t it? As we look around society, what’s missing? Could it be that in the 21st century the basic needs of people aren’t so very different from those intertestamental Jews? Could it be that the restlessness, the purposelessness, the division that so many feel is because they don’t have someone in their lives who is worthy for them to give themselves to, to get behind, to follow? Because there’s no one to shepherd and to care for them? Because there’s no one with authority and they can’t even govern themselves? Because there’s no great cause, there’s no great hope, there’s no great future, there’s no kingdom worth building. There’s no one who can unite and heal them from all their divisions.
(18:47 – 19:24)
Could it be that there is still a massive king-shaped hole in the lives of people today? But the chronicler goes on, because this is a king who builds his kingdom through his people. Verse 10, the mighty warriors who gave David’s kingdom his kingship’s strong support. And then we’re given this roll of honour of those who served the king wholeheartedly, bravely, skilfully.
(19:24 – 19:39)
We have Jehoshabim, verse 11 there, defeating 300 men single-handedly with his spear. Eleazar standing his ground while others fled from the battlefield. Verses 12-13.
(19:40 – 19:55)
And then the three in some kind of like special forces operation breaking into Bethlehem in order to get David a glass of water. Verses 15-19. Abishai, armed with a spear, striking down another 300.
(19:56 – 20:12)
And then Benaiah, who, as one of our members, Nicky Mackison, so memorably put it, took a club to a spear fight and won. A man who wrestled lions in the snow. Verses 22-25.
(20:13 – 20:21)
Not to count all the others that we didn’t read there. Verse 27, down to the end of the chapter. The people who served the king.
(20:23 – 20:38)
Now, of course, David couldn’t single-handedly have built his kingdom on his own. But he could have tried to take all the glory for it, I guess. That wouldn’t have been unusual in the ancient world.
(20:39 – 21:13)
Think back to Nebuchadnezzar there in Daniel chapter 4. It will be on the screen. As the king, Nebuchadnezzar, was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty? And yet the graciousness, one of the glories of God’s king, is that he honours his servants. He honours those who build the kingdom with him.
(21:14 – 21:21)
John chapter 12. My father will honour the one who serves me. John 17.
(21:21 – 21:34)
Jesus says, I have given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one. This is our king’s desire. This is why David is such a great model of kingship.
(21:34 – 21:53)
That’s why he points us in these ways to the great King Jesus. The one whose desire, whose heart is to share glory with his people. Who honours their endeavours and their sacrifices and their exploits for the kingdom.
(21:54 – 22:11)
Now, of course, as we look at a list like this, we just need to remind ourselves, if it’s not obvious, that our battles in God’s kingdom are not against flesh and blood. Our weapons are not clubs and spears. They’re not of this world.
(22:11 – 22:23)
But there are still spiritual battles to be fought. There are still spiritual strongholds to capture. The call of the king is still to join the fight.
(22:24 – 22:43)
To stand firm like Eleazar when others are scarpering off, when the opposition is coming at you like a flood. To, like the three, take some risks for the honour of the king. To use our skills and abilities like Benaiah to defend and advance the kingdom.
(22:44 – 23:09)
2 Corinthians chapter 10, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Because the life of faith, life in the kingdom, should have a quality of an adventure to it.
(23:09 – 23:15)
It is a battle. It is a call to be involved and to make a difference. To get stuck in.
(23:16 – 23:32)
To do something for God. Not just to play it safe. Along with some of my FIEC colleagues recently, we were looking at those famous verses at the start of Ecclesiastes chapter 11.
(23:32 – 23:40)
Put them on the screen there. We know them well. Modern versions, maybe more accurately, say, ship your grain across the sea.
(23:40 – 23:52)
You might remember that more as cast your bread upon the water. But it goes on to say, after many days, you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, and eight.
(23:52 – 24:04)
You do not know what disaster might come upon the land. In other words, this is biblical wisdom and it’s kind of saying to us, have a go. Yes, there’s a degree of uncertainty in these things.
(24:04 – 24:16)
It might not work. But probably the bigger failure, the bigger rebuke, would be to have just done nothing. To have buried your talents.
(24:17 – 24:48)
That’s the surefire way to guarantee that you’ll have nothing to show at the end of it all. I think as we get older, or those of us who are getting older, maybe speak for myself, I think we often can start to lose a bit of that sense of adventure, can’t we? I don’t mean by that that we all have to kind of sell up and move to Africa or to the East End, although clearly don’t rule that out. But just being ready to get involved in a new thing.
(24:49 – 25:05)
To push out again, to embrace a challenge, a bit of discomfort. To push forward rather than kind of give up and retire. Last year, I was preaching on Jonah here on Sunday mornings in Greenview.
(25:06 – 25:41)
And I spoke on chapter 3 that famous chapter where Jonah hears God’s call come to him a second time to go back to Nineveh. And I noted that while none of us are likely to have an experience as dramatic as Jonah, we might in a lesser way identify a little bit with that sense of God calling us back to service a second time. Maybe a bad experience or we just got jaded or life pulled us away and we’ve kind of gone off the ministry saddle a little bit.
(25:43 – 26:07)
And perhaps there’s a sense that God is calling us back to re-engage with ministry, to go again, to have a go again. And I mentioned we could take heart from Jonah that it’s never too late to get back in the saddle and to start afresh. And by way of application at that point I said the Café needs helpers.
(26:08 – 26:27)
And somebody laughed because that was a kind of muffled guffaw. And I kind of understood why at the time because it sounded like such a lame comparison. I mean, making tea is hardly in the same league as taking God’s word to a pagan city.
(26:29 – 26:41)
But here’s the thing. Here’s the thing. Do you know what most people who have gone to be missionaries in pagan lands are doing? They’re making tea.
(26:42 – 27:03)
They’re running kids clubs and sewing classes and Christianity explored courses and manning bookshops. The gospel adventure isn’t primarily that you are serving God in Pakistan rather than Pollock Shaws or that you’re speaking Eritrean rather than English. It’s that you’re on the pitch.
(27:04 – 27:08)
You’re involved. You’re serving the king. You’re giving it a go.
(27:12 – 27:33)
And so as we read this list that seems very distant and very strange to us, let it inspire us. Let these mighty warriors inspire us to serve our greater king. For some of us that might just be to offer up our five loaves and our two fish.
(27:33 – 27:45)
Or our widow’s mite. The Bible and church history are full of great stories of small deeds leading to amazing outcomes. Maybe it will be something more dramatic, more adventurous.
(27:47 – 28:02)
But what makes any of it special is that we’re doing it for the king. Giving his kingship strong support. The king who unites us,
(28:03 – 28:09)
who shepherds us, who rules us. The king who is with us throughout our whole life.
(28:09 – 28:24)
The ups and downs. The king who includes us in building the kingdom and honours us as we step forward to do so. The king who fills that big king-shaped hole that we all have in our lives.
(28:25 – 28:27)
May God bless these thoughts from his word.
The post The Chosen King – 1 Chronicles Ch11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Last week, Colin asked what we think of when we say the word hospitality. He challenged us that though our views were technically correct, it was perhaps a little small. He helped us really to consider that hospitality is a much bigger idea in the Bible than we might ordinarily think. Maybe it was new to us last week that the Bible shows us that God himself is hospitable.
(0:22 – 0:44)
But there’s another word that we also may not associate with this word hospitality, and that is the word stranger. And this week we want to think about who receives our hospitality and why. In the New Testament, there’s a Greek word that’s used for hospitality, philoxenia.
(0:45 – 0:59)
It literally means love of stranger. It’s the opposite of xenophobia, which is the fear of strangers. And here’s the issue.
(1:01 – 1:35)
We might feel okay with a certain kind of hospitality that’s maybe comfortable to us, with those we like, or with those who are like us, but the Bible shows us a different way. To see how deep this idea goes, then flick back to Leviticus, and that book that we looked at, the chapter 19 that we read, and those verses, verse 33 and 34. I’ll read it again.
(1:36 – 1:48)
When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you are foreigners in Egypt.
(1:49 – 2:06)
I am the Lord your God. I think it’s helpful to set these verses in their context, in the context of Israel’s story. Remember, God brought the people of Israel into relationship with himself, not because they were great or amazing, but he set his love upon them.
(2:07 – 2:28)
And God had promised that through Abraham’s descendants, blessings would reach every corner of the world, every nation, and every people group. The welcome Israel received would be open to all peoples everywhere else. Everyone else could belong to God, be his people, and enjoy a home with him forever.
(2:30 – 2:55)
But as the story unfolds in scripture, we come to see that Abraham’s descendants became slaves in Egypt. Yet God rescued them from plagues, the Red Sea, the wilderness, eventually bringing them into the land he promised to be their home. And having saved them, God brought them to the Mount Sinai, and he gave them various instructions or laws.
(2:56 – 3:19)
And there were laws on how to live in ways that would help them flourish, help them prosper, know peace, be blessed, and in turn, be a blessing upon all the others around them. And Leviticus is one of the key books that contains these instructions. And in this chapter 19, the people of Israel they’re addressed as a holy congregation.
(3:20 – 3:39)
And they’re called to imitate the holy character of God. Be holy because I am holy, God said. And holiness meant that God’s people were to live with certain characteristics and attributes, certain behaviours, honesty, integrity, righteousness.
(3:39 – 3:58)
They were to show justice, have mercy, show love for the good of the whole community. It included family, like loving and honouring your parents, but it also included a wider circle. Felow citizens are mentioned, and neighbours are mentioned.
(3:59 – 4:12)
And they were instructed to not to steal, not to lie, not to defraud each other. They weren’t to show favouritism to each other either. They were to ensure wages were paid on time.
(4:13 – 4:26)
They weren’t to show favouritism, but treat each other fairly. They were to respect elderly among them. In fact, they were told, don’t hate your neighbour in your heart.
(4:27 – 4:41)
Don’t harbour grudges. But it goes further. It focusses on the vulnerable and the marginalised because for God’s purposes, holiness meant generosity.
(4:42 – 5:03)
So they were to leave parts of their harvest untouched so that those who didn’t have land could come and glean at the edges and so not starve. It meant protection too for those who were unable to defend themselves. It talks about being good and wise to those who are blind and those who are deaf.
(5:04 – 5:16)
And in summary, God puts over it all. He says, love your neighbour as yourself. Why? Because their God is the Lord who had a covenant love with them.
(5:17 – 5:40)
But it doesn’t stop there either for another group is spoken of. The verses we read in the NIV that we read, it says the Hebrew word is translated as foreigner who resides. If you picked up another translation, maybe the ESV or some others, it speaks of the stranger who sojourns.
(5:42 – 6:04)
What these terms speak of though is the non-native born staying in Israel who had obtained legal right and status to live there and to work there and to prosper. They were given right to glean the fields so they too would not be poor or starving. They had right to equal pay.
(6:05 – 6:16)
They would be given the same legal justice. They would be able to participate in the religious life of Israel. They received much.
(6:17 – 6:43)
And apart from some specific exceptions, God intended for any foreigner or stranger who’s residing or sojourning in Israel to follow God’s laws just like the rest of Israel. If they were going to live in Israel, they had to abide by the same laws as an Israelite. They weren’t allowed to come and set up different cultures or have and practise different religions.
(6:45 – 6:59)
And the instructions to the native born Israelites was this, and it was very clear. They were to love them like their neighbour. Love the foreigner, love the stranger as yourself.
(7:01 – 7:24)
But why were God’s people to be like this? Well, the end of verse 34 tells us. For once you were strangers, once you were foreigners in Egypt, I am the Lord your God. And what God is doing is He’s using a memory of vulnerability that He is their God and He loves them with a covenant love.
(7:24 – 7:53)
And He’s using that to motivate them to treat everyone else with honour, justice, mercy, and love. Though these Israelites were now insiders who belong to God, they’re not to weaponise it, not withhold privilege or have some power over, but instead wield it for the stranger’s good. And all of this is part of Israel’s holiness practise.
(7:54 – 8:21)
Israel’s holiness was to be measured by how they view and treat those who were around them. Yes, parents, elderly, fellow citizens, neighbours, the poor, the marginalised, the vulnerable, but also the others, the strangers, the foreigners, the outsiders. Well, that’s all good and well for the people of Israel back then.
(8:22 – 8:45)
What does this have to do with us and hospitality today? Well, we need to take another direction to help us. Let’s flick over into the Luke chapter 10 that Chris read too, into the story of Jesus. It’s a passage where Jesus spoke of God’s laws given to Israel and He applies them in a very provocative way.
(8:46 – 9:05)
So from the previous chapters, we didn’t read them, but we know Jesus is on a journey. He’s a sojourner and He’s travelling with His disciples to Jerusalem. In fact, chapter nine, verse 51 says, when the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, He set His face to go towards Jerusalem.
(9:06 – 9:31)
And Jesus is using this journey with His disciples to teach them about kingdom hospitality. So when a Samaritan village rejects Jesus and His disciples, James and John, two of the disciples, they wanted to call fire down from heaven on them. But Jesus said, no, that’s not how you treat.
(9:33 – 9:50)
He then warned potential disciples, potential followers of Jesus, because there were many hanging around Him. He talks to them about the cost of following Jesus, the cost of discipleship. And He also sent out 72 of them to go ahead.
(9:51 – 10:07)
And He said, you’re gonna be like lambs among wolves. That’s in verse three of chapter 10. And what Jesus was telling them is that as they went out into these various villages, they were to be dependent upon God and the hospitality of the strangers to them.
(10:08 – 10:21)
They were to travel lightly, receive food and shelter, and they were to be grateful. They were to announce the kingdom of God has come near to you. That’s in verse nine of chapter 10.
(10:21 – 10:50)
And it’s in this context, this journey, this kingdom hospitality that Jesus is teaching, that Jesus tells this parable of the good Samaritan. And it’s of special interest, I think, because the disciples were fresh from these experiences of either hostility or welcome that they journeyed, as they journeyed through Samaria and Galilee. Because they knew themselves what it was like to be outsiders.
(10:52 – 11:13)
Just like the Jews actually viewed Samaritans. And when this Jewish lawyer comes to Jesus asking about receiving eternal life, Jesus answers that, yes, you’re to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And you’re to love your neighbour as yourself.
(11:13 – 11:30)
The lawyer gets a big lesson. He knew that loving his neighbour meant more than the man next door. But the question was, well, how wide does this really go? Surely it didn’t go beyond the people of Israel.
(11:33 – 11:54)
But Jesus defines the neighbour way more widely through this story. And he gives a surprising twist. Because Jesus chose a Samaritan, an outsider to these Jews, to illustrate what it looks like to show mercy and love and justice to even an enemy.
(11:56 – 12:13)
It was the Samaritan who showed compassion for his fellow human being. He disinfected and bandaged the wounds of the stranger. He was the one who took him to the inn, paid for care to be given to the wounded man, to nurse him back to health.
(12:14 – 12:32)
It was literally hospitality, philoxenia, love of stranger. Not xenophobia, fear of stranger. If the Jews were making up this story, they might identify the neighbour in need as the Samaritan.
(12:34 – 12:51)
Instead, it’s the Samaritan as the one who sees the half-dead stranger as the person worthy of compassion and care and mercy and love. But this all sets a scene for another lesson on hospitality. Dinner at Martha’s.
(12:53 – 13:03)
It’s quite a famous story in the New Testament too. There are many books written about Martha and Mary. They’re the sisters of Lazarus, the man who Jesus raised from the dead.
(13:05 – 13:44)
And at the beginning of this incident, verse 38, as Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he comes to a village and a woman named Martha opened her home to him. It’s reasonable to assume that they hadn’t known each other, but they’d likely heard of him and his message. Maybe they’d heard him say earlier, which we read in chapter nine, that the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man, that’s Jesus himself, has nowhere to lay his head.
(13:46 – 14:07)
But whatever, Martha opens the door to this stranger, offers Jesus hospitality to this sojourner Jesus. The text, verse 39, tells us Jesus was teaching and Mary is listening. It’s like there are many more people in this home than just Mary and Martha, who are named.
(14:08 – 14:20)
Because it tells us Martha was distracted with much serving. There’s a whole lot of cooking going on. There’s a whole lot of preparations going on.
(14:21 – 14:49)
You could imagine how frenzied, perhaps, things were for her, wanting everything to be just right because this important teacher was in their home. And Mary just wanted to sit and listen to Jesus talk, even though we understand at this time that rabbis, of which Jesus was, he was a teacher, they didn’t usually teach women. But we see that Jesus welcomed Mary.
(14:50 – 15:05)
And Mary was so caught up in what Jesus is saying, she didn’t really notice Martha bustling about. But Martha notices Mary, and Martha is frustrated, and annoyed, with Mary.
(15:06 – 15:29)
So it’s with a sense of indignation that she says to Jesus, Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all this work by myself? Tell her to help me. But Jesus speaks into this. He gently tells Martha that actually the most important thing was Jesus and his words of truth and life.
(15:30 – 15:43)
And we might think that’s somewhat arrogant of Jesus. To make himself centre of attention like this. We might think Martha was quite bold to speak to Jesus in this way.
(15:44 – 16:04)
How long had she known him? She seems confident that Jesus would side with her in her busy service, because perhaps that was the culture and norm of the day. But he didn’t. He acknowledges her cares and concerns, but he says, one thing’s necessary.
(16:04 – 16:22)
Mary’s chosen a good portion, which is not to be taken from her. It’s as if Jesus is saying to Martha, your company means more to me than your cooking or your tidy home. You’re more important to me than you can do for me.
(16:22 – 16:34)
He’s saying, your soul means more to me. Your trust and your dependence on me is more important than a good meal in a comfortable home. And the point Jesus is making is this.
(16:36 – 16:52)
Spiritual is most important when it comes to hospitality. Jesus makes this point again and again through his sojourn, his journey to the cross. We saw this clearly in our studies in John’s Gospel over the last months.
(16:52 – 17:13)
He calls us to be born again. We’re to be most concerned with what’s going on in the inside, for it’s our souls that last forever. And the good news of the Gospel is that our souls can be saved from just punishment of sin, because Jesus quite rightly points out to us that our sin is our greatest problem.
(17:14 – 17:29)
Not hunger, not clothing, not shelter, not friendships, not care. There’s always a bigger spiritual purpose. Yet we are embodied souls.
(17:30 – 17:55)
We do have material needs. And the Good Samaritan story reminds us that loving our neighbour is practical, because we live in physical bodies and we live in a physical material world with physical material needs. But the dinner at Martha’s reminds us that people are not given eternal life by running a soup kitchen.
(17:55 – 18:17)
But by listening to the words of Jesus and trusting and following Him. Salvation is not by works, not even hospitable works of justice and mercy and care. Yet it’s often the means by which the words of Jesus are heard and taken aboard.
(18:21 – 18:30)
Also, you know, this hospitality was not a once-only offer. It was something that was built on. A relationship started here and it grew.
(18:32 – 18:52)
In John’s Gospel, we read that Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Jesus has spoken of often coming to and from Bethany, and it’s likely he visited with these siblings many, many times. A real love and care was built up over many times.
(18:53 – 19:14)
And it may be that our giving of hospitality is a once-only event, and there’s good in that. But there are also opportunities for giving hospitality again and again and again. Building a deepening relationship of love and care just like Martha and Mary and Lazarus.
(19:16 – 19:36)
You know, if you belong to God’s family in Christ, we are to welcome fellow strangers, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Did you know the church is referred to as that? We sung about it in our second hymn. We sung about it in our third song.
(19:38 – 19:54)
The church is often referred to as foreigners, strangers, outsiders, too. 1 Peter 2 says this, and I paraphrase. Talking to the people of God in this particular church, he says, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
(19:55 – 20:15)
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. I urge you then as foreigners and exiles, strangers and sojourners, to abstain from sinful desires which wage against your soul. It is a physical and spiritual work, this hospitality.
(20:16 – 20:46)
We can be helped and encouraged as we receive physical sustenance, shelter, comfort, but as we do, we don’t forget or ignore the priority of providing spiritual nourishment, too. And that’s so that as believers in Christ, we stand firm and endure and persevere. We minister to one another what is most important.
(20:48 – 21:08)
We live and do ministry alongside each other so that we welcome and accept and honour and are concerned with the spiritual lives of each other that we share with. The people of God are to have a particular focus and attention on Jesus. Although Jesus is not with us, by his spirit he is.
(21:10 – 21:52)
He’s the unseen guest at every meal, when others are in our homes, when we provide that hospitality. But Peter goes on, he says, I urge you as foreigners and exiles, as strangers and sojourners, live such good lives among pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see good deeds and glorify God. You see, welcoming the stranger fits the gospel message, which calls people from every tribe, every nation, every language, every background, to come and worship the one true God, the hospitality God.
(21:53 – 22:04)
And it includes those who don’t yet belong to Jesus, too. We do this because we were once strangers to God. We, too, receive mercy.
(22:06 – 22:29)
I wonder if we view ourselves like this. Do we realise that we are outsiders who have been brought in? Strangers made friends, foreigners who belong to a new family, the family of God. And we are sojourning, too, on our way to our final home.
(22:31 – 22:51)
This is not what it’s all about, here and now. and we’re to invite others to join us along the way. I reckon if we don’t see ourselves this way, we will struggle to be generous with others who sojourn with us and with those who are still on the outside needing to be welcomed like we were.
(22:54 – 23:17)
Well, what does it look like? Our eldest son was home recently with a couple of his flatmates. And over a meal we were having, we were asking them about a recent holiday they’d had in Lisbon together. One of the friends said they had bumped into one of her work colleagues, a younger guy, he was in need of company.
(23:18 – 23:29)
So the friend invited him to join them for a meal. He agreed, and at the end of the night, the flatmates paid for the meal. He was flabbergasted.
(23:30 – 23:43)
Nobody had ever paid for a meal for him. He went back and told the people in his office back home in Scotland. So amazed that this group of people would do this for him.
(23:45 – 24:09)
Yet as the friends told the story around the table, it was really quite normal and ordinary. Why wouldn’t they? For him, it was so counter-cultural, and it had a significant impression on him. And I tell that story because the girl who shared the story followed it up by saying this, “Who knows where that might lead to in terms of future gospel conversation”.
(24:13 – 24:24)
The second example, in one sense, is more extraordinary. Yet in another sense, it’s something we can be encouraged in and step into. And it comes from a book on hospitality by a woman called Rosaria Butterfield.
(24:25 – 24:34)
It might be one of the books that we recommend in this subject to you. But it’s called, The Gospel Comes with a House Key. And in there, she tells her story.
(24:35 – 24:58)
Butterfield was a professor of literature at a university in the US. Her speciality was post-modern critical theory. She was writing a book, and along the way, wrote various articles about how, in particular, Bible-believing Christians are the worst and the source of all patriarchy and a range of other things.
(24:59 – 25:16)
And she wrote a particular scathing piece against Christian men, and a local pastor, Christian pastor, read it, reached out, and emailed. He wrote, I read your article. Thank you so much for your thoughts.
(25:17 – 25:32)
We’d love to have you around for dinner. Well, Rosaria knew that in order to write her book, she would actually have to do some proper research. And that actually meant she would have to spend time with these hate-filled Christians that she wrote against.
(25:32 – 25:49)
And so she said, yes. And she began to go to this house on a regular basis. Because over time, she found that their life and family and Christian faith was way more compelling
(25:49 – 26:08)
than anything she had ever experienced. And over time, through that process of hospitality and spiritual engagement, with the words of Jesus central, she became a follower of Jesus. Yes, amen.
(26:10 – 26:19)
You can read about it in our book. And I tell that story because that pastor and his wife loved this stranger. The outsider.
(26:21 – 26:38)
To some might even say an enemy. Who was against them. But in and through giving that hospitality, through sharing life, through sharing the words of Jesus, well, God is a God of hospitality.
(26:39 – 26:50)
And he causes people to do the same. And as Colin said last week, it’s way deeper, broader, harder than we might think. So here’s the challenge.
(26:52 – 27:24)
Widen your circle. Are we a believer and follower of Jesus? Well, have a look at our own practise and assess it. Can we ask ourselves, how might we widen our circle just a little bit further to bless others? Can we identify any barriers or constraints that we face and consider what the next step might be? And if you’re not a believer or follower of Jesus yet, maybe you are on the outsiders.
(27:26 – 27:35)
And someone invites you in. You know, it might just be the route by which you meet Jesus. The greatest outsider who ever lived.
(27:36 – 27:52)
Who gave his life to bring you in. Because Jesus was that stranger and sojourner who experienced rejection. Yes, he was on the outside and yet he met with outsiders every day.
(27:53 – 28:23)
And he ate with them, not to be entertained or fed, but to show them true satisfaction found in him. To point them to salvation in him as the living bread and the living water. And we too can enjoy that same hospitality from Jesus and we can join in and offer the same hospitality to others as we seek to follow Jesus as strangers and sojourners in this world on our way home.
The post Welcome the Stranger – Leviticus 19v33–34 appeared first on Greenview Church.
I met a man some time ago who works for a Christian ministry in London, maybe you’ve heard of it, it’s called Christian Heritage, and this guy, his name is Ben, and he spends his time leading walking tours around London. And he takes people round London and he explains the city from the perspective of the Christian history of London. And he said that in recent years, he’s seen several people come to faith in Jesus, not only from going on his tours, but partly from that.
These people had begun to research the history of the UK, and some of them had then been led to Christianity and explored deeper questions about Jesus. And when I heard that story I thought, wow, history can really be so powerful, history can be pretty life-changing. Last Sunday we started a new series in First Chronicles.
And this book is a number of things, but one of the things it is, it is a book of history. A guy named Jerome, who lived in the 300s or so, he was the first person to call it a chronicle of sacred history. That’s where the word chronicles comes from.
He didn’t say it was a chronicle of boring history. He said it was a chronicle of sacred history, a history of what God had done in the past. And as we go through the book, we see that this is especially a history of the reigns of King David and King Solomon, and then a few other kings at the end.
Now, just a little fact about chronicles, it’s really important, I think, to realise that the Book of Chronicles was written 500 years after the events it records, or most of the events, David and Solomon’s reign. Most of the events in chronicles happen around about 1000 BC, but the Book of Chronicles is being written somewhere in the 500s BC, probably. So this would be like someone today writing about the Reformation, someone in 2026 writing about the 1500s, right? The chronicler is digging up ancient history, and he is using that history to build faith and build hope in the present people of God.
(2:45 – 3:29)
You see, a small group of Jews had returned to the land. They’ve come back to Jerusalem, but there is no king on the throne. They’ve rebuilt the temple, but the temple is a pale shadow of its former glory.
And the danger for the returnees in their present is that they would lose heart, lose hope, and lose a vital sense of their identity as God’s people, that they would just end up blending in with everyone else. And so the Book of Chronicles is written to arrest that possible decline. The book begins with a message of reminder.
(3:29 – 3:51)
It begins with the names of tribes and historical Israelites to say, this is who you are, and this is where you come from. The book started with hope for the world in the kingly tribe of Judah. And you remember that it very clearly emphasised the importance of the temple.
(3:51 – 4:04)
Devote yourself to the temple because there you devote yourself to the Lord. So that’s how Chronicles began. And the story now continues in chapter 10.
(4:05 – 9:08)
Let’s open our Bibles to 1 Chronicles 10. And if you’re using the Red Bible, it’s page 413. And now we start the narrative section of Chronicles.
Genealogies are history too, but this is a kind of a story form of history. And remember last time I said that chapter nine gives us the genealogy of the tribe of Benjamin. It then gives the line of King Saul.
And all of that’s leading to this first story, which is about Saul. Let’s read it together. Now the Philistines fought against Israel.
The Israelites fled before them and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkishua. The fighting grew fierce around Saul.
And when the archers overtook him, they wounded him. Saul said to his armour bearer, draw your sword and run me through or these uncircumcised fellows will come and abuse me. But his armour bearer was terrified and would not do it.
So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. When the armour bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died. So Saul and his three sons died and all his house died together.
When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them. The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
They stripped him and took his head and his armour and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news among their idols and their people. They put his armour in the temple of their gods and hung up his head in the temple of Dagon. When all the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all their valiant men went and took the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh.
Then they buried their bones under the great tree in Jabesh and they fasted for seven days. Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance and did not enquire of the Lord.
So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David, son of Jesse. This is the word of God and you might be thinking what a grim way to start the narrative of Chronicles. We start with King Saul on the day of his death and in this all sorts of previous background is skipped over.
As we fade into the first story of Chronicles, we’re just here on the killing fields where Saul and his sons die. I think this raises an issue that’s really worth us pausing to think about. I said last week that the book of Chronicles is often neglected.
I think there’s two main reasons for that. The first one is because of the genealogies at the beginning, but I think the second reason is that many people see Chronicles as repetitive. People point out that Chronicles covers much of the same history as the books of Samuel and Kings.
And so if you’ve trudged through Samuel and Kings in your Bible reading plan and you then get to Chronicles, you might be tempted to think this is just more of the same. It can be seen as a sort of redundant history that we don’t really need to read. But I want you just to think about this for a moment.
How many accounts of the life of Jesus do we possess? We possess four accounts of the life of Jesus and these Gospels cover many of the same incidents, but we don’t see any of these Gospels as unneeded or as redundant. They’re telling the same core story, but from a different angle and with different emphases and for different reasons. And so it’s wonderful we’ve got four of them.
(9:09 – 10:10)
Well, if you can have four Gospels of the life of Jesus, then why can’t you have two goes at this vital period of the history of Israel, the high point of the Kings, David and Solomon. Chronicles is telling the same story, but from a very different angle as we’re going to see in weeks to come. And so therefore we notice here that the chronicler, even at the very beginning, he just skips over a whole bunch of things that Samuel and Kings talk about.
Think of some of the things the chronicler ignores. He says nothing about the rise of King Saul. He says nothing about the details of the reign of Saul.
He skips over the anointing of David, David’s defeat of Goliath. He avoids the tussles between David and Saul, just ignores all of it. And he presses the skip button straight to the day of King Saul’s death.
(10:11 – 10:31)
This shows us that the chronicler isn’t very interested in King Saul. He only appears briefly as a foil for someone else. And so the narrative fades in and we’re shown a battlefield scene.
(10:33 – 11:09)
Two armies are fighting, the Israelites and the Philistines. The Philistines, we’ve seen this kind of thing many times before. They’re the perennial enemy of Israel.
I guess in the theology of the Bible, we would say that they’re the latest manifestation of the seed of the serpent, the latest group of people who are attacking the line of promise. And Saul, as he’d done many times before, he’s leading out his army to defend Israelite territory. But this time, not so good.
(11:11 – 11:31)
Twice over, in verses one and seven, we’re told that the Israelites fled from the Philistines. And many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. This is incidentally up towards the north of the country in a flat plane called the Valley of Jezreel.
(11:33 – 12:18)
And not only that, but notice that as the camera zooms in, it focusses in on Saul and his sons in particular. It’s very common in these battles for kings and their sons to fight, to go to war. And it was also common for the enemy to target the enemy king and the sons of the king.
Their archers would aim for the other sets of leaders. And this time it goes very tragically when three of Saul’s sons are killed. Jonathan, the loyal friend of David, Abinadab, and Malik Shua, all dead.
(12:19 – 14:08)
And Saul’s demise is next. The fighting grows fierce around him. Enemy archers wound him, but he’s hanging on to life.
And seeing what is coming, Saul commands his armour bearer to take his sword and to run him through, because he doesn’t want these carnal Philistines doing horrible things to him. The armour bearer is too afraid to kill the Lord’s anointed. He has a fear of God and he won’t do it.
And so Saul himself decides to take his own life. And then the armour bearer follows suit. It’s a horrible scene and it provokes all sorts of questions.
And indeed, when I was first reading it, I thought, I wonder what on earth am I meant to comment on this very sensitive, few verses? But then it dawned on me that verse six is very helpful. Verse six helps us to keep the right focus here, because we could go off in various directions about the rights and wrongs of whether, you know, should the armour bearer have killed Saul or not? Or should Saul have taken his own life or not? We could go down all of that route, but that’s not where the focus of the chronicler is.
Look where his focus is, verse six. So Saul and his three sons died and all his sons died together. The big point of emphasis is that King Saul and his house are all dead.
(14:10 – 15:31)
Now, sometimes people point out that it is not strictly true, if we were being pedantic, that all of Saul’s descendants were dead. And we know this because in the book of Samuel, we learned that there’s actually a grandson, one of Jonathan’s sons that survives. His name is Mephibosheth.
He’s unable to walk and David treats him very kindly. It’s a beautiful example of David’s grace. But the point the chronicler is making is that the house of Saul, the house of Saul as a dynasty was now effectively over.
Saul and all his possible successors are now dead. That’s the point. And repercussions follow, verse seven.
All the Israelites in the valley, this great valley with lots of Israelite towns, all of them now are abandoned, because the Philistines are coming next to your town and there’s no army to protect you, so they have to leave the area. And so at the end of Saul’s reign, Israel loses lots of territory. And we’re going to see as we move on that in Chronicles that David wins it all back.
(15:33 – 19:59)
But if this is not bad enough, something even worse follows for Saul, even though he’s dead. It was common in those days when you defeated an enemy to humiliate the body of the conquered king. And so they come the next day, they find Saul’s body, they strip his body, verse nine, and apologies if you’re squeamish, his head is severed.
I want you to notice the religious element to this. The Philistines send messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news among their idols and their people. See, in the minds of the Philistines, in their heads, this is not just a military victory.
In their head, their god, gods have defeated Israel’s God. And to prove this, Saul’s proud armour is displayed in their temple as like a trophy. Like when you kill an animal and people put it up on the wall, the head or something, his armours put up there.
And then maybe on the other wall, the head of Saul is hung in the temple of Dagon, one of the Philistine gods. Now the precise details here are very interesting. If you know some of the rest of the Bible, because earlier when David struck down Goliath, you remember when he beat the great Philistine champion, what did he do? He cut off Goliath’s head.
But now it is the head of Saul that’s removed, the Israelite king. And there’s another incident in 2 Samuel chapter 5, where the Ark of the Covenant of God is captured by the Philistines. And they take the… It’s the same kind of idea.
They take the Ark of the Covenant and in order to humiliate it, they put it in the temple of their god, as if to say, our god owns your God. And if you remember the story, the statue of Dagon topples down and falls on its face before the Ark of the Lord. And so the guys come in and they say, this isn’t good.
And so they lift the thing up, put it back up where it belonged. And then overnight it falls off again. And this time it shatters to bits.
And they think we better get this thing out of here. On that occasion, God humiliated Dagon. But on this occasion, the head of the Israelite king is hung up in their temple.
The only reason God would have allowed that to happen is if God allowed that to happen. Now, to put it another way, this desecration of the body of Saul shows God’s verdict on Saul. He belonged in a temple of idols.
That was a good place for him to finish, actually, if you understood his life the way that God understood it. And yes, verse 11, some Israelites try to restore some honour. The inhabitants of a town called Jabesh-Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul.
And so they send their brave men to sneak into the now captured territory of the Philistines and they retrieve the remains of Saul’s body and the remains of his sons. And there’s actually an interesting reason why the men of Jabesh do this. Because earlier in history, Saul had rescued the town of Jabesh when they were under attack from enemies.
It was just before he became king and the town never forgot it. And so it was the men of Jabesh who came and brought the bodies back. And they mourn the death for seven days and then they bury the remains under the great tree of Jabesh.
(20:01 – 20:49)
The human verdict of this town, at least, was that Saul should be honoured in his death. But the verdict of the Lord is seen not only in Saul’s humiliation in the temple of Dagon, but now in the verdict that follows, verses 13 and 14, which makes God’s opinion explicit. And again, let me just say this again, differences between Chronicles and these other books, these two verses, verses 13 and 14, do not appear in Samuel or in Kings.
This is unique to Chronicles. It is not just a repeat. This is God’s definitive explanation for why Saul died.
(20:51 – 21:46)
Think about this. If you were at the funeral and you were chatting to one of the rough guys of Jabesh and you said, why do you think Saul died? What do you think they would have said? I think it would have been something along the lines of, well, he was really unfortunate. You know, he fought bravely.
You know, we all can be unlucky with a stray arrow sometimes. Maybe some might have said maybe the strategy was wrong, but I doubt any of them would have given the verdict of verses 13 and 14. Saul died at the Lord’s hand.
Look at verse 14. The Lord, not the Philistines, the Lord put him to death. Why would the Lord put his own King to death? Ask that question of yourself.
(21:47 – 22:17)
The answer is given in these verses. God does not want a King like this. Here’s the reasons.
The top one is he was unfaithful to the Lord. Just chatting about this with Douglas, a kind of very interesting thing we were noticing as we were reading through Chronicles that Saul, you know, he’s not outwardly an idolater. It’s not like some of the Kings he’s actually worshipping at shrines of other gods.
(22:18 – 23:14)
And yet, inwardly, in his heart, he is an unfaithful man. He’s unfaithful in his heart to the Lord. We thought about this maybe a little this morning.
You know, when God is addressing the exiles, as he does in that passage in Isaiah 55, it’s unlikely that too many of them are actually walking into the Babylonian temples and worshipping there. It’s much more likely that what God is really challenging there is the drifting away of their hearts from the Lord to worship other things besides God. How do you know if that is happening in your life? How do you know if heart idolatry is a reality? One of the biggest evidences is your attitude towards the word of the Lord.
(23:16 – 24:34)
What evidence is when you flat out don’t care about what God’s word says? And there’s several big examples of this in Saul’s life, that he didn’t keep the word of the Lord. In 1 Samuel 13, there was an occasion when he was told to wait for the prophet Samuel. He was about to fight against the Philistines in an earlier battle, and someone said, you need to wait for Samuel.
Samuel’s going to come. He’s going to make a sacrifice to the Lord, and then that will guarantee that the Lord will be with us. And Saul was impatient, and he decided to make the sacrifice himself.
And when Samuel arrives, he says to Saul that his house, the house of Saul, will not endure because he did not obey the word of the Lord. 1 Samuel 15 is another example. Again, Saul flat out ignores something God tells him to do, and it’s in that passage in chapter 15 that Samuel famously says to obey is better than sacrifice.
(24:34 – 26:04)
Because again, Saul was doing all the outward religious Israelite stuff. He was making the sacrifices. But Samuel says that’s no good if actually you are an idolatrous heart and a disobedient man.
And this is picked up in letters like 1 John and also in letters like James. There’s a very strong evidence, strong connection rather between obedience and the evidence of you having a genuine spiritual life. Of course, we’re not saved because of our obedience, but there is a kind of persistent, uncaring, completely unbothered disobedience to God that is actually an evidence of not belonging to him at all, which is very different from I want to do the right thing, and I sometimes do the wrong thing, and I deeply regret it when I do the wrong thing.
This here is complete indifference to the word of the Lord. And that also becomes clear in what follows. The kind of third aspect of this is the sort of idolatry of his heart.
There’s the ignoring of God’s word. But then relating to that, there’s the other sources that Saul then consults. And we’re told here that he even consulted a medium for guidance.
(26:06 – 26:22)
This was something forbidden in God’s law. It was actually said that if the Israelites consulted mediums, it would be one of the main reasons God would expel them. They’d be sent into exile for listening to this sort of dark source.
(26:24 – 26:58)
And so you have this really twisted situation. A man and a king who pretended on the outside to be God’s king, but in secret, he’s listening to the devil’s wisdom rather than God’s truth. Scary, isn’t it? It’s a real challenge, isn’t it, to think on that? Not to be kidding ourselves, not to be living with that kind of hypocrisy that’s one thing on the outside, even to others in church, when in the inside, we’re really something else.
(27:01 – 27:41)
In some ways, this dovetails with this morning, doesn’t it? That fundamental choice, are we going to feast at the Lord’s table, or are we going to invest in the marketplace of Babylon? Will we listen to the devil’s voice or God’s voice? Will we truly seek the Lord, or will we just pretend to do so? At one level, King Saul is an image of what all of us are like, of course, without God’s grace. We’re unfaithful to God, aren’t we? We’re frequently indifferent to his word. We often go to the wrong sources for wisdom.
(27:43 – 28:03)
And like Saul, we deserve death at the hands of the Lord. We deserve the humiliation of Dagon’s temple rather than the honour of Jabesh’s tree. And we would die surrounded by our idols if it weren’t for an obedient king.
(28:05 – 28:33)
As we come to the Lord’s table shortly, let’s remember that Jesus was utterly faithful, that he kept the word of the Lord even unto death. He defied the devil’s advice, and he followed his father’s wisdom. Yet in the gracious wonder of God’s plan, the Lord put him to death and
(28:33 – 28:58)
caused him to suffer in order that we might live in honour and dignity. And it’s this greater king that the end of the passage previews, isn’t it? Notice the very end as we finish. So the Lord put him to death and turned his kingdom over to David, son of Jesse.
(28:59 – 29:26)
God didn’t just remove Saul, he turned his kingdom over to David, the king he wants. And for the rest of 1 Chronicles, the king that God wants, David, will be doing the things that God wants to be done. David, at least in 1 Chronicles, is presented incredibly positively.
(29:27 – 29:43)
He is a picture of the king that God desires. In the context of the book, Saul is just the set up man or the set up king. He’s a foil, he’s a contrast, he’s what we don’t want the king to look like.
(29:43 – 29:55)
But here is a king who is going to be so different. And what will that look like? Well, we’ll need to come back on next Sundays to find out more.
The post The King God Rejected – 1 Chronicles ch10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
I’m going to say a word and I want you to think about the first thing that comes to mind. Hospitality. What image, what idea is the first thing that pops into your head when someone says hospitality? I would be surprised if some of you weren’t thinking about food or things related to food.
Kitchens, aprons, things like that. Connected to that, if you Google the word hospitality, what first of all pops up of course is the hospitality industry. Say hospitality to most people and they’ll think you’re talking of folk working in restaurants or hotels providing food, accommodation, entertainment.
(0:53 – 1:31)
Maybe that’s what you thought of when you heard the word hospitality. Receiving a service that you pay for. Or maybe some of you actually had a different idea in your mind, maybe something more personal.
Hospitality for you is being invited into someone’s home, having someone cook you a meal, which is quite nice, and then having some conversation. And depending on whether you like conversation, that thought either fills you with fear or with a thrill. The idea of having to sit for a few hours and make up some chat.
(1:33 – 4:07)
Well, this morning we are starting a new series on the topic of hospitality and we’re looking at what the Bible teaches on this subject. And you might be thinking from the title that over the next six weeks, it’s basically going to be a very narrow study about the importance of food. Basically that the outbox of the series is going to be entirely that you need to be in the kitchen a bit more and invite a few more people over for tea.
That might be one of the outboxes of this series. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t encourage that. But as we study the Bible’s teaching about hospitality, it’s going to cause us to think more deeply and broadly about what hospitality really is.
We’re going to see that it’s more than something about plates of food and what you rustle up in the kitchen. If you want to visually illustrate that, often what we view of as hospitality is correct, but it’s like a small circle inside an even bigger circle of what hospitality truly is. When we dig into scripture, we find that hospitality is even bigger than we think, even deeper than we think, and even more central than we think.
So in this series, we’re hopefully going to be expanding our idea of hospitality and seeing that it is utterly central to the gospel. So let me just give you one instance of how our hospitality view might be a bit limited. When I did that word association thing at the beginning and I said hospitality, how many of us immediately thought God is hospitable? I don’t know how you would visualise that in the images because God’s invisible, but I wonder how many of you, when you heard hospitality, you thought, ah, God is a hospitable God.
We tend to think of hospitality as a human convention, but actually God practises it. And that’s what we’re going to see in Isaiah chapter 55. So reopen your Bible if you’ve closed it to Isaiah 55.
(4:08 – 4:30)
And as we get started, just before we come to the actual verses, we need to get a little bit of background in place. Isaiah 55 is obviously part of Isaiah’s prophecy, but it’s also part of a section of Isaiah. So Isaiah, this big book of 66 chapters, it actually has three sections.
(4:31 – 5:25)
And chapters 40 to 55 is section number two. It’s the middle chunk of Isaiah. And this second section of which chapter 55 is the last chapter is a section of messages or sermons spoken to the exiles in Babylon.
So it’s basically messages preached to the Jewish exile community. And these people, the people that are being spoken to here, they’re living in the land of Babylon. What kind of land is Babylon? It’s a land that is comfortable.
It’s a very wealthy affluent place. In many ways, it was actually an easier place to live from a kind of economic perspective than where they had been taken from. But the trouble was this was not their land.
(5:26 – 6:40)
And even more to the point, it was an idolatrous land. It was a land full of false worship and false gods. Very soon, these exiles would have a choice to make about whether they would return to their homeland or stay in the comfort and the temptation of Babylon.
That is the key context to understanding chapter 55. In the final chapter of messages to exiles 55, this is kind of like an altar call, a kind of last great appeal to the exiles before they return home. The Lord is calling them back.
He is calling them home and he is calling them to himself. So you see that in verse six, seek the Lord while he may be found. That’s a kind of central appeal here.
And the way that God frames this invitation is in terms of hospitality. God uses hospitality imagery here. So let’s now work our way through the passage.
(6:41 – 7:54)
This begins with an unbeatable offer of hospitality. The unbeatable offer of hospitality in verses one and two. And if you look at these verses, the first couple, they are full of repeated invitation.
Notice the repetition of the word come, come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. You have no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk. Over and over, God is inviting.
He is saying, come to me. But what is God inviting the people to? It’s a kind of important question here. God is inviting them to his hospitality.
If this people will come to him, they will be given what they need and all that they could ever want. I don’t know if you’ve ever had that debate about, what’s the difference between needs and wants? Always causes a good argument, that discussion. Sometimes it’s hard to untangle, isn’t it? What you need and what you want.
(7:55 – 8:37)
But at the table of God’s provision, both of those are covered. Notice here, the mention of basic necessities like water, grain and milk, verse one. These are the basics of life and the staples of growth.
And yet God isn’t just offering the basics, he goes beyond that into what we might deem as, or what the people at the time might have deemed as luxuries. So verse one, there’s wine. And in verse two, the richest of foods.
(8:38 – 10:06)
So God isn’t just inviting Israel to a soup kitchen, although he does provide the basic necessities of life. He does provide the soup kitchen, but he’s also inviting them to the five-star restaurant. God’s offering life essentials and life abundance.
Now, if God was just speaking here of physical food and physical provision, I am sure his people would have come running to this offer. I mean, if you go down Argyll Street today and set up a stall with free food and drink, there’ll be a queue that will form pretty quickly for such a thing. But it becomes clear as we move through the passage, that God is not offering bottled water or a juicy piece of steak.
While God does look after our physical needs, what God is addressing in this appeal is our spiritual consumption. When God asked the questions of verse two, why spend money on what is not bread and your labour on what does not satisfy, God isn’t questioning what they have in their fridge. He’s not saying, you know, you earn your money, you go down to Tesco and you buy a bunch of literal junk food.
(10:07 – 11:07)
To these Jews living in Babylon, God is questioning their spiritual investments, their spiritual purposes, and their investment in the spiritual market of Babylon and its gods. God is saying, at great cost to yourself, you are investing in a nourishment that is not even real food. It’s the equivalent of spiritual junk food.
You’re investing your energies in the world’s nourishment, and it leaves you unsatisfied. When I was reading this this week, it reminded me of Augustine, the famous Christian from the fourth century. He was the one who famously said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.
(11:08 – 11:26)
And Augustine himself experienced that in his life before he was a Christian. He became a Christian when he was 31 years of age. He had lived the life of sleeping around and relationships.
He tried everything. He tried alcohol. He tried the whole gambit, career, all of that.
(11:27 – 12:51)
And at the end of it all, he discovered that these beliefs and pursuits that the world offers is actually just junk food. He was unsatisfied until the moment he came to believe in Christ. God says, come to me.
I have a different kind of fare. Come and buy food and drink from me. But here’s the wonderful thing.
The price is free, even, verse one, without money and without cost. This is why I’ve called this point an unbeatable offer. Because what’s truly free nowadays, even the free app has in-app purchases.
I just think that’s outrageous, that it’s listed under free apps when you’re going to be expecting some payment pretty soon. But God says, my hospitality is free. You can, notice the language here, you can invest in it.
You can buy it. I think that’s showing us that there needs to be a personal investment, a personal stake buy-in that we make individually. And yet it is free at the point of purchase.
(12:53 – 13:21)
A few years ago, Nikki and I went out to a restaurant for a meal, probably above the level of restaurant we would typically go to. And it was a lovely meal. The food was a little bit expensive for my taste, but it was great.
And then at the end, they gave us the bill and we went up to pay. And the most wonderful thing happened because the meal was free. They gave us the meal for nothing.
(13:23 – 13:46)
Actually, someone had paid for the meal and they’d given us very kindly a voucher that covered the cost in the restaurant, but we didn’t pay a thing. And that’s how the unbeatable offer of the gospel works. A price is paid by someone else and you get the banquet for free.
(13:48 – 16:19)
It’s just wonderful. I’d never seen this. In the sequence of chapters, chapter 55 comes after 53 and 54.
What happens in 53 and 54? God sends a servant who bears the sins of the people, pays the price that their sins deserve and dies in their place. This is what the cross achieves, right? The servant lays down his life, 53, 54, and then 55, the offer is made to you and it is free at the point of receipt but Jesus paid for it. And we’re given all that we need.
We’re given that, you know, Jesus describes himself later, doesn’t he, in John’s gospel as the bread of life. He’s the essential that you need for eternal life. But it’s even more than that.
God invites you to a five-star spiritual banquet that has things like wine, which is a symbol of joy. The Christian life’s not just kind of saving you from hell. It is doing that, but it’s also bringing you into an abundance.
I could imagine some of Isaiah’s hearers saying, “This is amazing, but it all sounds a bit too good to be true. I mean, here we are, exiles in Babylon, and it kind of looks like we’re being abandoned. It looks like we’re a poor, impoverished people.
How can we ever believe that this feast is really for us?” Well, God now addresses that concern. And God says, the reason you can be sure of this is because I’ve promised it to you. You can trust in the offer because of the promise that underpins it.
This is verses three to five. Listen, God says. Notice how often in the passage, God says over and over, listen.
The people were being tempted not to listen to God’s promise. They were being tempted to listen to other voices who were saying, don’t believe all that nonsense about the promises that Yahweh has made to you as a people. God says, no, no, no, don’t listen to them.
Listen to me, ears here, because verse three, here’s the deal. I will make a covenant with you. There’s the emphasis with you that will last forever.
(16:19 – 17:25)
I will give you my faithful love, the same love I promised to David. King David was Israel’s most important king, significant king, because it was to David that God made a very special promise that he would give David an eternal kingdom, that one of his sons would reign over the whole world forever and ever. But God is now saying to these exiles, as I made a pledge to David, I am now making a pledge to you with the same strength and the same faithfulness.
You can get in on the promises I made to David. You can receive the same faithful love that even King David received. In David’s day, verse four, he was a ruler among the nations, not just over Israel, he had a kind of international influence, and he was a witness to the nations.
(17:25 – 17:44)
David was a witness of who God was and what he was like. But look at verse five. In the same way, God says, you’re going to have power and influence, and you’re going to be a witness to the nations.
(17:45 – 19:18)
I know you think you’re an insignificant people in exile, barely noticeable on the map. But if you come to feast at my table, you’re going to be an influencer of the nations, a magnet that attracts them, a people, notice the phraseology there, that the nations come running to. It’s essentially an Old Testament picture of evangelism, fruitful evangelism.
That’s what’s being described here in a Jewish sense, as the nations are flocking to Israel and saying, what is this that you’ve got? It looks amazing. The church of every age needs to hang on to the promises of God. And we need to understand that the promises made to Abram and the promises made to the likes of David are not defunct promises.
They continue to be promises that we can get in on today. The church may look fairly insignificant in the context of a largely secular nation, but the promises of God are still true. If we will believe them, if we will keep going on in the mission God has given us and the promise he has made that we, not that we might be the light of the world, but that we are the light of the world and that that light will draw many others from the darkness.
(19:20 – 19:43)
We will only be that witness if we make the prior choice to feast at the Lord’s table, continuing to choose his bounty over the spiritual junk food that’s on offer. All their trust needed to be in the promise of the Lord. Verse five, this is what I will do.
(19:44 – 20:29)
I am the Lord, your God. I am the holy one of Israel. I have honoured you.
I’m promising this. I will do this says God. I find that really encouraging.
And I also find it encouraging that the people that God addresses in the Bible are just kind of like me. You know, in our fallibility, in our struggle to believe these promises, God says, I can satisfy your soul if you stop seeking the world’s junk food. And I say, Lord, are you really going to do that in my life? Because I’m a big sinner and I’m a bit of a nobody.
(20:30 – 22:32)
And this all sounds like something for the super spiritual people, people like David. And God says, no, it’s for you too. I’m going to set my love on you like I set my love on David himself and corporately as well.
I’m going to promise little, little churches, little insignificant churches like Greenview, little outposts of the kingdom. I’m going to promise that those sorts of places can be places of invitation and attraction where people actually come and say, what is this you’ve got? God speaks right to our level and into our doubts. And so having brought that assurance that the offer is based on the promise, God in verses six to nine finishes by coming back to the offer.
He comes back to the offer. But now we see finally, notice here, the urgency of the offer and the mind-blowing result if we receive it. So notice in verse six how the appeals return, but now with an increasing urgency, Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. These people are being wicked and unrighteous in their choices and they need to forsake those ways.
It’s a repeat of the earlier invitation, but now all the hospitality imagery is stripped away and it’s just plain speech. Seek the Lord. Call on him.
That’s the bottom line. That is, devote yourself to God entirely and depend on the Lord only. And do this ASAP.
(22:34 – 23:24)
See, there’s kind of a balance here, isn’t there? Like on the one hand, this is kind of a great opportunity. The Lord is near. He’s nearby.
He’s near enough for you to call on him. But on the other hand, the opportunity is time-limited. Seek the Lord while he may be found.
He won’t always be findable. He won’t always be callable. Sometimes we need a time limit to help us, don’t we? How many of us only do things when it’s at the last possible moment? One of the most basic and important spiritual principles is that tomorrow is never the right time to do business with God.
(23:25 – 24:39)
Never the right time to do business with God. Today is always the moment you should do it, whatever that thing is. Scripture is utterly consistent on this.
If we have never sought the Lord for salvation, the Bible says today is the day to do it. If we’ve been eating at the world’s table, today is the day to abandon those plates of nothingness and those foods that will never satisfy our soul. The unbeatable offer is an urgent offer.
And the result, if we will come to God, is utterly mind-blowing. Now, why do I use that word mind-blowing? I use it kind of quite deliberately. I use it not only because of the end of verse 7, where it says that if the people do this and call on the Lord and turn from their wickedness and so on, God will have mercy on them.
Not he might, but he will. And he will freely pardon. So that’s kind of, in my mind, pretty mind-blowing in itself.
(24:41 – 26:45)
But it’s interesting, isn’t it, that that immediately leads on to verses 8 and 9. Verses 8 and 9 are very likely linked to the forgiveness that comes just before 8 and 9. Yes, it’s true that in many different ways, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. You know, his ways are not our ways. In lots of respects, that’s true.
But in the context of what comes before, the end of verse 7, where God pardons without cost and shows mercy to the undeserving, I think what this is saying is this is a mind-blowing truth that we as human beings will forever struggle to get our heads around. But God can get his head around it. His ways of forgiveness are far above our ways.
We would never forgive sinners like this. God lets people who have dabbled in other spiritual delicacies, he lets those spiritual adulterous people have a seat at his bountiful table. And that is really the story of the whole Bible.
Next week, Zach’s going to take us back a little bit into Israel’s roots and some of what God taught the Israelites about showing hospitality. But actually, we could go back even further than that if we like. We could go all the way back to the very beginning of things.
Because from the very beginning, God’s been showing mind-blowing hospitality, putting human beings into a garden, giving them every provision imaginable, spiritual and physical. And those humans turned away from God’s provision. And the very first sin was an act of eating from the wrong source of nourishment, not from what God provided, from another source.
(26:47 – 29:44)
And through that wrong choice, feasting on the wrong thing, death entered the world. And yet God continued to show hospitality. Even as Adam and Eve leave the garden, God clothes them in a wonderful act of hospitality.
And even east of Eden, in a world that was often then marked by scarcity and hunger, God provided for his people, bringing them out of slavery, sustaining them through a wilderness, bringing them into a land of plenty, and even sustaining them through an exile. And here we are, almost at the end of the Old Testament, and God’s still offering provision for his people. And all of that is pointing forward, isn’t it, to ultimately the time when Jesus himself comes.
And summing up all of that imagery and promise of the Old Testament, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. And I am the living water. Jesus is God’s finest fare.
He offers himself as our spiritual nourishment. And then, of course, as we shoot forward to the very end of the Bible, all of this climaxes, doesn’t it, in another invitation of hospitality. Revelation 22, the spirit and the bride say, come, there’s that word again, and let the one who is thirsty come.
And let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. From cover to cover, the God of the Bible is hospitable, which means, and this is a really, really important principle that we need to keep with us through the whole series. It means this, we are guests before we are hosts.
We are guests before we are hosts, before we set the table for anyone else, God sets the table for us. And that changes the way even we do something like showing care and provision to other people and why we do it. Some of us might be at the point where, for the first time, we recognise that the ideas and pursuits we’ve indulged in, in this world, just aren’t delivering what they promise.
Why not seek? Why not call? Why not come today to the God who will never disappoint you? He never has. He never can. And if you’re already present at God’s table, let me remind you that there is no better offer, there is no better table, and there is no greater offer of hospitality than at the table of the Lord.
(29:47 – 30:13)
Father, help us, would you please open up our eyes, however long we’ve heard the gospel, to see the wonder of the feast that you’ve offered to us. Bread without cost, wine, the finest fare, and we don’t pay a stitch. Lord, may we be amazed at your grace.
(30:15 – 30:34)
Forgive us for the times when we go back to the world’s table and we think that the latest idea or philosophy can somehow satisfy and satiate our soul. Bring us to Christ this morning. May we feed upon him by faith in him today.
(30:36 – 30:51)
And may we be those then that reflect something of that witness that Israel were to display. May others see in us something of the feast that we’re enjoying. We want to pray this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
The post Free Food and Drink – Isaiah 55v1–9 appeared first on Greenview Church.
I was chatting the other week to a pastor from another church and he asked me what we were preaching on at Greenview and I said, we’re about to start the book of First Chronicles. His eyebrow rose pretty quickly. He said, First Chronicles, the book where Bible reading plans go to die.
It wasn’t the most encouraging comment, but I guess pretty accurate. Many a Bible reader has run aground on the book of First Chronicles. I say book of Chronicles, you might say, isn’t there two books? Originally Chronicles was a single book and then at a certain point in history, they thought it was quite long and so they divided it up into one and two Chronicles.
But it’s viewed, Chronicles, as a very hard read. And one of the reasons, quite frankly, is because of how it starts. Chronicles famously opens with nine detailed chapters of genealogies.
(1:09 – 1:38)
Not a chapter of genealogies, not 18 verses of genealogies, as we have in Matthew 1, but nine straight chapters of nothing but Jewish names and tribal lines. It’s an extremely gutsy opening from the author of Chronicles. In our time and in our culture, we wonder how this ever was an engaging read for anybody.
(1:39 – 3:50)
And it’s tempting to either just skip these chapters or even to give up on Chronicles completely. And I wonder if you sometimes, like me, come to Chronicles chapter one and then just on the leap to the narrative in chapter 10. Well, if we do that, we do really miss an awful lot.
And I want to help you see this evening with a little bit of study of these chapters that actually these chapters, far from being dull and boring, they’re actually like a key that help you unlock the meaning of the whole book. Because all the big themes of Chronicles begin to emerge here in these historical lists. And to the first readers, I want to suggest to you, this opening would have been life-giving, identity-affirming, and hope-restoring.
And we’ll see how that is as we go through. Now, for blatantly obvious reasons, this is going to be an overview, a bit like a helicopter tour of chapters one to nine. So we’re going to see some of the main features, just kind of glance down, see the main structures of the passage of the chapters, and we’ll make the odd landing here and there.
And then at the end, I want to draw a few applications to start applying this book to us. Now, the best way I think to come at this is actually to start at the end. So turn with me to chapter nine of 1 Chronicles, almost at the end of the genealogies.
Here we learn something of how these chapters were written and when these chapters were written. So chapter nine, verse one, all Israel was listed in the genealogies in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Let’s stop there for a second.
(3:51 – 6:38)
What was the book of the kings of Israel and Judah? I have absolutely no idea. It’s some lost historical source. But the point here is that the author of Chronicles, we’ll call him the chronicler, is a historian.
And he’s using this now lost book to us as a historical source for the genealogical records. He’s got it out of this source. That’s something of how he’s putting the book together.
But look at how verse one continues. They were taken captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness. Now, the first to resettle on their own property in their towns were some Israelites, etc.
Now, what does this tell us? It tells us that Chronicles must have been written after the exile and after the Israelites had resettled in the land. The Chronicles speaks of the exile and resettlement in past tense. So God’s people have been taken away into captivity, but now some of them have returned.
And again, back to that verse, they’ve been led firstly by some Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants. Now, do take note of that, that little bit of information. We’ll come onto this later, that the temple is a huge theme in Chronicles, 1 and 2 Chronicles.
Who are the very first people to return to the land? Mostly servants of the temple, priests, Levites, temple servants. And as well as them, verse three, people from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. If you count those tribes plus the Levites in the verse before, there are only five tribes who are said to have returned to the land.
That’s a little less than half, five out of 12. We’ve got six community groups in our church. If we were taken off by a foreign power into exile and less than half of us returned, there’d be two community groups would come back and the other four would be somewhere else.
It’s a depleted and diminished number. And that is the key context to understanding the book of Chronicles. Chronicles is written to a people who have returned home, but they appear to be half a people.
(6:39 – 8:57)
They are a shadow of their former selves. And if you were living among them, just imagine some of the questions you might be asking. Questions like, who are we now? What is our identity? Are the best days of our nation behind us? Do we have any hope for the future? Are the promises still true? This genealogy is written to begin to answer those sorts of questions.
What the genealogies do among other things is they root Israel into their history and they remind them of their identity. Now let’s go back to chapter one, chapter one, verse one. So let’s now go, let’s now go back from the present where the exiles are, the returning exiles are, and let’s go back in time.
Let’s go and find their roots. But chapter one, verse one, look how far back we go. Not just to David, not just to Abraham, but all the way back to the very beginning.
Super cool fact about Chronicles. Are you ready for this? In the Jewish Bible, they have a different order of books, right? We’ve got our own kind of Western version, but they have a different order. And in the Jewish Bible, Chronicles comes as the last book in the whole of the Old Testament, right? So in the Jewish Bible, Genesis is the first book, Chronicles is the last book.
How does Genesis begin? Genesis begins with creation and with the story of Adam. And now we come to the far end of the Jewish Testament. And how does it end? We go back again to Adam.
And what chapter one basically gives us is the lineage of Adam all the way down to Abraham. Yes, the returning exiles were part of Israel’s story. We’re going to see some of that in a minute, that they could trace their history back to Abraham.
(8:58 – 10:03)
But Israel itself was part of an even bigger story. It’s been popular in recent years for people to speak of the better story that Christians have. Having a more beautiful, a more rational, a more aesthetically pleasing story than all the other stories and ideologies.
And that’s true. But the story we have isn’t just better, it’s also bigger. To these Israelites feeling pathetic and somewhat rootless, Chronicles are saying, your roots are in the biggest story of all.
You’re part of the restoration story that God has been working out since the downfall of Adam. And Israel are at the heart of this, however small they may seem. Because out of Israel and the tribe of Judah in particular, hope will come for humanity.
(10:04 – 10:49)
And so we now look at Judah and that section in chapters 2 to 4. Now, I should just point out something at this point. The Chronicler isn’t following the birth order of the sons of Jacob and the tribes of Israel. You remember you get Abram, his son Isaac, you have Jacob or Israel, and then Jacob has 12 sons and these become eventually the 12 tribes.
And obviously in history they come in a certain birth order. Chronicles isn’t following that order. Judah was the fourth born son and yet Judah comes first in these lists of genealogies.
(10:51 – 13:04)
The placement of these tribes is telling us something. After a chapter from Adam to Abraham, humanity’s hope is now linked to the tribe of Judah. Judah is given the first place and the primary position.
And not only that, it’s not just that it’s first, but notice how much space Judah is given in the text. Later on we’re going to find that some tribes don’t get much space at all. Poor little tribe of Naphtali gets a single verse of text.
How much text does Judah get? Three whole chapters. One third of all of the genealogies. Judah is massively significant because Judah is the tribe of the king.
And here’s the irony of that. When the exiles returned to land they were allowed an awful lot of freedoms, but they weren’t allowed a king. At least not their own king.
The Israelites were governed by a foreign power and yet three chapters are given to Judah and the royal line of David is traced out in detail. In chapter three we get the whole line of David’s sons all the way down through the period of the exile and even all the way down after the exile to the day the chronicler is writing. The throne is vacant, but the line of David lives.
I think this is saying something extraordinary. That even without a king on the throne, Israel’s future hopes are bound up in a king, a great son of David. It would be around 400 years till that king arrived, but they were to put all their eggs in the basket of that coming king.
(13:06 – 16:30)
So Judah is the first tribe, the primary hope of the people. But if Judah is first then I want you to notice who is central. If you turn to chapter six, chapter six, you will see that at the heart of the genealogies is the tribe of Levi.
Most scholars today think that Levi is structurally central to these chapters. It’s kind of like the heartbeat of the genealogies. And this tribe, the tribe of Levi, was all to do with the temple.
We’ve already noticed that the priests and the Levites and those sorts of folk were among the first to return in chapter nine. And now we see that they are central to God’s promises, not only in position in the structure of chapters one to nine, but again in the amount of text that they’re given. Not quite as long as Judah, but much longer than many others.
We have 81 verses about the tribe of Levi. The chronicler is slowing down and saying, this tribe is important and what it does is important. What does this tribe do? Well, I look at verse 31.
Some Levites are put in charge of the music in the house of the Lord. And then down in verse 48, some other Levites were assigned some other duties in the tabernacle, the house of God. And at chapter nine, if you were to flick over, you would see this as well.
About half of chapter nine, in the returnee section, about half of the chapter is all about the duties of Levites. People doing different jobs, priests, gatekeepers, custodians, musicians, all to do with the temple. There’s an extraordinary focus on this tribe because it is devoted to the temple, which of course is not about being devoted to just a building or rituals.
Being devoted to the temple means being devoted to Yahweh. It means being devoted to God. And for these returning exiles, that really matters.
In a time when they are discouraged by what is going on in the nation and internationally, they are to devote themselves to the Lord and to express that in the worship at his temple. You see, Israel’s identity and Israel’s future is bound up with a king and bound up with a temple, a priesthood. So in this flyover, we’ve seen, I think, probably the two main features, Judah at the front and then Levi at the centre.
Now more briefly, let’s fill in some of the other bits. Flanking Levi on either side, we have a number of other tribes. Just before Levi in chapter five, we have what are sometimes called the Transjordan tribes.
(16:31 – 18:03)
That is the ones for which you had to cross the river Jordan to get to on the east side. So this is Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. And then in the other side of Levi in chapter seven, you have the tribes on the west side of the Jordan, mostly in the north.
So these are tribes like Issachar, Naphtali, Ephraim, and Asher. Now just a little aside here, some people have noticed that two of the 12 tribes are actually missing from these lists altogether. Zebulun and Dan are missing entirely from chapters one to nine.
And this would have been the place to put them among the kind of northern tribes. Now it could simply be that there were no genealogical records for these particular tribes. Remember, this guy’s a historian.
He’s using records. Perhaps for some reason, the records were lost. Maybe the book of the kings of Israel and Judah didn’t have them listed.
Whatever the reason is that they’re missing, the final exclusion of Dan in particular is telling. Because in the book of Revelation, some of you will know this, Dan is an omitted tribe. There’s also a list of tribes in the book of Revelation, and Dan’s not there.
(18:04 – 18:34)
Why is that? The tribe of Dan was an example of abandonment of the Lord and of complete apostasy. Basically, it wasn’t just like syncretism where they were half for the Lord and half for, they completely abandoned the Lord in utter idolatry. And Dan is forever a warning not to choose to exclude ourselves from the saving promises of God and the saving people of God.
(18:34 – 22:13)
It’s a warning even today. But despite these omissions, most of the tribes are listed. Even despite the fact that only five tribes had returned to the land, even still, all the tribes of Israel are invited to put their hope in Judah and to devote themselves to the worship of the Lord.
One of the most common phrases found in Chronicles is, all Israel. When you study through one and two Chronicles, just look for that phrase and highlight it, mark it. All Israel did this, all Israel did that.
Why? Because after the exile, God is healing old differences and he is reuniting a fractured people, bringing them back together. One of the things you’ll notice as you read through the tribal lists, this happens quite a number of times, you’ll notice that wherever possible, the chronicler makes a positive comment about a tribe. You see this over and over.
Let me give you one example. Reuben in chapter five, after listing Reuben’s descendants, we’re told in verse 10 that during Saul’s reign, they waged war against the Hagrites who were defeated at their hands. So this tribe, basically, they trusted the Lord on a particular occasion and they pummeled the enemies of God.
And as he’s listing things out, he just notes this wonderful high point in their history. I’m sure some negative things could have been said about the tribe of Reuben, but the author makes a side comment about a moment when they trusted the Lord. And you’ll find that it’s like that about all the tribes.
It’s kind of pointing out their faith and their devotion to the Lord, which the present generation are to emulate. So we’ve got Judah in the prime place, Levi in the centre place, a number of tribes flanking Levi, and we’ve got a couple more to fill in. Now, you’ll notice, you’ll see that in the same box as Judah, I’ve also added the tribe of Simeon.
I suppose that Simeon could also go with the tribes east of the Jordan. Part of the reason I’ve not done that is they’re not east of the Jordan, right? They’re west of the Jordan in a different location. But also because it seems to me that Simeon is being given a very prominent position, so immediately after Judah.
And if you look at the other end of the genealogies, you will see that a similar emphasis is given to the tribe of Benjamin. So Benjamin’s included among the northern tribes in chapter seven, very briefly. But then there’s an entire chapter, chapter eight, a huge big chapter where the author traces the line of Benjamin all the way down to King Saul.
What’s going on here? People sometimes wonder, why is such prominence being given to Simeon? And then why at the end is it being given to Benjamin? Unfortunately, because of our Wi-Fi issue, the map that I added last minute isn’t here. But if you, what I would suggest is for you to Google it, not now, but later. But if you look, if you look this up on a map, look at the 12 tribes, it really helps you understand something of what’s happening here.
(22:14 – 25:05)
Because the tribe of Simeon was actually a tribe within the boundaries of Judah. It was kind of like a little subsection, you know, like you get in some of these big countries where you get these tiny little islands that are countries. It was, it was that kind of set up.
So it was immediately adjacent to Judah. And then similarly, Benjamin, Benjamin was just a stone’s throw away from Judah. In fact, Jerusalem, I don’t know if you know this, Jerusalem is in a disputed territory on the border between Judah and Benjamin.
That’s how close they are. And historically, Simeon and Benjamin, these tribes tended to be supporters of the monarchy in Israel. I mean, obviously Benjamin were the tribe from which the first king came, right? So these guys were monarchists.
They really believed in the king and the kingdom. And later, although Saul and David had, of course, that initial spat, as the history develops, you see that Benjamin is actually incredibly loyal to Judah. In the period of division, they side with Judah and the king in the line of David.
If you look at chapter four, verse 41, you’ll see that something similar is said of Simeon, chapter four, verse 41, that they had come to the support of the king of Judah in the reign of King Hezekiah. And so there’s something here being said, I think, about these tribes, not only because they’re geographically close to Judah, but because they’ve allied themselves with Judah. Again, we’re coming back to this theme of the king, I think.
This is going to be an important message in the book of Chronicles. Align yourself with this house and this king. So I hope you’re still just about with me.
That’s the overview complete, you’ll be glad to know. There’s a lot more I could say, but hopefully that gives you a little bit of a sense of what’s going on. And this is not dull and uninteresting, is it, when you actually start to dig into it.
This would have been, these chapters, life-giving, identity-affirming, and hope-restoring to a people who felt a bit lifeless, a bit hopeless, and a little bit rootless without a sense of who they were. As we come to finish, what might this be saying to us, though? Let me give you three applications. One application is that our story is part of the biggest story.
(25:06 – 26:09)
Our story is part of the biggest story. That’s a good thing to be reminded of on a week such as this. On a week where elections have possibly reminded us how relatively powerless and insignificant we seem to be as the church of Christ.
Other stories, other ideologies, they seem to be very powerful. But this passage reminds us that our story is no small story. We may not be Jewish, we may not come from a particular tribe, but our names, the New Testament says, are written in heaven.
And we have been grafted into the vine of Israel through faith in Christ. Our story is part of Israel’s story, and that in turn is part of the world’s restoration story. Abraham is our father in the faith when we believe like him.
(26:10 – 26:34)
And we are a chosen people, a holy nation with a spiritual inheritance. Our society is searching for identity in their roots. It’s clawing to find roots, whether it’s in nationalism or in gender identity or in a whole number of other common causes.
(26:35 – 29:46)
But our identity is rooted in God and in the gospel of God. And that is true on a personal level too. Maybe there are things in your background that you feel colour who you are and define who you are.
Part of what we learn from these genealogies is that even the messy bits of your heritage cannot unravel the plans of God. However messy or complicated your background has been, God can still work in that and through that as he did in these complicated tribes. I think it was referenced this morning in what Michael said that sometimes actually we just kind of feel it’s not even so much that, it’s just that we feel pretty insignificant and pretty ordinary and that we’re not just achieving very much in life.
I guess most of us feel like that, don’t we? We’re just an ordinary person in an ordinary family doing an ordinary job. But our significance doesn’t lie in our own personal greatness. Our story is caught up in the biggest story.
Second lesson, second thing is that the kingdom of God is radically inclusive. The kingdom of God is radically inclusive. Now I don’t mean that in some sense that there is no idea of judgement.
I’m not suggesting that the Dan and Zebulun bit is not relevant. But what I am saying is that very often people have a view of God where they see God as narrow and they see his people as narrow minded as well. We have a narrow God and we ourselves are a narrow minded people.
That is often the accusation, isn’t it? And often when people think about things like identity and heritage, the thinking does very quickly become quite exclusive, doesn’t it? There are those who have the heritage and there are those who haven’t. But part of what these genealogies show is that there are many different tribes and all sorts of variety within the kingdom of God. All coming together under the one hope of the one king.
All coming together at the one temple. One of the greatest glories of the gospel is that it somehow takes the word tribe and puts it in the context of unity. Isn’t that extraordinary? You know every other time people speak of tribes and tribal, it’s always meaning disunity and fragmentation.
It is only in the gospel that the word tribal can actually be caught up in a unity of oneness. I don’t know how that applies to you. As I’m getting older I know it certainly applies to me in lots of ways.
(29:47 – 30:00)
And I’m trying to become in the best sense less tribal. Now we need to come together of course around common beliefs in the non-negotiable gospel. That’s just an absolute given.
(30:01 – 32:23)
But we also need to see, and I’ve fallen foul of this in many ways over my life, that the only tribe is not the brethren where I grew up, or the baptists where I went to for a while, or FIEC or independency or whatever other label we happen to think might be a good thing. These are good things to be part of. But Chronicles recognises not only tribes but the importance of unity between these tribes.
I think there’s a message in this for us as we move forward. Because at the end of the day we share a common hope. And the hope we have is still centred on a king and on a priesthood.
In the Hebrew Bible as I’ve said the Old Testament ends not with Malachi but with Chronicles. Chronicles is the setup book for the coming of Jesus. How does the New Testament begin? Again you might think it’s not exactly the most exciting opening but it is.
It opens with a genealogy. Out of all the things God could have chosen to do this is what he chose. It’s a shorter genealogy but it leaps across the pages of history.
It takes us from Abram to David through the exile and all the way down the line to King Jesus the Messiah. The same Jesus who will later say that his body is the temple of God. Who will act in the manner of a priest and who will give his life as a lamb who was slain.
You see the prominence of the king the kingdom and the priesthood isn’t just something stuck in Chronicles. It’s what flowers and blooms in the New Testament in the gospel. Chronicles is telling you albeit in a shadowy way that Jesus is prominent and that the hope you and I have is ultimately found in a king and in a priest.
Let’s now celebrate that as we come to the Lord’s table.
The post Hope’s Heritage – 1 Chronicles ch1–9 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Father, we pray that you would speak, O Lord, in your Word today, that you would give us minds and hearts that are ready to understand and engage, that you would open us up to hear what you have to say, Lord, and that you would speak so clearly through your Word to our lives. We pray this in your name. Amen.
(0:21 – 0:43)
Well, it’s good to be back. It’s a slightly odd feeling, but it’s a privilege nonetheless to be here amongst you. One thing that I must warn you of before I go any further is that I’ve been told when it comes to doing something like this, speaking, being up the front, that in terms of voice, posture, mannerisms, the whole lot, I am the spitting image of my father.
(0:45 – 2:42)
I’ll leave you to decide whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing, a blessing or a curse. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do about it, even if I wanted to. Whilst we’re on the topic of my father and things that I’ve not been able to move past, when we were younger as a family, there was a year in which my parents bought a Historic Scotland membership.
Historic Scotland is like the National Trust. They manage a whole bunch of historical tourist attractions, castles, country houses, that sort of thing. You have the membership, you get free access to the year.
You get to skip the usual fees and parking charges and whatnot. And so my dad being my dad was absolutely determined to get his money’s worth out of this membership, and we really, really milked that membership. We were pleasantly surprised I think at the end of 12 months to find Historic Scotland still financially viable.
We spent many Saturdays visiting increasingly obscure castles, many day trips to country houses and gardens, probably a lot of complaining about the price of sandwiches in the cafes. As you can imagine, over those 12 months, some of those attractions were more interesting than others. Some of them were really good.
They were good days out. There’s a lot there. There’s a lot to see, very much worth going to, even if you’re paying the fee.
Some not so great. Some that are probably better to skip. One particular low light was Kilwinning Abbey.
I don’t know if anyone here has ever had the pleasure of visiting Kilwinning Abbey. We made what, at the time, for a young family felt like a fairly long drive. We arrived at some pretty modest ruins, a little graveyard, and after looking about very briefly, discovered that rather than some sort of local tourist hotspot, this was in fact a local drinking hotspot.
After about 90 seconds, we were back in the car and we were heading home to Glasgow. I’m sure you’ve got a few similar stories, probably some more exciting stories than that one. We’ve all travelled somewhere only to be incredibly underwhelmed when we arrived.
(2:42 – 5:25)
Maybe you’d built up some excitement, you’d heard some good things, you’d remembered this place being quite good when you were younger, and after that long car journey or hike or bus journey, you arrive and are sorely, sorely disappointed with what you find. I assume you’ve all had that feeling of looking around, of increasing concern and hoping that this isn’t it. Thinking maybe we made a wrong turn back there somewhere, or perhaps if we walk on a little bit further, we’ll find the actual good bit, the actual attraction that we’re supposed to be at.
We all know that sinking feeling when you ask yourself, is this it? Is this actually all there is to it? Is there nothing else here? And tourist attractions aside, I wonder if you’ve ever felt that way about the Christian life. I wonder if you’ve ever had seasons, or if you’re having a season right now, where you just can’t shift the feeling of being underwhelmed. When there’s a nagging question at the back of your mind, is this it? Is this all there is to being a Christian? Is this really the Christian life? It might occur in difficult seasons of life when you face challenges and trials of various kinds, and you’re left feeling like this wasn’t really what you’d signed up for.
You can’t shake that feeling of thinking, I thought it would be a bit nicer than this. I’d hoped that the Christian life might be a bit more joyous than this, a little bit more victorious. Or it could just be in the ordinary seasons of life, when things are normal, they’re plain, when everything’s okay.
You’re not experiencing any great lows, but you’re not really experiencing any great highs either. When church is fine, it’s okay. When your walk with God maybe feels a little flat, a little bit same old, same old, and you’re left feeling a little weak, a little underwhelmed, is this it? Am I doing it properly? Is there something else that I’ve missed? Should I be feeling something more than this? Well, as we turn to the letter to the Ephesians this morning, the believers in Ephesus have every reason to have the same sort of nagging questions in the back of their mind.
Things haven’t been all trumpet sound and shouts of hallelujah for the Ephesians. We know from reading around in the New Testament that they face various significant opponents in the city of Ephesus, the Jews and the cult of Artemis in particular. What’s more, Paul had previously warned the Ephesian elders in a farewell meeting in Acts 20 that false teachers were going to arise, rear their heads, and lead people astray, and worse still, that some of these false teachers would arise from within their own number, their own leadership.
(5:26 – 15:20)
And one more significant burden on the minds of the Ephesians is introduced by Paul just before today’s passage. Have a look down to chapter 3 and verse 1. I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, their founding father, if you like, the apostle to the Gentiles, the mighty Paul who came to Ephesus teaching powerfully, establishing the church, performing extraordinary miracles in Acts 19, well, he’s not here anymore. He’s in chains.
Enemies without, enemies within, the mighty Paul in prison. And surely the question would be there in the minds of the Ephesians, is this it? Is this what it was supposed to be? Where’s all the power and the glory of the gospel? This doesn’t feel very exciting. This doesn’t feel very triumphant.
Is this really all there is to it? Perhaps like that moment when you look out of the train window and for a minute you think, I’m not sure I recognise this. They might have asked themselves, are we on the right track? Did we maybe make a wrong turn somewhere along the way? Is there something else we’re supposed to be doing instead? And I think these sorts of question marks, these sorts of doubts and discouragements are on Paul’s mind as we turn to today’s verses. Just before the verses we’re reading today, Paul’s been speaking about his imprisonment for the gospel.
And in chapter three, verse 13, he writes, I ask you therefore not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. How would Paul pray for the Ephesians in light of all this? How might you pray for yourself, for others, for your church, in those inevitable seasons of the Christian life, when you feel a little bit weak, a little bit weary, a little bit underwhelmed, when you’re asking yourself, is this it? Well, I think Ephesians 3, 14 to 21 provides some glorious prayer points for us. And so firstly, we’ll see in today’s passage a prayer for the power of the Spirit, a prayer for the power of the Spirit.
In our verses today, Paul is continuing in much the same way that he started the letter to the Ephesians, with language that is rich in praise and worship. Have a look down at verse 14. For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you of power through his spirit in your inner being. It’s two wonderful truths captured about God in those first verses. This is the sovereign God of the universe, the one over all things in heaven and on earth, and yet he is the father of us all.
We are his family on earth, the ones who bear his name. And if you’re about to pray the prayer that Paul is about to pray, you could not ask for a better sort of God to pray it to. In fact, there is no other sort of God that you could pray this prayer to.
And the first part of it is this, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. In light of their circumstances, in light of how they must have been feeling, Paul prays that the church would have strength, that they would have power. And power comes up again and again in the letter of Ephesians and three times in our passage today, verse 16, verse 18, verse 20.
So it’s important to understand what this power is. When we think of power, there’s probably a few things we would tend to think of, perhaps physical strength and endurance, a weightlifter is powerful, maybe wealth and resources, a big company can be powerful, maybe position and influence, a political leader might wield great power. But this is not a prayer for any of those things.
Maybe that’s obvious to the spiritually minded among us. Of course, this isn’t going to be a prayer for core strength, for cash or kudos. But when we consider what it would be like for us to experience the power of God more in our lives than in our churches, I think there’s still a very real risk that we go off in the wrong sort of directions.
For the deflated, weak, and world-weary Ephesian Christians, it’s not hard to imagine, though I’m speculating a little bit, that when they thought about being strengthened with power, they might well have yearned for the extraordinary miracles that God did through Paul in their presence. The glory days of Acts 19, when we read that the sick were cured by touching Paul’s handkerchief, when many came to faith, when Jews and Gentiles alike recognised and feared the power of Jesus, when even evil spirits knew the name of Paul. Surely, they might have reminisced, surely that was a bit more like it.
Surely that’s what the Christian life is supposed to feel a bit more like. Surely that’s the power and the glory of the gospel at work. What about us today? What sort of power would we like to see more of? What sort of power do we think we’re maybe missing out on at times? I think often if we’re feeling underwhelmed with the Christian life, the power we hope to experience looks like more impressive ministries, impressive people doing impressive acts of faith in the church, bigger numbers coming through the doors for high-octane church services, more excitement, more buzz around the place.
Isn’t that what we’d like a bit more of? But Paul here doesn’t return for, pray for a return rather, to the glory days of outward power to reassure the believers that they’re on the right track. He prays for an inner power that comes through the Holy Spirit, verse 16. What does this inner power look like though? What does it achieve? It’s all well and good to say, let’s pray for some sort of inner power.
To what end? I think verse 17 gives us the answer. This power from the Holy Spirit is so that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith. I don’t think that’s a separate prayer point from Paul.
I don’t think he’s tacking another prayer point onto the end of this. That’s precisely what any sort of inner strengthening as Christians is going to look like. Christ’s presence in our lives.
And this is the important message to those believers asking themselves, is this it? Have we got it all wrong? Should we be looking elsewhere? The true glorious riches of the Christian life do not ultimately lie in some sort of outwardly impressive experiences or accomplishments, but rather in the wonderful gospel truth that the Son of God lives in your heart. But still, what is Paul’s prayer point exactly? How does this actually help us? After all, isn’t that already true if we’re Christians? And yes, wonderfully, if you are a Christian here today, that is true of you. Christ absolutely does dwell in your heart.
So I think one element of Paul’s prayer is that we would realise this, that the powerful work of the Spirit would help us to realise and to know that. So much of the letter of Ephesians is about pulling back the curtain, reminding us of glorious, often unseen realities, that the God of the universe is powerfully working out his purposes in his church through his people. In chapter one, as Colin read earlier, Paul prays in words which are quite parallel to this passage.
You can flick over the page and look at chapter one, verse 17. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
We need the power of the Spirit to help us know, to know better, the powerful work that God is doing for us. And there aren’t many more stunning things to be reminded of, to know, than the truth that Christ lives in your heart. And that idea, that phrase, Christ lives in your heart, let’s be clear, that’s not some sort of woolly sentimentality fit for the end of a Disney film.
It is a real and rich blessing of the gospel, that through believing in Christ, through his death on the cross for you, you are united to him in a new and transformed life. Galatians 2.20 says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
We regularly experience the difficulties and demands of everyday life, work, the world, even church and ministry, and that can fill our hearts and our minds and lead us to feel wearied, dissatisfied. Is this all there is to it? We regularly face the disappointments and despairs of sins and sufferings, and they can cause us to feel frustrated. Is this really the Christian life? So we need a power that does not come from us to draw our eyes back to God, to Jesus, to the powerful work happening within his people, happening within you.
(15:22 – 16:16)
And perhaps a second dimension to this prayer is that Christ would increasingly occupy our hearts so that what is already true of us would be increasingly true of us. At its core, you could say that this prayer for power is a prayer for Christian maturity. If you’re going to be strengthened by the indwelling of Christ, it means having him rule over our hearts and our minds instead of all the other things that can preoccupy us.
It means having him shape our thoughts and our outlooks and our desires instead of our sinful and self-serving impulses. It looks like him powerfully working to make us more Christ-centred, shaping us to be more like him. There is powerful work being done in you as individuals and as his church, despite all of the ordinariness, the feebleness, the frustrations.
(16:17 – 16:32)
And so pray that God would continue to do it and that we would realise it all the more. So there’s a prayer here for the power of the Spirit. And secondly, we’ll see a prayer for the love of Christ, a prayer for the love of Christ.
(16:33 – 17:05)
Paul continues in the second half of verse 17, and I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord’s holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Well, one thing to notice here briefly is that this is a corporate prayer, one that should be prayed, verse 18, together with all the Lord’s holy people.
(17:06 – 17:31)
All this stuff about inner power, Christ dwelling in our hearts, it can feel very individualistic, seems to be all about me and God. And there’s of course a personal dimension to this, but it is bigger than that. This is a prayer for the church together.
This is a prayer that collectively you would know these things. And so it’s a prayer that we should pray together. It’s a prayer that we should pray for one another and strive after together.
(17:33 – 18:57)
And a second thing to notice in those verses that we’ve just read is love, love, which just like power appears again and again in the letter of Ephesians and three times in these verses. And the two are evidently linked, intertwined here. What does it look like for God to work powerfully within his people? Well, you could say it looks like love.
If Christ is dwelling in our hearts, then inwardly and outwardly we will be rooted and established in love as his church, verse 17. But notice that the central thrust of this prayer as we look to verse 18 is that this inner power comes from the Spirit will help us to grasp the width, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ for us. That’s a wonderful, though maybe I think a little bit surprising prayer, isn’t it? I think it’s surprising firstly because when we are feeling a little low, when our faith feels a bit flat, I think it’s much more natural for us to think maybe we need to love God more.
Maybe if we just had the sort of power, the inner strength to love him more, do a bit more for him, then maybe we’d experience a Christian life in a slightly better way than this, a slightly higher way. Or we wonder if maybe we just need him to love us more. Perhaps that’s why we don’t feel like we’re experiencing lots of blessing.
(18:58 – 21:24)
And if we had some sort of power to be a better Christian and then he loved us more as a result, well then maybe we’d experience something more than this. But not so here. This is a far greater and I think far more comforting prayer that you would know the unchanging, unfailing love that Christ has for you.
I think it’s a surprising prayer secondly because when we look at it, the prayer says that we need the power of God through the Holy Spirit, as we’ve seen in verse 16 and 17, to help us grasp the love of Christ. Verse 18, so great is this love and so meagre are we that we need some sort of divine power to help us get our heads around it. What sort of love is this? Well look at how it’s described, how wide and long and high and deep.
I’ve sometimes seen people do a thing where they say, you know, that the length is how long he’s loved us for, the depth is how deep his love goes for us. I’m not sure we need to do that. I think get for now that there are no suitable measurements for the love of Christ for us.
There is no limit that can be placed on it. There’s no boundary markers that mark its end point. We will never plumb its depths, we’ll never reach its heights, we’ll never run its length.
This is love in which you were chosen before the foundation of the world to be his sons and daughters, as we see in chapter one. This is love for which Jesus left behind his heavenly throne and was born into this world as a child, lived as a suffering servant. This is love which led him to bear your sin on the cross and die in your place.
This is love which led him to take upon himself the wrath of God that you deserved. This is love that means that though we were lost, wretched sinners, we can live eternally with God in perfect relationship. And that is a love which surpasses all knowledge.
That’s why you need to pray for divine power just to be able to grasp some more of it. And as we’ve already touched upon a little bit, there are so many things in life which can draw our eyes away from Christ and away from his love. We might look at our own lives and see repeated failures, sins, lack of progress, weakness, and think that we’re maybe just not very loved or we’re just not very lovable at all.
(21:25 – 22:22)
We get that he loves us on paper but we don’t seem to see a huge amount of evidence for that. Is there something I’m missing? We might look around and see a lack of obvious growth or fruit or excitement in our churches and think maybe his blessing isn’t there. Maybe his love just isn’t really there.
Did we go wrong somewhere along the way? And we don’t overcome those sorts of doubts and discouragements on our own. So we all need to pray for power to understand his love for us all the more, to recognise his love at work, to build our lives upon his love. So is this it? Is there more to the Christian life than this? Well there is more of him to know.
There’s always more of his love to understand, to dwell upon, to dive deeper into. There’s always more of his love which upholds us and sustains us and keeps us to the end. And we will never grasp it all in this life.
(22:22 – 23:46)
We’ll never stop grasping more of it in the next. So pray that he would grant us his power to keep growing in the knowledge of his love. And if as you sit here today you do not know this love, you’re not really sure what I’m talking about, or maybe you’ve heard about it many times but you’ve never experienced this love for yourself, well then know that the wonderful message of the Christian gospel is that you can.
By coming to Jesus, by bringing your sins before him, by trusting in his sacrifice for you, you can experience this love which surpasses all knowledge. And surely that’s too big a claim just to ignore and walk away from. Surely that’s too divine a prospect not just to pursue a little bit further.
So come to Jesus today, come and see and know the love that he has for you. Well we see the final outcome if you like of this prayer at the end of verse 19. That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
That’s also quite a prayer. Matthew Henry describes it as a prayer that we would not dare pray if Paul hadn’t prayed it here first. I don’t think it’s easy to precisely define and put a nice pithy phrase on the fullness of God.
(23:47 – 27:24)
I’m not sure we need to put too fine a definition on it for now. But in essence see that in this context at least to be filled with the fullness of God involves being filled with Christ and filled with his love. And what better prayer could there be for the disappointed and the dissatisfied among us, for the weak and the weary, the discouraged and the doubtful, than to be filled with the fullness of God.
To know the indwelling of Christ and to know the unfathomable love that Christ has for us. Maybe that all just feels a little bit far-fetched for you today. Maybe that feels just too big a prayer to be practical and worth praying.
Well thirdly and very very briefly we’ll see that this is a prayer for the glory of God. A prayer for the glory of God. Why should we have confidence in this prayer? Well let me again very briefly suggest two reasons from verses 20 and 21.
Firstly because it’s a prayer for God to be glorified through his church. Verse 21. This is not ultimately a prayer for you to experience some sort of fuzzy feelings.
This is not simply a prayer that you would have a warm glow when you read your Bible in the morning. This is a prayer that God would work powerfully in his church for his glory. That he would continue the work that he is already doing within us.
Verse 20. Forming us into the people that he has saved us to be. Making us more like Christ.
Filling us with his fullness so that his name would be glorified in his church. This is not some prayer that God is reluctant to answer. It’s a work that he’s already doing for you for his glory.
And secondly we can have confidence in this prayer because he is a glorious God. Whose verse 20 tells us can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. And we could rightly spend a whole lot of time just on that phrase.
It’s a great phrase. But get for now that this prayer is just not too big. It’s not too lofty for our glorious God.
So in those inevitable seasons of life when you look at yourself, when you look at others, when you look at your church and you think is this it? We’ll come before our glorious God in confidence and pray that Christ would fill our hearts and that we would know all the more the love of Christ for us. Let’s pray. Father thank you for your love Lord and thank you for the love that Christ has for us as individuals and as his church.
And Lord we pray that in all seasons of the Christian life at all points along our walk that we would be constantly growing in the love and the knowledge of the love of Christ for us. And that that love would work itself out in our lives and in our churches that we would be rooted and established in love, that we would be marked by love, that we would mirror the love of Christ. And father we pray that in those moments when we are feeling underwhelmed and dissatisfied and disappointed that we would turn our eyes away from the world and turn our eyes towards you, towards your son.
Father we pray that we would pray this prayer collectively as your church here on earth and that Lord that you would continue to do the powerful work that you are doing within us. Amen.
The post Knowing the Love of Christ – Ephesians 3V14–21 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Open with me to John’s Gospel and chapter 21. John 21, reading from verse 15. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you.
(0:26 – 0:41)
Jesus said, feed my lambs. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, take care of my sheep.
(0:43 – 1:11)
The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted.
(1:12 – 1:29)
But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, follow me.
(1:30 – 2:03)
Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. This was the one who would lean back against Jesus at the supper and had said, Lord, who is going to betray you? When Peter saw him, he asked, Lord, what about him? Jesus answered, if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me. Because of this, the rumour spread among the believers that this disciple would not die.
(2:04 – 2:22)
But Jesus did not say that he would not die. He only said, if I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
(2:24 – 2:39)
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. This is God’s word.
(2:43 – 2:59)
I don’t know if any of you watch Race Around the World. It’s a, well, it’s just what it sounds like. So it’s a race where pairs of people travel around countries and continents in a dash towards a finish line.
(3:00 – 3:16)
And usually the finish line is something quite dramatic and spectacular. It might be something like a hillside with a really spectacular view. They always make the ending a high point to finish on.
(3:17 – 3:26)
Well, here we are in John’s gospel. We’ve come to the end. I don’t think we’ve been racing through it.
(3:26 – 3:40)
I would say we’ve been going fairly slowly over these 16 months. But we’ve certainly been travelling through these 21 chapters of John. And we’ve come an awfully long way in this time.
(3:41 – 3:58)
We started with a magnificent opening, a disclosure of who Jesus is. And John, he’s been our travel companion. John has then guided us through many miracles and teaching and all sorts of incidents.
(3:59 – 4:21)
He’s even guided us past a cruel cross and an empty tomb. And now finally, we come to the finish line of John. And where does it finish? How does it finish? It finishes on a beach with a breakfast.
(4:23 – 4:49)
It finishes with a few disciples then walking up the beach with Jesus. It doesn’t look like a spectacular ending, does it? Not to a gospel that started with a cosmic opening. And yet, if we take the time to examine it more closely, we will see that it’s the absolutely perfect ending to this gospel.
(4:50 – 5:17)
It sums up the message of John and it shows us where things should go from here. And it’s full of deep challenge and it’s full of enormous encouragement. Whether you are a longtime follower of Jesus, whether you’ve been stumbling along and you feel as if you’ve been failing and like Peter, you’ve been messing it up.
(5:18 – 5:41)
Or whether you’re someone who’s just started the journey or even considering starting it, there’s something here this morning for you. So from this passage, there’s going to be three facts about Jesus that can encourage us. And incidentally, this is a bad sermon insofar as it’s going to have a huge first point.
(5:42 – 5:56)
It’s going to have a pretty small second point, and it’s going to have a tiny third point, but it’s just the way I want to do it. So number one, Jesus is gracious. He restores the failure.
(5:58 – 6:08)
We’re beside the Sea of Galilee. It’s a matter of weeks since Jesus has risen from the dead. Jesus has appeared on the shore.
(6:09 – 6:28)
The disciples had been fishing, and a miraculous catch has then been followed by a breakfast. A breakfast cooked and served by Jesus. And all of this is happening, verse 9, beside a fire of burning coals.
(6:29 – 7:00)
In other translations, you might have it rendering it a charcoal fire. And that detail is almost certainly significant, because there’s only one other place in John’s gospel, one other place where a charcoal fire is mentioned, and that is in chapter 18, when Peter was standing beside a charcoal fire. Jesus was on trial, you remember, in the house.
(7:01 – 7:06)
He’s on trial for his life. Peter is standing outside. He’s warming his hands at a fire.
(7:07 – 7:29)
And it was there that for the third time, he denied that he knew Jesus. Peter disassociated himself from Jesus beside a fire. It’s impossible not to think that this would have entered Peter’s mind as he sits and eats his fish with Jesus across the fire.
(7:30 – 7:41)
And it’s certainly on Jesus’ mind. Jesus is going to have this awkward conversation with Peter. And he’s going to have it publicly.
(7:43 – 8:17)
The they of verse 15, when they had finished eating, is a plural they, which implies that the six other disciples, remember there’s seven of them, are still hanging around when Jesus begins this conversation. Back in chapter 13, Peter had boasted publicly before these disciples that he would die for Jesus. The Peter who had publicly boasted is now publicly confronted.
(8:20 – 8:46)
And it sounds a little ominous to begin with, when Jesus singles him out and calls him Simon, son of John. You might remember that Jesus had renamed Simon, son of John as Peter, which means rock. And so he was often called Peter or in the gospel sometimes Simon Peter.
(8:48 – 9:08)
But here, Peter is dropped because Peter hasn’t been acting very rock-like. And this raises the question whether Simon, son of John will be restored again. And so what follows is a series of questions.
(9:09 – 9:24)
These questions from Jesus are simple, but they are probing. Notice that Jesus doesn’t ask Peter whether he’s committed. He doesn’t ask him whether he feels sorry.
(9:25 – 9:37)
He doesn’t ask him how much truth or theology he knows. No doubt these would have been perfectly good questions. But Jesus pinpoints the cause of Peter’s failure.
(9:38 – 10:03)
It’s the same root cause of every human failure. We might say that it’s all just a simple matter of either obedience or disobedience. But the underlying cause of our disobedience is that we do not love the Lord our God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength.
(10:04 – 10:22)
And that we also love other things more than we love God. Why had Peter denied Jesus? Because he loved his life more than he loved Jesus in that moment. He chooses his life over Jesus.
(10:25 – 10:52)
But notice that Jesus puts a particular point on this. He doesn’t just ask him whether he loves him, but do you love me more than these? I take it that Jesus is referring to the other disciples here. Do you love me more than these guys? And that makes sense if you know the rest of the gospel, because this is exactly what Peter had thought.
(10:52 – 11:35)
It wasn’t just that he thought that he would love Jesus to death, but that his love would surpass that of the other disciples who wouldn’t be willing to love him to that degree. It’s a silly sort of arrogance that we can easily fall into. When we ever think that there is something about us, something in our thinking or in our practise as a Christian, and usually we tend to focus on our strengths and ignore our weaknesses with this, but we somehow think there’s something about us that just puts us a few notches above your average ordinary Christian.
(11:35 – 11:52)
We’re a little bit above that for some reason. Peter thought he loved Jesus more, and that pride led to Peter’s fall. But notice that Peter answers humbly.
(11:53 – 12:14)
He begins, Lord, and then he answers, yes, yes, I love you. But he doesn’t say, yes, I love you more than these other fellows. He’s no longer stupid enough to say, I love you more than these.
(12:18 – 12:44)
Just a very quick aside, people sometimes use John chapter 21 as one of the passages of scripture to elevate Peter above all the other apostles and all of other Christians in history, the kind of primacy of Peter stuff. When in actual fact, the passage does the very opposite. Yes, we’ll see in a minute, Peter is given a very important role of shepherding.
(12:45 – 13:02)
But Peter comes to recognise he is not above the other disciples. That’s the whole point here of this conversation. Failure is a painful thing for each of us.
(13:03 – 13:22)
But when it leads, or if it leads to humility, it’s a good thing for us. So Peter kind of answers half the question. Do you love me more than these? Lord, you know that I love you.
(13:23 – 13:58)
And Jesus then responds, feed my lambs, which is the first hint that the failing Peter is going to become the shepherd Peter. I take it here that lambs are a picture of believers, converts, disciples, who like baby lambs need to be fed by their shepherd in order to survive. So John’s gospel, if you like the whole of John’s gospel sort of catching or bringing sheep into the fold, but if you’ve got sheep in the fold, you’ve got to feed them.
(13:59 – 14:13)
Peter’s got to take on that task of feeding them. So that sounds a little more encouraging, doesn’t it? Sounds like Jesus is on the way to restoring him. But then to Peter’s dismay, Jesus asks another question.
(14:14 – 14:42)
And it’s exactly the same question as before. Verse 16, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter replies in exactly the same way. And Jesus then replies in a similar way, except this time he says, take care of my sheep, which suggests a broader set of responsibilities beyond the core task of feeding.
(14:43 – 15:28)
Feeding is going to be the main thing the shepherd does, but actually there’s other responsibilities of being a shepherd. And then verse 17, the third time Jesus said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And we’re told that Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? Now, I need to say something about a common way of reading this passage and a common way that we often hear it preached. And the interpretation says that what is really significant here is the words that Jesus uses for love.
(15:29 – 15:45)
This is hidden to us in English, you’re maybe looking down and saying, well, it’s just love, love, love, love. But in the original language that’s written in Greek, there’s actually different words for love. And there are different words, two words actually, that Peter and Jesus are using as they go back and forth here.
(15:46 – 16:00)
So one word is agape. Agape means something like selfless, sacrificial, loyal love. It’s a choosing to sacrificially love someone.
(16:02 – 16:13)
People sometimes say that it’s a divine love, or it’s a love that only God has. But actually this word is used much more broadly in the New Testament. It’s used also negatively.
(16:13 – 16:28)
For example, it said that Demas loved, and the word there is agape. He agape’d this world in such a way that he chose it as his new loyalty. And he sacrificially loved it.
(16:29 – 16:42)
So there’s that word here. And then there’s a second word that’s used, and it’s the word philio. And philio means something like brotherly love, or the love of a friend.
(16:42 – 16:49)
You know, Philadelphia, you know, the city of brotherly love. It carries over even today. And this is a crucial point.
(16:49 – 17:00)
Sometimes people will say that agape is a higher form of love. So it’s up here. And then philio, brotherly love, is a kind of lower earthly sort of love.
(17:03 – 17:22)
And so if you follow that logic, the conversation goes like this. The first time around, Jesus says to Peter, do you agape me? Do you love me with a loyal love? And Peter can’t reply that he loves Jesus with a loyal love. And so he says, Lord, I philio you.
(17:23 – 17:34)
I love you like a brother. And then the second time, Jesus says, Peter, do you agape me? And again, Peter says, not quite, Lord. I philio you.
(17:34 – 17:59)
I love you as a brother. And then the third time, something different happens in the Greek text. Jesus asked Peter, Peter, do you philio me? Do you love me with a brotherly love? It’s almost like he graciously comes down to Peter’s level and says, well, if you can’t love me this much, then maybe you’ll love me this much.
(18:03 – 18:14)
It’s really curious that the word does change here. It’s appealing. It’s very preachable, but I must say I’m a little cautious about it.
(18:16 – 18:27)
It’s not that I think that there aren’t slightly different meanings to agape and philio. They do mean slightly different things. But I don’t think it’s the case that agape is up here and philio is way down here.
(18:29 – 19:19)
In John’s gospel, God the Father is said to love the Son both with an agape love, John 3, and with a philio love, John 5. In John 5, it says the Father loves, he philios the Son with a brotherly love, and he shows him all that he does. We wouldn’t say, would we, that God the Father has a higher love for Jesus and a lesser love for Jesus, right? But he loves him in both ways. Similarly, you know the phrase we meet in John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the disciple whom Jesus loved? Sometimes the text says the disciple he loved with agape love, and other times it says the disciple Jesus loved with brotherly love, philio love.
(19:20 – 19:30)
Jesus loved him with both sorts of love. He was sacrificial in his loyalty to John. He had brotherly affection for him.
(19:31 – 19:56)
And so I don’t think the big point of this passage is that Jesus is graciously lowering the standard of the love he’s asking of Peter. Notice in the text that Peter is not comforted by Jesus’ third question. Peter doesn’t kind of have a big sigh of relief and go, oh, thank goodness, Lord, finally, you’ve used the word philio.
(19:57 – 20:14)
That’s great, I can meet the standard of brotherly love. What is emphasised is not the terms, but the times. Verse 17, Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time.
(20:16 – 20:38)
This surely is a painful reminder that Peter had failed to love Jesus three times over. And it gives us a universal principle that we all need to recognise. That for Jesus to graciously restore us, he needs to, first of all, make us face up to our sin.
(20:40 – 20:48)
I mean, Jesus knows all about it anyway. Jesus knows everything, as Peter himself says. Jesus, you know my heart.
(20:48 – 21:05)
You know what love is there and what love isn’t there. Peter’s the one that needs to see how lacking his love for Jesus has been. Yes, Peter loves Jesus, but it’s a faltering and failing love.
(21:06 – 21:28)
And yet Jesus responds again, feed my sheep. I think by this point, it is clear that Jesus has forgiven Peter, not only because he stops asking him, there’s not a fourth question, but because he gives Peter an important role. And this is all done publicly before the other disciples.
(21:29 – 22:00)
See, we might think at first that Jesus doing this publicly is to shame Peter, and I’m sure he did feel ashamed, but it also had the effect of publicly restoring him so that no one could question the fact that Jesus and Peter were on good terms again. How gracious Jesus was and how gracious Jesus is. And because he is that gracious, we can therefore trust him and we can follow him, which brings us to the next section.
(22:00 – 22:11)
Jesus is calling. Secondly, Jesus is calling, he determines our path. You see at the end of verse 18, Jesus says to Peter, follow me.
(22:13 – 22:32)
I suppose that could be a simple invitation to kind of follow him up the beach, because evidently that’s what happens. They go for a walk, as we see in the context. But in the context of what surrounds it, I think there has to be a deeper meaning in the passage and in the whole of John.
(22:33 – 22:46)
It’s interesting that in chapter one of John, we don’t have time to look at this this morning, but two things are emphasised in John one. Jesus is gracious. Three times we’re told that Jesus is full of grace in John one.
(22:47 – 22:57)
And there’s a call of discipleship. John one ends with Jesus calling disciples to follow him. So there’s Jesus is gracious, disciples are called.
(22:57 – 23:17)
And it’s the same two things when we get to the end of John’s gospel. Now, right at the end, Peter, whose name has returned in the text, is commanded to follow again. He’s to follow Jesus and to express his loyal love and his brotherly affection for Christ.
(23:17 – 23:39)
And how is he to do this? Not only by shepherding the sheep, but supremely, verse 18, by dying for Jesus. When he gets older and weaker, he will be dressed by others. He will be led somewhere he won’t want to go, and his hands will be stretched out.
(23:41 – 23:59)
It’s a bit of a foggy prediction of the future, but thankfully, John clears it up for us. Jesus was predicting the kind of death that Peter would die. And it sounds like crucifixion, doesn’t it? Stretching out of the hands.
(24:02 – 24:21)
The Peter who had denied Jesus would one day die for him in loyalty and brotherly love. This is the path determined for Peter, and it is the path by which he will glorify God. He will glorify God by his death.
(24:22 – 24:38)
And just something worth noting, as we pray for the persecuted church, and as we think about Christian martyrs, it is not a tragedy when a Christian dies for Christ. It is a horrible thing. It is an unjust thing.
(24:38 – 24:58)
It is something to be sorrowed, but it is also a glorification of God that draws people to Christ in many circumstances. What a bombshell this must have been. And Peter’s response is very relatable.
(24:59 – 25:16)
He swivels his head and he notices that the disciple whom Jesus loved is walking behind them. They’ve evidently left the fire. Peter and Jesus are walking down the beach, and John, I don’t know what he’s doing exactly, but he’s kind of a few steps behind.
(25:17 – 25:50)
And Peter asks, what about him? I assume he’s asking, will he die in the same way as me? And Jesus says, essentially, that’s none of your business. If I want him to remain alive until I return, then what’s that to you? You must follow me regardless. Jesus wasn’t saying that John would never die.
(25:51 – 26:07)
Some people apparently later took it that way. He was only saying that if he wanted him to remain alive until he returned, then he was sovereign over that decision, not John, not Peter. Obviously, these are unique individuals.
(26:09 – 26:27)
Peter and John have unique roles in the history of the church. Yet I don’t think it’s wrong to see that the essence of this remains true. The Christians follow the same Jesus, but Jesus determines the particular path for each of us.
(26:29 – 26:49)
John’s path was not the same as Peter’s. Peter grew older, and then he died on a cross. John grew very old, and he grew old enough to write a very mature gospel and to glorify God in what he wrote down.
(26:49 – 27:17)
He had a relative peace which allowed him to glorify God in this way. We follow the same Jesus, but we walk the path that his providence lays down to us. That’s why we always need to catch ourselves when we spend our Christian lives looking sideways at the lanes of other Christians, the paths of other Christians.
(27:18 – 27:30)
That is nothing but a recipe for arrogance or envy. God puts you where he wants to put you. God gives you what he wants to give you.
(27:31 – 28:00)
Jesus does through you what he wants to do through you, and it doesn’t matter how it compares to brother A or sister B. I mean, these were both perfectly good paths, and Jesus chose them for them. Peter accepted his assignment, and so did John. In verse 24, I think John is telling us that he’s made the most of the path Jesus had given him.
(28:00 – 28:21)
He couldn’t glorify God as a martyr, but he has glorified God by writing this gospel. This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. I think here John finally emerges from the shadows, and he’s saying, I’m the guy.
(28:21 – 28:30)
I’m the guy who wrote this gospel. The disciple whom Jesus loved is the guy who is the author. This is my testimony.
(28:31 – 28:46)
This is my written account. And then he adds, curiously, he adds, we know that his testimony is true. It’s a shift from my to we.
(28:47 – 29:01)
Some people think it’s a kind of royal we, but more likely, there’s probably some kind of circle around John at this point. Maybe he’s speculating a little bit. Maybe his fellow elders at Ephesus or something like that.
(29:02 – 29:22)
And it seems that there are others who are now picking up the pen at the very end of his gospel saying, yes, this guy, John, he’s the real deal. What he is testifying, we agree, is true. And with that, it looks like the gospel’s done.
(29:23 – 29:42)
The loose ends have been tied up, and yet it would be a wrong note to finish on. It is always the wrong note to finish on the servants, not the master. It is always the wrong note to finish on the disciples, not the teacher.
(29:43 – 29:55)
And so in very brief fashion, John ends by heralding that Jesus is great. He started his gospel by saying that Jesus is great. He did it at length.
(29:56 – 30:26)
And now in a single sentence, he ends the same way. He says, Jesus is so great that he cannot be contained in what is written about him. That’s quite a thing to say at the end of your gospel, isn’t it? John, I mean, I’m assuming John has spent a lifetime preparing to write this weighty account, his personal account of Jesus’ life and death.
(30:28 – 30:46)
This gospel is in some people’s estimation the finest account of the life of Jesus. It is a divinely inspired and authoritative account. And yet, even so, John says, this isn’t even the half of it.
(30:48 – 30:59)
It isn’t even the half. Jesus did many other things as well. What I’ve told you is only part of a much bigger picture.
(31:02 – 31:17)
Many other books could be written about him. I suppose John muses that if everything about Jesus were written down, then all the libraries in the world wouldn’t have enough books to contain him. I walked past Pollock Shaw’s library this morning.
(31:17 – 31:30)
I was just thinking about it. I go in there sometimes and it’s got all these sections. You know, it’s mostly crime, graphic, comics for teenagers, stuff like that.
(31:32 – 32:17)
You would have, think about this, you would have to clear out all the sections of the entire library and fill every single section with books about Jesus. And John says, there still wouldn’t be enough room for all the books that you’d need to write. Because how do you possibly contain the giver of life in books? How do you fully capture the word became flesh? How do you sum up the fulfilment of every promise and every shadow of the Old Testament? Jesus is the bread of life, the all satisfying water, the new temple, the Passover lamb who was slain.
(32:18 – 32:37)
He is the risen conquering Christ, and yet he is forever the gracious one who invites sinners like you and me to breakfast. Incomprehensibly great, but so very gracious.
(32:41 – 33:17)
Do you believe in him? Have you gracious been restored to him? Do you know your sin? Do you know your sins have been forgiven? Some of us have been walking the road for a while, like Peter. And we think we’ve put ourselves in a place that we’re beyond his redemption. We are wrong.
(33:18 – 33:39)
If we think that, we have not understood the heart of Christ. Are you following him? We are called this morning to follow him afresh. As he calls us to glorify him, down the paths that he himself has determined.
(33:41 – 33:45)
What a wonderful thing. What a wonderful Jesus. What a wonderful call.
(33:47 – 33:52)
Let’s respond to it. Let’s respond to him. Let’s pray.
(34:02 – 34:29)
Father, we thank you for the incomprehensibly great Jesus. We thank you for the one who is God, who is truth, and yet he came full of grace and truth. We thank you that this gospel ends with the biggest failure in the gospel, being restored to life and service.
(34:31 – 34:49)
So give us hope today. Show us the gentle heart of Christ, and draw us afresh to faith, to love, and to following him. And it’s in his name we pray, amen.
The post Forgiven and Restored – John 21v15–25 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Tonight we’re looking at Psalm 48, which can be found on page 571 of the Chapel Bibles, and I’ll start by reading this. Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon, is Mount Zion, the city of the great king.
God is in her citadels. He has shown himself to be her fortress. When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded.
(0:35 – 2:43)
They fled in terror, trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labour. You destroyed them like the ships of Tarshish, shattered by an east wind. As we have heard, so we have seen, in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God, God makes her secure forever.
Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth, and your right hand is filled with righteousness. Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments.
Walk about Zion, go round her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide, even to the end.
A few years ago now, when I was at Bible school, there was a teacher there who, he would come once a year, who really stuck with me. He would come to teach one module. It was the Creation to Christ module, where he’d start at creation and preach through to Christ, as the name suggests.
It was 52 lessons that spanned the entire Old Testament and up to the crucifixion. It was originally designed for teaching unreached groups about the Bible. And the central focus of these lessons really stuck with me, especially the way he said that particular focus.
He would stand there, arms spread, the glory. And that has always stayed with me. And today we’re going to talk a little bit about how we can share in that glory.
God’s glory permeates this passage in the same way it permeates the entire Bible. I would say that the Bible, in a lot of ways, could be considered a declaration of God’s glory. And while the word glory isn’t specifically mentioned in this passage, it is mentioned, the word is used, depending on your translation, around 600 times in the Bible.
(2:45 – 3:02)
And many, many more times is alluded to. And but while the word itself is not used, the meaning is there. That is why in verse one it starts, great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.
(3:04 – 3:32)
It starts by telling us how great God is. It then, while it mentions God’s glory, grants his praise, it then moves into describing a city. So how is that connected? In the Bible we see a lot of mirrors, a lot of reflections, and this city mirrors God’s glory.
(3:33 – 4:16)
Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion. There are, in that verse alone, there are multiple symbols. We have Mount Zion.
Now Mount Zion is an actual hill that is very often visited in Israel. But the link to Zaphon in the land of Canaan and the people, nations surrounding Israel at that time, Zaphon was to them what Olympus was to the Greeks. It was the connection between earth and heaven.
It’s where the two were supposed to meet. The Jews at the time would have known this. The nation of Israel would have known this.
(4:17 – 4:40)
They would have also known that Mount Zion is the actual only connection, and not the physical Mount Zion, but rather what it symbolises. Mount Zion is mentioned multiple times in Scripture, one example being Hebrews 12. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
(4:45 – 5:01)
In this context of this passage, remember this is written by the sons of Korah who were Israelites. In the context, this alludes to some degree to this actual city of Jerusalem. But that is an incomplete picture.
(5:05 – 5:23)
And I also believe that there is a present reference that is also an incomplete picture in the church of today. But much of it is still hidden. So, we’re going to explore a little bit past and present reflections of God’s glory before we get to a final fulfilment.
(5:26 – 5:43)
In verse 9, it mentions, Within your temple, O God. The temple of God, as we all know, was built in Jerusalem. It is where the presence of God resided in Israel until the glory of God departed from it.
(5:48 – 6:08)
And we know that Israel was God’s chosen people. God chose Israel, and God put his glory in amongst the people of Israel. But the people of Israel, as we have seen from history, have been defeated again and again.
(6:08 – 6:21)
And that temple was destroyed. So, this can’t be a complete picture of what’s being described in Psalm 48. The church today also has a temple.
(6:24 – 6:45)
1 Corinthians 6 says, Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. Anyone who is in Christ is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And we can see, in the way we treat each other, glimpses of the glory of God.
(6:48 – 7:06)
But we are still fallen creatures, as we talked about this morning, for those who are here. We are wretched beyond comprehension, and yet, God has said that we are glorious. And God has said that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
(7:10 – 7:36)
But even this, as we are fallen, is not a full reflection of what we see in the passage. Two weeks ago, Colin spoke about the Bride of Christ in Psalm 45. In Revelation 21, in verse 9, it says, Let me show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.
(7:38 – 7:56)
What it then goes on to describe is not a woman, it’s not even people. What he goes on to describe is the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. Now, as Colin told us a few weeks ago, the Bride of Christ is the Church.
(7:57 – 8:20)
This means that the only interpretation here is that the Church, as well, is the Holy City. But there’s something different about the temple in this Holy City. In verse 22, it says, The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
(8:20 – 9:06)
There is no need for a temple anymore, because God is the temple. Now, this brings us to something that I find utterly incredible. What is it that makes the city so wonderful? What is it that makes the city glorious? Where does the righteousness and glory of the city come from? Verse 3, it says, God is in her citadels.
He has shown himself to be her fortress. And throughout the passage, there is reference to God being in the city. The city itself, without God, is nothing.
(9:08 – 9:29)
But with God, it is glorious and beautiful. The Church’s righteousness is the righteousness of God. And something more incredible is that God already views each and every one of his children as glorious and righteous.
(9:32 – 9:43)
In Romans 8, it says, The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear. Rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father.
(9:44 – 10:10)
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. The tense used in this passage is not future, it is past and present.
(10:12 – 10:37)
Anyone who is in Christ is already viewed by God as fully justified, fully glorified. But why don’t we see the effects? Well, the very next verse in that passage says, For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. The glory of the church has not yet been fully revealed.
(10:39 – 10:54)
God views us in the way that only he can. But in glimpses like Psalm 48, we are given a chance to cast our minds vastly into the future. Well, it could be tomorrow, we don’t know.
(10:56 – 11:07)
But for us, it is the future. For us, we can’t see the future fulfilment yet, but we are given glimpses of it. And what beautiful glimpses.
(11:08 – 11:33)
Beautiful in its loftiness, walk about Zion, go round her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. We are given glimpses here and in Revelation and in many other parts of the Bible of the glory of which we can be a part, not because of anything we’ve done, but because God has imparted his glory onto us. Thanks to the completed work of Christ.
(11:38 – 12:06)
Now, I find it incredible that God, the perfect God, would share his glory with someone like me. But I also find it motivating that despite my wretchedness, despite my sin, he views me as a holy son of God. And I find it motivating to live as a holy son of God.
(12:07 – 12:21)
And anyone who is in Christ, you are holy children of God, glorious and righteous in his sight. Use that and act like it. Now, we will always stumble.
(12:21 – 12:32)
That is why we cannot see the full picture yet. Because we are imperfect, but we will see it in the future. But there is a warning.
(12:33 – 12:53)
There is an alternative. In verses four to seven, when the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded. They fled in terror, trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labour.
(12:53 – 13:13)
You destroyed them like the ships of Tarshish, shattered by an east wind. The kings, the enemies of the city. There are only two groups of people in the end.
(13:14 – 13:33)
When the Lord returns, there will be two groups, the city and the enemies of the city. We can see this in past and present events. The world has always set itself against God and his people.
(13:35 – 14:00)
When Israel was in the land, the people around them constantly fought with them. Assyria, the Philistines, and it was not Israel who defeated them over and over. Judges seven in the story of Gideon, when the 300 trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.
(14:01 – 14:19)
In second Kings 19, Sennacherib, as he was trying to destroy the nation of Israel. That night, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies.
(14:21 – 14:42)
And later, once Sennacherib had gone home, one day while he was worshipping in the temple of his God, Nisroch, his sons, Adrammelech and Sherezer, killed him with the sword. Israel did not defend itself. God did it.
(14:44 – 14:55)
It was not Israel who had the power or ability. It was God. And the flood.
(14:58 – 15:16)
We’re told that every thought of man’s heart was constantly evil all the time. The people of the world at that time set themselves directly against God. And so God let them face the consequences of their actions.
(15:18 – 15:31)
But he spared Noah, for Noah had faith. So in this, it is not us who are glorified. It is not Israel who is glorified.
(15:31 – 15:43)
It is God who is glorified. And yet he shares that with us. In the present day, the world still sets itself against God.
(15:43 – 16:01)
We can see it by looking at the, watching the news, sometimes just by looking outside. Pagan religions are all over the place. And particularly Islam, murdering Christians in Nigeria and across the Islamic world.
(16:03 – 16:22)
The Middle East has a strong hatred of Israel, which I believe is due to the fact that Christ came from Israel. The world was blessed through Israel. And so the world hates Israel because they set themselves against God.
(16:25 – 16:39)
LGBT movements, they call their events pride, the original sin that led to Lucifer’s downfall. We see war in Iran. We see it in various parts of Africa, civil war, international war.
(16:41 – 16:59)
Even a staunch atheist, Richard Dawkins, a few years back, talked about the benefit of cultural Christianity. He talked about, he could see the glimpses of glory through the church. And yet he has dedicated his life to opposing Christ and opposing God.
(17:00 – 17:35)
That is what the world does. And in the future, as it talks about in Psalm 48, the imagery destroying them like the ships of Tarshish, shattered, reminds me of the imagery in Revelation 18. We have the fall of Babylon described with pain and death as people tear apart themselves in opposition to God.
(17:36 – 18:00)
And ultimately we see Armageddon when the devil leads the nations of the world against the people of God. And in Revelations 20, verse 15, we see the final consequence of that. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
(18:02 – 18:22)
That is a finality of which anyone who is not part of God’s city should fear. So there are two choices here. All who put their faith in Jesus Christ will have an eternal share in the glory of God.
(18:22 – 18:30)
We are seen by God already as his children. We are seen already as justified. We already are heirs and co-heirs with his son.
(18:34 – 19:06)
And because of that, we have been invited, because of Christ’s work, we have been invited into an inheritance. We get to be part of that glorious city in the end when all the people of God from past through to the beginning, back through to Adam and for the rest of history in the future, all of us gathered together, that is the final city of God with the presence of God as its temple in its midst. And that is a beautiful picture of which we get to be a part.
(19:08 – 19:40)
Or any who refuse will be thrown into the lake of fire and the sight of God’s glory and the sight of his beautiful city and any chance of being part of it will be lost to them forever. But for those of us who are part of the city, for those of us, we have the most glorious finality to this chapter. For this is our God forever and ever.
(19:41 – 19:57)
If we are in his city, he will be our guide even to the end. Let God be your guide. Be joyous that you can take part and be a part of his holy and glorious city.
(20:00 – 20:16)
And remember to share that with others. Because once we get to the end, if they have not joined in, they will not be able to. So let’s pray.
(20:19 – 20:43)
Thank you, God, for sharing your glory with us. Thank you for making us holy and blameless and righteous in your sight when we do not have done nothing to deserve it. Thank you for the completed work of Christ that we may all look forward to viewing your holy city, to being a part of your holy city.
(20:46 – 21:01)
May we see each other in the same way you see us. May we see each other as glorious and full of hope and righteousness, heirs and co-heirs with Christ. And may we gaze with wonder upon your people and your holy city.
(21:02 – 21:04)
In Jesus’ name, amen.
The post The Glory of the City – Psalm 48 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Luke 7, verse 36. When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.
As she stood behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she is a sinner.
Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell me, teacher, he said. Two people owed money to a certain moneylender.
(1:03 – 2:11)
One owed him 500 denarii and the other 50. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which one of them will love him more? Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.
You have judged correctly, Jesus said. Then he turned towards the woman and said to Simon, do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not pour oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven as her great love has shown, but whoever has been forgiven little loves little.
Then Jesus said to her, your sins are forgiven. The other guests began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins? Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
(2:13 – 2:23)
Well, again, thank you for your welcome. It’s been lovely to be with you this weekend and great to have a look at this passage together. Let’s ask for God’s help as we do so, shall we? Let’s pray.
(2:26 – 3:02)
Father, we know your word is like seed sewn on the ground and can result in different responses. And we pray we would not be those with hard hearts where the seed is taken away by the evil one. And we would not be those who respond, but respond with a shallow and superficial response that dies away or where our response is choked by other issues in life.
(3:05 – 6:11)
But in your kindness and by the work of your spirit, might we be good soil where your seed of your word bears fruit and gives glory to you. Amen. Well, in the seminars that some of you were at yesterday, we were thinking about emotions.
I made some comments about how different sort of personalities and we kind of emote in different ways. I’m half English and half Welsh, which is where my curious surname comes from. And so I often say to people, I think it’s why I think in bullet points, but I cry quite easily.
I’m a bit of a softy really. All it takes is a vaguely poignant moment in a film and some appropriate background music. And then one of my kids will say, Dad, are you crying? Yes.
Others of us, of course, might be more stoic and unmoved. Rarely, if ever, would we cry. Some people might describe that person as a little bit cool, cold.
They of course might reply, no, no, I’m just stable. The point is we each have our own emotional range and different things that will move us. The question I’d like us to reflect on this morning, whatever your emotional makeup is, does Jesus move you? Whether you cry or otherwise, does Jesus have an effect on your heart? You may be very familiar with Jesus.
You may know about him, trust him, live for him. And the question I want to ask you is, how does he make you feel? You might be here and not know Jesus very well. You may be discovering things about him, which is brilliant.
And I would like you to see that Jesus has the potential to move you. And to do so, not because of a superficial touching moment with appropriate background music, but because of who he is and what he does. That Jesus’s ability to move us emotionally is because of how significant he is.
(6:13 – 6:49)
That’s our topic this morning. And it’s our topic because that issue of emotion in response to Jesus is at the very heart of this passage in Luke’s Gospel. There are these two contrasting characters in it.
You saw them as we read. There is a Pharisee called Simon and there is a woman who remains unnamed. And the greatest contrast between them is how they feel.
(6:50 – 9:03)
How they feel towards Jesus. Just follow the story with me. Verse 36, when one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.
The Pharisees were part of the Jewish religious leaders of the day. And so far, they’ve been investigating about Jesus because he seems to be kind of on their turf. And they’ve not been responding well to him overall.
They’ve been criticising him, opposing him. But this guy, Simon, at the very least, wants to know more, wants to question him, so gets Jesus over for a meal. But Luke isn’t interested in the conversation they have.
He jumps to the moment a woman appears on the scene. Verse 37, a woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. Now I think it’s most likely this woman has met Jesus before, and I’ll show you why I think that in a moment.
And I think she now hears Jesus is in town and she hurries off carrying this jar of perfume. It’s like the equivalent of calling around with an expensive gift of some kind. Maybe she was planning on anointing Jesus, maybe she was planning on giving it to Jesus, we’re not sure.
But when she gets there, it seems that she is overcome with emotion. Verse 38, as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. The positioning might sound strange, you know it starts as she stood behind him at his feet.
(9:04 – 12:20)
How’d you do that? Well the answer is he’s there in the days back then, you would eat reclining on your side, so he’s lying on his side eating off the table, and she is standing at his feet end behind him, and she starts crying. Crying so freely it seems the tears are running down her face and running off, and she is now wetting his feet with her tears, and with nothing else available she then uses her hair to wipe those tears away. She kisses his feet and then pours this perfume on them.
It’s a moment of emotional outpouring. Jesus says later it’s an expression of love. Simon the Pharisee is not so impressed.
Verse 39, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, if this man were a prophet he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she is a sinner. In Simon’s day and in Simon’s mind people were divided into different categories in terms of how they lived. At one end of the spectrum there would be Simon’s group, people like the Pharisees, they were very concerned about God’s law, about obeying it, about how they lived, they were scrupulous in it, so they were kind of the top league in obedience terms.
And then you’d have a kind of a middle group, the kind of ordinary people who didn’t step out of line badly, but they weren’t as scrupulous as this bunch, but they were kind of okay and so on, keep their nose clean. And then you’d have people they referred to as sinners and these now are people who basically know they are disobeying God’s law. They’re not in a sense particularly trying to keep it and everybody can see that about them, everyone knows it about them and they say they say there’s a sinner and in fact Luke introduces this woman, verse 37, saying a woman who lived a sinful life and Simon now says Jesus should know what kind of woman she is.
She’s bearing the label sinner and he ought to know. People have said commonly that this woman was a prostitute and we’re never actually told that, that’s a kind of a tradition that’s kind of got lent on. She might have been, that would be an example of that group, we don’t know.
(12:20 – 14:25)
But she clearly belonged there, she knew she belonged there, everybody else knew she belonged there and so in Simon’s mind Jesus shouldn’t have been receiving any attention favourably from her. Don’t let her touch you, she’s a sinner. Jesus clearly should have said go and go and clean up your life first, then maybe come and see me.
Clearly Jesus doesn’t know this, thinks Simon. Jesus has some words for him, verse 40, Simon I have something to tell you, sounds ominous I think. Tell me teacher, he says and he tells a story about two people who owed money, verse 41, they owed money to a money lender.
They are literally referred to as debtors, two debtors, two people in debt to this guy and one owes 500 denarii and the other 50 and your bible might have a little footnote telling us that a denarii is like a typical day’s wage. So one owes like a month and a half of salary and the other owes more like a year and a half of salary. It obviously depends on your salary but we’re probably talking a few thousand or kind of 50, 60,000 pounds today.
But neither of them can pay their debt and so Jesus says in his story, verse 42, that the money lender forgave the debts of both. Rather than wait for a payment which won’t come, he just wipes the slate clean, it’s just gone. Great bank manager, love to have one like that.
(14:26 – 15:37)
Interestingly the word that Luke uses from Jesus for forgiving these debts is the idea of being gracious. He showed grace to them, that is undeserved mercy. He was gracious to them, undeserved kindness and just lets it go.
And Jesus’ point of course is that this is a picture of God forgiving our debt to him. God is a God of grace who forgives the wrongdoing, the debts of his people, the moral debt we owe him. And Simon would have known this, Simon knew his Bible very well.
He would have known Psalm 103, God removes our transgressions, our sins from us. Or Psalm 32 which speaks about the great blessing it is that God forgives and covers over our sins. This isn’t a new idea to Simon.
(15:37 – 16:55)
He knew God was a God of forgiveness, at least in theory. He hadn’t really thought what that meant though for someone like this, this woman. And so Jesus ends his story at the end of verse 42, which of them will love him more? And Simon replies, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.
He sounds slightly reluctant. Perhaps he can tell where this is going. But the logic is undeniable, isn’t it? The bigger the debt, the greater the gratitude, the greater the love.
The bigger the debt, the more aware you are of what’s been wiped away, of how much generosity and mercy has been shown. If someone owes you 10 quid, if you borrow 10 quid off somebody and they say, you say, oh, thank you very much, I’ll pay you back. And they say, forget about it, don’t worry.
You probably will forget about it. But if you owed hundreds of thousands of pounds and someone paid it for you, you would not forget. You would be overwhelmed.
(16:55 – 17:45)
Wow. They do that for me. And Jesus applies it in verse 44.
He turned to the woman and he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I came into your house, you did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
See, Simon, it turns out, hasn’t even treated Jesus with the normal polite customs of the day. Or maybe he thinks he’s being generous, having Jesus over at all. And by contrast, this woman has lavished her affection on Jesus.
(17:47 – 19:28)
And the key verse explaining it all is verse 47. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven as her great love has shown. Jesus sees this outpouring of emotion, the tears, the perfume, the kisses as a display of love, great love for him.
And she’s the one in the parable who loves much because she’s been forgiven much. Let me just clarify in verse 47. When it says, her many sins have been forgiven as her love has shown, it’s not that her love has earned her forgiveness.
The way it’s phrased here, it’s hard to get across in English, but it’s kind of in a past, past tense. It’s that her sins have been forgiven are forgiven in the past. Her love is now an expression in the light of that.
It’s the same in verse 48 when he says your sins are forgiven. It’s have been already. Or verse 50, your faith has saved you.
It has already. These are not pronouncements of forgiveness and salvation in the moment, freshly bestowed. They are reassurances of what was true of her already.
(19:30 – 23:18)
This is why I think this woman has met Jesus already or at least heard him speak. She has heard something of his message. She has responded.
And Jesus is saying she came that day when she heard he was in town with that bottle of perfume to say thank you, to express her love for him. And her love was so great that when it arrived, when she arrived there and actually met him and so on, it resulted in this outpouring of emotion. She’s been forgiven much and so she loves much.
Let me come back to my question. Have you ever felt like that about Jesus? Could you imagine feeling like that about Jesus? There are two things that combine to produce this love. It’s very simple.
I’m sure you can see them already. The first is in an awareness of our sin that we are in debt. See Simon thought this woman was a sinner.
Do you notice Jesus agrees? He doesn’t play down her sin. Verse 47, her many sins. She sinned a lot.
I know it. She knows it. You know it.
We’re not denying it. She’s in debt big time. That’s the first element, an awareness of sin.
And the second is an experience of forgiveness. Her many sins have been forgiven. She knows it’s gone.
She knows that the slate is wiped clean. It’s not going to be held against her. Knowing our sin, experiencing Jesus’s forgiveness.
That dynamic, that kind of combination, that is at the heart of the Christian life. The Christian is not someone trying to please God and get into his good books. Not someone trying to climb the ladder of acceptance with God.
A Christian is someone who loves Jesus because they know they’re forgiven by Jesus. And that love of course will result in lots of things in their life. It will result in wanting to live for him, trying to please God and serve him and work for him and so on.
But the motivation and the heart behind it are utterly different. So can I ask you a question a different way? Do you have an awareness of your sin? Do you think you’re in debt before God? The whole Bible story is that we created by God and to live for him have rebelled against him, turned away from him, rejected him and so are in debt to him. There are all sorts of ways we kind of shrink that.
And the Pharisees were very good at this. Simon would have been good at this. Set ourselves standards which are reasonably achievable.
(23:20 – 27:02)
I don’t do A, B and C. I don’t murder, steal, commit adultery. I do do X, Y, Z. I do give money and go to church and read my Bible and so on. Set certain rules and standards you can keep.
Keep going for a while and after a bit you think you’re doing quite well. You’re going to end up thinking well God’s quite fortunate to have someone as nice as me around. But I’m supposed to love God with all of my heart, mind and soul and my neighbour as myself.
Rather than doing quite well I’m in more debt every day I live. Or we could play the comparison game. It’s another thing the Pharisees were very good at.
You look at someone like that woman and you think well compared to her I’m doing pretty well. It’s like doing 80 on the motorway and someone passes you doing 100 and you tut. Terrible what some people do.
You’re breaking the law as well. Just because somebody else’s debt might be bigger or more obvious than yours doesn’t mean you’re not in debt. It may be that you are not very aware of being in debt to God and I’m afraid I have to tell you that you are.
And it may be you think it’s not too bad and I have to tell you that it’s far worse than you think. I remember lunchtime at our house one day after a Sunday service. A bunch of people back and one of our more senior members, ex-missionary, ex-pastor, elder, you know pillar of the church type of guy was there and we were washing up I think and somehow we ended up talking about sin and a bunch of young guys kind of talking about different things whatever and then very quietly he just said at one stage the older I get the more wicked I realise I am.
Okay that gave us a little a little moment of realism. I tell you these things not with the point of discouraging you. I don’t want us to make us feel bad about ourselves.
It’s so that we’ll love Jesus more. A small view of sin means a very small love for Jesus and I’d like to encourage you as a church be honest about sin. It’s all sorts of implications for our life together actually in terms of honesty, realism, straightforwardness.
I don’t mean we have to go into detail. We just don’t play the let’s pretend game. Let’s pretend actually we’re all really quite nice.
I’m not very nice. If you knew it was in my heart you wouldn’t particularly want to listen to me this morning and then embrace forgiveness. It’s very easy actually in church life to talk about forgiveness, sing about forgiveness, hear about forgiveness but I use the word embrace quite deliberately.
(27:03 – 27:18)
You can talk about it, sing about it, hear about it but not actually embrace it. You can think God love offers you forgiveness you know but it kind of comes with strings attached. As long as you improve it’s a kind of probationary forgiveness or something.
(27:20 – 31:40)
You find yourself doing deals with God please forgive me and I’ll. I’ve done it again but forgive me and I’ll never. We’re adding our own strings now.
If that’s how we think about forgiveness it’s like it’s got lots of small prints. There’s no love and joy and celebration or you hear the words you’re forgiven. They just don’t sink in.
Feel guilty before, feel guilty afterwards. Can’t be that easy and we need to spend time mulling on, reflecting on, embracing Jesus’s words. When he says he just forgave the debts of both in that parable he means it.
He says to the woman your many sins gone, wiped away, not to be held against you. We are in fact in danger I think sometimes of having our own version of that kind of spectrum of the good people through to the terrible people and we kind of go oh no no we’re all sinners and yet somehow we still think that and somehow I have to be at this end of the spectrum if I’m going to really be forgiven. I’ve been doing quite a lot of work recently on 18th century minister John Newton who many of you probably will have heard of.
He was a slave trader unfortunately and even having come to faith continued in the slave trade and then later went into ministry. I’ve been doing some reading and writing on him. He writes extensively about how he now looks back on his previous life in the slave trade and he clearly committed what he then regards as appalling actions.
Slaves were tortured, he talks about putting slaves in thumbscrews and things. Slaves were quite often raped by the crew of ships and a lot of people actually think who know about these areas think John Newton would have taken part in that. He never tells us, never tells us explicitly but it was very common practise I’m sorry to say it’s horrible.
He wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. How great the sound that saved a wretch like me. I remember mentioning this once and somebody came up to me afterwards and said she was she was shocked and horrified by what I’d said about John Newton and she didn’t think she wanted to sing Amazing Grace anymore and I said I understood that.
It’s horrible to think that’s the case, it’s revolting. But ultimately do we think he’s forgiven? Yes, yes I suppose he is she said you know not reluctantly. Would he be allowed to celebrate forgiveness? Would God want to see him smile and embrace, say I’m forgiven it’s wonderful? See if we feel particularly guilty maybe over particularly awful sins the wonderful truth here is those are forgiven and God wants you to embrace forgiveness and smile and if you might look at others and think well they are at that end of the spectrum they’ve performed awful sins God wants them to smile and if I start to think no no actually they need to be more up here I haven’t really understood my sin and I certainly haven’t understood Jesus’s forgiveness.
(31:44 – 37:02)
I want to encourage you as a church to speak about the totality and completeness and unmeritedness, graciousness of Jesus’s forgiveness and I want you to do that so that you’ll love Jesus more and that will shape you, it will shape this church. Those are two very simple things honesty about sin, embracing forgiveness, they are transformative in our lives and the life of a community that orientates itself around these things. You know if you embrace those things for example you’ll find it easier to forgive others.
When someone hurts you, ignores you, offends you and I’m afraid it’ll happen in a community. I don’t mean to make light of it but if we’re all so fully aware of our sin and Jesus’s forgiveness of us we’ll forgive each other. It’ll have lots of knock-on effects like that, it’ll keep you going in your Christian life, it’ll keep this church united, it will result in love between you and it will shape you.
John Newton I’ve mentioned, he spoke of the everlasting shame he felt because of his past, understandably, but actually he went on to say he discovered more about his sinfulness later in life when he was living a perfectly respectable life. He spoke of Christian growth as growth in awareness of his sinfulness and growth in awareness of Jesus’s grace and forgiveness. Right towards the end of his life, a little bit before he died, he uttered what became some very famous words.
He said, my memory is nearly gone but I remember two things. I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great saviour and that shaped him. He was humble, he was thankful.
When was the last time you felt like this woman felt towards Jesus? Shown in whatever way you might express emotion, whether you cry or not is not the issue. The issue is whether when we’re aware of our sin and aware of Jesus’s forgiveness, we love him. And I don’t mean to suggest that this woman then kind of walked around, you know, sort of perpetually overcome, you know, weeping then, goes home weeping, wake up the next morning, I can’t stop crying.
No, no, it was a particular moment, a particular moment of realisation where it came home with force, resulting in this, I imagine this settled into a peaceful reassurance, a quiet gratitude. Maybe sometime later on she’d reflect and another tear would run down her face, I don’t know. I just know in my heart I can so easily speak of my sin and forgiveness and it’s just become commonplace to me.
And there are moments, there have been moments when that comes home with a greater force. God convicts me, I see Jesus’s graciousness and I cry because I’m half Welsh and I cry quite easily. It will be shown in different ways but the heartbeat of the Christian life is love and gratitude to Jesus.
Let’s pray together, shall we? Father God, we thank you that your heart for us is a heart of love shown in sending your Son, the Lord Jesus. He is the one who loved us and gave himself for us. We thank you, you love us despite us, despite our sin.
We thank you, you love us with such such graciousness that brings forgiveness full and free and we pray in your kindness you would help us see our sin and be honest about it. You’d help us embrace forgiveness, whatever it is that we know we’ve done wrong, to know that coming to the Lord Jesus means it is wiped away. And we pray in your kindness we would love Jesus more as a result.
Amen.
The post Loving Jesus – Luke 7v36–50 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, if you have your Bibles, then please turn to Psalm 46, and let’s read together. For the director of music of the sons of Korah, according to the Alamoth, a song. God is our refuge and strength and ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her.
She will not fall. God will help her at the break of day. Nations are in uproar.
Kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice. The earth melts.
(1:05 – 1:17)
The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
(1:18 – 1:38)
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire.
He says, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
(1:40 – 5:15)
The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. So in this very short series that we’re doing, we’re asking the question, how much is the church worth? And we’re exploring the answer through three Psalms, Psalm 45, 46, and 48.
And while these are Old Testament songs, they speak of the called out people of God, which for our context is the body of believers united in Christ. And so for us, there’s so much to learn and apply today. Now last week, Colin helped us with Psalm 45 and he portrayed the church as a bride joined to her royal king.
And this week in Psalm 46, it reveals the church as God’s dwelling place, where God is the fortress of refuge for the faithful. And it’s a final assurance for the people of God, a security against all and whoever would oppose. And then next week in Psalm 48, just to encourage you to be along next week too, Psalm 48 will show us the church as a city witnessing to the beauty of God and the beauty of his people.
But let’s come to tonight and Psalm 46. And let me ask you regarding the church, whether it’s the local church here in Greenview or nationally across the UK or the church across the world, what frightens you most? What are you fearful of regarding the church now and future? Now I asked this question of some friends recently in a WhatsApp group that I’m part of, usually full of banter and lots of side jokes and so on, but it’s often laced with interest and concerns for the church. So here are some of the collated thoughts.
The church faces external forces seeking to marginalise or destroy it. Modern ideologies, secular narratives regarding gender, sexuality and truth exert a constant pressure through education, media and the workplace. In the social and professional cost of holding on to biblical convictions.
And that often leads to a fear of being excluded, being treated as less than. And then alongside that is the cold frameworks of materialism, humanism, aggressive religious worldviews that stand in direct opposition to the church. And perhaps a dangerous external threat too, a subtle seduction of worldly pleasure and sophistication that draws the church away from its primary devotion.
Well that was some of the external threats and fears. But internally the dangers are just as grave. Authority is weakening and as confidence in God’s word wavers.
Core orthodox historical doctrines are sidelined as problematic on the wrong side of history. The gospel is being reshaped by a pragmatism, social action and a moralism. Focussing on what works rather than what is true.
(5:18 – 5:47)
As discipleship and commitment wane, then the church risks becoming a mere service provider for consumers of church rather than a body of believers to love and serve one another. And an internal dilution creates a vacuum where false teachers arise, distorting the faith, dismantling the church from the inside out. And so the church stops relying on God.
(5:48 – 6:12)
It relies on itself and it stops praying. Well so much to fear, much that is chaotic and subversive, that threatens security, stability. But has it not always been so? And it’s not just the church that is affected.
(6:13 – 6:29)
The whole fabric of our world and its people are in the firing line too. There’s an infighting and a harm and a destruction happening across all our world. We remember that the devil is against God and all he has made.
(6:31 – 7:57)
Again, has it not always been so from the beginning? Yet what if the people of God were moved from fear and anxiety to an unshakeable confidence? Imagine a people of God rooted in God’s presence, nourished by joy and certain that everything against the church is ultimately defeated. This protective promise is available to us now and tonight we can see that even opposition serves God’s good purposes. It clears away the false.
It refocuses the church on what matters most because this psalm brings us back to that singular priority of God and his glory. Now what type of psalm is this? What was its intent in the original context? Well, it can be difficult to determine a precise historical event for this psalm. The text doesn’t name anything like that, a specific crisis.
However, scholars and historical traditions offer a couple of likely scenarios. So some will interpret the psalm as a response to the Assyrian empire’s siege of Jerusalem way back in 701 BC. We read of that in 2 Kings 18 or in 2 Chronicles 32.
(7:58 – 9:22)
And there King Sennacherib and his massive army of 185,000 warriors using psychological warfare, brutal threats to terrify the people of Judah. The warriors who had assailed the towns and the villages around before they got to Jerusalem and had cut off the people’s heads and catapulted them into the city of Jerusalem. But yet there, the deliverance of the city by an angel destroying the army.
Well, that can be thought to provide a strong parallel to this psalm’s themes. Or what about the deliverance under King Jehoshaphat? This is the victory of Judah over the Amorites and the Ammonites. It’s also recorded in 2 Chronicles, this in chapter 20.
And there the people of God were told, the battle is not yours, it’s God’s. Well, regardless of its origin, we can see this psalm’s message applying, yes, down through history, but also into our current moment and the future. It uses, yes, catastrophic imagery like mountains falling into the sea, because the psalm addresses any crisis where the earth gives way and kingdoms fall.
(9:23 – 12:34)
In a sense, it encompasses every sphere of existence, physical, bodily, social, political, spiritual, all is in view. But what Psalm 46 does for us is it focusses our attention on God, who is our fortress. And together we are in view.
God is our fortress. And we rightly exalt and praise this God, because his powerful presence preserves and defends his people. Neither the gates of hell, nor the hatred of the devil, nor the assaults of the worlds and its kingdoms, subtle or otherwise, will prevail.
So let us think about the assurance it gives to the people of God, collectively, but also individually. So first off, our assurance is in God and who he is. You see, this assurance begins with God himself.
This psalm repeatedly anchors the people of God’s confidence in the person of God and his character, weaving this truth throughout the psalm. God’s the central character. He’s named as the refuge, the strength, the ever-present help in verse 1. But he’s also the most high in verse 4, meaning he has supreme authority, sovereign over all creation.
This was a title that was used by Melchizedek and Abraham way back in Genesis 14. And it identifies then as God is the possessor of heaven and earth. It emphasises God’s dominion over all, that surpasses all other beings, gods and powers.
And then in verse 7, and repeated in verse 11, God is named as Lord Almighty, else should I. First introduced to us in Genesis 17, when God established his kingdom with Abraham, and this name signified God’s all-sufficiency. So whether providing for his people in impossible circumstances or overpowering obstacles to achieve his purposes, else should I as the God who is more than enough to meet every need. So when faced with fear or threats against the church or instinct, often is to look to ourselves, but rather this psalm is pointing us to have a different instinct and look to God.
The confidence and assurance of the people of God are not to stem from within themselves and their own strength and capability, but from the character of the God who acts for his people. It’s interesting, and I checked it again this afternoon, but praise is not mentioned in this psalm. Yet a faithful and truthful declaration of who God is, is an expression of praise.
(12:35 – 14:31)
And the praise that’s inherent within this psalm is to come from eyes of faith that’s fixed on God and who he is. You see, when God is the centre, then people will see the goodness and mercy of this God, no matter the circumstances. Warren Wearsby, I’m enjoying reading a lot of his stuff at the moment.
He writes that if we can see the circumstances of life as a window through which we see God, it can lead us to praise him. Whereas if we see circumstances simply as a mirror by which we see ourselves, we are prone to complaint. Well, let’s lift our eyes to praise this God, because our assurance in this God brings joy and security, which is our second point.
And we come into now verses two to six in particular, and we see trusting in this God, there are two results or outcomes. Firstly, joy, not fear. God promises that his people will not be overcome by chaos, whether psychological, physical, spiritual.
Even when circumstances are described as calamitous, so calamitous that the earth seems to give way and mountains quake, yet this God is not distant. He’s an ever-present help right in the middle of the trouble. And the result is that the people of God say, we will not fear.
It’s not a denial of the threat. It’s a statement rather of faith that says we face them with the God who is with us. Consider the nature of fear.
(14:33 – 15:52)
Where does it come from? The feelings and thoughts associated with fear, well, they don’t come from nowhere. They’re actually part of God’s good design for his people. In the beginning, God assigned humanity a specific role.
Genesis chapter two tells us that Adam was placed in the garden to work it, but also to keep it, to guard, to watch over, to maintain order. Right at the very beginning, God essentially designed humans to be watchmen, alert and ready to respond, knowing that the challenges his creation would face in a fallen world to come. God equipped humanity from the beginning to stand ready against a dark and a hostile environment that would be empowered by sin.
We call this vigilance. It’s like being on sentry duty. Vigilance is a good thing.
It’s the inner signal that says something’s not right. Step in, protect, care, reduce the harm. It ought us to move towards other, to act, to help and to protect.
(15:52 – 17:28)
It’s meant to enable us to engage, not withdraw and hide, but like all our emotions, vigilance can be distorted, transforming into a chronic fear and anxiety. And in a stressful world, our natural alertness can shift into a constant, exhaustive scanning of what-if scenarios where we become paralysed and perpetually on edge, perhaps obsessed with maintaining a control that was never ours to begin with. And the Bible addresses fear when we try to be vigilant apart from God.
Feeling threatened is natural, but we stumble when we turn inward instead of upward. When fear takes hold in the wrong ways and we realise we lack the resources to handle our circumstances, it’s a realisation that reveals our inherent limitations. But what do we do? Well, some respond by fighting and attempting to force control, while others flee and withdraw and avoid risk.
And though these reactions differ, actually they share the same root, which is fear. But faithful vigilance remains alert to dangers, but shifts its focus. And instead of asking, can I handle this? It asks, God, will you help me? It moves from self-protection to faith in action.
(17:29 – 18:21)
We’re still called to act and care, to guard, to be vigilant. But we faced uncertainty, entrusting ourselves to God, the God who is with us, the ever-present help in trouble. We turn to the Lord rather than to self.
Then the picture shifts from roaring waters to a river and streams. Verse four speaks of a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God. The people of God, it’s a beautiful contrast, isn’t it? The waters of chaos that seek to harm and destroy against the God’s river and streams that bring gladness, a very different outcome.
(18:23 – 18:59)
That’s what God brings to the people of God as they face fearful things. Reminds us what James says to the church in his letter to find joy in the varying difficulties and trials that come at us. Or Paul to the Philippian church as they face relational conflict, they’re to rejoice in the Lord.
Why? Because the Lord is near. Therefore don’t be anxious, but pray. They’re to look to and depend upon God who is near, who is with them.
(19:01 – 19:07)
And it’s not mere survival that is promised here. It’s a gladness. It’s from fear to joy.
(19:07 – 19:20)
God doesn’t just keep his people going. It’s not a be calm and carry on mentality. He gives them joy with his presence, even in the hard and the difficult.
(19:23 – 19:33)
But also secondly, there’s a security, not an instability. So this second outcome is stability. Now the threat is of a city under siege.
(19:34 – 20:10)
It’s a threat of structures falling down. And verse four promises that the city of God will not totter. It’s a great word that, isn’t it? Totter.
It will not fall. While the surrounding world may shake under immense pressure, the church, the people of God, won’t fall. It’s a protection that does not fail.
It’s a foundation that will not collapse. Under the weight of the external aggression. Why? Because the most high dwells.
(20:11 – 20:31)
Verse four, God is within our verse five. That’s the promise. That’s the reason the city does not totter.
It’s not strong walls, not clever leadership, but God’s presence. And again, we need to be clear. God’s presence doesn’t mean nothing will shake them.
(20:32 – 21:06)
The city of God will not ultimately be shaken loose. That’s the promise. It will not ultimately be overcome and destroyed.
Even when everything around feels uncertain, there’s a promised stability and security. And it’s a help that comes like the dawn after the dark of the night. In verse five, that’s when we see things in a better light as we move from darkness to light.
(21:07 – 21:48)
And you know, we see this contrast between two cities presented in the Bible, but also in this Psalm. Step back a bit and see that the Bible presents a powerful contrast between the city of man and the city of God. Two distinct cultures shaped by two distinct hearts.
We first encounter the city of man through Cain. It begins in sin and fear and self-protection. Cain, remember, built his city to secure himself after murdering his brother and fearing others’ vengeance.
(21:49 – 23:59)
And at its core, the city is driven by a fear of death and a craving for control, using its walls to shut out the threats from outside. But over time, this culture produces a culture of pride, violence, epitomised by Lamech. He boasted of escalating retaliation and celebrated vengeance as the norm.
Yet even the Bible shows us God’s gracious provision. For in the city of man, a gracious tension exists. It’s not purely evil, it’s the birthplace of music and tools and culture.
And it reveals to us an important truth that whilst human cities can produce beauty and progress, the Bible shows us that when built on sinful, rebellious hearts that turn from God, that inevitably drift towards self-exaltation and oppression of others and all its effects on self and others, and that’s to be contrasted with the city of God, which reflects an entirely different reality. A foundation is trust in God’s presence rather than fear. And it’s walls built, instead of walls built for hoarding or exclusion or coercion, it’s pictured as a place of where life flows outward like a river, bringing a blessing to others.
It’s a culture defined by peace and love and generosity towards each other. And we see a glimpse of this in the city of Jerusalem under King David, where God’s presence brought a measure of peace and abundance to the people of God. But that city was quickly corrupted when David and subsequent kings succumbed to the same sin that shaped Cain.
(24:01 – 25:51)
And so it reveals to us the fundamental problem is not the city itself, but the human heart. But even then throughout scripture, the prophets hold on to hope, pointing to a future where God establishes a city of peace and justice, free from sin, free from fear and death. A city where God will dwell with his people.
A presence that’s deepened throughout history, from the garden and the tabernacle to the temple, and finally to Jesus who is God with us. He establishes the true city, a built not by force or political power, but by a people led by the spirit of God, the same spirit who lives in and flows through his people like this life giving river. But notice too in verse six, the psalmist tells us that the nations themselves are raging in uproar.
The other kingdoms are caught up in this rage and uproar and they are falling too because it reminds us that the city of man itself is also under threat. The widest society and people. It’s the ultimate consequences of people who are driven by sinful hearts.
And it’s not hard for us to imagine this today as it has been since humanity was moved out of that original garden city. Conflict, unrest, job uncertainty, economic turmoil, environmental crisis and so on and on and on. The world and its kingdoms are tottering.
(25:52 – 26:49)
And we can think of institutions and social norms that rather than being based on God and all his wisdom are based on the autonomy of man. And so we see the demise of a social order and an increase in corruption and fraud, societies on the edge and on and on and into this world God speaks. He lifts his voice and the earth melts.
To the world, to the nations, to the kingdoms, to the city of man, God speaks and it melts. And so in verse eight to 10, the focus shifts, the momentum moves to God and his glory over all of nations. And it begins with an invitation.
(26:50 – 29:29)
Come and see what the Lord has done. In other words, take a good look at God’s works. And this invitation is for everyone.
For the nations and all that would oppose God as well as the people of God who are experiencing the faith-shaking realities of opposition and threat. We are all to look carefully at what God is doing and has done and will do. And what do we see? We see he brings peace.
He makes war cease to the ends of the earth, verse nine. That’s the promise. And it encompasses the whole of the earth.
It includes peace for the city of God but it’s also a universal peace. It’s a peace for all nations and all kingdoms, for everything. But notice this peace comes through judgement, verse eight.
God brings an end to threats and wars and conflicts and so on by confronting and removing the evil that fuels it. The world will be forcibly disarmed. And even though the outcome is deeply good, the process is severe.
They are described as desolations, sobering, shocking even. God breaks the bow, shatters the spear, burns the shields. God does not merely manage conflict.
He dismantles it by destroying the very tools that people have used for their own power, their own ends, their own means, their own control. And this is the decisive end to the cycle of threat of violence. It’s not a temporary pause.
God will act with holy force against everything that brings harm, oppression to his city and throughout the world. And beyond achieving peace, God’s ultimate purpose is his glory. Look at verse 10.
Be still and know that I am God. You know this is often quoted as a gentle comfort to believers, usually on some mug or a tea towel. But it’s not a call for quiet.
There is a comfort in it, yes. But it’s not a there, there, everything will be all right. It’s a strength because the primary tone of this is authoritative.
(29:30 – 30:38)
It is stop, enough. And it’s addressed to anything and everyone, nations and individuals opposing God’s rule. To those who threaten and attack his people, God commands stop.
Lay down your weapons. Cease your rebellion. And to his people, the command is equally sharp.
It is stop striving. It’s a rebuke to self-reliance, a warning his people not to seek refuge in their own strength or attempts to be a vigilant apart from him. And God’s voice is the voice we are to hear and obey and ultimately fear.
He is the sovereign ruler who declares, I will be exalted. And the noise of human aggression and disorder will not last forever. It will inevitably give way to a world filled with the honour and exaltation of the Lord where every heart recognises that he alone is God.
(30:43 – 31:42)
So as we bring things to a finish, as we underline some of these key truths, let’s remind ourselves of the repeated refrain that identifies this God as the God of Jacob. It’s a startling name. I don’t know how much you know or remember about Jacob.
He was deceitful, unstable, flighty, selfish, self-dependent, scheming, seeking control. Yet we are being encouraged that God is not just a fortress for the sorted, the spiritual elite, but God is for all the Jacobs of the church who like him wrestle with all their sin, all their temperaments, personalities and frailty just like he did. I find that deeply encouraging.
(31:44 – 32:34)
So let us remind ourselves that the church is worth so much that the Lord provides protection. He is the mighty fortress offering refuge from and help in facing worldly threats and ultimate enemies, sin and death itself. But on the confession of Jesus Christ, Jesus as Christ and Lord, the church receives an unshakeable identity that though the earthly cities may crumble, the gates of hell will not overcome.
Crucially we are not the fortress. Our role is not to fix the world in our power, but to pray for leaders and stand for what is right. We face danger not by our own strength and ingenuity, but by standing strong in the Lord and in his mighty power equipped with the armour that he provides.
(32:35 – 32:53)
And the church is worth so much that God gives his presence. And we know that this has been given to the church ultimately in the giving of his only begotten son, the word made flesh, God with us, Emmanuel. And the Lord did not merely observe our chaos, he entered it.
(32:53 – 33:31)
God became man, God with us, to share our nature, human experience and following his resurrection and ascension, Jesus sent his spirit to dwell within his people to make his home with us, ensuring God’s presence remains a living internal reality. Yes, we can feel isolated and abandoned by God in tight places, yet as Paul puts it, the Lord is near, therefore don’t be anxious. And we remember as Jesus promised, I am with you always even to the end of the age we are not forsaken.
(33:33 – 34:07)
How much is the church worth? So much so that God brings them joy, a gladness that can lift people up and onwards, that brings refreshing and nourishment we need for living. This living water that’s been given to us by his spirit provides an unfailing stream of grace that enables us to rejoice in the Lord in this complex and oppositional world. Jesus wanted his joy to be made complete in his disciples, remember in John chapter 15.
(34:07 – 38:03)
And it’s his spirit that produces a fruit of joy that blesses all of us who belong to the Lord. And we are joyful because Jesus and truth have been revealed. Like the light at the dawn of day, the revelation of Jesus expels the darkness, it brings us the light of salvation so that Peter could write.
Though you’ve not seen Jesus, you love him and even though you do not see Jesus now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the result, the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. For the church is worth so much that the Lord Almighty removes all destructive forces and systems and defeats all sin and brings us peace. God has restrained evil, granted peace, down throughout history at certain times and in certain places and they are a foreshadow of a final and complete peace and a complete victory when all conflict has ended.
When he speaks that word of justice and melts the chaotic voices of the nations, the accusations of Satan, the chaotic voices of our own sinful thoughts and at his voice the world will dissolve and the Lord will reign and he will be exalted. This stillness commanded in this psalm calls us to abandon self-reliance. We are to trust in and rest in the work that has already been secured on our behalf in the finished work of the cross.
We’re no longer enemies and it directs how we’re to live together in unity. No dividing walls of hostility between his people and we’re not to fight like the world fights. We’re not called to win by control and force.
Instead we’re called to something harder and deeper to be peacemakers, people of peace and reconciliation in a world of conflict. For God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors.
Yes we are to resist evil. Yes we are to stand firm but we do it a different way. Trusting in the Lord, not taking things into our own hands as if it’s all dependent on us.
It’s a real fight but we do it reflecting who God is and that he is the ultimate peacemaker. And in the final analysis the glory and worth of the church is nothing compared to the worth and the glory of the Lord himself. He will be exalted above all and in all.
He is God and we are not and we know that the exaltation of Christ is his rightful place at the right hand of the Father in heaven. For God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And that’s a good place to end. All glory and honour to him. Let’s pray.
Father we do thank you that your word shows us what you are like, who you are like. You are our God, our great God. Increase our trust and faith and dependency in you.
(38:03 – 38:13)
Thank you that you sent your son Emmanuel, God with us. He is the victor. He is one at all.
(38:15 – 38:18)
To him be the glory. Amen.
The post The Fortress of the Faithfull – Psalm 46 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Afterwards, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way.
Simon Peter, Thomas, also known as Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. I’m going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, we’ll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. He called out to them, friends, haven’t you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.
When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off and jumped into the water.
The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred metres. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.
So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast.
None of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Well, we’ve reached the final chapter of the gospel of John, but I need to tell you that not everyone likes this chapter. There are some critics of the Bible and some of them call themselves Bible scholars, and some of them would tell us that John 21 is not only an anticlimax, but also that it is a pointless addition to the book. We just don’t need chapter 21.
(2:57 – 3:11)
Admittedly, John chapter 20 is a climax, the last chapter we looked at. John 20 is the summit of the gospel. It’s the peak of all John is saying.
(3:12 – 3:39)
For instance, it contains the climactic events of the gospel, Jesus’ resurrection. It also contains the climactic confession when Thomas sees the risen Jesus and says, my Lord and my God. And if that were not enough, it also contains the climactic purpose of the gospel in the last two verses, which we read at the start today.
(3:41 – 4:03)
These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. That easily could have been the ending of John. John could have planted the full stop and put down his quill, but he didn’t.
(4:04 – 6:20)
And he didn’t, I think, for at least three reasons. Number one, John wanted to echo his main themes again. All the main themes of this gospel—revelation, testimony, faith, the provision of life—are all echoed here in chapter 21.
John wants to give us a little encore of the main themes. But secondly, not only is he echoing the main themes, he is also tying up the loose ends. Of course, when you watch a film or you read a book, very often it doesn’t end on the finale.
Usually, you get to the finale scene, but usually there’s another scene or a final chapter. Why do they do that? They do that in order to tie up the loose ends of the story. And actually, when they don’t do it, I sometimes feel annoyed.
I think, what happened to them next? And John is tying up some loose ends. In particular, what happened to Peter, the three-times denier? And what happened to John, the author of the gospel? And indeed, what happened to these apostles full stop? So, it echoes the main themes, it ties up the loose ends, but it also builds a bridge into the next stage of history. Just as we have in Matthew’s gospel and in Luke’s gospel, John’s finishing with a bridge-building chapter into the book of Acts, into the mission of the church.
Now, John 21 is a very different looking sort of Great Commission to Matthew, for example. But I think this is John’s version of it with a particular focus on Peter. So, without any hesitation, we should like this chapter, and indeed, I hope we will love this chapter as we go through it.
(6:21 – 6:34)
It’s really just one incident. We’re going to be covering it over two sermons this week and then in a fortnight’s time. It all happens on the Sea of Galilee in a boat and on a beach.
(6:35 – 7:15)
Let’s retrace the first part of the story with three points to help us. So, here’s the first point this morning. Without Jesus, catching nothing.
Without Jesus, catching nothing. It is sometime after the events of chapter 20, an indeterminate time, and the setting has now shifted from Jerusalem in the south to Galilee in the north. We’re back at the disciples’ old stomping ground, where they had seen so much of Jesus’ miracles and done so much with Him.
(7:16 – 10:45)
Interestingly, just seven of the disciples are present. Three of them are mentioned by name, two of them are broadly identified, and two of them John just doesn’t care enough to tell us who they were. On one particular day, Peter announces that he’s going fishing.
And you see here something, I think, of Peter’s influence. Part of why I think Peter became a very significant leader in the early church was because of his personality. He announces that he’s going fishing, and the next thing you know, the six others have jumped in the boat behind him.
Now, it’s worth saying at this point that opinions have varied over whether the disciples should have gone fishing. Were they right or were they wrong to fish? Some take the view that the disciples were sinning by going out to fish, that they were abandoning being disciples, that they were sort of going back to their old way of life, and that they were ignoring entirely the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. The trouble with that view is what we know from other gospels, and the fact that Jesus Himself had told them to return to Galilee.
They’re at the Sea of Galilee in obedience to Jesus. And when the disciples later realise this is Jesus, you will notice they immediately come to Him. One of them even swims to Him.
These are hardly the signs of disciples running away from Christ. What is more likely going on is simply this, that the disciples have gone to where Jesus told them to go, but they are waiting for Jesus to arrive. And Peter wants to do something productive, as we should all do with our time.
And as one commentator points out, even disciples who have witnessed the resurrection need to eat. And so, they get into a boat and they go out to fish. And what happens next? Well, not a lot.
Despite a whole night of work, an entire night of labour, they catch the total of absolutely nothing. Now, I doubt that John is making a point of this here, but it struck me that this illustrates another point that we see in Scripture, a principle taught in Proverbs and confirmed in Ecclesiastes. And it’s this, that you can be diligent in your work, and you should be diligent in your work, but you can be diligent and come up with the sum result of nothing.
In life under the sun, in a world of fallenness and futility, you can work hard and still fail the exam, still catch nothing in the net, still lose the job that you’ve worked so hard within. They work all night, but they catch nothing. And now the morning is dawning.
(10:46 – 14:04)
They’re about 100 metres from the shore, and there’s a stranger on the shore. The reader gets the scoop immediately that it is Jesus. But the disciples don’t recognise Him for some reason or other.
But the fact that they didn’t recognise Jesus allows this incident to become another moment of revelation in a gospel that’s all about revealing Jesus’ identity. So, it’s a really good thing that they didn’t recognise Him. The stranger shouts to the boat, “‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ To which they cry back dejectedly, “‘No.'” Now, there’s an interesting little connection here, I think.
Maybe I’m spotting something that isn’t here. But if we’ve been paying attention to John’s gospel, there’s just a little thing that comes to mind here. Because back in chapter 15, in John 15, when Jesus was equipping these very apostles for this very time, when Jesus was teaching them how to live in this period post the resurrection, He said, “‘Remain in Me as I remain in you.'” The key to serving Jesus after He has risen will be to remain in Him.
And then Jesus went on to say this in John 15. He said, “‘No branch can bear fruit by itself. Apart from Me, you can do nothing.'” What could they do apart from Jesus? Nothing.
What did they catch in the net, having fished all night? Nothing. It’s a subtle link, maybe an interesting link to notice, that at this key meeting with the future leaders of the church, ready to go out on mission, something happens here to illustrate that without Jesus, they will be fruitless. No Jesus, no catch.
The presence and power of Jesus is required for the success of His disciples. After He ascends to heaven, Jesus will send the Holy Spirit, who will mediate the presence of Jesus, His presence and power, so that as they work and witness for Him, the disciples won’t accomplish nothing, but they will be able to accomplish anything. Brothers and sisters, this truth is still in play.
Yes, we need activity. We must be busy in our boats. We shouldn’t be idling our way to heaven as if there is no work for Jesus to be done.
(14:04 – 19:05)
If we’re not in the boats, we’re not going to be catching any fish. But without the power of Jesus, our every net will be empty. Christians, have you noticed this? Christians, individual Christians who aren’t just busy but fruitful, understand this principle.
They are people of prayer, and they are people of deep reliance on Jesus, deep faith in Jesus. Churches, churches that are growing numerically and spiritually, understand this principle. Do we? Without Jesus, no catch.
But then secondly, with Jesus, a miraculous catch. This is where the story turns next. Not just a catch of fish, but with Jesus’ help, an extraordinary catch.
Having heard of their dire situation, the stranger instructs the disciples to do something, to try something. They are to throw their net on the right side of the boat. And not only that, they’re confidently told that there are fish there.
I mean, who could possibly know this? I mean, I realise in modern fishing they’ve got sonars and things, they know exactly. But in the ancient, in these days, on the Lake of Galilee, who would have known what was under the veil of the water? Well, as we’ve seen in John, Jesus knows things that nobody else knows. And they listen to the stranger.
How much more should we listen to Jesus, by the way, if we listen to strangers? And all the time we go online, don’t we? We listen to strangers, experts in this and that, and we follow religiously their advice. It’s a good thing that they followed this person’s advice, but if we listen to strangers, we should listen all the more to Jesus. And so, they listen to him.
They decide to give it a go. And to their shock and jaw-dropping amazement, the nets begin to pull. And within a few more seconds, they’re straining to the point of near breaking.
This is not just a few fish or some fish, but a net full of fish. Indeed, seven of them struggle, John says, to lift it into the boat. And so, the picture is that they actually drag it along behind the boat.
And at this point, the penny drops for one of the disciples, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Who’s that? That’s John, the author of the gospel. John twigs that it was Jesus.
Just as he was the first to twig that Jesus had risen from the dead in John 20. It’s the Lord, he says. It must be.
And no sooner had John said it, than Peter acted on it. There’s so much good stuff here, isn’t there? It’s worth noting that there are different sorts of people in the kingdom of Christ. I mean, John and Peter were like chalk and cheese, weren’t they, from the descriptions we see of them? Complete opposites to one another.
John was a thoughtful, perceptive type. John was usually the one who knew things first. Peter, on the other hand, was the guy who did things first.
And there’s a place for both within the kingdom. Peter rushes to action. He’s not even going to wait for the boat to come in.
He’s going to jump into the water. And in a really curious detail, it might seem to us, he wraps his outer garment around himself before he jumps in. Like, what’s that all about? Probably what’s going on there is that this was for modesty reasons.
Because back in those days, I mean, it’s a very hot climate, right? We’re in the Middle East here. And it was a very tiring job in the heat of the Middle East. And so, fishermen would have been fairly stripped down in what they were wearing.
And therefore, Peter wants to put something on so that when he meets the Lord, he honours the Lord. And so, he puts on a bit more clothing, and then he dives in impulsively. After my sermon on Easter Sunday morning, I would receive from a number of you, thank you for sending, a number of memes about Peter and John running to the tomb.
(19:06 – 25:02)
I didn’t realise this, there’s gazillions of memes about John beating Peter there. Well, this time around, Peter will not finish last. He swims ashore, and the boat slowly comes in behind him.
And you will see, if we just skip forward a little to verse 11, that after it lands, Peter returns to the boat. We actually learned something else about Peter here, which is just incidental. He must have been incredibly strong, because earlier, all the disciples were struggling to lift it into the boat.
And it says here that Peter dragged the net ashore, seemingly on his own. And so, he drags this huge net in. It has a massive number of fish.
In fact, we know the exact number. There was 153 fish. Now, that’s a lot of potential fish suppers.
It’s a remarkable catch for this day. And a question that’s often asked is, is there any meaning to this particular number, 153? John does love a bit of symbolism. So, is there some kind of symbolism in 153? Now, there’s actually lots of theories about this.
And usually, when there’s tonnes of theories, it also means it’s just not very clear that there is a meaning we can all agree on. There’s all sorts of stuff about triangular numbers, and how 153 is a triangular number, and 17’s the root, and stuff about Hebrew letters and numerology. There actually is, if you are curious about this, there is a very fascinating theory about how 153 links to Ezekiel chapter 47.
Just Google that later. Out of all the theories, I think it is the most interesting. But I keep circling around to thinking, what would the original readers of John have made of 153? Presumably, many of the original readers didn’t know Hebrew.
They didn’t understand Hebrew numerology, and so on. Would they have had any chance of grasping this subtle meaning? What is absolutely clear, and what cannot be missed, is that there was a whole load of fish. And when you think about it, fishermen count fish, don’t they? I mean, they had to count the fish so that they could divide up the profits.
And if this was their biggest catch ever, which I assume it was, then of course they would have counted them. And so 153 tells us an eyewitness detail of an extraordinary catch. And yet, verse 11, even with so many, the net did not break.
A little thing you should know about John, the writer. John, by occupation, had been a fisherman. So he had no doubt seen many nets breaking.
He had spent much time in his life mending nets, nets that had broken with far fewer fish in it than this. The detail sticks in his head, that this was not just a miraculous catch, but also a miraculous keeping of the catch. There could be symbolism in that, possibly, given that we are in the commissioning section of John, his version of Matthew 28, given that the whole of John’s gospel speaks of usually actually sheep being brought into a fold that’s then very safe.
There could be a symbolism here, that the net of God’s grace is able to catch and keep all those who believe in Jesus. One of the great themes of John is that those who are given eternal life will never perish. We actually heard that in John 6, not one of them will be lost, Jesus said.
The net won’t break. Or as he puts it elsewhere in John, none of them will be snatched out of my hand. If you’re in the net of salvation, you can’t be lost.
There’s no holes in it. But what’s really clear is that all of this happened with Jesus. When they fished alone, as skilled as they were, no catch.
When they fished with Jesus, when they obeyed what He said, the catch was miraculous. And I think, therefore, that we need to ask ourselves the question, do we trust in what Jesus can do? Not just trusting, in fact, in what Jesus can do, but in what Jesus can do through ordinary people like these disciples, and like you, and like me? Because that’s another step up again, isn’t it? You can believe God can do great things through great people, but do we believe He can do great things through ordinary folk like these folk? There’s a story about the Victorian preacher, Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was asked by a younger preacher about whether he should expect conversions in most of his sermons.
And Spurgeon asked the young man, he said, do you expect conversions when you preach? And the young man thought he was being very humble, and he said, no, no, Mr. Spurgeon, I don’t expect conversions regularly. And Spurgeon replied, young man, that is the problem. That’s a danger for all of us, isn’t it? Not just for those of us who preach.
(25:03 – 25:54)
Of shrinking God down to our small expectations. We may have low expectations of ourselves. We should have low expectations of ourselves.
But we can have great expectations of Jesus and what He can do through us. So the catch has been hauled in, but the story is not quite over. Because now from the boat, we come in the end to the beach, and we come to our final point, our third point this morning.
Our third point is the feast that followed the fishing. The feast that followed the fishing. And this is a breakfast, obviously, but it’s not just any old breakfast.
(25:55 – 26:10)
It’s a breakfast with purposes and intent. It’s a breakfast to reassure and a breakfast to remind. So on the one hand, this breakfast reassures the disciples’ faith.
(26:12 – 27:42)
Verse 1 says that Jesus appeared again to His disciples, and in verse 14, which is the book end of the passage, John says, this was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples, after He was raised from the dead. So this is not just a miraculous catch. It’s not just a delicious breakfast.
It’s also an appearance. All of this is an appearance, the third appearance of the risen Christ to them as a group. In Jewish thinking, things that are sure often come in thirds.
You’ll see this particularly in the Old Testament, that God will often say things three times, or something will happen three times, because three times is the absolute confirmation that something is sure. And so Jesus appears the third time. And in some ways, this third appearance is even more compelling than the last two, because this is not in the immediacy of the aftermath of the trauma of Jesus’ death.
And this, unlike the previous two appearances, is not at night in a torch-lit room. This third appearance is in the broad daylight. It’s in a familiar location and in the context of breakfast.
(27:43 – 29:19)
I mean, if I wanted to be really sure that Jesus was alive, I think I’d be quite happy if someone offered me, do you want a breakfast with Jesus? Would that suffice? I mean, I think I would take that rather than another brief encounter. I reckon that by the end of that, I could be sure or not that it was true. And you know later in the book of Acts, we might just have not noticed this detail, but actually when Peter is explaining why he came to believe Jesus was alive, he says in Acts 10.41 that we ate and drank with Him.
This was one of the compelling bits of evidence for Peter that Jesus was alive. So, this is the final compelling appearance to reassure the disciples’ faith for good. And you’ll see that there in verse 10, that none of the disciples dared ask Him, who are You? And notice that it wasn’t that they were just nervous.
You know, they weren’t just sort of nervous to ask Him because they were scared of Him or He was going to say something awful. The reason they didn’t ask Him, they didn’t dare ask Him, was because they knew it was the Lord. The evidence in front of them was so compelling that they didn’t dare ask the question, are You the Lord? See, sometimes people think that these disciples were easy believers, that they were unsophisticated walkovers, but the truth is they needed much convincing.
(29:21 – 32:12)
They were just bowled over by irrefutable evidence. This should give us great reassurance that the first eyewitnesses weren’t duped by questionable, brief, and pretty non-robust appearances. We can’t be directly assured as they were, but we can be reassured by their reassurance, if that makes sense.
These doubting, sceptical men had their every question silenced by an avalanche of evidence. And so, the feast that followed the fishing, on the one hand, reassured the disciples’ faith and settled it, but did you notice that there was another reason for it? Did you notice that when Peter reaches the shore and when he goes back to the boat and he hauls in the many fish, it’s not because Jesus doesn’t have any fish. Notice, Jesus was already preparing a breakfast for them when they landed of fish and bread.
He didn’t need their fish. The feast on the beach is a reminder to them that Jesus is their ultimate provider, as He is our ultimate provider. Before the cross, you may remember, Jesus took the role of servant.
He washed His disciples’ feet. And you might think then that after the cross, after Jesus is raised from the dead in glory and power, that Jesus would be above serving the disciples any longer. Isn’t He now the risen, ascended Lord? Surely now, serving will be one way in Jesus’ direction.
But after the resurrection, Jesus is still serving. He’s not foot-washing. He’s the cook.
And this is even more remarkable given that the disciples have hauled in 153 fish, yet Jesus doesn’t need their fish. He already has His own. He’s got them on the barbecue.
On a human level, it’s a lovely act of care for a group of tired men who have been up all night. But on a spiritual level, Jesus is showing them and us that Jesus provides for us before we provide and produce for Him. In the image of John 6, Jesus is always the bread of life.
(32:13 – 33:20)
And in the image of John 10, Jesus is always the good shepherd who provides for the needs of His sheep, spiritually and in every other way. In a chapter that has an application towards mission, we mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that Jesus is a graceless taskmaster trying to squeeze the last bit of work out of us. One of the great dangers of many people who are zealous to serve Jesus, and that’s a good thing.
It’s a good thing to serve Jesus. But it can easily morph into seeing ourselves as the spiritual providers for other people. And when that happens, when we lose sight of the provision that we are receiving over and above anything else, we start to get exhausted, and even we become resentful, because we lose sight of the fact that we are fundamentally recipients, not producers and providers.
(33:22 – 33:53)
Peter will soon be asked to feed the sheep. We’ll see that next time. But before he feeds the sheep, Jesus feeds Peter.
And yet verse 10 does follow, doesn’t it? Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you have just caught. That’s a generous way to put it, isn’t it? Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught. Did they really catch the fish? Yes, they did.
(33:54 – 34:31)
With Jesus’ enormous help. Jesus is the ultimate provider, but He does then include us in His great fishing expedition of mission, and He provides for us as we do that work. The first half of John 21 is very reassuring.
It reassures us that we don’t live our lives on our own if we are believers in Jesus. I wonder if you are a believer in Jesus today, because otherwise none of this ultimately can be true for you. But if you are, then you don’t serve Him alone.
(34:33 – 35:40)
And there’s a great reassurance here for your faith. These appearances were compelling, compelling. And it also reminds us that when we bring our full nets to Jesus, He’s already got the barbecue going.
Let’s pray. Father, we thank You that You are the great provider. You give us life and breath and everything else.
We are debtors to You. You are no man’s debtor. We pray that we would see ourselves as recipients of the bread of life, those who have the privilege of being fed spiritually by the Lord Jesus and provided for in every way.
Help us then to take up that privilege of serving Him, of casting the net according to His instruction. For we ask it for His glory and in His name. Amen.
The post Learning to Fish with Jesus – John 21v1–14 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Over the next three weeks, we’re going to study a trio of Psalms. But before we look at the first one, let me ask you a question. What would you say is the most valuable thing on Earth? Out of all that exists on this big blue planet, what is the most precious thing of all? I guess you could give different answers to that question.
(0:31 – 0:59)
Anything from priceless jewels, to priceless relationships, to maybe priceless resources that make the world go round, to precious places. But I wonder if any of us would have thought to answer that question, what’s the most valuable thing in the world with the church? The church. The most valuable thing on planet Earth is the church.
(1:00 – 1:26)
In one of the Psalms we’re going to look at in this series, God’s old covenant people, the forerunner of the church, is called the joy of the whole Earth. The Psalm says that the greatest thing on Earth, the greatest joy on Earth, is the city of God. In other words, the people in whom God dwells.
(1:27 – 1:45)
The world may dismiss the church as unimportant. The individual Christian may sometimes make the mistake of undervaluing the church, of seeing her as somewhat important. But God sees the church in a different way.
(1:46 – 1:57)
It is infinitely precious. Why? Because it is the bride of a great king. Psalm 45.
(1:59 – 2:12)
Because it is the fortress of a great God. Psalm 46. And because it displays the glory of God, the splendour of God to the whole Earth.
(2:13 – 2:33)
Psalm 48. Whatever valuation we put on the church, my prayer is that it will go up through the course of this short series together. So let’s turn, if you would with me, to Psalm 45 for the first study.
(2:34 – 2:53)
Psalm 45. And just as you find that psalm, a little note that Psalms 42 to 49 are actually a collection of psalms. They were written by the sons of Korah, who, as far as we know, were sort of the worship team in the Old Testament temple.
(2:53 – 3:08)
And they wrote a number of hymns, and we’ve got them in this section, 42 to 49. So we should bear in mind as we go through 45, 46, 48, there are some connections between these psalms. And we will notice them in weeks to come.
(3:09 – 3:34)
Let’s read Psalm 45. For the director of music, to the tune of lilies, of the sons of Korah, a maschil, a wedding song. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.
(3:35 – 3:59)
You are the most excellent of men, and your lips have been anointed with grace since God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one, clothe yourself with splendour and majesty. In your majesty, ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility, and justice.
(4:00 – 4:13)
Let your right hand achieve awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies. Let the nations fall beneath your feet.
(4:15 – 4:28)
Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever. A sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
(4:29 – 4:48)
Therefore, God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From palaces adorned with ivory, the music of the strings makes you glad.
(4:49 – 5:04)
Daughters of kings are among your honoured women. At your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir. Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention.
(5:05 – 5:15)
Forget your people and your father’s house. Let the king be enthralled by your beauty. Honour him, for he is your Lord.
(5:16 – 5:25)
The city of Tyre will come with a gift. People of wealth will seek your favour. All glorious is the princess within her chamber.
(5:26 – 5:35)
Her gown is interwoven with gold. In embroidered garments, she is led to the king. Her virgin companions follow her, those brought to be with her.
(5:36 – 5:49)
Led in with joy and gladness, they enter the palace of the king. Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You will make them princes throughout the land.
(5:50 – 6:10)
I will perpetuate your memory through all generations. Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever. This is God’s word, and it’s obviously a wedding song.
(6:11 – 6:25)
That’s what the inscription tells us. But it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t a song for any wedding. You’ll see in verse five, it’s a song for a king’s wedding.
(6:26 – 6:47)
And not only that, it’s not only a song for a king’s wedding, but it’s a song for a divine king’s wedding. Because notice that this king is referred to in verse seven as God. Your throne, O God’s, will last forever.
(6:49 – 7:07)
Putting my cards immediately on the table, I think this psalm is undoubtedly messianic. In other words, that it points in a very direct way to Jesus. Yes, it may have had an original setting.
(7:07 – 7:31)
We don’t know, but it may have been used at weddings of kings in the line of David. And yes, it is clear that in some respects it reminds us of these kings. But it is clear as you read this psalm that it points to a greater son of David, a divine son of David.
(7:32 – 8:05)
One whose reign will last forever and would take to himself the bride of God’s people. See, we must understand that when Paul in Ephesians chapter five reaches for the image of the church as the bride and reaches for the image of Christ as the husband, he’s not inventing a new image. He is saying that Jesus is the fulfilment of passages like Psalm 45.
(8:06 – 8:25)
And so as we go through this psalm, I’m gonna be unashamedly interpreting it in a Christian context. The glory of the groom is the glory of Christ. The majesty of the bride is the majesty of the church.
(8:26 – 8:45)
And the legacy of it all, the divine sons that we’re gonna look at is what the gospel itself produces. Now, just notice as we look at it, that the sons of Korah are the authors. And they are writing this psalm verse one for the king.
(8:46 – 8:59)
And what they write is not only musical, it is heartfelt and it is skilful. I don’t know if any of you write worship songs. I don’t know if any of you have aspirations to do so.
(9:00 – 9:18)
But this would be a good summary of what a worship song should be. Musical, heartfelt, skilful, excellent in its lyrics. The sons of Korah then begin by focussing on the groom in verses two to nine.
(9:19 – 9:33)
They celebrate the glory of the groom. Now, even in modern weddings, this kind of happens. Yes, the bride is glorious, but the groom gets his moment too.
(9:33 – 9:43)
He turns up early. He stands up at the front of the church. And I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but he never turns up in his white T-shirt and his tracky bottoms.
(9:45 – 9:58)
There is a glory to the groom that all can see. And I think we could summarise the attributes of this groom in three simple ways. He stands out from the crowd.
(9:59 – 10:12)
He succeeds over his enemies. And his sceptre will last forever. So he stands out, doesn’t he? He stands out in his attractiveness, verse two.
(10:13 – 10:21)
That’s what it means there when it says he’s the most excellent of men. It’s a word about physical appearance. And the graciousness of his words.
(10:23 – 10:50)
Now, we all probably know that according to Isaiah, there was nothing in Jesus’ appearance, his physical appearance, that made him stand out from any other human being. But there absolutely was an attractiveness about Jesus. There absolutely was an inner excellence that radiated from him and that was magnetic.
(10:50 – 11:19)
You see that in the gospels, don’t you? The crowds of people flock to Jesus and they hang on his every word. Luke 4 says that all spoke well of him and were amazed at the graciousness of his words. Jesus stands out from the crowd, but he also then succeeds over his enemies.
(11:20 – 11:51)
Verses three to five show us that this is not a typical wedding. I doubt you’ve ever been at a wedding where the pastor in his address to the groom describes him as a mighty one, but that’s what we see here. And he doesn’t normally say to the groom to get on his gear and get on the back of his horse and ride forth victoriously and pierce the hearts of his enemies with arrows.
(11:52 – 12:14)
This is a prayer that a king will defeat his every foe. Now, normally that would be the defeating of a nation here or there, maybe the Philistines, the Amorites, a few people groups here and there. But this king is going to achieve a worldwide victory.
(12:15 – 12:33)
Notice that verse five. Let the nations fall beneath your feet. Jesus, of course, in Revelation is spoken of as a rider on a war horse.
(12:34 – 12:45)
What does that mean? It means that Jesus is a conquering king. Yes, he’s a servant king. We often think about that, but he’s also a conquering king.
(12:45 – 13:32)
And yes, he overcomes the devil and he overcomes death and he overcomes a whole number of enemies, but it also includes his victory over the nations. Whether those nations come under Jesus’ feet in the begrudging submission of Philippians chapter two or whether they fall under his feet willingly as, I think it’s Augustine who suggests this, as the arrows of conviction pierce their heart and bring about that falling in humility. One way or another, all will fall before the king.
(13:33 – 13:51)
He will succeed over his enemies. And as we finish this wonderful picture of his glory, we see that his sceptre, his kingship, will last forever. Verse six is one of the most remarkable verses in the whole of the Old Testament.
(13:53 – 14:00)
Notice that it continues. This is really important. It continues to be directly addressed to the king.
(14:01 – 14:07)
It’s what you call vocative speech. It’s directed to him. You this, you that from verses one to five.
(14:07 – 14:22)
Verse six just continues. It’s addressing the king and it says, your throne, O God, will last forever. What a thing to say to any human king.
(14:23 – 14:43)
This is the point in the psalm where it clearly moves way beyond any sort of Davidic Old Testament fulfilment. This is one of the points where it’s not even what we might call layered prophecy, where there was a fulfilment in the Old Testament and then there’s a further fulfilment in the new. No, this is a prophecy that cuts immediately through.
(14:43 – 15:04)
We suddenly glimpse the future and we see the son of David who is the ultimate son. Hebrews chapter one confirms this. It actually quotes from Psalm 45 verse six and it tells us that this verse is about God’s son.
(15:05 – 15:47)
He is the king of kings, the eternal king, who having conquered his enemies, I bet this has come before, will then reign forever with justice and righteousness. And get this, this is so good. There’s this little comment about his robes, right? This is him waiting for the wedding to begin and he’s wearing his beautiful robes and he’s in this lovely palace with ivory and there’s musicians playing the music and all of that, but it says there that his robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes.
(15:48 – 16:14)
And if you’ve been in John’s gospel, that must be setting off a few bulbs in your head because myrrh and aloes have links to suffering and also to the burial and resurrection of Jesus. You see, Jesus’ ultimate victory and rule only comes about because of the cross and resurrection. What a glorious groom.
(16:15 – 16:36)
In a sense, before we get to the glory of the church, we’ve got to see the glory of the king of the church, the Christ of the church, because it’s from his glory that we derive, if you like, our dependent glory. Well, now in the bride comes, verses 10 to 15. We swivel our heads, we see the majesty of the bride.
(16:38 – 17:00)
Notice something unusual about her. Notice that this bride is a Gentile bride, i.e. not a Jewish bride. That’s almost certainly the implication of verse 10, where she is told to forget her people and her father’s household.
(17:01 – 17:12)
This is the very sort of phraseology that’s used in the story of Ruth. This wouldn’t be said to a Jew. There’s a difference between leaving your father’s house and forgetting it and forsaking it.
(17:12 – 17:28)
She was told to forget all about the foreign gods and to show her new allegiance to the God of Israel. There’s another hint of it also in verse 12. You’ll notice there that a gift comes from Tyre for the bride and the groom.
(17:30 – 17:43)
Maybe Tyre was the pagan city that she came from, perhaps. Maybe that’s why there’s a gift coming from there. Certainly we know that Solomon sometimes married wives from Phoenicia, that area.
(17:46 – 18:08)
What exactly is this telling us? What this beautifully shows is that King Jesus is taking a bride from the nations of the world. The conqueror of the nations is taking a bride from the nations. The bridesmaids in verse nine are daughters of other kings.
(18:08 – 18:21)
They’re kind of multinational. She’s a Gentile bride, and yet she is majestic. Just as the groom was looking sparkling and marvellous, so is she.
(18:22 – 18:26)
She’s wearing a dress. This might not mean a lot to us. I had to look this up, the gold of Ophir.
(18:27 – 18:42)
They reckon that this was probably the most expensive gold of the day in the world at the time. This bride, verse 11, yes, she has to honour the king. She has to submit to him.
(18:43 – 19:12)
But corresponding with that submission, we see verse 11, that the king is enthralled with her, and that all the wealth he possesses, verse 12, flows to her. What is his becomes hers. Tyre, which was the epitome of wealth in those days, is bringing this luxurious gift to the bride and the groom.
(19:12 – 19:36)
The picture here is that all the blessings the king receives become the blessings of the bride. It’s a wonderful picture, isn’t it, of the church? Again, this is Paul’s whole thing in Ephesians 5, isn’t it? That all that is Christ’s becomes the church’s. The church not radiant in itself becomes a radiant church.
(19:37 – 19:56)
The church that is wrinkled in itself becomes a church without wrinkle or blemish. The church that is unholy becomes holy because Christ is holy. All the wealth of Christ becomes our wealth through marriage to him.
(19:57 – 20:17)
Not because of anything we’ve done in ourselves, but because of who we are married to. In the grace of God. Well, it’s a beautiful picture, and it has one little final capping off to it, verses 16 and 17, which point to the legacy of the marriage.
(20:18 – 20:38)
You’ve got the groom, you’ve got the bride, and then you’ve got, well, what’s gonna come out of this relationship? And the answer is princes and praise. Princes, verse 16, your sons will take the place of your fathers. You will make them princes throughout the land.
(20:39 – 20:57)
So there’s gonna be children born, and within those children, there’s going to be sons who will become princes. And the significance of that is in those days that the princes would become the inheritors of the kingdom normally.
(20:59 – 21:18)
Of course, that’s taken forward, and we see that in the gospel. That whether we are male or female, we are being born again into the position of being sons of God. Which historically meant that you inherited everything, everything if you were the oldest son.
(21:19 – 21:43)
All that your kingly father owned became yours, and you became just like him. That is indeed what the gospel does, isn’t it? That those who were paupers become sons and daughters, and all that Jesus is becomes ours. What’s the result of that? Well, it’s the praise of verse 17.
(21:45 – 22:03)
The sons of Korah finished by saying to the king, I will perpetuate your memory through all generations. I wonder if in part, this is simply through writing the song. That would help the king’s greatness to be remembered by writing this psalm.
(22:06 – 22:24)
Ultimately, the end result of the gospel is the praise of God and the glory of God’s name. That is the ultimate end of the gospel of grace, isn’t it? So that’s the psalm. It’s a brilliant psalm.
(22:25 – 22:49)
I’ve run through it fairly quickly. Let me just make two simple applications as we finish, but I hope by God’s help, these will land with us. Number one, in light of all this, don’t undervalue the church of Jesus Christ, because the church is the bride of the most excellent king.
(22:51 – 23:11)
Yes, this side of heaven, the church has its faults. We know that so well, but it is the precious bride of Christ, and we should value it as the most precious thing besides Christ in our lives. I was thinking about this before we did this series.
(23:12 – 23:18)
I think most of us do value the church. I assume we do. I assume it’s why we’re at some level part of one.
(23:20 – 23:51)
I just think in my own life that too often, the church has been somewhat valuable rather than being seen as exceedingly precious. What we often hear nowadays is people’s negativity about the church. I remember hearing some years ago, an older gentleman saying to me, and it scared the life out of me when he said it, because I thought of all the times I’ve grumbled about the church, but he said, be very careful what you say about Christ’s bride.
(23:53 – 24:07)
That was a good word that as a younger man, particularly, I needed to hear. We can be honest about the church. We can face the reality of our disappointments, but do not undervalue the church of Jesus Christ.
(24:09 – 24:28)
Timothy Dwight was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He was also one of the early presidents of Yale, and he wrote a song about the church. I came across it in my mid-20s, and I remember thinking it was a really strange song.
(24:29 – 24:36)
This is what he said. I love your church, O God. On earth, you’re blessed abode.
(24:37 – 24:44)
The people are redeemer saved with his own precious blood. I thought that’s a lovely little verse about the church. That’s great.
(24:44 – 24:59)
He’s gonna stop there, but no, he doesn’t. He goes on for about another 17 verses. The second verse says, listen to this, beyond my highest joys, I prize your people’s ways.
(24:59 – 25:11)
The sweet communion, solemn vows, the hymns of love and praise. This is a guy of status and position. This guy is the head of Harvard, of Yale, in his day job.
(25:12 – 25:40)
And he says, above and beyond the joys of all of that, he loves the ways of God’s church. And I was reflecting on it again this week, and I was wondering if I had the skill to write a hymn, and I don’t, I wonder if I would want to write that hymn. Would you? Because we value the church as that precious.
(25:43 – 25:53)
It’s a challenge, isn’t it? If we value it as that precious, we might then sing another verse he wrote. In love, my tears shall fall. In love, my prayers ascend.
(25:54 – 26:05)
To serve your church, my toils be given, till toils and cares shall end. First application. Second application, as we finish.
(26:07 – 26:19)
Remember the cost of enjoying the blessings of the church. Remember the cost of enjoying the blessings of the church. The bride had to give up her old religion.
(26:20 – 26:49)
And in the same way, the New Testament emphasises that the church needs to forsake the idols of the world if we would cling to Jesus Christ alone as our devoted husband. There’s a forsaking that comes with faith. Our new connection with Jesus necessitates a disconnection with our old idols and our old gods.
(26:51 – 27:14)
I wonder if you would be able to identify what your old loyalties are. The old loyalties that you feel tempted to go back to. What’s going to help you keep forsaking those old loyalties? It’s your new relationship, isn’t it? Surely.
(27:15 – 27:43)
To use a human illustration, the old boyfriends, the old exes are long forgotten when the bride commits to her husband, or at least they should be. And so it is for us. If we keep Jesus front and centre, if we see the glory of the groom, then we’re not going to be looking sideways back to the things that once charmed us.
(27:44 – 28:03)
The church is incomparably valuable. It’s the bride of the eternal king. And not only is it the bride, but as we’ll see next week, it is also the city of the king, which actually in the Bible is not such a big move, is it? From a bride to a city.
(28:04 – 28:14)
But that’s next week, God willing. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for all we’ve considered so far tonight.
(28:15 – 28:34)
We pray that you would just remind us once again of the incredible value that you’ve placed on us as your people. Help us then to esteem not only Christ, but your ways among us. Help us to see all that you’re doing.
(28:35 – 28:45)
Help us to see every little glimmer of Christ-likeness in one another. And let us give you the praise for it. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray.
(28:46 – 28:46)
Amen.
The post How Much is the Church Worth – Psalm 45 appeared first on Greenview Church.
The Bible has four accounts of the life and death of Jesus, and the fourth one, the last one, is John. So, I want you to indulge me for just a moment, and I want you to imagine that you’re living at the end of the first century. It’s round about the year AD 90, or somewhere in that region, and at this point, Matthew, Mark, and Luke have long been released.
(0:34 – 1:23)
The other Gospels are in the second-hand bookstores. But one day, you walk into your local Waterstones, Ephesus branch, and on the new release stand, hot off the press, you see it. The Gospel according to John.
You can hardly believe it. John the Apostle, the John who had unprecedented access to Jesus’ life, has finally penned his long-awaited bio of Jesus. You pick up a copy and start quickly leafing through it, and you find, naturally, that some of it is very similar to the plotline of the other Gospels.
(1:24 – 2:09)
But it doesn’t take you long to realise that something is different about this Gospel. There are brand new stories that have never been told before. Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman.
Jesus healing a man born blind. Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead are just some of the scenes that make John’s extended cut of the life of Jesus. And then you turn the page to John chapter 13, and there is also this rather strange story of Jesus washing some people’s feet.
(2:11 – 2:37)
And as we reopen our Bible to John chapter 13, verses 1 to 17, let’s just acknowledge, on the face of it, that this is a rather strange story. A rather strange, maybe at least initially, story to add in to the narrative of Jesus’ life. Here we are, less than a day before the crucifixion.
(2:37 – 3:07)
Here we are, just before the drama of the cross, and John thinks it’s important to tell us that Jesus washed feet. That’s strange when you think about it. John’s been sitting around for decades, rubbing his hands and thinking, I can’t wait to drop the foot-washing story on them, because that will complete the magnificent story of Jesus.
(3:09 – 3:33)
Why is this so important? Why does John slow down his march to the cross to add in this scene? Well, let’s begin by answering that question. I’d like to start with the first of three points this morning. The clues that point to Jesus’ death.
(3:34 – 4:07)
The clues that point to Jesus’ death. I want to persuade you this morning that when Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, it is a picture and parable of the cleansing work of the cross. There is a direct link between Jesus washing dirty feet and Jesus washing dirty souls through the cleansing work of the cross.
(4:09 – 4:26)
And this is not an imagined connection. It’s not the speculation or the hunch of a preacher. John gives us no less than five clues that connect Jesus’ foot-washing to His dying.
(4:27 – 4:46)
Let’s look at these handful of clues. Just briefly in the first two verses. John packs them into verses 1 and 2. There’s the clue of the Passover in verse 1. The Passover was associated with the death of sacrificial lambs.
(4:48 – 5:10)
And then there’s the clue of the hour that Jesus knows has come. The hour which in John is the moment when Jesus is lifted up. And then thirdly, there’s the clue of Jesus leaving the world and going to the Father.
(5:11 – 5:28)
Two statements in verse 1 about Jesus’ exit from the world. And then there’s the clue in the second half of verse 1, having loved His own who were in the world. He loved them to the end.
(5:29 – 6:13)
Jesus loved them to the end of His life on planet Earth. And then, just in case we’ve missed all of those previous clues, John adds in a final one and an unmistakable link to the cross in verse 2. He notes that sitting at this meal was Judas, who had been already prompted by the devil to betray Jesus. Do you see that as John introduces this story of foot washing? He is dropping in multiple clues that Jesus’ death is coming.
(6:14 – 6:52)
The Passover, the hour, the exit, the end, and the betrayer all point to the imminent death of Jesus. And why does that matter? It matters because John wants us to read the foot washing story with the cross at the front of our minds. He wants you to see this story through a pair of lenses that have a cross on them, so that you see this is not just an act of kindness, although it’s an amazing act of kindness.
(6:54 – 7:14)
It’s a parable and preview of what Jesus is about to do when He drags a cross up a hill. When you see that the story of the basin points to something bigger than itself, this story explodes into life. It has a deeper and greater power when you read it.
(7:15 – 7:31)
It becomes a more compelling story. It makes the serving application at the end so much more powerful, and we will come to that. But what this story really is, is the culmination of Jesus’ love.
(7:33 – 7:57)
That’s our second point, the culmination of Jesus’ love. Sometimes the last act of someone’s life is their greatest act of love. Someone, for instance, who dies in a moment of heroism, saving the life of another person, is saving their most loving act for the last act.
(7:59 – 8:18)
And this is what Jesus did. Having loved His own, end of verse 1, who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And I don’t think that’s just saying that Jesus loved them to the very last second of His life, durationally.
(8:19 – 8:44)
I think John is wanting us to focus on Jesus’ end, to pay attention to Jesus’ end, because that’s where the greatest act of love is. And the foot-washing previews this. Now, if you don’t like feet, I apologise for the following.
(8:45 – 9:24)
But we need to know a little about foot-washing in the first century to see that this is the climax of Jesus’ love, and therefore it’s the preview of the cross. In those days, people walked around in sandaled feet, and they walked on very filthy roads, roads that animals trod on as well as people. And one result of this was that if you invited someone to your house for a meal, when they came into your house, it was good manners to immediately offer that someone washed their feet.
(9:25 – 9:39)
It was an essential task for a nice social evening. The trouble was it was a thoroughly unpleasant task. Indeed, it was usually the job of a slave.
(9:40 – 10:21)
Indeed, more than that, it was often the role for the lowest slave. The slave on the bottom rung of the slave chart that month had the unwanted task of washing the guest’s feet. Can you see then the scandal? Can you hear then the gasps when at this evening meal, Jesus doesn’t call a servant to serve, but gets up himself, fills up a basin, sinks to his knees, and starts washing toes.
(10:24 – 10:41)
But this is what it looks like to be loved by Jesus. This is what it looks like to be loved climactically by Jesus. I mean, he’d loved them all the way, but there’s something climactic about this.
(10:41 – 10:58)
They’d never seen such an expression of love. This is what it looks like to be loved as one of Jesus’ own. That’s an interesting expression, isn’t it? He loved his own.
(11:00 – 11:18)
The same phrase is used elsewhere in this gospel. You might recall back in chapter 1, the same phrase was used of a different set of people. Remember, he came to that which was his own, and his own did not receive him.
(11:20 – 11:40)
Jesus’ own in chapter 1 were God’s Old Testament people, the Jewish people, who not entirely, but largely, rejected their own Messiah. His own did not receive him. How sad and tragic that was.
(11:42 – 12:17)
But now in chapter 13, another group of people are called by John, Jesus’ own. A small band of 11 men who don’t belong to Jesus because they’re sinless, or because they come from the right heritage, but because on their side, they have welcomed and believed in Jesus as the Messiah. And because on God’s side, he has loved them with an everlasting love.
(12:18 – 12:35)
And Jesus is about to love these people unto death. You should know, if you’re part of the church of Jesus this morning, you should know this. Jesus has a particular love for his church.
(12:37 – 12:55)
We sing of it sometimes, don’t we, in the old hymn, “The church is one foundation”. We sing of Jesus’ particular love for his own. “From heaven, he came and sought her to be his holy bride.
(12:56 – 13:08)
With his own blood, he bought her. And for her life, he died”. Jesus has a particular and powerful love for his people.
(13:10 – 13:35)
And yet, Jesus’ love is so immense and so multifaceted that it even continues to be kind even beyond his own. It’s striking that too, isn’t it? You almost could miss that detail. Jesus, knowing that Judas was about to stab him in the back, washes the feet of everyone in the room.
(13:37 – 13:59)
He washes the feet of 12 men, not 11. That doesn’t mean that Judas was saved, but it does mean that Jesus was kind. How many of us would have taken the bucket and thrown it over Judas’ face? But God, our Father, is more generous than we are.
(14:01 – 14:45)
He causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the righteous and the wicked. How vast is the love of Christ? Friends, I realise that for some of you, this is something you’ve heard from Sunday school stage, or at least for some time. But for however long you’ve known it and considered it, how great is the love of Jesus? The apostle Paul could pray on one occasion of a church, and he could pray that they would know more of the height and depth and breadth and length of Jesus’ love.
(14:46 – 15:10)
It’s hard to grasp. It’s impossible to fully fathom, but that’s why we pray for it. Do you know that one of our chief prayers for one another should be, Father, help my brother or sister see more of the love of Christ, more of that deep, deep love of Jesus.
(15:11 – 15:35)
I had the privilege of visiting the Grand Canyon earlier this year. And if you’ve ever been there, and of course, these places are always more magnificent than the pictures, aren’t they, when you visibly see them? It’s a real challenge to the brain. It’s a real discombobulation to your eyes.
(15:35 – 16:10)
It’s impossible to fully take in what you’re looking at. There’s so much depth and so much detail and so many colours, and yet as your mind is being blown, what do you do? You keep on looking, and you keep on seeing more of the glory. You see a few more ridges, a few more metres of depth, a few more colours of the strata of Jesus’ love for you.
(16:11 – 16:41)
That’s what we’re gazing at, isn’t it, as God’s children, the Grand Canyon of the love of Christ. And here we see it in the image of a basin and a towel. Here we see it ultimately and supremely in a picture of the cross, and this is something that we must receive for ourselves as we start then to move towards the application of this.
(16:42 – 16:58)
Notice with me, thirdly, after the clues and the culmination, thirdly, the cleansing each of us must receive. Jesus has got up from the table. He’s taken off his outer clothing.
(17:00 – 17:13)
Scholars tell us that by removing his outer clothing, Jesus was adopting the outfit of a slave. He was wearing a slave fit. He wanted that to be visible.
(17:14 – 17:41)
So like a slave, he pours water into a basin. Like a slave, he starts washing and cleaning and drying 24 grimy feet. I don’t know where Peter was in the order of it, but I like to think in my imagination he was last.
(17:43 – 18:11)
He watches as Jesus does the whole round, and the frustration and the angst is growing within him. As Jesus arrives at his feet, Peter questions, are you going to wash my feet, Lord? I think the Lord there is significant. Surely this isn’t appropriate, Lord.
(18:13 – 18:25)
Surely this is beneath you. And in one sense, Peter is sort of right. In fact, the matter is even worse than Peter imagines it.
(18:26 – 18:47)
Look at the insight John drops in verse three. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. Jesus isn’t only Lord, Jesus is the all-powerful, divine, and soon-to-be heavenly man.
(18:49 – 19:04)
And yet here is Jesus stooping to the lowest job imaginable. So Peter, having tried the subtler question, now moves to the flat-out denial. This isn’t happening.
(19:06 – 19:15)
You shall never wash my feet. And I love, I just, I mean, you’ve got to love Jesus here. He’s so gentle, and yet he’s so firm.
(19:15 – 19:35)
So gentle, yet so strong. Gentle, you don’t understand now, Peter, but you will understand what this means and why I did this later. And then strong, unless I wash you, you can have no part with me.
(19:37 – 20:02)
If Peter, and by the way, the you here is plural, so he’s not just saying this to Peter, he’s saying it to all of them. If Peter or any of us want a forever relationship with Jesus, Jesus must cleanse our feet in the image of the passage here. No cleansing, no relationship.
(20:04 – 20:33)
Remember, this is a picture of the cross, which means that unless Jesus’ death cleanses Peter, Peter cannot remain with Jesus. No cleansing, no relationship, and it must be received personally by Peter. I found over the years that it can be hard in my own life, certainly.
(20:33 – 21:07)
It’s part of my own story of coming to Christ and then coming back to Christ. It’s true, it’s been true of me, but I see it in many other people’s lives that it’s so hard for this penny to drop in our hearts that we need this personal cleansing from Christ. Because people can grow up in church or they can come to church and they want to be close to Christian rituals and Jesus-y things, but they don’t realise that they need to have this personal cleansing of their own guilt.
(21:09 – 21:30)
Maybe they’ve just never realised that it needed to be personal, that it needed to be applied, or maybe they thought that Jesus only died for particularly bad people. Maybe I don’t quite need the work of a cross yet. Maybe something doesn’t need to die for me.
(21:30 – 21:47)
I’m not that bad. Maybe some other people need that kind of severe redemption. And we need Jesus to say to us, as he said to Peter, no cleansing, no relationship.
(21:51 – 22:08)
Notice that Judas is described in verse 11 as unclean. Judas never received this cleansing and therefore he never belonged to Jesus. Thankfully, it was different for Peter.
(22:10 – 22:44)
Even though, as is so common for Peter, his response is a bit over the top. Alarmed that he might lose his relationship with Jesus, Peter goes all in, doesn’t he? If the stakes are that high and I’m gonna lose my relationship with you, then don’t just wash my feet, but here’s my hands and here’s my head. And Jesus points out that this is physically unnecessary because if you’ve had a bath in the morning, you don’t need to have a full bath at 6 p.m. I mean, it’s nice to do it, but you don’t need it.
(22:44 – 23:06)
You just need a foot wash. And I suspect there’s a physical dimension to that. I also suspect, along with many others, that Jesus, in the context of John, which often has double meanings, spiritual meanings, I do think Jesus is teaching a spiritual principle here too.
(23:07 – 23:34)
Jesus is giving us a little more depth to what his cleansing work involves spiritually. And so if I could put it in this way, every believer is given that bath of grace when they come to Christ, that once-for-all cleansing that comes from the work of the cross. And the wonderful thing about it is it doesn’t need to be repeated or done again.
(23:34 – 24:22)
You don’t need it later in the day, as it were. You could walk out of this building this morning, and even if you’ve not said your prayers this morning, if you’re hit by a bus and you’ve trusted in Christ, you will stand before him in his holiness, holy and forgiven, because you’ve had the bath of grace. And yet on a daily basis, for psychological and relational reasons, as we pick up some of that dirt on our feet, some of that grime of our own sin and wrong choices, we do then pray in terms of the Lord’s Prayer, Father, forgive me, even as I forgive those who sin against me.
(24:23 – 24:42)
And I pray for my daily forgiveness, along with praying for my daily bread. That’s psychologically and relationally important. And so this is the cleansing we must receive, that once-for-all cleansing, that daily reassurance of closeness and restoration.
(24:44 – 25:21)
And it’s as we see all of this, it’s as we receive this, it’s as we see the wonder of this loving service that we’re then catapulted at the very end to see that being clean people leads to us becoming servant people. See, this is the evidence that we’ve truly received Jesus’ service to us. What’s the evidence that we’ve really got it? It is seen in the way that we serve as He served, verses 13 to 17.
(25:23 – 25:39)
This is the result of being cleansed. This is, verse 17, what it is to live under the blessing of Christ. What does it mean to be blessed? It means that you wash one another’s feet, even as Jesus did.
(25:40 – 26:12)
Now, it just struck me this week, and I hadn’t thought of this before, but in the original context, of course, there was a literal application of that. You know, we immediately spiritualised this, but I wonder how they applied this in the years to come. I wonder as the apostles gathered for their yearly get-together and hangout, I wonder if they never asked a servant again to wash their feet, because it was always the turn of one of the apostles.
(26:15 – 27:10)
Of course, the challenge for us in our context is what does the equivalent of this look like? Because in days of socks and shoes, and in the cold and wet weather of Scotland, there really isn’t the same need for this. Now, we could do this, of course we could, as a symbolic gesture, but it actually wouldn’t be necessary or nearly as unpleasant as the original version if we did it. And so the challenge for us is to think about what would be the equivalent of this today? And actually, I think this is harder than we think to find an equivalent, really, because you could say something like, well, you know, I’m putting the chairs away, but I notice when we’re doing this in the church, there are people that put the chairs away.
(27:12 – 27:58)
There’s actually not zero people willing to do that. So what would be the equivalent act? What would be the thing that nobody, nobody wants to do? What would that be? What are the things around the church or the things around the house or the things are in whatever context you find yourself in that nobody wants to do? What are the lowest tasks that everyone thinks is a little beneath them? This year, one of the speakers at Keswick, and I know some of you were there for week one, was Andy Gemmel. I know some of you know Andy, and Andy is a member of St. Silas.
(27:59 – 28:21)
And I was on Facebook, this was maybe six months ago, and Keswick were announcing the speakers. And so this particular day, they featured Andy, and for people who didn’t know him, it was here’s Andy and here’s where he, here’s his church and here’s what he does in his ministry. And it was all of his kind of credentials and they said nice things about him.
(28:22 – 28:55)
But it just so happened in the providence of God that on my Facebook feed, the very next post after this big picture of Andy, the main speaker at Keswick, was a post from his church, St. Silas. And in that post from his church that immediately followed the big face of Andy, there was a number of pictures of church members of St. Silas doing ordinary stuff. And one of them was Andy at the sink of the church washing the dishes.
(28:56 – 29:09)
It was amazing. I sent it to one of the guys I know who’s on the Keswick kind of oversight, and I was like, this is, with the screenshots, this is your Keswick speaker. And actually, they should all be like that.
(29:11 – 29:28)
We should all be like that. If we’ve truly seen how much Jesus has served us, then we will do the hardest yards. We will do the hard yards of looking after the elderly parent when the rest of the siblings aren’t bothering.
(29:30 – 30:09)
We’ll visit the loved one who has dementia. I mean, what is the point of visiting? But we will go, we will invest in the people that others think are beneath them or just, they’re just too different for us to mingle with. Because if the Lord washed our feet and he died as a slave, then how can we demand a higher ministry? Oh, the heights and depth and length and breadth of the love of Christ.
(30:10 – 30:47)
May we see its ridges and colours and endless strata of his amazing love so that the ministry of the basin becomes the culture of the church. Let’s pray. Father, this is a very difficult message to apply because we know the selfishness of our hearts.
(30:47 – 31:09)
We know the laziness, Lord, of our hearts. And we know, Lord, that tomorrow morning, it’s not gonna be easy to do the lowly thing. But we pray that you would so overwhelm us with a vision of Jesus’ love and service that no act would be beneath us and no person would be beneath us.
(31:10 – 31:21)
Make us like him, served by him, and therefore, the servants of all. And we ask this in his name. Amen.
The post The Strange Case Of Footwashing – John 13v1–17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well Good evening everyone, it’s great to be back and see you all as we continue our series in 2 Timothy. Now to get us into the passage tonight in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 10 to 17. Think with me for a moment, how would you encourage a church leader or a church member who is experiencing opposition to faithfully persevere as they seek to serve Christ and what they’re doing? How would you encourage them? Well more often than not what you need to encourage someone is not a new revelation or a new revolutionary strategy or idea, but rather go back to the basics of what you’ve already been taught.
This is something we’ve seen already in our second Timothy series, where we’ve seen how vital it is to be careful of those who we listen to and what we teach. We’ve seen the importance and the power of words and examples to follow and avoid. And we see Paul doing this once again in this section here.
(1:17 – 2:07)
And we’re going to see this in two points, where my first point is know that a servant of God will experience suffering for godly living. Know that a servant of God will experience suffering for godly living. Let me open the passage for us tonight.
Chapter 3 verse 10. You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings, what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. These persecutions I endured, yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
(2:08 – 3:01)
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and what you’ve become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
(3:01 – 4:02)
This is God’s word. This section opens up with a clear, strong contrast. You, however, Now, Douglass was showing us last week how the false teachers were living and teaching one way by opposing the truth of God’s word.
So Paul is presenting an evil pattern of ministry to avoid, but here he is providing a completely different example for Timothy to copy in his ministry, his own. Read again with me in verse 10. You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings, what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured, yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
(4:04 – 4:38)
The places that Paul refers to here, you can find out more in Acts chapters 13 and 14, where we can read of Paul’s first missionary journey. Before Paul meets Timothy in his hometown of Lystra in chapter 16, Timothy has probably heard reports of how much Paul has suffered in his ministry for proclaiming Christ. Timothy has probably heard of the events of Acts chapter 14 when Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra.
(4:39 – 6:32)
Now, to summarise what goes on there, the Lord enables Paul to miraculously heal a lame man. The crowd see this miraculous healing and think, we’ve seen the gods of Hermes and Zeus before our eyes, let’s worship these men. As soon as Paul and Barnabas hear the word in the street of this, they shout back to the crowd saying, what are you doing? We’re not gods, we’re just human beings like you.
Don’t worship us. Turn away from these worthless idols and worship the living God who made the heavens and the earth and gives you what you need. But despite the efforts of Paul and Barnabas, the crowd continued making sacrifices to them.
Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came along, won the crowd over, stoned Paul, dragged him out of the city because they thought they were successful in killing Paul. But the Lord had other ideas. The Lord graciously preserved Paul’s life from death despite the attempts of these Jews.
And as I was thinking about that, I don’t think Paul is merely just recounting history of what’s taken place. I think there’s more going on here. Perhaps Paul is saying, perhaps Paul is reminding Timothy what was taking place in Lystra to encourage Timothy that if God rescued Paul as he faced fierce persecution, so God could rescue Timothy as he faces his own persecution, which we see being mentioned again at the end of chapter 4 in verse 17.
(6:34 – 7:25)
I’ve heard more from Acts chapter 16 onwards. Timothy has had a front row seat of Paul’s pattern of ministry for about 10 or so years. And Timothy has seen how Paul has persevered in seeking to make Christ known despite facing opposition.
And Paul reminds Timothy that he knows all Paul has done in order to make Christ known. And it’s interesting to see how the English Standard Translation translate this verse. Well, at the start of verse 10, they say, you, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim of life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me, and so on.
(7:28 – 8:41)
This could show that not only has Timothy seen Paul’s pattern of ministry for himself, but he’s already been imitating it. Now, if that’s the case, the implication for Timothy must be keep following Paul’s example of life and ministry as he’s been doing already. And more than that, Paul wants Timothy and the readers of this letter to be assured that the experience to opposition for living and speaking for Jesus and his gospel is not just unique to those in ministry.
Read again with me in chapter 3, verse 12. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It’s not just those who might be preaching to the crowds about Christ, not just those who are particularly vocal about sharing their faith in the Lord Jesus who will be persecuted, but all people who seek to live in a way that pleases God and honours Him.
(8:44 – 9:26)
Persecution is part and parcel of the Christian life, not just for those who are in ministry positions. I don’t think Timothy would have been surprised as he reads this from Paul, not just because of his own personal experiences that could have tempted him to be ashamed of Paul and his pattern of ministry as a result of everything we’ve seen so far in Ephesus at this point of time. But the reason I don’t think that Timothy would have been surprised at reading this is because of the pattern of life and ministry that Paul is seeking to emulate in Christ.
(9:29 – 9:54)
In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul exhorts the Corinthians to follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. Jesus tells us what we should expect as we seek to follow Him and His example. Why don’t you briefly turn with me to John chapter 15 to see this for yourselves.
(9:55 – 11:00)
In John chapter 15 verse 18. Now for context, Jesus is speaking to His disciples minus Judas Iscariot before Jesus is arrested and crucified. And Jesus up to this point has been exhorting His disciples to abide in Him and for His words to abide in them and for His disciples to love one another as He has loved them.
Verse 18. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it will love you as its own.
As it is, you do not belong to the world. But I’ve chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
Remember what I told you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
(11:02 – 11:59)
If they obeyed my teaching, they obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. We see here that people will people will persecute God’s people because we belong to Jesus.
We don’t belong in this world as the Christian citizenship is in heaven, not where we are on this earth. And if you were to flick over the page at the end of chapter 16 of John, at the end of Jesus’ speech to His disciples, where in verse 33 Jesus says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.
(12:02 – 13:21)
On this side of eternity, we should expect difficulty and pain to come our way as we seek to follow Jesus and seek to make Him known in this world. That’s part of the territory of what it looks like to carry our cross and follow Christ, imitating the one who bore our cross in order to save us. Suffering will come our way as we seek to be faithful Christians, whether we have formal positions of teaching the Bible or not.
While we may not suffer to the same extent as some believers we’ve considered tonight, the truth remains that the unbelieving world will always remain deeply hostile to Jesus and His gospel. And this persecution can involve any form of mistreatment for the sake of the good news, ranging from verbal opposition you might face in the office, to being arrested, the loss of your possessions, or even to physical suffering and loss of life. That is what the Christian is to expect on this side of eternity.
(13:25 – 13:50)
And Paul also wants Timothy and his readers to be realistic with some sobering words. It’s only going to get worse. See this with me in verse 13 back in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 13 where he says, well evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
(13:53 – 15:04)
These evildoers deceiving others to not believe in the truths that we read in Scripture. Those doing this deceiving are themselves deceived as they believe their own lies. Perhaps they also deceive themselves thinking that they can get away with all that they have said and done, thinking that God will not hold them to account for their evil and false teaching.
These individuals might have used their charm to talk a good game, or those who have a big following, but they will have to answer for all that they have said and done. When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, as we see at the start of chapter 4 in verse 1. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes, that’s for sure. And we don’t need to be experts to see that such false teachers come and go today as they were in Ephesus, especially in the day and age of being online.
(15:07 – 15:34)
Whichever pulpit or platform teachers might be speaking from, we must always see if what they’re saying is backed up from the pages of Scripture. We’ll get on to that later on in more detail. So after Paul wants Timothy and his readers to know that a servant of God will experience suffering for godly living, Paul wants Timothy to continue holding fast to the Word.
(15:35 – 17:21)
This is my second and final point, which we’ll spend more time in. The servant of God must hold fast to the Word. The servant of God must hold fast to the Word.
We see this in the start of his exhortation in verse 14. But as for you, continue in what you’ve learned and become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. After writing about all these false teachers, about all these evil false teachers did to Paul, Paul commands Timothy to be nothing like them.
Instead, Paul exhorts Timothy to hold fast to God’s Word. And Paul commands Timothy to persevere in the apostolic standard of faith, no matter how compelling the false teachers might be, no matter how attractive their message might sound to them. Timothy must be unmovable.
He must not listen to the deception of the deceived, but rather continue in the truth of the gospel from what he’s already been taught. And to do so, what does Paul do? Paul gets Timothy to consider the effect of faithful Bible teaching has had in his own life. Paul was saying, Timothy, don’t stray from the Bible teaching you have learned and believed from a young age.
(17:22 – 18:36)
Keep trusting what you’ve heard, and not only from me, but keep trusting what your mum Eunice and your grand Lois have taught you from your childhood. I mean, can you imagine the impact of reading this would have on Timothy? I mean, picture the scene with me. I imagine like Paul, you imagine that the thoughts would have come to mind as Timothy was reading this, as if Paul was saying to him, Timothy, remember when your gran used to sit you down at the kitchen table and told you how God in his faithfulness and grace rescued his rebellious people from Egypt and brought them into the land that he promised him in Canaan? And how your gran gave reasons for why we should worship God and take him at his word.
Or when your mum Eunice used to walk you down the road to get the groceries in the marketplace, how she would tell you how God’s people ought to act and speak in the ways that they live from everything that she knew from the Torah. You know, it sounds obvious. Who knows if that’s exactly how Timothy’s childhood went? I’m not entirely sure, but you can imagine the impact that must have had on Timothy as he’s reading this.
(18:39 – 19:15)
Where Paul is saying to Timothy, you know the people who have taught you. You know their character. You know their motivations.
You know that they want the best thing for you. The message you have heard from a young age from the scriptures is the only one that’s able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ. God’s word by God’s grace and the enabling of his spirit has made you the man that you are today.
(19:17 – 20:37)
As if Paul is again saying to Timothy, continue teaching what God’s word says in the way that it says it for the purpose that it says it. So that your listeners might have an opportunity to hear and respond to God’s word and saving faith in Lord Jesus as you yourself have done. And hearing the Apostle Paul taking you down, a trip down memory lane would help you keep holding on to the truth of God’s word and the pattern for proclaiming it, wouldn’t it? When he develops this further in verses 16 to 17, where Paul also wants Timothy to know that God’s word is the only tool that you need for ministry.
Here Paul explains what scripture is, what scripture is used for, and what scripture produces. Read again with me, verse 16. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
(20:38 – 27:52)
And as if I’ve been preparing this sermon, one of the questions that’s been going over my mind is why does Paul feel the need to write this for Timothy? Why does Timothy need to be reminded that God’s word is able to make you wise for salvation in Christ? Why does Timothy need to be reminded that all of scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training righteousness so the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work? Especially when you think Timothy has been on the road with Paul for about 10 years or so. Timothy has had first-hand experience of seeing the fruit of the apostle’s teaching from God’s word. Why does he need to be reminded of all this in his crisis in ministry? Well I think part of this reason that Paul does so is to provide a sharp contrast against the false teachers and their message.
I mean consider the first four words of verse 16. All scripture is God breathed. All scripture, that is to say God’s word, you know it’s not just the Old Testament that Jesus affirmed as being God’s word as he walked along the road with the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 where Jesus tells his disciples saying to them how foolish you are and slow to believe all the prophets have spoken.
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. So not only does all scripture refer to the Old Testament but it also includes the New Testament as well which is recognised in Paul’s day as being scripture. This is something that Paul affirmed in his first letter to 1 Timothy 5 verse 18 when Paul is quoting words from Jesus as recorded by Luke.
It’s not just Paul that does this. Peter also affirms this in his second letter where in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 and 16 where Peter describes Paul’s writing as being scripture even if it is hard to understand. Then back in 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 Paul uses the term God breathed to describe what scripture is and Paul is doing so to stress the divine origin and authority of scripture.
Paul is not pointing to human offers as inspired people but rather that the writings themselves are the words spoken, breathed out by God himself. God spoke and continues to speak to us today through human effort by the enabling and empowering of his spirit from what we see in the pages of the Bible. So why mention these things? Well I think Paul carefully chooses his word to contrast the ministry of the false teachers that Timothy is dealing with.
It’s possible that the false teachers were picking and choosing certain bits of scripture to suit their message. Even think back to chapter 2 verse 15 where Paul exhorts Timothy to do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.
Paul doesn’t just exhort Timothy to handle the word unlike those guys over there, no but rather Timothy is to handle God’s word correctly, implying that these false teachers are handling God’s word incorrectly and in such a way that it would go against the offerer’s intentions. After all the best and most dangerous of false teachers use the Bible too but instead of using God’s word for God’s glory for the benefit of their listeners to exercise faith in God and repentance and belief in Jesus, they use God’s word to suit their sinful selfish desires in such a way that leads people away from the truth. And we also see that the fruit of those who indulge in the false teacher’s message as they become more and more ungodly which is the complete opposite of what we see God’s word is to be used for as we see the fruit it produces when it’s faithfully taught and enabled by the spirit.
Where God’s word we’re told is useful or profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The complete opposite of what the ungodly and unrighteous fruit of the false teachers. Paul is in effect reminding Timothy that the evil teaching of the false teachers will not make people wise for salvation through faith in Christ.
Scripture teaches its readers what we must believe and also rebukes us what we ought not to believe. Scripture corrects us in how we ought to live and how not to live and training us to live holy and righteous lives before God. And God provides us in his word, God provides us his word so that people might be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Therefore Timothy is not to be, is exhorted not to be tempted to change the contents or the message or the method of his teaching. Or Paul is in effect saying to Timothy remember the evil teaching of the false teachers is not profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking, training in righteousness so the servant of the Lord may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Only what you yourself have been taught from a young age is able to do that because God’s word through the power and enabling of his spirit has the power to transform people in a way that leads to saving faith and righteous living in Christ.
(27:55 – 28:53)
And hearing that would help you to persevere and holding on to God’s word in the face of opposition, wouldn’t it? And I wonder what about us? We must ensure that any teaching done in our respective churches, whether it’s at Kilmarnock Baptist or you guys here at Greenview, whether it’s from the pulpit, Sunday school room, YF room, services at Greenview is firmly rooted in the word. And we ought to be those who commit ourselves to praying for and encouraging those who do so. We see throughout scripture that God saves people so that they might perform good works that God has prepared in advance for them to do.
God in his grace teaches us what these are in his holy word. He doesn’t leave us to think, oh I wonder what God wants from me. No, he tells us.
(28:56 – 29:20)
So as we prayerfully open God’s word we ought to listen humbly, carefully, diligently, submissively, expectantly. And we ought to listen with an aim to love and obey God more and more. And we must allow God to speak to us on his own terms as he would want us to.
(29:21 – 35:15)
Not to just pick and choose what we like to hear. God’s word shows us how we ought to live as creatures who’ve been made in his image. And if you’re a Christian here tonight you’ve been redeemed through Christ.
And God shows us in his word what human flourishing ought to look like. God’s word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Only God’s word leads to human flourishing, not mankind’s words.
So how are we seeking to let God speak to us today in his word? For hundreds of years we’ve lived in a day and age where we can never accuse God of ever being silent if our Bibles are closed. We need to open his word and let him speak to us and give us understanding of who he is, all that he has done and continues to do for us. And how great is it that not only do we get to learn more of who God is, what he’s done and continues to do for us, on an individual level, but how great is it that like in both our churches we are part of church families that have several opportunities of where God’s word is opened up and the opportunities we have to study God’s word with other believers, with people who have spent preparing material to help you know more of who God is and what he’s done for us.
We’ve got community groups, morning and evening services to learn more of who God is. And what a great opportunity you’ve got to get to know God more deeply and consider how you ought to live in light of God saving us through Christ. Now it sounds fairly obvious to say this, it’s not just, you know, reading God’s word isn’t just beneficial for us inside the church but also for those outside it.
I mean from what I gather, and correct me if I’m wrong in saying this, you guys have such an exciting opportunity to run the Speak Life 321 course where these sessions help you think about the world and about God through opening the pages of scripture. The same scripture as you’ve read tonight is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ as the spirit opens people’s eyes to see their need of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. In John 3, in these famous words we read that, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only son. How great would it be for the church to pray that many more of our friends and family would become wise for salvation through faith in Christ as the Bible is opened just as we ourselves have experienced that saving faith by God’s grace.
How great would it be if more people came to Christ in saving faith not for the glory of Greenview but for the glory of God in Glasgow and so many more people around us might taste and see that the Lord is good. Knowing this to be true, let me encourage you to be bold in asking people to come along to the course. You don’t need to wait for the church to run a course in order to consider inviting your friends to open the Bible with you.
The next time you prayerfully have a conversation with a friend or family member about faith, why not ask them, have you ever read the Bible for yourself as an adult? Would you like to? And see where the conversation takes you. There are plenty of resources like Word to One to One, the Uncover series which help you open the scriptures with seeking people and have been designed in such a way that you don’t need to have gone to the Cornhill training course in order to use them or anything like that. You know just speak to Lucy, Colin or Zach and what they would recommend or why not ask them to join you the next time you go to a church service where God’s word is opened up.
I mean you might just surprise yourself with their response. I mean more often than not the worst thing people can say in response to that question is no and if they just leave the conversation on as you would do and with anything else you might invite them to and just keep praying that God would soften their hearts. For tonight we have seen that scripture is the word of God, able to make us wise for salvation in Christ, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so the servant of God may be fully equipped for every good work.
(35:16 – 36:47)
May we be a congregation that seeks to hold fast to God’s word and the pattern for proclaiming it even as we even if we experience suffering for doing so for the glory of God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father we thank you and praise you for the God that you are that you the creator of the cosmos would make yourself known to us in the person and work of Jesus your son and through your holy and inspired word.
We thank you for the opportunity and privilege we have to open it breathed out by you and for we continue just humbly come before you and continue to ask you that whenever we open up your word Lord give us minds to understand, soft hearts, eyes to see, ears to hear your voice as you continue to speak to us today in your word. And I even pray that in light of the song we sung earlier on I pray that you continue to transform us by your spirit in light of what we’ve studied from your word. Continue to shape and transform us into the likeness of Jesus your son for your glory and your name.
(36:48 – 37:23)
And Father I pray that you’d give us great boldness and confidence to be those who seek to hold out your word to those around us gives opportunities where we can teach people about who you are and what you’ve done for them in Christ. And Lord it is our prayer for our family members our friends around us which come to saving knowledge of the truth. So many more would call upon you as Lord and Saviour and long to worship you in spirit and in truth for all their days.
(37:24 – 37:32)
Lord help us in this task we pray for your glory and your name in Jesus precious name amen.
The post Continue in the Word – 2 Timothy 3v10–17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Acts chapter 18, we’re five-sixths of the way through Paul’s second missionary journey. After this, he’ll go to Ephesus, and then the whole narrative of Acts will slow down alarmingly. But we’re going to look at this little event of Paul in the city of Corinth.
(0:19 – 1:53)
Acts chapter 18, verse 1. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
Every Sabbath, he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, your blood be on your own heads.
I am innocent of it. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshipper of God.
Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord, and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptised. One night, the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. Do not be afraid.
Keep on speaking. Do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
(1:55 – 3:12)
While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgments. This man, they charged, is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law. Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, if you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanour or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you.
But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law, settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of these things. So he drove them off.
Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and beat him in front of the proconsul, and Gallio showed no concern whatsoever. A quick prayer and then we’ll look at this together. Father God, our greatest need now, as always, is to hear you speak to us.
So please open our hearts, please fix our minds, and please speak to us in a way that we cannot ignore. And we have the audacity to ask this before you, our master. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
(3:12 – 4:07)
Amen. I wonder, are you a suspicious person? Are you naturally suspicious? Say, for example, you sit down at your desk tomorrow and you open your email and it turns out you’ve won the lottery. A lottery you’ve never heard of and also a lottery you’ve never taken part in.
And all you simply need to do is wire £200 to this bank account and that will unlock all of the funds and you will be absolutely loaded. If that happens to you tomorrow morning, will you be suspicious? Or what about this week? Happened to me, my little five-year-old son. He comes running through and he says, Daddy, I just need to do some colouring in my room.
(4:08 – 10:25)
I need to close the door. And at that point I thought, really? I’m not sure your bedroom needs redecorated as you’re going to put wax crayon up the wall. Or perhaps you’re one of those people who is quick to catch on to things.
It’s your birthday coming up, you know there’s a plan afoot and you walk into your house and all the lights are off and you shout surprise before everyone can jump out from behind the sofa and pull their party poppers. I wonder, are you a suspicious person? And my unashamed goal this morning is to turn your suspicion level up to 10. I want, as a result of Acts chapter 18, for you to be incredibly suspicious.
Suspicious about all that the Lord might be doing in and through your life for his glory. I want you to leave here with suspicion turned up to the max. And we’re very near in Acts 18, the end of this long double-volumed book that Luke has written to his friend Theophilus.
And in Luke chapter 1, we learn that the reason that Luke has written this book to Theophilus is to give him certainty about the things he’s been taught. And let’s be clear, certainty is vitally important because certainty builds confidence. And if we’re confident about the things of the Lord Jesus, we’ll be on board with the mission that he’s continuing to do in the world.
And so Luke acts isn’t just written to give Theophilus certainty, it’s written as a recruiting manual so that Theophilus will continue to be on board with all that Jesus is continuing to do in the world, from the right hand of the Father, where he conducts gospel operations around the world. And Paul is on this second missionary journey. The lineup has changed from the first missionary journey.
On the first missionary journey, it is Paul and Barnabas tearing up the ancient Near East. But on the second missionary journey, after the Jerusalem Council, Paul has a Barney with Barney about John Mark, and he changes the lineup, and Silas is the one who goes with him. Directed by the Spirit, they land in Philippi, a gospel church is planted.
They then move to Thessalonica, where in great haste and amongst great hostility, a real gospel church is planted. From Thessalonica, they go to Berea. And again, the noble Jews search the scriptures, and the gospel takes root and starts bearing fruit.
But then rent-a-mob comes down from Thessalonica, and Paul has to leave in a hurry. He then goes from Berea to Athens, Athens, the Oxford of the ancient world. And he gives a defence of Christian things at the most famed arena, the Areopagus on Mars Hill.
And he goes from Athens, all alone, 80 kilometres west, to the city of Corinth, to the city that lies on the Peripanecian Peninsula, which is hard to say if you forgot to put your teeth in this morning. And if Athens was like the Oxford of the ancient world, then Corinth is like the Las Vegas of the ancient world. Loose-living, licentious, a place where anything goes and everything goes.
The Greek historian Strabo describes Corinth like this. Corinth is a city well-served. It is the home of a thousand cult prostitutes, who serve the shrines by day and the merchants by night.
So imagine how Paul feels when he goes those 80 kilometres west, all alone, feeling like a very tiny voice that is about to declare the Lord Jesus in the cacophony of Corinth. And it’s amazing because we know exactly how he feels at this juncture as he makes this journey. When I came to you, when I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God, for I resolved nothing.
I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness, with great fear and trembling. That is how Paul feels as he walks to Corinth.
Weakness, great fear, much trembling. And so let’s see what happens when he arrives in Corinth. And the first thing I want us to see is that Jesus plans ahead.
Paul has never been to Corinth before. This is as far west, seemingly, as the gospel has ever got, carried by a missionary. And he wonders, what on earth is going to await me when I set foot in the city? Well, the amazing thing is that he has one coffee at Cafe Nero, the oldest of the coffee shops, with one half of the dynamic duo of the New Testament, Aquila.
And by the time they’ve put their rubbish in the bin, Paul has a house, a job, and a prayer triplet. That is not bad, is it? New city, one coffee, three boxes ticked. A real place to be the gospel HQ for Corinth Evangelical Church.
(10:26 – 10:41)
But Luke does much more than that. He gives us the backstory about how Aquila and Priscilla happen to find their way and be in Corinth. You see, Aquila is a native of Pontus.
(10:42 – 11:16)
That is, he’s on the north coast of the Black Sea in Turkey. And at some point in their life, Priscilla and Aquila have made their way to Rome. And they were obviously doing quite some tent making in that capital city of the empire.
But do you see, at the end of verse two, they had to leave Rome because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. An incredible thing, really. They’ve just arrived in Corinth.
(11:17 – 14:10)
All these big geopolitical things had happened as the emperor turns antisemitic. But do you see that over and above the details of Aquila and Priscilla’s life, the details of Paul’s life, is the Lord Jesus who plans ahead. And he’s moving his pieces around the board so that Aquila and Priscilla will be there as the advance landing party, so that when Jesus’s missionary arrives in Corinth, there’s already quite a lot set up as a forward posting station.
Just the right time. Jesus plans ahead. They are in the perfect place at just the right time to welcome and resource and accompany and fellowship and pray for Paul as he does this pioneering mission in the city of Corinth.
And it’s important for us to realise that, isn’t it? That Jesus plans ahead. Not just true for Paul’s life, but true for my life and your life and the life of Greenview. Jesus is sovereign over it all.
I wonder why you think you’re in Glasgow. All sorts of twists and turns and meetings and opportunities that led you to be here now in this city. And I want you to have firm confidence and great suspicion that the Lord Jesus has you here right now for your benefit and for his glory.
The people you work amongst, the people you live next door to, the people in your family, the people in your friendship group. Did you know that you are the most important person they know? You are the most important person they know because you may be their only Christian friend, who will ever tell them anything life transforming and eternity shaping about the Lord Jesus.
And we so easily take it for granted, but Acts 18 says be very suspicious. Be super suspicious that the Lord has you where you are to make much of him for your benefit and for the glory of others. Not only that, but do you see verse 5, Paul has been a solo operative, having to do some tent making and some gospel preaching in the synagogue.
But verse 5, Silas and Timothy, who parted ways with him in Berea, finally catch up with him in Macedonia and 1 Corinthians tells us that they’re bringing an offering from the church in Macedonia to support Paul full-time in the work. And so he’s able to put his apron down and his tent making equipment and he’s able to go full-time in the work. Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching.
(14:11 – 14:37)
And again, do you see the sovereignty of the Lord planning ahead, moving the hearts of the churches that are planted in Macedonia to make this offering in order that the gospel might go forth and that Corinth evangelical church might be better and better established. Friends, know one thing from this morning that Jesus plans ahead. But secondly, know this, that Jesus works next door.
(14:38 – 15:42)
Jesus works next door. Verse 6, the thing that always happens, happens. The Puritans love this phrase that the sun that melts the wax also hardens the clay.
And as Jesus is taught as the Messiah of the Jewish people, yes, some people seem to get it and bow the knee to the Lord Jesus, but that same gospel hardens the heart of the Jews. And so what do they do? They oppose Paul and they become abusive, that the synagogue in Corinth has decided that Paul is persona non grata. And so what does Paul do? He enacts the ministry of Ezekiel and he shakes out his garment and he says, your blood is on your own heads.
I have been faithful in delivering the message. What you do with it is up to you. And so Paul leaves the synagogue and instead turns for the Gentiles.
(15:43 – 18:01)
But this creates a massive problem. The synagogue has been the centre of gospel operations in Corinth. Where are they going to meet? What are they going to do? Well, it just so happens, verse 7, that next door to the synagogue is a Roman man called Titius Justus.
With a name like that, he seems to be a man of quite high reputation. I dare say the house he has next to the synagogue is a sizable slab. I dare say it has a great atrium, which if they installed a PA and got some fold-out chairs, it would be a very happy place for Corinth Evangelical Church to stand on its own two feet.
And do you see that the Lord has been working next door? Paul was doing something in the synagogue, but when it comes time to leave, right next door, you don’t even have to pay for an enterprise rent-a-van. You could just create a human chain and drop all the equipment into Corinth Evangelical Church situated at Titius Justus’ house. Isn’t it amazing that if one of the things we read in Romans chapter 11 is that the reason that the door was opened to the Gentiles was in order to make the Jews jealous so that they might repent and place their faith in the Lord Jesus.
How jealous are you going to be when you go to the synagogue that is so dry and legalistic, and next door at Titius Justus’ house, they’re singing, shine Jesus, shine at the top of their voice. That’s going to make you jealous. And not only that, they don’t all file out sombre thinking how miserable they are, but they all stand out in the street relating to each other as family.
And what diversity there is. And you go, do you know what? They seem to be doing something much better here than what we’re doing here. Perhaps there really is something in the gospel.
But not only that, the Lord Jesus hasn’t only just been working, not just in the synagogue, but in Titius Justus’ house. Do you see that he’s working back in the synagogue as well, verse 8? Just imagine the service, everyone’s sitting down sombre, getting ready for worship, and suddenly a shadow appears at the back door. Oh no, it’s Crispus.
(18:01 – 18:42)
The Grand Fromage from next door. What have we done? Have we put the wrong recycling bins out? Has somebody double parked? Have we turned shine Jesus, shine up a little bit too loud? And it’s disturbing them. Well not at all, because Crispus and Mrs Crispus and all the little Crispies, they walk into church and sit down in the front row.
Because then as now, the only place you can ever sit if you come late in an evangelical church is on the front row. That’s how welcoming we are. And to everybody’s amazement, Crispus sits through the whole service.
(18:44 – 19:09)
And Mrs Crispus sits through the whole service, and they’re completely enraptured by the person of the Lord Jesus. And they realise, just as Paul had told them in the synagogue, Jesus really is the long-awaited Christ, now come to rule and reign. And do you see, the end of verse 8, Crispus is only the first things that the Lord Jesus is doing as he works.
(19:11 – 19:25)
And many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed, and were baptised. A real gospel work going on with the Lord Jesus sovereign over the whole thing. He works next door.
(19:26 – 19:48)
Wouldn’t it be great if we really believed that he is that intimately sovereign over his work in the world, that he’s not only working in the home team dressing room, he’s working in the away team dressing room as well. Who knows what your friends, neighbours, colleagues and family members are thinking about. Who knows what spiritual pilot light might be turning on in their life.
(19:50 – 20:13)
And if we honestly believe that the Lord is sovereign, what certainty, what confidence we would have to step forward and say something trusting that the Lord Jesus is sovereign over his work in the world. Jesus plans ahead, he works next door. And number three, he stands beside.
(20:15 – 20:31)
I dare say by the end of verse 8, Paul is incredibly nervous. We’ve been here before. The gospel has taken root in a place, it’s borne fruit in a place, there’s been believers and a church planted, and it is at that point that it gets really painful for Paul.
(20:32 – 25:13)
As there’s rioting and mobs, as there’s beatings and imprisonments, as there’s attempted stonings and leaving Paul for dead. Well isn’t it so kind of the Lord Jesus that just at this moment when his missionary might be incredibly nervous about what might happen, the Lord Jesus appears to Paul in a dream. One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision.
And what does he say? He says, do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent. Persevere in the work, for I am with you. God is present with his missionary.
He hasn’t just deployed him and retreated to the corner of the universe to take it easy and see what happens, he is right there. The Lord Jesus standing with Paul. Persevere in it, I’m present with you, you’re going to be protected, and no one is going to attack and harm you.
What a great thing, that’s been exactly the problem up until this point. Lots of people have attacked and harmed Paul. And you see that it’s going to work, the gospel is going to prosper, for I have many in this city.
As you keep preaching the word, many in this city will hear and respond, repent and believe, be baptised and join the church. What an incredible thing of the Lord Jesus, intimately sovereign over his work in the world, standing beside his people as they go on mission with him and for him. And I know what you’re thinking, because it’s what I think.
Well if the Lord Jesus spoke to me like that in a vision, I would definitely be better at evangelism than I am. But let me tell you that Jesus isn’t telling Paul new things, he’s reminding him of things that are universally true for all of us. The Lord Jesus who is with us always to the very end of the age, as we go out with his authority to proclaim the gospel.
The same Lord Jesus who promises that our Father in heaven, not one hair on our head will be touched apart from his sovereign will, that’s real protection. And the same Lord Jesus who says, and the gates of hell will not prevail against me as I build my church. The last defensive stand of hell itself will not be able to withstand the incredibly sovereign God, the Lord Jesus as he builds his church.
Jesus stands beside. What a great thing to think on a Monday morning, when you feel so weak and feeble, going to your office where you’re the only believer that you know. It is not you versus them, it is you and Jesus versus them and that means you’re the odds-on favourite for absolute success to happen.
Be suspicious. Fourthly and finally, Jesus sits above. It’s all going so well, Corinth Evangelical Church is thriving, it’s probably got multiple church plants in their thinking, trying to plant out into the suburbs of Corinth.
But verse 12, a new sheriff comes to town. Gallio is made pro-consul of Achaia. Achaia is a massive region and Gallio becomes the new head honcho and he’s really important.
He’s related by marriage to the Emperor Claudius himself and the Jews see this as the ultimate opportunity to shut down Corinth Evangelical Church forever. So what do they do? They make a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgement. This is very ominous.
The last time a Christian leader came before a Roman pro-consul was the Lord Jesus before Pontius Pilate and by the end of the day, at the request of the Jews, Pilate had sentenced Jesus to death. They bring their charge, verse 13, he’s persuading people to worship in ways contrary to the law. And Paul never want to take a backward step, he’s ready to get in there and give a defence.
(25:15 – 26:00)
And just before he opens his mouth, Gallio puts both his hands behind his head, his feet up on the desk and says, I literally cannot be bothered to listen to you. This seems like some little thing that you’re involved in and I’m the pro-consul of the whole of Achaia. If it was about sort of insurrection or terrorism or some sort of usurpation of the emperor’s power over this region, I’m all ears.
But since it involves questions about words and names in your own law, settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things. And we’ve got to understand that over and above Gallio’s apathy is the Lord Jesus who’s sovereign over the whole thing.
(26:01 – 30:34)
He moves Gallio’s heart to apathy. And if Gallio says it’s all right, it’s all right. So this functions like an imperial sanction for Corinth evangelical church to exist.
What an amazing thing. To remember that the Lord Jesus reigns. He’s the ultimate boss.
He’s in control of all things and nothing happens apart from his sovereign will. It’s not Holyrood. It’s not Westminster.
It’s not Brussels. It’s not Washington DC. It’s not the UN General Assembly that is conducting the affairs of the world.
It is actually the Lord Jesus who sits enthroned over the whole thing. What an amazing event. Something that really rouses our suspicions being reminded that Jesus plans ahead.
You’re not where you are by mistake, but for your benefit and Jesus’s ultimate glory. Jesus works next door. Let’s be expectedly hoping that that’s true in our lives.
The people on the fringe of our lives and those that we work amongst and live amongst. Jesus stands beside cheering us on and empowering us and helping us every step of the way. And he sits above in absolute control over absolutely everything as the sovereign Lord of the whole world.
Or just to finish things off, verse 16, so he drove them off. Gallio’s not having them in his courtroom anymore. Then the crowd turned on Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and beat him in front of the pro consul and Gallio showed no concern whatever.
You’ve got to feel very sorry for Sosthenes, haven’t you? I mean he roused a mob, he did what they wanted and then when the Gallio kicks them out they turn on him. And Sosthenes is only the synagogue ruler because Crispus was the arch defector back in verse 8. And so as we leave Corinth, the camera pans out, everyone’s going their separate ways and Sosthenes is left bleeding and beaten on the tripunal steps. And I know what you’re thinking because it’s what I’m thinking, what happened to Sosthenes? Whatever happened to him? Well for our encouragement and to demonstrate to you that the Lord Jesus really is sovereign over all of this, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and our brother Sosthenes.
What an amazing thing that even sovereign over this tribunal is not just the imperial sanction for Corinth evangelical church but used amidst all of the mess and all of the mob and all of the beating and Gallio’s apathy to start Sosthenes on a journey towards eternal life in Jesus Christ. How sovereign do you have to be to do your work even amid such chaos? Friends, be suspicious, be very suspicious. The Lord Jesus, he’s intimately sovereign over his ongoing work in the world.
So let’s step forward into this week with increased certainty and increased confidence in order that we might be fully on board with all that he’s doing in the world. Let me pray. Father God, we’re so sorry for all the times that we doubt you and we think that you’re small.
We’re so sorry for all the opportunities that pass us by when fear overrides and staying silent seems to be the easiest option. But Lord, please by your spirit increase our suspicion. Please send us out this week with extra extra confidence about who you are and all that you’re involved in.
Father, please use us, please use even us for your glory and we pray all this for Jesus glory alone. Amen.
The post Be Suspicious – Acts 18v1–17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Good evening, nice to see you here. We’re going to be continuing our series tonight as Andy was saying, ‘Unashamed till the end’. This evening we’re going to be in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 to 9. Now last week Colin was speaking to us, we were considering the good and useful servant and what makes a servant good and useful.
This evening what we’re going to read is, and I’ve titled it Know This Timothy. Timothy receives a warning. He receives a warning from his mentor Paul and Paul is pleading with him in his language to take this warning very seriously.
So let’s read 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 to 9. It’s found on page 1196. I don’t know if it’s coming up on the screen but it’s 1196 in the church Bible. But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power, have nothing to do with such people. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires. Always learning but never able to come to knowledge of the truth.
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds who as far as the faith is concerned are rejected. But they will not get very far because as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
(2:21 – 4:24)
And so our first title of the night is The Servant of the Lord Must Be Prepared. The context of chapter 3 is very much set by verse 1, but mark this, there will be trouble, there’ll be terrible times in the last days. And again, we have a word at the beginning of the first verse which indicates that Paul is referring to a previous discussion.
Paul is referring to the good and useful servant we heard about last week and what identifies him as a servant of the Lord. Behaviours like those identified in verse 22 of chapter 2, righteous, love, faith, peace, a pure heart, not quarrelsome, and verse 25 gently instructs opponents of the truth. There is a sense of gentle support, wisdom, and guidance for Timothy from his mentor.
But chapter 3 changes the tone. Verse 1, but mark this, know this, terrible times. The word translated terrible actually means perilous, dangerous.
This is a serious warning for Timothy. Timothy must now prepare himself for things getting even worse than they already are in Ephesus. Paul says it will happen in the last days.
So we need to understand what Paul means by the last days. What does Scripture mean by last days? The phrase last days can take us into revelation, an imagery of the end of time, when God returns, when Christ returns to judge the earth. Paul is pointing more to a time moving forward from Timothy’s present day in Ephesus.
(4:25 – 4:52)
Hebrews chapter 1 would explain something of the last days. Page 1201 of the church Bible, in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through Him also He made the universe.
(4:53 – 5:28)
For Hebrews then, the last days refers to the time when God spoke through His Son. In other words, it was the manifestation of Christ coming from heaven and walking amongst man. He revealed the Father.
Those are the last days. And again, in Acts 2, Peter says this of the prophet Joel. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all my people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.
(5:29 – 5:52)
So again, Peter is talking here about Pentecost. He’s describing a time in the church age, not some time way in the future in relation to revelation. It’s the time between Christ being manifest on earth, the arrival of the Holy Spirit, and then the time of Christ returning.
(5:52 – 6:39)
It is the church age. So Paul and Timothy, along with us, are living in this age, the time before Christ’s return. And it’s this time that Timothy and us who are serving the Lord can expect terrible opposition to the truth.
It is inevitable. Will we see great catastrophes, wars, disasters? Possibly, almost certainly. Yes, we will.
But Paul is talking about the source of these terrible times as people. He’s not talking about events. He’s talking about people.
(6:41 – 7:16)
People are the danger. And in verses 2 to 4, Paul lists 18 behaviours that will identify this danger, this danger represented by people that will oppose the gospel. Now, commentators suggest different ways of looking at these.
Some talk about four groups. You can split the 18 into four groups, and you can look at love of self, love of money, love of evil, and lovers of pleasure. Others sort it out into a behaviour sandwich.
(7:18 – 7:50)
So we start with people loving themselves, and we finish up with people finally moving through to the point. They’ve got everything they want, and they dismiss God in favour of themselves, and what they want for themselves and what they have achieved, if you look at the end of verse 4. Now, we’re not going to have time to go through the list and define what each one means. You’ll be glad to hear that because it could last for quite a long time, that rant.
(7:50 – 8:31)
But we’re not going to do that. Whichever way we look at it, though, I think we would all agree that Paul’s summary of human behaviour is absolutely spot on and up to date. Maybe it’s from the New York Times number one bestseller.
I noticed that in the airport a couple of weeks ago, and I did smile when I’ve been thinking about this passage. The let them theory. Number one bestseller, it’s about focussing on what truly matters in life.
You, in capital letters. You. Your happiness, your goals, and the success that you deserve.
(8:32 – 8:40)
You’re worth it. It’s all about you. Or the one that was actually lying next to it, and it was almost as if 2 Timothy was lying in the bookshop.
(8:41 – 8:52)
This is about funding your new lifestyle now that you’ve got it, and now it’s about you. Make a billion, not a million, we’re now on to billions. Make a billion in nine easy steps.
(8:53 – 9:39)
I think I’ve missed a few of those. Then it’s looking down on others, self-promotion, and standing on those who get in the way. To the fact that in the UK last year, there were 300,000 children had their lives terminated.
A 10% increase in 2022. Do you know that’s enough in two years to wipe out the population of Glasgow? In two years, self. We sang about sacrificing our children on the altar, didn’t we? How appropriate.
(9:40 – 10:58)
State-sponsored self-identity of children leading to self-mutilation. The brutality of the wars across the world, so many that lots of them go unreported. Or the cancellation, victimisation of people who stand against the narrative of the day, as Charlie Kirk found out.
Or the 4,500 Christians who died last year across the world. Or the 2,500, 250,000 that were displaced. No matter what we think, it’s indicative of a fallen world and it’s clear to all.
It’s clear to all that even when we get what we want, there is still no place for God because we’re on our own. We can do it. We don’t need God.
Unfortunately, the prescription for the world for this disease, what the Bible calls sin as the disease, takes us even further and further away from where God wants us to be. Out of his will and pushing against his love. It is diametrically opposed to God’s way and that’s why we see the strife and the destruction across the world.
(11:00 – 12:25)
And we could spend all night going through this. If you meet somebody on the street, they’re going to tell you, I know neighbours speak to me, people who aren’t Christians, and they’ll say, what’s happening? What’s happening to the world? It seems out of control. Was it any different in Timothy or Paul’s day? Has it changed? Well, given Paul’s circumstances when he wrote to Timothy, I don’t think really that much has improved, do you? The prescription that the world has given itself over the decades, centuries has not moved.
Paul’s writing from a Roman prison. Paul has experienced firsthand brutality. He’s been stoned by opponents.
He’s been beaten up, lived with treachery. He’s living in a Roman world that he knows all too well. And in fact, Paul was part of it.
He stood and watched the stoning of Stephen, the killing of him. Paul understood very well about the world, and Timothy is about to give up serving in the church in Ephesus because things are so bad. And this is a man who has served with Paul in Corinth, one of the cities known for its debauchery in the ancient world, and yet Timothy’s had enough.
(12:26 – 13:37)
You see, Jeremiah 17 says that the heart of man is deceitful above all things, desperately sick who can understand it. Can we expect change? Well, yes, we can. We can expect things to get worse.
You say, well, this is a cheery subject for a Sunday night. I’ve got work in the morning and I’ve got to consider this. It’s important.
Paul points this out. This is important for us to understand. Why does Paul go to the effort of writing to Timothy, pointing out what he already knows and has experienced? Verse 5 tells us, having a form of godliness, but denying its power.
What is Paul talking about? Paul is not talking about Ephesus. Paul is not talking about the world. Paul is talking about the church, and that’s frightening.
(13:38 – 14:35)
He’s talking about what’s going on in the church, not what’s outside the church. And it takes us to our next point of the servant of the Lord must be vigilant. Why weren’t these behaviours and those people easy to spot? Why couldn’t they see them? Because they’re good at covering their tracks.
They have a form of godliness. That’s what it says. They know what to say and when to say it.
They have the appearance of godliness so much that they have become teachers in the church. They have creeped. That’s the word used in verse 6, creeped. Wormed their way in.
No doubt, sociable with the right people. They serve in the right way, in the right places, for their own purposes. Maybe they were brought up in the church.
(14:36 – 19:41)
Lots of the false teachers have been. They know how the church works. However, they subtly, over time, give themselves away in their teaching, in their preaching, and they suddenly, subtly shift the tone.
What you hear is much less reference to the gospel. You see the repentance of sin, the deity of Christ, the authority of Scripture, all start to gradually be changed. I was listening to a lady bishop in the Episcopal church in the states, in the eastern states.
I don’t know how I came across it. It came up on my YouTube feed for churches. She stood in her glistening robes and she explained from Matthew 15, you remember, the Canaanite woman who was there with Christ and said that even the dogs deserve the scraps from the master’s table.
She recollected the story. She said, it makes me cringe. It’s not a good look in Jesus.
I hate it being held up as a scriptural example of Christianity. Jesus thinks about how he interacts with this woman and he comes back and speaks to the woman because he’s changed his mind. He’s been harsh.
He’s not understood. He changes his mind in how he should deal with her. He’s got it wrong.
You see the Scripture didn’t suit her feminist agenda and therefore it was wrong. She even said that Scripture was so old it was up for debate and discussion. If only she could see that Jesus is the unchanging son of God.
She claimed he changed. He didn’t. How do we know? Hebrews 13 and eight tells us that.
He doesn’t change. If she had understood that actually the Canaanite woman was explaining to the Pharisees around her that this was the Messiah and they hadn’t seen it. But she was prepared to stand in front of a congregation and almost disown Scripture.
See how it works? On YouTube, people watching, people listening, undermining the very authority of Scripture. You see where Paul starts his list of behaviours is very significant. People will be lovers of themselves, their own narrative and their own dogmas.
It is the drain cover to the sewer that opposes God’s way. And in time, it’s unlikely the gospel or sin, redemption, forgiveness at the cross, let alone the deity of Christ will ever feature in preaching or teaching. Isn’t this what Paul is saying in verse eight? They oppose the truth, the gospel, the word of God.
It’s not what they love. It’s themselves. That’s what they want to promote.
Be like me. Be the kind of Christian I am without looking at the word of God. Why would Paul say that this selfish, me-centre behaviour opposes? Opposes everything that is in Scripture.
And why this warning is so absolutely critically important. And if you’re a young person, please, in particular, as you choose church, as you grow up as a Christian, please bear this in mind. Philippians chapter 2. You’ll find it page 1179 of the church Bible.
Our centre this evening is looking at selfishness and where it takes us. Philippians 2 says this, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.
Do not, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross, a cross.
(19:43 – 22:21)
You see, everything based on self, promoted on self, it opposes the very person of Christ. It opposes the gospel in every sense. And me is where it starts.
Christ, who gave up everything, humbled himself, took on the nature of a servant, obeyed his father, even to the point of the cross. As we heard this morning, no self, servant. These people, these men, as they journey down the sewer of behaviour, are outright opponents of the gospel and must be recognised as such.
And Paul is saying when you hear them teach and be around the church, you must be able to identify them because they’re wolves in the flock. This is Paul’s point to Timothy. Now, does that mean that we should be looking for evil around every corner, become paranoid as we sit in church? No, that isn’t Paul’s point.
As Christians, as a church family, we all sin. John in his first epistle tells us that. He tells us that if we claim to be without sin, we make the Lord to be a liar.
But doesn’t self rear itself in our own lives as we read this? Even as we serve in church, what we’re prepared to do, what requires some effort, but I don’t want to be put out. I’ll do what I’m comfortable with, never mind what needs to be done. It’s what suits me.
That’s how I serve. I don’t think this missed Timothy as he read it either. I think the old self was there and he noticed some of those elements, don’t we? And I’m sure Timothy wrestled with this.
J.C. Ryle, the commentator says, a Christian is not a person who experiences bad desires. No bad desires. A Christian is a person who is at war with those desires by the power of the Spirit.
The issue with these men though is that they are not at war with their sin. In fact, they are still pursuing their sin for what they can get. Verse five says, they deny its power, the power of the gospel.
(22:22 – 22:48)
It’s the power you hear Paul talk of in Romans 1.16, which says that the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. 2 Timothy chapter one says, this is the power that cleanses us of all sins, the power that destroys our death and gives us eternal life. But they don’t know the power because they’re opposed to the truth.
(22:48 – 25:07)
They don’t belong to Christ. And in verse eight, as far as the faith is concerned, they are rejected. They do not belong to Christ.
Now, Paul warned the elders about these men, these wolves who would appear when he prayed with the elders back in Acts 20. He pleaded with them through tears for three years to look out for these men. And here they are.
Maybe the elders gradually compromised. After all, the gospel can be challenging, can’t it? And the idea of repentance from a way of life that opposes God, well, come on, that’s a big ask. And it’s quite harsh really.
It doesn’t really fit into our culture, does it? You want me to say what? As the attacks come in, the compromises are made and made again. But look at the numbers we get in each week. The offerings, they’re going up.
It’s working. But over time, we see the empty churches. The gospel has now become a message, not the power of God unto salvation.
Timothy as a servant of God must stand up for the gospel, the truth that have nothing to do with such people, verse five. Or the wolves will continue to prey on the flock to the point of attack. And that’s when they will show their character.
And here it is in reality. Verse six, they worm their way into the homes, controlling gullible or silly women. Now, just to say this doesn’t imply that Paul thinks that all women are silly and gullible, as some people might say.
You would only have to read 1 Timothy 5 or Romans 16 to say that’s absolute nonsense. Because there he talks about the respect and the love that should be given to women who serve alongside him. These particular women though in Ephesus are loaded down with sin.
(25:07 – 26:23)
They are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning, but never coming to a knowledge of truth, verse six. We don’t know what the sins are. We can probably guess.
Whatever they are, they don’t want to confront them. In fact, they probably want to continue life the way it is, pursuing those sins. They want somebody to tell them it’s okay, your sins don’t matter, Jesus loves you anyway.
They want a conscience salved, but they aren’t about to turn their lives around. Repentance is not on the cards. Instead, they’re always seeking knowledge, but never coming to the truth, verse seven.
They always have just one more question, never quite satisfied with the gospel because it’s not what they want to hear, but they can’t be honest with themselves. However, these men are happy to tell them exactly what they want to hear. Paul likens them to Jannes and Jambres in verse eight.
Now, these men, these two men are not mentioned in the Old Testament. They come from Jewish tradition, probably Gamaliel taught Paul those names. They were the sorcerers who opposed Moses and Aaron back in Egypt.
(26:25 – 29:37)
They were known for their sleight of hand and their deception to mislead the people. That’s why Paul likens them to these two men, happy to teach a gospel that doesn’t require repentance, but allows self to thrive, a false salvation without Christ. Surely this can’t happen.
Surely this would get stopped. Surely the Ephesian elders would stand up. Surely today it would be so obvious.
Hillsong, an Australian-based worldwide mega church was investigated a few years ago. This is the playbook. A church made $100 million a year, excess of that, from donations, music rights, which some churches still pay, a huge organisation.
Yet it was found that several of the pastors across this huge organisation were having illicit affairs, some with parishioners. They had no problem being open about their role. That wasn’t a problem.
You could still get on a platform on a Sunday, still advise people in marriage, constantly pestering women, abusive, coercive relationships, using any means to get what they wanted, whether it was money or other desires. Eventually they were exposed for their deception and very reluctantly stood down and some just disappeared. The elders had been warned.
They were warned of the behaviour and they ignored it. But like the Ephesian elders, maybe they compromised, compromised a bit more. They turned a blind eye to the false hope, the false gospel.
Many of the churches collapsed and those who enjoyed the unchallenging entertainment never came back. So with this warning in mind, what should the servant of the Lord do? When I was a young boy, many years ago, I had a great uncle. That wasn’t his proficiency, an uncle.
He was my dad’s uncle. He was a great uncle. And I remember even as a young boy, I would go into their house and at the side of their open coal fire, his Bible, it lay open.
I can remember my dad having lots of conversations with them, even as a young boy. And I could remember them having lots of discussions, sometimes a bit heated, but discussions about scripture. When he died, my dad inherited his Bible.
It was a big black Bible that was now pretty well brown because it was so thumbed. Every page was just about loose. It had notes on it.
It had scribblings on it that nobody but him, I think, could read. How was he diligent? How did he defend against the wolves? There’s an old chorus we used to sing in Sunday school. If you’re my age, you might remember it.
(29:38 – 31:03)
Read your Bible, pray every day, and you’ll grow, grow, grow. That is how the diligent servant defends against the wolf. That is how we make sure that we stick to the faith.
Can I just say to you that the Christian faith is not passive. The Christian faith, as we come tonight and we remember the selfless giving of the Lord Jesus Christ as we come to communion, it is not passive. We take part.
But it’s also one where we are asked to take part. Think about Thursday night and the ethos statement and doctrinal distinctives. Many of you were at the church service.
I won’t ask for a show of hands, but I wonder how many went back and read the scriptural references. That is how we become. We are diligent and we defend because we look at the verses, we read them up, we understand them.
(31:05 – 31:25)
And yes, we might have disagreements, might not agree about everything, but what we must agree about is the gospel. Where we see divergence of the gospel is where we begin to worry. That must never happen.
(31:27 – 31:39)
We must stand together against the wolves. It can’t be passive. So we need to pray.
(31:40 – 32:22)
We need to read our Bibles. It is not an option for some and not for others. We need to pray, we need to read our Bibles.
And as an elder, I would ask you that you pray for the elders. You pray for the elders the way that Paul did with the elders in Ephesus. In earnestness and praying for the boldness to maintain the gospel and the preaching of the gospel.
It is inevitable that things will get worse, Paul’s warning of that. That is inevitable. But as it does get worse, we must stand firm in the gospel.
(32:23 – 34:08)
That is Paul’s point. It can’t be compromised. It is truth and we must be able to identify those who would oppose it.
Finally, it’s not a three-point sermon, it’s a four-point. I’ve gone against the rules. The fourth point, verse nine, don’t forget it.
The servant is victorious. Paul is saying in verse nine, as happened with Hillsong, as happened, no doubt, with the wolves in Ephesus, they fell. They fell because it tells us in Revelation that they didn’t leave, they challenged the false doctrines.
There is victory for the servant by standing firm in the word of God. That is what we must do. I’ll just close with these words, in Christ alone my hope is found.
He is my light, my strength, my song, this cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm, what heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when striving cease, my comforter, my all in all, here in the love of Christ I stand. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home. Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
Amen.
The post Know This … – 2 Timothy 3v1–9 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today we’re reading from John 12, verse 20 to 50, so if you’re using a red church Bible that’s on page 1080. Jesus predicts his death. Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. Sir, they said, we would like to see Jesus. Philip went to tell Andrew.
Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
(0:45 – 1:01)
But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be.
(1:02 – 4:29)
My Father will honour the one who serves me. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.
Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered.
Others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, this voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgement on this world.
Now the prince of this world will be driven out, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. The crowd spoke up.
We have heard from the Lord that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus told them, you are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.
Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light. When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.
This was to fulfil the word of Isaiah the prophet, Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason, they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn, and I would heal them. Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. Yet at the same time, many, even among the leaders, believed in him.
But because of the Pharisees, they would not openly acknowledge their faith, for fear they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved human praise more than the praise from God. Then Jesus cried out, Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words.
The very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day, for I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life, so whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” That’s God’s words. The big events in life always have a big build-up.
(4:30 – 6:54)
So whether it’s a wedding or a birth or maybe a major sporting final, maybe it’s a life-defining exam or maybe a hospital operation, before any big event there’s always a big build-up. In the days and in the hours and minutes before it happens, all time and attention, all the talk is focused on that single big event. And what is true in life is also true in John.
Here we are in John chapter 12 on the brink of the biggest event in Jesus’ life. Christians would argue it’s the biggest event in the history of the world, and unsurprisingly there is a huge build-up. So from chapter 12 of John all the way through to the middle of chapter 19, it’s all build-up to the death of Jesus.
In this final week of Jesus’ life, as we count down to the cross, the story slows and it narrows in to focus on Jesus’ death. As Jesus announces in verse 22, the hour has come. That mysterious hour that would change human history is no longer a time in the far-flung future.
It is imminent. The hour that Jesus had previously said hadn’t come now has come. So you might remember that Jesus back in chapter 2 at a wedding in Cana said that His hour hadn’t come.
And then in chapter 7 you might remember the authorities wanted to kill Jesus, but they couldn’t do so. Why? Because His hour hadn’t come. And again in chapter 8, for the third time in John’s gospel, Jesus tells us His hour hasn’t come.
(6:55 – 7:44)
But now in chapter 12 it’s different. The hour that hadn’t come has come. The countdown is reaching zero.
The Lamb that was appointed from eternity to be slain for the world is about to be sacrificed. And the question is, how will you and I respond to that hour, that moment that changed history? As we see towards the end of chapter 12, there is a response that we must make to this hour, this moment of great sacrifice. But before coming to that response, we need to think about the hour itself.
(7:45 – 10:30)
We need to think about what it means and what the significance of it is. So let’s focus in on this hour first of all. Let’s think about an hour of glory, an hour of glory.
If you look at verses 20 to 22, you’ll see that our passage begins with a group of Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. Now this is not Greeks as we would understand them today, but non-Jewish people, the rest of the world if you like, who are coming to Jerusalem. These folk are travelling to Jerusalem with an interest in the Jewish faith.
They’re coming to remember the Passover. But when they arrive, they encounter something even greater. Perhaps they hear the stories of Jesus that were circulating around the city.
They come for the Passover, but in the end, they are drawn to this man, Jesus. This is very much the fulfilment of the end of chapter 11. Remember at the end of chapter 11, the Jewish leaders said that the whole world was going after Jesus.
Well, here they are at the start of chapter 12. And it’s interesting that at this moment, when Jesus is being sought after by the world, He has a message for the world. Here’s His message.
The hour has come. But what is this hour exactly? The hour has come, says Jesus, for the Son of Man to be glorified. This is going to be an hour of glory.
So, just a word of explanation here, just so that we’re tracking this through the sermon. This hour is not a 60-minute hour as we would understand it. As you’ll probably know, Jesus hung on the cross for a number of hours when He died.
But the hour is a concept in the whole of the Bible, actually. We see it in the Old Testament. The hour is always a decisive moment when God intervenes in history.
It’s an appointed hour when God does something big. So, for instance, in the Old Testament, when the Passover lambs were sacrificed and the people were saved from death, that was the appointed hour when the lambs were slain. That’s the idea that’s in mind here.
(10:32 – 11:49)
The appointed time is arriving when God will intervene in history, and the spotless Lamb of God will be slain for humanity. But what is so strange about this is that Jesus is connecting glory with this death. Because having just mentioned the glory of the hour, notice what Jesus immediately then talks about in verse 24.
Well, it’s death, isn’t it? Using an illustration from agriculture, Jesus says, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it only remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. It’s a simple illustration from nature.
I’m told that a single stalk of grain can produce something between 30 to 50 seeds, new seeds. And here is the grain of wheat that represents Jesus. He is the single grain of wheat that needs to die so that there might be many seeds that come to life.
(11:50 – 12:07)
As in His case, millions across the world are given life through His death. But for them to live, He must first die. That’s at the heart of the good news of Jesus.
(12:10 – 12:39)
Jesus dies so that we live, so that by faith we receive that spiritual life for eternity, and so that we escape God’s right judgement on our sin beyond death. Jesus dies so that you might live. And don’t miss the point that God’s glory is displayed through this.
(12:41 – 15:00)
The dying of Jesus is the hour of God’s glory. If you had the opportunity to have a one-to-one sit down with the God of the universe and you ask God, God, what is the most glorious thing you have ever done? God would have plenty of options. But I think God would say, my greatest moment of glory was the death of my Son, because the dying of that grain of wheat brought life to many.
That’s why Christians sing about the cross. This is why we celebrate the death of Jesus, even though on one level it’s horrible and sad, and yet it’s a glorious thing, because in that death is our life, and out of glory which comes through death. And just by the way, I’m not going to pause and focus on this.
By the way, this death that brings life needs to be mimicked by Jesus’ followers as well, as Jesus says in passing in verses 25 and 26. You can’t follow a Jesus who carries a cross and not carry a cross. But notice secondly, secondly it is also an hour of agony, an hour of agony.
The cross is an incredible display of glory, a death that brings life, hallelujah, but do not underestimate the agony of the cross, which Jesus begins to feel the weight of in verse 27. It’s interesting that in John’s gospel, unlike in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he has no account of the garden of Gethsemane, not in John, that garden where Jesus’ emotional and spiritual agony is laid bare. We don’t get that in John, but John has his own version of it.
(15:01 – 15:20)
Here it is, or part of it. My soul is troubled, he says. The word here for troubled isn’t just feeling a little bit off or having a bit of a bad day.
(15:22 – 16:32)
It’s a word that means sharp and deep and agonising turmoil. Jesus, as He contemplates the cross, is not unmoved or stoic about it. And I think this must be more than Jesus feeling troubled by the prospect of the physical agonies of the cross.
There are many people in history who have faced such horrible deaths with stoicism. Surely the composed Jesus that we meet in this gospel isn’t more cowardly than they. No, it must be the weight of the spiritual judgement that is causing Jesus to flinch.
Later, in verse 31, Jesus speaks of the cross as a place of judgement and of spiritual victory. There’s a lot more happening on the cross than what you can see with the naked eye. There’s something deeper than the nails and more painful than the scars.
(16:33 – 17:00)
And as Jesus contemplates that coming, He’s already feeling something of the burden and the agony of it. It would be the most natural thing for Jesus to pray at this moment, Father, save me from this hour. But Jesus will not pray that prayer.
(17:03 – 20:20)
Oh, it’s true that in the garden, if you remember what happens there, it’s true that Jesus asked, if it is possible, let this cup of wrath be taken away from me. Jesus prayed that three times. He made that request.
But remember what then happens. When it becomes clear that the passing of the cup is not possible, in order for the Father to be glorified and us to be saved, Jesus takes the cup into His hand. And He says, not my will, but yours be done.
Jesus does not end in the garden by praying, save me from this hour. He steps into this hour. In the language of our text, it was for this reason that Jesus came.
His final prayer is, Father, glorify Your name. As painful as it is to do this, the Father’s glory is more important. How selfless Jesus is in this moment of agony.
No wonder the Father responds publicly with a voice that comes from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. You see, the Father had brought glory to Himself through Jesus’ life, ministry, miracles, all of that.
But He’s now going to glorify His name again through the cross. And so, the glory of the hour is mingled with the agony of the hour. You and I must never forget the cost, the unbearable cost of our salvation if we’ve been saved by Jesus.
An hour of glory, an hour of agony, and yet the paradoxes continue. Thirdly, an hour of victory, an hour of victory. Look at verses 29 and 30.
The crowd are wondering whether this has been like thunder they’ve just heard, or whether it’s maybe an actual voice. And Jesus says this voice was for their benefit so that they would believe in what He is saying. It’s not for Him.
He already knows what the Father’s thinking here. It’s so that they would believe the extraordinary truth that He’s saying, including the extraordinary truth that He’s about to say next, that somehow His death will be a victory. Now, this is not what you think of when you consider crucifixion, is it? When you think of crucifixion, you think of a man exhausted and naked, bleeding and suffering, groaning and dying.
You don’t immediately think of victory. Let’s be honest. On the face of it, the cross looks more like a defeat than a victory.
(20:21 – 20:43)
It looks like many other occasions in history when popular leaders had their moment of fame, their rise to power, and then it was cut abruptly short with something like a crucifixion. Calvary looks like a massive defeat. But in fact, the opposite is true.
(20:44 – 22:29)
For what is really going on in the cross is that judgement is happening. It’s the judgement of the world, verse 31. It’s the judgement of the world’s sin.
But of course, if we are trusting in Jesus, He bears that sin for us, and He defeats the spiritual forces that would prefer our doom rather than our life. He goes on immediately to say, the prince of this world, that’s the devil, will be driven out. The Bible is clear that there is a spiritual dimension to this world, however much some would scoff at that reality.
Although frankly, when I see the evil in the world, it makes me believe that this is all the more credible because there’s so much evil that can’t really be explained. But what is clear here is that the physical realm and the spiritual realm overlap at the cross, so that the death that deals with my sin is also the death that defeats the powers of evil. These powers are routed by the cross.
They’re sent fleeing in retreat. And so the cross may look like defeat to the human eye, but actually to those with eyes to see it, this is a place of God’s glory, achieving a great victory for humanity and for the cosmos. And this is an important idea to grasp, actually, as we continue through John.
(22:30 – 24:59)
It will keep coming up, that the lifting up of Jesus on the cross is part of His victory. To put it another way, we should never think of the cross as the defeat and the resurrection as the victory. No.
The cross is part one of the victory, and the resurrection is part two, and the ascension is part three, and the return of Jesus is part four. But exaltation, the exaltation of Jesus begins when He’s lifted on the cross. Why? Because it’s from that place of victory that He draws people, including, it says here, all people, including non-Jewish people like us, to Himself, verse 32.
It’s a remarkable picture of victory, so unexpected. Imagine that the solution to all of humanity’s problems could be a cross, but that’s what this is saying. The cross was urgently coming in this particular moment.
Notice a final feature of the hour. It’s an hour of urgency, an hour of urgency. After Jesus’ statements about victory and glory through death and through being lifted up, understandably, the crowd are a bit confused.
They don’t understand. See, they’ve got this pre-understood package of who the Messiah is, and this doesn’t fit into that. Messiahs don’t die.
Messiahs live forever. And yet despite their misgivings, Jesus continues to make it clear, this is going to happen, and it’s going to happen imminently, verse 35. They will only have the light a little while longer.
Jesus is the light, and people need to believe in the light so long as they have the light with them, verse 36. And they need to believe so that they can become through that belief children of light. This struck me pretty forcefully, and it should you as well.
(25:00 – 26:14)
Whether we look west across the Atlantic and see what’s going on there, or whether we look east and particularly perhaps to the Middle East at the moment and the carnage there, or when we look at the turmoil, the moral turmoil that we see in our own nation, it is so easy to see the prevailing darkness in the world, isn’t it? It’s not hard to see. It is there. It is real.
It is awful. And yet I can be so much slower and so much more reluctant to acknowledge the darkness in my own heart and soul, those feelings of personal hatred, those feelings of petty jealousies, those little obvious signs of my own pride or my lust for power and control. See, this is for me too.
It’s not just for a dark and nasty world. It’s for me too. And it’s only by believing in the light, Jesus, that I can become a child of light.
(26:16 – 26:31)
And this is an urgent thing. It was for people then, and it is for us now. Well, that’s the hour, the hour of glory, agony, victory, and it creates a moment of great urgency.
(26:33 – 28:11)
But the great question is, and I’m going to be brief on this as we finish, is how do we respond to it? John’s gospel, as we should know by now, is concerned with how we respond to Jesus and to the hour. It is written so that we would believe in Jesus and have life through Jesus. This gospel, right, this is not a piece of literature like the novel you read on holiday that you enjoy, you’re entertained, you’re inspired by, and then you just forget about it, or you pass on the book to a friend.
John has written this gospel, and God has ordained it to be written to change your life now and to change your eternal destiny, to bring us to a decision about Jesus. And of course, as we all know, that decision can go different ways for different people. I mean, the Bible is so realistic about this.
Look at the different responses here. Look at verse 37. The first recorded response to this amazing sermon of Jesus is what? Blind unbelief.
And John, incredulously, he almost can’t believe it as he writes it, he says, even after so many signs and miracles, many of the Jews who were listening still did not believe in Him. As Isaiah the prophet of old had prophesied, many did not believe in the message. They were blind and hard-hearted, and they did not turn to Jesus for healing.
(28:12 – 32:34)
Even though Jesus is glorious, Isaiah from centuries before could see ahead and could see something of this glory of Jesus, but the people couldn’t see it. They need to believe in Jesus. It’s urgent, yet many don’t believe.
That’s still true today, isn’t it? And yet, that’s not the only response. Look at verse 42. There are others who believe, but they believe secretly.
How interesting. There is a group of believers, even among the leaders of the Jews who believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees and the fear then of being ostracised and kicked out of the synagogue and losing the praise and reputation among people, they kept their belief in Jesus to themselves.
Again, how real this is. How true to life. It may be for you that in your heart of hearts, you reckon Jesus is who He says He is.
Actually, you do see that the cross is a life-giving death for sinners like you, and yet you’re afraid to convert. You’re afraid to tell your family that you’re a Christian. You’re afraid to tell your friends that you follow Jesus.
That’s the big sticking point for you. You’re not scared of the religious authorities today, because this is not so much a thing now, but you certainly are afraid of the secular authorities and the cancel culture that’s all around us. I think in the flow of John’s gospel, this response is not one we should be seeing positively, because even from early in the passage, the true believer that goes on is not ashamed of Jesus.
They follow Him with a cross on their back. They may have their slip-ups and shy moments and momentary denials like Peter, but there is no such thing, really, as a real believer who is forever a secret believer. What is Jesus’ response to this? It’s amazing, isn’t it? Like Jesus, all these miracles, all this preaching that He’s done, and at the end of it, He’s got half of the people that don’t believe and half of them that kind of believe, but they’re too afraid to say it.
What’s Jesus’ response? Wonderfully and graciously, He keeps crying out to them and inviting them to come to Him for life. That’s what He does, doesn’t He? In verse 44, He uses the same loud voice. You might remember from John 7. Do you remember we made a thing of it when we were there? Where He shouted out, you know, in a loud voice.
What makes Jesus shout? Not very much. I don’t think He was a particularly shouty person, but He was willing to shout so that a crowd of people might hear the invitation to believe. That’s the crux of it, isn’t it? Verse 44, whoever believes in Me, verse 46, I’ve come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.
Jesus also explains that when we believe in Him, we believe in the Father too. Jesus is so linked to the Father that when you see Jesus, you see the Father. When you hear Jesus, you hear the words of the Father.
The Father’s authority is behind everything Jesus says and does. And why is this important that we listen to Jesus and we accept who He is? Verse 50, because responding to Jesus’ command to believe leads to eternal life. Again, that’s what this is all written for.
Who’s Jesus crying out to? Who’s He shouting to? He’s shouting to a city full of Greeks and a city full of Jews. He’s shouting to people who are unbelieving. He’s shouting to people who are secretly believing.
(32:36 – 33:23)
And He’s shouting to every single one of us here today, whatever our response has been to Jesus in the past, and He’s calling us to believe in Him personally and publicly, because He has the words of eternal life. And so the hour of glory, the hour of agony, the hour of victory, the hour of urgency, the glory of God is seen in a man lifted up to die. Do you see it? Can you see the glory of God in the man lifted up to die? Let me pray.
(33:26 – 34:15)
Father, open our eyes this morning to see your glory in a man lifted up on a tree to die. We thank you for the glory of Jesus’ willingness to go to the cross. We thank you for the glory of His love for these hard-hearted people and for us, the way that He persists with us, the way He keeps preaching to us, the way He keeps calling us.
Help us to respond to His call. Help us to believe and to keep believing and to believe in such a way that we carry the cross, whatever it costs us. And we ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
The post Who has believed our message – John 12v20–50 appeared first on Greenview Church.
I would like to ask you tonight a very practical and searching question. Are you living a useful life for Jesus? I wonder how you would instinctively answer that question. If I said, are you living a useful life for Jesus, would you say, I am? Yes.
Would you say, no, I’m not? Would it be, I’m trying my best? Or maybe you would say, I’m just not sure if I’m living a useful life. We might be thinking to ourselves, how do we even define what a useful life for Christ looks like? What are the features of that kind of life? How do I know if I’m useful or useless in Jesus’ service? Well, turn with me this evening to 2 Timothy and chapter 2, please. As we turn to a passage where Paul defines such a life, this passage shows us that such a useful life is not mainly about busyness or gifting, but about something else.
So let’s read 2 Timothy chapter 2, and we’re picking up at verse 20 and reading to the end. In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some are for special purposes and some for common use.
Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the master, and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
(2:18 – 3:50)
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do His will. This is God’s Word.
And it’s Paul’s, as we know if you’ve been here in the series, this is Paul’s words to Timothy toward the end of Paul’s life. Someone that Paul has a close relationship with. Someone Paul has described as his dear son in the faith in chapter one.
Someone in chapter two he’s described as a fellow soldier and sufferer for the gospel. But I want you to see that now Paul describes Timothy in a different way. Notice how Paul titles Timothy in verse 24, he is the Lord’s servant.
What a title. What a privilege. As Timothy labours in the church of Ephesus as a church leader, he has the privilege and responsibility of serving the Lord Jesus.
(3:51 – 4:13)
You and I may or not be Christian leaders, but we all have the same privilege of serving Jesus as our master if we are Christians. Because all Christians are servants. We’ve all been bought at a price by the blood of Christ and brought into His household.
(4:14 – 4:55)
And we all have different roles and different areas of service. But the million pound question is this, what kind of servant will we be? What kind of servant will Timothy be? Well, look at verse 21, Paul hopes he will be a holy and useful servant. I guess the opposite of that is also possible for Timothy, the Christian and the church leader, to be an unholy and useless servant.
(4:56 – 6:15)
Perhaps still part of the household, but contributing poorly and stinking up the service of the master in the house. And so in these verses tonight, Paul is unpacking what a good servant looks like. Remember in another place, Jesus could speak of the well-done to the good and faithful servant.
Well, here’s what a good and faithful servant actually looks like. Let me just say before we get into this, that this is not just an encouragement for us to keep going in being useful servants. But for some of us, this might be a reset and a return and a repent to faithful service.
We’ll see there’s a repentance element in this in just a moment. So let’s consider Paul’s encouragement in three parts tonight. Firstly, the illustration of the useful servant.
The illustration of the useful servant. Some of us like a good illustration, don’t we? Give me an analogy or a picture so that I can see what you’re talking about. Well, Paul gives Timothy an illustration to give him clarity and motivation.
(6:17 – 8:10)
Timothy, imagine, verse 20, imagine a large house, a sort of mansion house, a kind of, I suppose we would say, a downtown Abbey sort of house, a huge house that is full of many different articles and items. Some of the articles are precious articles made of gold or silver. And some of the articles, maybe on the basement level, are much more common, made of wood or clay.
There are precious things in the house and there are very common things in the house. And these precious and common things are used for very different purposes. Think of it in today’s terms.
On the one hand, you have your expensive Denby plates. You know the plates that you bring out on the extra special occasions, two or three times a year. Those plates have a very different kind of value and purpose to your black bin liner, the black bin liner where you put your rubbish in.
One item, the Denby, is precious and honourable. The other item, the bin liner, is cheap and used for less noble purposes. And the point of this illustration is actually really simple.
Paul is saying to Timothy, be the Denby, not the bin liner. Be a clean and noble instrument for the master of the house to use. Don’t be a dishonourable item that is unclean and not noble.
(8:12 – 9:04)
Really what he’s saying is that the quality of the vessel determines the quality of the service. Robert Murray McShane, a Scottish pastor in the 1800s, was a man who many people observed for his personal holiness. And that’s quite a thing, isn’t it? You know, to come to the end of maybe a ministry of any Christian and for people to be speaking more of their holiness than just their giftedness.
But he once said this. He said, my people’s greatest need is my personal holiness. Not his preaching, not his pastoral skill, not his leadership ability, but his personal holiness.
(9:05 – 9:33)
Because without personal holiness, this is what Paul is saying, it is impossible to be a useful servant. It’s certainly impossible in the long run to live a characteristically unholy life and expect to be useful to the master. I wonder how much you or I really believe that.
(9:35 – 10:18)
Or do we think that what really matters is how gifted we are in our service for Jesus, that that kind of giftedness will cover over a multitude of pursued and unrepentant sins? It’s easy to think also that because we’re saved by grace, which is a wonderful thing, because we have a positional holiness through the finished work of Christ, it’s easy to think that our practical holiness doesn’t really matter. And yet that couldn’t be more false. Our holiness massively matters for our usefulness.
(10:18 – 11:01)
You might be a saved Christian without holiness, but you will not be a useful Christian without it. And so if we have departed the pursuit of holiness, Paul would call on Timothy and us, notice what he says, to cleanse ourselves. Interesting phrase, isn’t it? Verse 21, those who cleanse themselves from the ignoble purposes.
There’s something here, isn’t there, about our responsibility. I take it this means repentance. I take it this means that we have to do some kind of action here to turn away from our sins and to turn back to God.
(11:03 – 11:26)
And that’s why I said earlier that this is maybe something of a reset and a repent passage, not just an encouragement to keep going. There’s actually hope in this, an encouragement. If holiness has gone down our priority list, even as we try and keep the wheel turning and serving Jesus, there is hope for us here for reset and for repentance.
(11:28 – 12:57)
So let’s get this initial point firmly in our minds with this initial illustration. Paul is saying that holiness equals usefulness. It’s the biggest priority if you want to be useful for Jesus.
But what does that look like? And what does that actually mean? Well, I’m really grateful that Paul’s brain goes the same way that I’m going with this, because that’s what I’m wondering. And Paul now lays out the characteristics of the useful servant. Some of us like illustrations, and some of us like really practical instructions, down-to-earth instructions.
That’s what comes next in verses 22 to the first half of 25. And what I love about these verses is that they set out in detail what a holy and useful life actually looks like. What does it mean to be a clean vessel? And this is helpful because quite often our views of holiness are either unhelpfully vague.
We can’t really define what holiness really means at all. Or sometimes our views are very specific, but they’re our version of what holiness is, and they’re not really the biblical version of what holiness looks like. Well, here Paul defines holiness in a Christ-like way.
(12:58 – 14:36)
And there’s a number of things he says, isn’t there? He begins by saying that holiness looks like fleeing the evil desires of youth. Now, it’s easy when you just jump into a passage and you read it maybe out of context, you might immediately assume that the evil desires of youth here might be evil sexual desires that Paul is saying that Timothy should flee from. But when you read these verses in context, more likely he’s speaking of the evil desires that are related to hot-headedness and strife and quarrelsomeness.
It’s the kind of thing that the Apostle James speaks about in his letter when James says, what causes quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the desires that battle within you? One characteristic of youth is often a tendency to always be arguing and to always be right. But of course, this is not just a struggle for the young. This is something we must bear in mind when we read these texts.
Timothy, by this point, is probably in his mid to late 30s. He’s definitely moving out of the youth category. This tendency can linger in older men and women who can continue in their older age to display the evil desires of youth.
(14:38 – 15:57)
Paul says, flee such desires and run in the opposite direction. Spend your energy in pursuing righteousness, love, faith, and peace, which I assume are not just general qualities, but specifically related to what we’ve just been talking about. Because when we lose our temper and when we become consistently difficult and argumentative, we stop being righteous.
We forget love in our relationships. We fail to have the faith in God to back down from an argument, and we don’t cultivate peace. How much better it is to pursue these things, not alone, notice, but along with those, along with those who, verse 22, call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Isn’t that beautiful? Holiness is a team sport. It’s not an individual pursuit. We are meant to pursue holiness together.
(15:59 – 16:47)
If you are struggling with evil desires of any kind, then we’re all struggling with evil desires of various kinds, aren’t we? Ask yourself, who is fighting alongside me? Am I getting close enough to other Christians that I’m pursuing holiness as part of a team? There’s a kind of positive sort of peer pressure that is part of, should be part of, the church. So are we in such danger when we detach ourselves from church and we put distance between ourselves and our church family. Stick any Christian in the right group of friends, in the right kind of small group, in the right sort of ministry team that is godly, and watch them flourish.
(16:49 – 17:12)
Surround them with the opposite and watch them sink. If Timothy’s going to stay away from foolish and stupid arguments, he’s going to need this kind of godly support. I think the foolish and stupid arguments is another reference to the false teaching, which often results in quarrels.
(17:14 – 17:37)
There’s this idea in 2 Timothy that false teaching tends to produce a culture of quarrelling, whereas gospel teaching tends to produce a peaceful culture. And in this, the leaders of the church are especially important. Timothy is a spiritual leader in the church of Ephesus.
(17:38 – 19:37)
Whether he is a quarrelsome man really does matter. It sets the example to the church. And even if everyone else is being quarrelsome, as I assume was happening in Ephesus, he still mustn’t quarrel because he is the Lord’s servant.
He needs to always be the Denby, not the bin liner. Now, of course, just for clarity, Paul is not saying that Timothy is to be an unprincipled jellyfish. He isn’t saying it’s always wrong to have an argument.
Paul himself could be very direct and at times confrontational. Read Galatians or read of the occasion when he confronted the apostle Peter publicly in front of a room full of people. Paul isn’t saying, never argue about the most important things.
He is saying, don’t be an argumentative pastor. Don’t let that characterise who you are. And even in those conflict situations that will come, remember Timothy to be kind to everyone, being able to teach, which I think in the context surely means in a corrective way, teaching what is the false gospel and teaching what is the true gospel.
This does involve clarity. It does involve confrontation, but it must be done with gentleness and without resentment. Now, that’s interesting, isn’t it? There’s a big emphasis in church circles today on church leaders who have caused harm to other people.
(19:38 – 21:51)
And that is a horrible thing. And it is, of course, a very possible thing because every church leader is a sinner. And it’s a very damaging thing.
It can leave long-lasting wounds on God’s sheep. But we sometimes often forget that it’s also the case that sheep can sometimes wound shepherds too. And one of the realities, if you are in any kind of church leadership role or any kind of spiritual role at home, or if you’re involved in any kind of team where you have any kind of spiritual leadership, you will soon find that you will have a greater share of difficult people to deal with.
You’ll have a greater share of attacks, that come upon the group or the church, will come your way because you’re one of the leaders. And when people are unkind or unfair or even occasionally malicious in attacking you, it is ever so easy to become a resentful leader. And of course, that’s also generally true of any Christian.
One of the most poisonous yet under-talked about pastoral challenges in church life is that of resentment. Resentment that is undealt with and unprocessed and not taken to the cross is a paralysing thing. It embitters the well of your entire Christian life and experience if you don’t deal with it.
Part of what holiness looks like and part of what makes us useful is pursuing a holiness that isn’t just skin deep, but addresses the very attitudes of our hearts and the manner in which we treat people. Notice how much of this is not what we do, but how we do it. The Christian who pays attention to such things will be useful to the master.
(21:53 – 22:33)
And we see one possible outcome of that usefulness in our final point tonight. After the illustration of the useful servant and the characteristics of the useful servant, we come to the longing of the useful servant, which is there in verse 25 and 26. Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.
(22:36 – 23:11)
What a contrast this is to the way the world works. I hardly need to tell you, especially on this week, that we live in a world where people take sides and where they hate the opposition, whether it’s in Palestine or whether it’s in the United States of America. In our world culture, opponents are usually met with anger, ridicule, humiliation, and an attempt to destroy.
(23:12 – 24:04)
That’s the way the world works, sadly. But Paul says the Lord’s servant, the Lord’s servants, ought to have a different sort of attitude. Our goal is not to destroy our opponents, but to see them come to repentance.
Our goal is not to win an argument and make them look stupid, but to lead them to a knowledge of the truth. Our goal is to see them come to their senses. Our goal is to see them set free from the captivity of the devil who has imprisoned them with whatever false gospel they are believing in.
(24:05 – 24:49)
And of course, we can’t achieve that. Only God can do that miracle in someone’s heart. Our hope is that God will grant them repentance.
And yet, somehow, we are involved in the mix of that. Right? Isn’t that amazing? God alone can grant them repentance. And yet Paul says to Timothy, you gently instruct them because you are part of the means through which God will grant repentance to them by the way that you gently teach them the gospel and show them the error of their ways.
(24:50 – 25:11)
Think of the apostle Paul, the man who wrote this letter. A bigger opponent to Jesus you could not find, yet God granted him repentance. If God can grant repentance to Saul of Tarsus, no one is beyond his reach.
(25:12 – 27:35)
That’s why we correct with gentleness, not because it’s easy, but because God may yet do a miracle. That must be our longing, even in the face of those who most strongly oppose our faith and most strongly oppose our service to Jesus. Those must be the very people that we long to see forgiven.
A useful life for Jesus is not just holy in character, it’s evangelistic in intent. And of course, these things all melt together. It’s not like spiritual growth is over here and evangelism is over there.
It’s not that holiness is over here and your witness is over there. They’re not separate things. They’re related things because it’s the Christian who lives in a holy manner who faithfully and gently engages with non-Christians in a way that God will bless, that will see the breakthrough.
So how useful are our lives? How holy is our conduct? Are we praying each day that God will help us be the Denby plate rather than the bin liner? We look, of course, to Jesus, our master, who embodies all of this perfectly. Jesus fled every evil desire. He pursued what was loving and right.
He was clear, but never quarrelsome, kind to absolutely everyone. And astonishingly, He endured hostility without resentment or bitterness. Jesus is the holy and useful servant par excellence.
And our salvation, let’s just be clear on this, rests securely on His shoulders. But if we want to be His useful servants, then He calls us to rely on His grace and to graft in service for Him. It’s not our giftedness that’s it’s not even just in itself our busyness, which we sometimes equate with as being the key.
(27:37 – 28:19)
But let’s make no mistake, it is our holiness that is going to be the key to our usefulness for Jesus. I wonder what kind of priority that has in your life and in my life as we’re serving Christ at the moment. Father, help us as we gather our hearts and our thoughts together.
Father, help us tonight to do business with You. Help us to consider the call You’ve put on our lives, that wonderful privileged call of serving the Master. What a joy, what a privilege, and yet what a responsibility.
(28:21 – 28:43)
Help us come to this table of grace and mercy, but also, Lord, this table in one sense of commission as we see that life given for us that calls us to give our own lives as living sacrifices. So bless us, Lord, in this time we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The post Holy and useful – 2 Timothy 2v20–26 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, good morning everyone. Now, this might tell you something about me, but when a story starts with happiness, I’m always deeply suspicious. So just think of a film, for example, the opening scene of a film, maybe a beautiful house by the sea, a couple in love, two well-behaved children, lots of smiles and warmth and serenity.
Well, as I am watching that opening scene in the movie, I’m deeply suspicious. This will not last, I think, and I’m soon proved right. The music subtly shifts, the tone becomes a little ominous, and you know that something bad is coming.
Well, that is true of some stories, and it’s certainly true of John chapter 12. In those 19 verses that we read earlier together, on the surface, happy things are happening. There’s a woman who is showing her lavish devotion to Jesus.
There’s a crowd welcoming Jesus into a city with joy and fanfare. It looks good on the surface, and yet there is some ominous music beginning to play in the background. There is a disciple who is grumbling about being so lavish in loving Jesus.
(1:47 – 4:43)
There’s a group of plotters who are plotting the death of Jesus, and maybe even worst of all, and most ominous of all, Jesus himself is speaking of his imminent death. At this celebration dinner, at this triumphal entry, something bad is coming. The death of Jesus is coming.
John 12, you see, is the start of a new section in this gospel. It’s interesting how this gospel is put together. In the first half, in chapters 1 to 11, we cover three years of Jesus’ public ministry.
Eleven chapters for three years, but then we come to the second half of John’s gospel, which starts from chapter 12, runs to chapter 20, and this is going to cover the last week of Jesus’ life. Only seven days covered in half of the gospel. I mean, that would be an extraordinary biography, wouldn’t it? If you read any biography, imagine if it was split into the whole life, one half, and the last seven days of the person’s life in the second half.
But you see, when it comes to Jesus, his death is unusually important. Jesus’ death is the key to Jesus’ life. It’s the key to unlocking the purpose of Jesus’ life.
And indeed, as we even look at these stories this morning, though they might just seem like happy and interesting incidents, actually we’re going to see something here about the death of Jesus, about the meaning of it, and the manner of it, and about how you and I should respond to it. So, let’s return to these two incidents, which I intentionally have put together in this message, and it would be good maybe to reopen your Bible to John 12, because we’ll be following pretty closely along with what John is saying. And the way I want to come at this is that there’s really two paradoxes in these two different stories that take us really to the heart of Jesus’ death, the manner of it, and our response to it.
So, firstly, the paradox of life through death. Life through death. This is what’s illustrated in Mary’s anointing of Jesus.
(4:44 – 4:56)
Yes, it’s an act of great devotion. We’ll come to that in a few minutes. But what it more deeply tells us is that life comes through death.
(4:58 – 6:54)
Verse 1 sets the scene. Jesus is still in Bethany, a town just a few miles outside Jerusalem, and it’s a very happy scene, isn’t it, on the surface? A special dinner is being thrown in Jesus’ honour. Jesus and his disciples are there, as well as Mary and her sister Martha and their brother Lazarus.
And notice how John, the author, refers to Lazarus in verse 1. He is Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. I love this little bit. Lazarus is pigeonholed from this point forward in his life as the man whom Jesus raised from the dead.
From then on, he would always be known as the resurrection man. It must have been a really fun fact to pull out at parties. You know, we’ve been doing this in our community groups, the icebreaker.
Give us some unusual fact about yourself. Can you imagine it if it was a stranger? I was dead for four days, you know, but Jesus raised me back to life. And John mentions this at the start of chapter 12, and he keeps mentioning it throughout chapter 12.
Look down at verse 9. Verse 9, Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead. And then jump down all the way to the end of the second story, which we’ll come to in a minute. Just in case you’d forgotten about Lazarus, John mentions him again in verse 17, where mention is made of Lazarus, who Jesus called out of the grave and raised from the dead.
(6:55 – 8:21)
John clearly doesn’t want us to forget John chapter 11. John clearly wants us to remember that Jesus has the power to give life to the dead. That was the whole message of chapter 11.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Can he prove it? Yes, he can, by raising Lazarus from the dead. But the question is, how will Jesus give this life? What will be the way that Jesus secures this life? This is where chapter 12 gives us the answer.
Jesus will give life to the dead by going to death himself. Or to put it in the words that will soon come in verse 24, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it only remains a single seed. It remains alone.
But if it dies, it yields much fruit. The death of Jesus isn’t just coming, it is necessary and so the ominous music is playing. Now notice that the music is sometimes subtle notes.
(8:22 – 8:48)
Did you spot the reference to Passover in verse 1? Maybe we just kind of ran past that when we read it, but the Passover was soon to begin. A festival in which Jewish families would remember that a lamb died in their place. Their life had been preserved through death.
(8:50 – 9:17)
It’s a subtle and ominous bit of mood music. Will Jesus soon be the lamb who dies so that others might live? Well, he will be. We’ll see when we get to it.
Jesus dies on the day when Passover is celebrated. That’s a more subtle bit of ominous music. But then the music gets really loud and obvious.
(9:17 – 10:10)
It’s really obvious, isn’t it, that death is in the picture here when we get to verse 7. Jesus interprets Mary’s anointing, her anointing of his feet, as an act of preparation for his burial. Now I think it’s unlikely that Mary knew the significance of what she was doing here, unless she had some extraordinary prophetic insight. All she’s really doing is anointing Jesus out of gratitude and thankfulness.
We’ll come on to that in just a second. But Jesus sees a deeper significance. Because in those days, one of the things you used perfume for was to anoint the bodies of dead people before you put them into the tomb.
(10:11 – 17:35)
In the providence of God, Mary inadvertently prepares Jesus’ body for death. Because for life to come, for there to be many more Lazaruses, many more sinners across the globe being raised spiritually and even one day physically from death, for that to happen, Jesus needs to die on a cross. And Jesus needs to go into a tomb.
Because life comes to us through his death. And of course the appropriate response to that is devotion. Let’s not miss the appropriate act of Mary here.
Look at verse 3. She brings half a litre of pure nard. This is, I mean obviously, this is a huge amount of perfume. I don’t know if any of you have ever bought half a litre of perfume for anybody.
If you have, guys, well done. I’m really impressed. But it’s huge, isn’t it? And also it’s expensive.
Verse 5 indicates that it was worth about a year’s wages. For talking sake, let’s say this is a 20 grand bottle of perfume. Now it just so happened, I was in Boots just the other week, and they have a locked glass cabinet in Shawlands just to keep thieves like me away from the expensive stuff.
And the perfumes and aftershaves were worth somewhere between 100 pounds and maybe 200 to 300 pounds. As far as I could see, they didn’t have any perfumes worth 20,000 pounds. So I searched online out of research purposes, not for any practical reason, and I couldn’t even find a perfume to buy of that value.
I think you would, you probably would need to commission it from some company somewhere. This was most likely a family heirloom, something kept for decades to be used sparingly on special occasions for a little anointing here or there. Mary takes the entire container and she pours it all on Jesus’ feet.
And she unties her hair, and in an act that was really unusual in a very devout Jewish culture, not caring what anyone else thought, she wipes in the ointment with her hair as an act of love and very personal devotion. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think her act was excessive? Do you think her gift to Jesus was excessive? It’s often spoken of in that way, isn’t it? We speak of it, even I’ve preached on this in the past, and I’ve talked about it as an extravagant gift.
I mean, if you had a, say you had a family member, and you know, they’re the kind of person that spends a little bit too much, and say they told you that they’d given a £20,000 gift to their friend for their birthday, I think you would be concerned about their spending habits, or even their sanity. It certainly looks excessive. And this is what Judas thinks, one of the 12 disciples, made famous for his later betrayal of Jesus.
He says, what a waste. And then he piously adds, this money could have been saved and then given away to the poor. I wonder how many of us, if we had been sitting around the table that night, would have been nodding our heads in instinctive agreement.
We wouldn’t have known, verse 6, that Judas was really a thief. He was the man in charge of the money, which doesn’t in itself mean that he would be dishonest, but the truth is revealed here by John that this man was more concerned about money than he was about the poor, or concerned about Jesus. We might have nodded along with Judas.
But if we had, it would only show that we wouldn’t have seen the significance and the greatness of Jesus, or the significance of the moment we have reached in Jesus’ life. Is Jesus worth this devotion? There used to be an advert on the telly, wasn’t there? You’re worth it. You’re worth it.
Buy this because you’re worth it. Is Jesus worth it? Mary thinks he is. Remember that Jesus has just raised her brother from the dead.
That’s a very important context to chapter 12, isn’t it? I mean, if Jesus had just raised your brother from the dead, I wonder if you would think this gift was really extravagant. It’s actually a very fitting response to Jesus. She’s conscious of who Jesus is, and of what Jesus has done for her.
And in response, she lays all that she has at Jesus’ feet. And this is even before the cross, which for us has happened as well. How much more should we, even more than Mary, respond with a huge level of devotion? Not something that’s skimpy.
Now, let’s be really clear about this. This is not about buying our salvation, or earning our way to heaven. We cannot earn our salvation, or even pay Jesus back on a kind of credit card of good works.
We are saved all of grace. And you can never outgive the Lord Jesus. Mary gives her money, but Jesus will give his life for her.
And so it’s not really an extravagant response. It’s an appropriate response, although costly, to the Jesus who gives everything for us. As we sometimes sing in the old hymn, where the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small.
(17:37 – 18:50)
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all. Because life comes to us through death. And so Jesus is worthy of our lives as we trust in him and serve him.
And yet it’s a strange thing to get your head around, isn’t it? That the Jesus who is so great, who is presented in this gospel as King and as God, it’s strange, isn’t it? That he should die to give us life. And that ties in then to the second story and the second point, which helps us understand that more. So here’s the second paradox.
It really connects with the first one. Kingship through humility. Verses 12 to 19, kingship through humility.
The next day, Jesus makes a journey to Jerusalem. It’s a two-mile trek on foot. And as Jesus is on his way, word gets to Jerusalem.
(18:51 – 21:27)
Jesus is coming, the miracle worker, the man who raised Lazarus from the dead. The crowds are already gathered for Passover, and they quickly flood the entrance route into the city. As Jesus makes his way down the Mount of Olives, down that hill into the city, he sees a crowd on either side of the road, a little bit like the entrance into the Oscars, the kind of red carpet the crowds there, or even more like, in the context of those days, it looks like a military triumph, when an army general would ride back into his home city with adulation, crowds praising.
The crowd here are mimicking that sort of thing, albeit in a Jewish sort of way, with Jewish expectations. Hosanna, they cry, which means save us. And blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
And blessed is the King of Israel. Jesus isn’t just being welcomed here as a miracle worker or even just a Bible teacher, but as a messianic figure, a king who would rule and liberate Israel from their foreign oppressors. But as so often happens in John’s gospel, this crowd haven’t seen the bigger picture.
Yes, Jesus was the Messiah. Yes, he was going to bring victory, but it will be a different kind of victory, brought about in a very different manner. Jesus, it seems to me, clashes with their expectations and shows this in what he does next, rather than call for a horse to ride in on, he finds himself a young donkey, verse 14.
And he gets on the back of a little donkey, the kind of thing that a young child would ride on at the beach. And he slowly trundles in to the city of Jerusalem. Talk about dampening down expectations.
(21:29 – 21:45)
See, Jesus is the King, but he doesn’t bring his rule in the way people expect. He gives life through death. He brings kingship through humility.
(21:47 – 23:06)
And this doesn’t make him less of a king. This doesn’t rule him out of the role of being Messiah. Well, he can’t be because he’s so humble.
No, it’s the opposite. Because actually, as verse 15 makes clear, John makes the connection, Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament. He quotes from Zechariah, the prophet, chapter nine.
A prophecy about the Messiah, yes, but a Messiah who comes to Jerusalem on a donkey. And this was promised hundreds of years before Jesus fulfils it. God had always promised that this would be the way, this would be the sort of Messiah he would send, but the people hadn’t listened.
The King was always meant to come in humility and to bring peace through his humble self-giving. Now, that is not many people’s view of Jesus, is it? And it is certainly not most people’s view of God today. Often when people think of God in particular, they think of God as only a high and mighty and maybe quite aloof being.
(23:08 – 25:18)
Lots of people see God as inaccessible and unattractive, even proud. I remember years ago reading a quote from a film star in Hollywood who said, I would never follow the God of the Bible. He’s too proud.
And yet while the God of Scripture is powerful and holy and great, he is equally humble and lowly and incredibly gracious. I mean, we know that because Jesus is God, because Jesus revealed in history exactly what God is like. God in all of God’s dimensions is seen in the person of Jesus.
If you’re a bit sceptical about God and the God of the Bible, I wonder whether you’ve really seen the whole picture of God as the Bible reveals God, and not just the caricatures of God that you have in your mind or that you hear people talking about. Have you seen the whole picture of who God is? You can see that in Jesus. You can see that as you look at the Bible in passages like this.
But what a head-scratcher. John drops in this comment in verse 16, that it was only after the cross, after Jesus was glorified, that the disciples put the pieces together. And they then realised that the Old Testament had promised this humble king.
I love the realism of John’s gospel. I love that so many people in the gospel are on a journey to faith that is slow and sometimes partial and often very messy. It takes them time to put the pieces together, often just like us.
In hindsight, I suppose the signs were really obvious. They were missed by many, but it’s easy to see that when you look back now. All that was really clear at the time to everybody was that Jesus was becoming ever more popular.
(25:19 – 25:43)
He’s on this wave of popularity. He’s trending on the Twitter of the day, not only because he is this king and miracle worker, but particularly because he has recently raised Lazarus from the dead. And there are people who saw that miracle, who are going around Jerusalem evangelising, spreading the words about Jesus.
(25:45 – 26:48)
And this is not music to the ears of the Pharisees. These religious leaders, verse 19, who sadly have to conclude that it seems the whole world is now following Jesus by this point. Of course, the whole world in their view is the whole city of Jerusalem and maybe some of the Jewish people beyond.
But as we reflect on it, there’s a deep irony here because truly it would be the whole world that would soon hear about this Jesus. And so this passage ends again, I think, with the ominous music playing as not only Lazarus keeps reappearing, but also these opponents plotting, getting ever more outraged at Jesus, ever more seeing him as a problem that needs to be eliminated. But we need to leave the story there for today.
(26:50 – 27:43)
And I guess as we reflect on our response to it, because that’s what’s really important this morning, not that we simply hear the story and understand something of it, but that we respond to it. And I think it’s helpful to consider we could do worse than think through the different responses of people to Jesus in this passage. There’s the hostility of the religious leaders, there’s the cynicism of Judas, and there’s the appropriate devotion of Mary.
And I reckon that every one of us in this room is somewhere on the spectrum of those three. It might be that we are straight out opposed to the claims of Jesus. Maybe we don’t fully trust the heart of God or the fullness of who Jesus is.
(27:44 – 28:05)
Maybe like these leaders, we are less intent on examining the evidence about Jesus and we’re more intent on burying the evidence. We just don’t want to hear it. This passage is inviting us to give Jesus a fair hearing or to give him a fair hearing again.
(28:07 – 28:56)
And then there’s the response of Judas. And Judas is not outwardly and obviously hostile. Judas is inwardly cynical and increasingly lukewarm.
Of course, Judas ends up in the same place as those religious leaders, doesn’t he, in the end. But he’s already on the way to that at this point. Judas stands as a warning.
It’s possible to be near Jesus, to look religious, to even look as if we care for others, yet have a heart that is lukewarm to Christ. Lukewarm rarely stays lukewarm. Left unchecked, it becomes cold.
(28:57 – 30:55)
There’s a challenge here, isn’t there? Have we become underwhelmed about Jesus? Are there signs of us becoming stingy towards him? If we are begrudging Jesus, our time, energy, and resources, that is a huge warning light on the dashboard of our lives. Or on the other hand, can we see what Mary saw and will we respond as Mary responded with a faith and gratitude that expresses itself in a life of devotion, a heartfelt response to what Jesus has done for us? How much more should we respond gratefully and devotionally when Jesus has raised our soul from death, saved us from an eternity of death, and promised us that resurrection from death on the final day? Mary publicly and appropriately displayed her devotion to Christ. That’s a challenge, isn’t it? If people can’t see my devotion to Jesus, then how real is it? What does cracking open the jar look like for you? Saved Christian people who tangibly love Jesus should not be the weird outliers.
They should be the norm, the only kind of Christian. And when you are that, and when you become that, and when you offer that freely back to Jesus, you realise that as wonderful as it is to do that, you can’t outgive him, no matter how much you lay at his feet. Let’s pray.
(31:00 – 31:48)
Father, thank you so much today for the lavish love of Jesus. We thank you for all that he poured out for us, not only something financial and costly in that sense, but his very own life. Father, help us to examine our hearts today.
Help us to consider our belief or our unbelief, our devotion or our coldness. And by your Holy Spirit, would you work in us so that we might turn to Christ in faith, in repentance, and in a life of devotion. We ask in his name.
Amen.
The post The Anointed King – John 12v1–19 appeared first on Greenview Church.
The post The weighty words of God’s worker – 2 Tim ch2v14-19 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Expectation is a kind of strange thing, isn’t it? It’s a kind of strange mix of emotions. When we are expecting, there’s an element of adrenaline, an element of anxiety, it’s part fear, part excitement. The tension of waiting for the text to ping on exam results day.
(0:27 – 1:00)
The bated breath waiting for the webpage to reload and confirm whether or not you got those tickets. Or the agony of waiting for the phone to ring, was your offer on that house accepted? Those are times when seconds can feel like minutes, minutes can feel like hours, and hours can feel like days. And even though we’re only halfway through the book of John, the tension and expectation around Jesus is rising.
(1:01 – 1:44)
Because by chapter 12, we’re already into the last week of Jesus’ life. And the question in the air, after all that Jesus has done and taught, is, how is this going to end? For his opponents, that question meant, how do we end it? But for his followers, the question is, will Jesus meet our expectations? Have we been right to put our trust in him? And at the end of chapter 11, we start to see answers emerging to all those questions. It’s a section that starts with tension and ends with expectation.
(1:45 – 1:58)
So let’s read it together. If you’ve got your Bible, do turn to the end of John chapter 11. You’ll find that on the Church Pew Bibles on page 1078.
(2:00 – 2:16)
Let’s hear God’s word. We’re going to pick up this amazing story about Lazarus at verse 38. Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.
(2:16 – 2:32)
It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there for four days.
(2:34 – 2:52)
Then Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, Father, I thank you that you heard me. I knew that you always hear me.
(2:53 – 3:14)
But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth round his face.
(3:15 – 3:31)
Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go. Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
(3:33 – 3:43)
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. What are we accomplishing, they asked. Here is this man performing many signs.
(3:43 – 3:58)
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation. Then one of them named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, spoke up.
(3:59 – 4:18)
You know nothing at all. You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation.
(4:19 – 4:37)
And not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on, they plotted to take his life. Therefore, Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people in Judea.
(4:38 – 5:18)
Instead, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts, they asked one another, what do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all? But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.
(5:19 – 5:34)
This is the word of God. Now the background to our passage. As you’ll know if you were here last week, is of course the death of Lazarus.
(5:34 – 6:03)
Lazarus, the brother of two of Jesus’ dearest friends and followers, Mary and Martha. But Jesus, who despite knowing that Lazarus had been seriously ill, only arrived at the family home after Lazarus died. And last week, Colin took us through the first part of chapter 11 and those conversations that Jesus had with Martha and then Mary.
(6:04 – 6:29)
And we saw, didn’t we, that those conversations were both tense and tender, full of pathos. For the sister’s grief, but also the open, nagging, bewildered question, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Verse 32.
(6:31 – 6:47)
For Jesus himself, the whole episode is wrapped in sorrow. The shortest verse in the Bible, verse 35, Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, see how much he loved him.
(6:47 – 7:00)
Verse 36. Now we’re not going to go back through the details of Jesus’ conversation with Martha. You can look at that on YouTube, go back to last week’s message.
(7:01 – 7:34)
But in that conversation, Jesus is pointing Martha and Mary to a greater hope, to a hope that lies beyond the grave, beyond death itself. He’s pointing them to a life that transcends death to the hope of resurrection. And how can Martha and Mary and you and I have that hope, have that confidence this morning? By taking hold of, by trusting in, by believing in Jesus.
(7:35 – 7:48)
I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And Jesus’ words in chapter 11 are deep.
(7:49 – 8:08)
They’re profound, they’re startling, and they are utterly world-changing. They are words and truths to be meditated upon, to be prayed over, to be treasured. And in time, I’m sure that’s exactly what Mary and Martha would do.
(8:09 – 8:30)
But as anybody who’s ever preached at a funeral knows, grief is a distracting thing. And even the most profound truths aren’t necessarily absorbed at the time. And for Mary and Martha, there was really only one truth that concerned them that day.
(8:31 – 8:45)
Their brother was dead. And what was real was the pain and the sorrow and the tears of that. So nice sermon, Jesus.
(8:47 – 9:10)
And I guess we’ll just have to take your word for that. But as Colin noted last week, Jesus isn’t a remote, lofty teacher sitting in an attic somewhere, sending out books about theory. Jesus knows, because he came down and lived among us, he knows what real life is like.
(9:12 – 9:24)
He’s been down here in all the mess and the misery. He knows what it’s like to live an ordinary life in an ordinary town. To live in obscurity.
(9:26 – 9:48)
He knows what it’s like to come of age, to do a job, to put the bins out. To do a hard week’s toil and get up on Monday morning and do it all over again. He knows what it’s like to be let down, to be betrayed, to be misunderstood.
(9:50 – 10:08)
He knows what it’s like to lose a parent and to stand at the graveside of a loved one. And he’s not indifferent again, noted this last week. He’s not indifferent to the tears and the sorrows of those around him, verse 33.
(10:10 – 10:26)
And so, verse 38, he walks towards Lazarus’ tomb. I notice once more, verse 38, that he was deeply moved. It’s that same expression we highlighted last week.
(10:26 – 10:44)
That description of a deep inward groan, this anger and indignation, because this ought not to be. Jesus wasn’t sentimental about death, it was an enemy. It’s a destroyer, an imposter in God’s good creation.
(10:45 – 11:20)
It’s an outrage to Jesus that souls made in the image of God, created to be great and glorious and immortal, are violated in that way, extinguished and snuffed out. And how tragic that humanity, you and I, have brought that upon ourselves. By rejecting the life giver, refusing and failing to honour and obey and love God as we ought.
(11:20 – 11:43)
To have in our decisions chosen death a thousand times rather than God. Well, you can imagine all eyes are locked on Jesus as he walks towards that sealed tomb. And then he speaks, verse 39, take away the stone.
(11:44 – 12:04)
Can you feel the tension? Martha’s eyes widening, that sense of slow motion horror. Lord, he’s been dead for four days, do not take away that seal. It’s almost too much to bear.
(12:04 – 12:48)
The only thing you could possibly do now that would be worse than not having come in time to save him, would be to pull open his grave. Verse 40, Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God? Seeing God’s glory in John is a revelation of Jesus’ true identity. Remember back in chapter 2, the first miracle that John records, the first of the seven signs that run through this book of John.
(12:49 – 13:11)
This resurrection of Lazarus being the seventh. But that first miracle, and it says at the end of that episode when Jesus had turned the water into wine and there in Cana of Galilee, Jesus revealed his glory. That is he revealed his divine power, he revealed his God-ness.
(13:15 – 14:01)
And you see this is the question, this is the issue, this is the absolute crux of faith. Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the one described in these pages by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the one who stood in that graveyard outside Bethany 2,000 years ago, is God the Son? God manifest in flesh? Because if you do, you have nothing to fear, not even the grave. Verse 26, that was the question Jesus had put to Martha.
(14:02 – 14:31)
Do you believe this? Martha, do you believe, do I believe, do you believe this morning that Jesus has the power to reverse all our losses? He has the power to recover and restore all that sin has taken from us. That he can and will free us from everything that binds us. That one day he will rescue us from the clutches of death itself.
(14:31 – 14:59)
Do you believe this? Verse 43, Lazarus come out. This seventh sign, this great miracle, this resurrection. It’s not because Jesus has got anything to prove here.
(15:00 – 15:26)
A bit like the prayer which is recorded in verse 41 to 42, wasn’t for his benefit, it was for ours. For our sake, he raises Lazarus. It’s a little bit like in Mark chapter 2. Remember the story of the paralysed man being lowered down through the roof to Jesus, placed in front of him.
(15:27 – 15:54)
And Jesus says to him, your sins are forgiven. Which totally offends the Pharisees and the religious people. How dare this carpenter from Nazareth make such divine claims? So Jesus asks, what’s easier to say, you’re forgiven or rise up and walk? Well at one level of course it’s much easier just to say the words you’re forgiven.
(15:55 – 16:19)
Because how can we prove that or not prove it? Whereas if you say to a paralysed man, rise up and walk, we’ll know pretty quickly whether that’s true or not. And yet of course, forgiving sins is in reality much harder than physical healing. Because forgiveness is going to necessitate the cross.
(16:22 – 16:42)
But says Jesus in that occasion, just so you know that I’m not flanneling about forgiveness, this man can get up and walk. Which to everyone’s astonishment, he does. You see the dead will rise again on the last day, as Martha had noted.
(16:43 – 17:22)
And just as Jesus has said back in chapter 5, Very truly I tell you a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. But so that you and I today need not have any doubt about that, Jesus held back from going to Bethany until Lazarus had died. And for Mary and Martha, this comes at what must have been the longest week of their life.
(17:24 – 17:47)
And it might be this morning there are folks here or folks watching who feel like they’re in the longest year of their life. Or perhaps life just feels unbearably long. But a day will come when those who believe in Jesus will hear his voice and be free to flourish forever.
(17:50 – 19:03)
Will Jesus meet our expectations? Are we right to trust him? These things are written, John records, at the end of this gospel, that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Take off the grave clothes and let him go. Verse 44 Well many believe, why wouldn’t they? Verse 45, But not everyone is happy. The opponents of Jesus are becoming increasingly exasperated. Their tactics of trying to discredit Him with trick questions, trying to undermine His credentials, spreading rumours about Him, are not working. After all it’s pretty hard to argue with miracles. And so a meeting is convened, verse 47, the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish ruling council, the court at that time where all the Jewish religious leaders would gather together.
(19:06 – 19:28)
And the big issue for them is, verse 47, if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And Lazarus is just the final straw. And that’s a concern because talk of a Messiah or a king that might be a rival to Caesar is going to upset the Romans.
(19:29 – 19:59)
And if the Romans are upset, then our position is in peril. Because the religious authorities of the day had come to a settlement, an arrangement with their Roman overlords, the occupying power, that as long as they kept a lid on things, they could keep their jobs and privileges. And it’s worth reflecting on the fact that it’s not that these leaders don’t believe in a Jewish Messiah.
(20:00 – 20:13)
I mean, these were the teachers of Israel, for goodness sake. It’s just that this isn’t a very convenient time for him to appear. Not just now, thank you God.
(20:16 – 20:33)
Well, nothing changes, does it? I guess when you boil it down, that’s still the approach of many today. Jesus, God, the Bible. Not saying that it can’t be true, but I’ve got my plans.
(20:35 – 21:05)
My life is the way that I want it. I don’t need somebody rocking the boat, so maybe, maybe another time. But what about the miracles? I mean, how can they reconcile this opposition to the evidence? How can you brush those aside? Well, of course, there’s always a way to dismiss those things if you want to.
(21:08 – 21:24)
Never be fooled by the, well, I would believe if I saw a miracle, or I just had more evidence. There are people who don’t believe that men went to the moon, or that Princess Diana is still alive. That’s got nothing to do with evidence.
(21:27 – 21:48)
I was listening to podcasts over the summer. You might have come across it, the rise and fall of the new atheism. The story of how new atheism that seems so big and muscular and dominant and ready to take over the world in the noughties had kind of fizzled away by the time we get to the current time.
(21:50 – 22:14)
And in it, there’s a clip of an atheist rally from the noughties, an audio clip. And the chairman of this meeting, or the one who’s hosting this meeting, I think it was in the States, was Eddie Izzard, the British comedian. And Eddie Izzard begins by saying to the crowd, we can prove that God doesn’t exist.
(22:16 – 22:31)
And he said, God, if you exist, come down now. And there’s a little moment of silence, and then lots of laughter and cheering. Reminded me of an old Christian tract, an old Christian leaflet.
(22:32 – 23:04)
And on the front were just the words, if God exists, why doesn’t he come down and tell us? And he opened it up, and on the inside was just a picture of three crosses with the words, would it make any difference if he did? God has come down. He has revealed himself. He gave us a tonne of miracles.
(23:05 – 23:22)
And we nailed him to a cross. But for the religious leaders, this is all just pragmatic politics. For Caiaphas, the high priest, the maths is very simple.
(23:23 – 23:40)
It’s one man or the nation, verse 50. Better for one to die than risk the wrath of Rome on the rest of us. But unbeknown to Caiaphas, John records, he was unwittingly uttering a much greater truth.
(23:42 – 24:06)
Rather like the mockers later on who would stand beneath Jesus at the cross and they chanted, he saved others, but himself he cannot save. Yes, precisely. Verse 51 to 52, Jesus will die, and not just for the sake of the Jewish people, but for the whole world.
(24:10 – 24:40)
Not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. Doesn’t mean that everybody in the whole world is going to accept Jesus or find forgiveness or receive eternal life any more than they did in Jesus’ day. But the door will be opened by Jesus so that anyone from any nation who believes wherever they are scattered can become part of a new people united under Jesus.
(24:41 – 24:58)
The church of the living God. So the die is cast. Verse 53, Caiaphas and company will plot to kill Jesus and God will save his people.
(25:01 – 25:29)
But for now, verse 54, Jesus withdraws, not out of fear, but because the timing of his death will never not be his decision. As he said in John chapter 10, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. Back in Jerusalem, verse 55, it’s almost time for the Jewish Passover.
(25:30 – 25:56)
That was the feast where Israel would remember its deliverance from slavery in Egypt and their escape from God’s judgement falling on that nation. The blood of sacrificed lambs on that Passover night marking those places where God’s judgement would pass over. This was the greatest of all the Jewish festivals.
(25:57 – 26:22)
And like our Christmas, there was an expectant run up to it. People would go to Jerusalem early to prepare, to purify themselves, to do their ceremonial cleansing, verse 55. But in the markets and the inns and the food stalls and in the temple courts, there’s only one topic of conversation this year.
(26:22 – 26:52)
Verse 56, and it’s Jesus. Will he come? Will we see him? How is it all going to end? Jesus is that lamb, isn’t he? The one at the start of his ministry that John the Baptist could say, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus will be the ultimate and final Passover lamb.
(26:53 – 27:08)
The lamb whose death will open up an escape route from spiritual slavery. Whose sacrifice will be a shelter from eternal judgement. He will be at the Passover.
(27:09 – 27:24)
Because he’s always faithful, always keeps his promises, always delivers. He never lets his people down. The one who will meet and indeed surpass all expectations.
(27:26 – 27:29)
And may God bless these thoughts from his word. Amen.
The post Death to life – John 11v38-57 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Good evening, nice to see you this evening. Thanks to Alan for that very appropriate introduction. And as you probably know, Ephesians was a letter that was written by Paul.
(0:15 – 0:46)
We’re going to be looking at Timothy tonight, and Timothy served in the church at Ephesus, the very church that Paul had written to. And it was helpful to read chapter 6 in particular, where Paul is talking about the armour of God. Paul had a bit of a reputation for writing letters that involved battles and war when it came to the gospel, and there’s lots of chapters referred to that, and chapter 6 in Ephesians is one of those chapters.
(0:48 – 1:07)
But when we get into 2 Timothy, we see a very different tone. The tone has changed so much that some people even doubted whether Paul wrote 2 Timothy. That’s been completely, that thought’s been eradicated, there’s lots of proof that he did.
(1:08 – 1:22)
But the tone was so different that it did indicate that this is a very, very different letter. It’s a unique letter, and the reason it’s unique is because it’s very personal. It’s very personal to Timothy.
(1:23 – 1:44)
And it’s a bit like Paul reaching out from his cell in Rome and putting an arm around a friend, a fellow worker, and almost an adopted son. And that is the tone for 2 Timothy, but it doesn’t mean it’s a light letter. It doesn’t mean there are no commands in there.
(1:44 – 2:14)
It doesn’t mean that there are no expectations in 2 Timothy, because as we’ll read, there are. And it reminds Timothy of some very key doctrines, beliefs, and it reminds him of his faith. Let’s look at 2 Timothy, and we’re going to look at chapter 1. And this answers the question of strengthening through grace.
(2:15 – 2:36)
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Join with me in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
(2:37 – 2:58)
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.
(3:00 – 3:13)
Reflect on what I’m saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this. Remember, Jesus Christ raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.
(3:13 – 3:30)
For which I’m suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
(3:33 – 3:49)
This is God’s word. Back in the 1960s, if you can remember that far back, Vince Lombardi joined the Green Bay Packers. And you can’t say that too quickly, too often.
(3:49 – 4:03)
He joined them as a football coach. A top tier team with highly paid players, but the results were not coming in. They were missing all their main achievements.
(4:04 – 4:27)
Coaches had come and gone. However, what Lombardi did next as their new coach, not only brought them great success, but it actually also revolutionised coaching in sport and business. With great skill and insight, Lombardi held a football up in front of them.
(4:28 – 4:42)
And he spoke these infamous words. Gentlemen, this is a football. He then proceeded to take them back to page one of their playbook.
(4:43 – 4:59)
For every position on the field, he made them read the sports dictionary, learn it off by heart and put it into practise. They went on to win five out of seven leagues after that. Lombardi never lost a season.
(5:02 – 5:26)
What did he do differently? Well, in the heat of the battle, what he did was he took them right back to the very basics. He got rid of all the stuff and he took them back to the very foundation of what they did. Timothy in chapter two is right in the heat of the battle.
(5:26 – 5:44)
He’s under attack from outside of the church because of the gospel. Ephesus was not friendly to the gospel. And from inside the church for standing firm and rejecting false teachers and false teaching, that was bringing disruption to the church.
(5:45 – 6:01)
Things for Timothy were getting complicated and pretty hot. And it’s clear as a result of this battle that he was going through that Timothy was at the end of his tether. He was at rock bottom.
(6:02 – 6:25)
And Paul talks of his tears in chapter one. Timothy is about to give up. Paul encourages Timothy not by a discourse as he might have done in some of his other letters, not by a discourse in doctrine or advice on how to deal with problems or difficult people
(6:26 – 6:41)
he’s facing, but he takes him back to the fundamentals of his faith. He says in verse one, you then my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Now we know the old rule.
(6:42 – 7:01)
‘You then’ is actually translated as ‘therefore’. What’s ‘therefore’ there for? What’s it pointing to? Many would say, if you go back to chapter one, it talks about Onesiphorus who goes to visit Paul. He is loyal to Paul.
(7:01 – 7:14)
He’s not ashamed of the gospel. He’s not ashamed of the chains that Paul is in because of the gospel either. He points to Onesiohorous as somebody that is loyal to him.
(7:15 – 7:31)
But that is not the answer, I think. I think the answer points to something much more fundamental. I think Paul takes Timothy back to verses eight and nine of chapter one.
(7:33 – 7:59)
These verses say this. He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it’s now been revealed through the appearing of our saviour Christ Jesus who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel.
(8:01 – 8:19)
Paul gets straight to the point, albeit it’s said in great love and affection. Timothy, the priority for you and for the church in Ephesus is the gospel. Verses eight and nine.
(8:21 – 8:41)
Sorry, verses nine and 10. He’s pointing to those verses and the truth that lies within them. The difficulties you face, Timothy, can only be overcome if you rely on the strength that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
(8:42 – 8:51)
That is the grace that has called us. It has destroyed your death. Immortality has come through the work of
(8:51 – 9:03)
Christ on the cross. Timothy, you’re saved. If God’s grace can do all that, then you must rely on him.
(9:04 – 9:21)
The strength that is yours through the grace of Christ Jesus will take you through any difficulties that you have. If you rely on your own strength, then you’re likely to be discouraged or even worse. He’d be in the position that he’s in now.
(9:21 – 9:31)
Timothy, of course, knows this. We’re told that at the beginning of the chapter. He’s heard Paul preach many times and his mother and grandmother have taught it to him.
(9:34 – 10:00)
However, in the difficulties he’s facing, Timothy has gone back to his own way. He’s become distracted by the issue of the day, albeit legitimate, it’s a distraction. Do you identify with that? It is so easy, isn’t it? We sing this, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
(10:01 – 10:08)
I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind. But now I see”. Verses nine and 10. But it goes on.
(10:09 – 10:23)
John Newton didn’t just see grace in salvation. John Newton saw grace in his life. John Newton could talk about the difficulties.
(10:24 – 10:44)
“Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come, tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home”. He experienced the saving grace, but the keeping grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what Timothy had to point to.
(10:45 – 11:04)
That’s where Timothy had to go. Last week in our community groups, we were considering the shepherd’s voice from John chapter 10. And what happens when we no longer listen or get distracted? Timothy has drifted away and has listened to the voices around him.
(11:07 – 11:21)
You know, some sheep may drift towards the wall of the pen. The stone is solid and they think they’re safe. But the fox or the wolf only has to just climb over.
(11:23 – 11:54)
The wise sheep, if there’s such a thing, are the sheep that stick close to the shepherd. That’s what John 10 taught us last week, isn’t it? We hear the shepherd’s voice and we obey. I think Timothy has drifted towards the wall Paul’s tone is one of encouragement.
(11:56 – 12:19)
But for Timothy to realise the strength, he has to come back to the shepherd. We all need a Paul in our lives, don’t we? We all need encouragement. We all need a friend, a fellow worker to say, come on, lift your head, look to heaven.
(12:20 – 12:43)
In amongst the battle, in amongst the heat, just like Paul does with Timothy, he reminds us of the promises that we have in Christ. They are yes and amen. No matter how many promises are made, they are yes and amen in Christ.
(12:43 – 13:10)
That is where we find our refuge and that is where we must go. So much of that happens in our church, here in Greenview, which is great. It’s why we spend so much time in the community groups, putting them together, supporting each other, helping us to realise God’s grace in our life and where we will find our strength.
(13:13 – 13:37)
Of course, it doesn’t mean that we can’t be a Paul. It doesn’t mean that we can’t reach out and support someone else. A lot of it goes on, but what if we were all supporting each other the way Paul is supporting Timothy? Now, Paul also knows that he won’t be leaving prison.
(13:39 – 13:48)
Paul is about to die. We read this later on as we’ll come to the verses later on in the chapter. He’s going to die at the hands of the Romans.
(13:49 – 14:24)
And therefore, Timothy is asked to pass on God’s word to reliable people in the church. If the people, the reliable people in the church are not taught, then the sheep are open to attack and false doctrine. Maybe that’s the reference in Revelation 2 when the accusation against this church after Timothy has left is that they had left their first love.
(14:24 – 14:39)
Yes, they’d got rid of false doctrine, but they had left their first love. They had left verses 9 and 10. So there is a clear principle of discipleship from Paul from generation to generation.
(14:40 – 15:13)
And within generations, there’s a responsibility for faithful and reliable people to continue teaching God’s word and pass it on to more, reliable people in the church and outside of the church. For those reliable people need to stand firm on the gospel and the apostles’ teaching. Not only that, but Paul in his wisdom knows that by doing this, not only will there be growth and love for Christ in the church and for his work, but it brings unity.
(15:15 – 15:45)
It brings grace to serve. The unity around the gospel, and we’re thankful for the unity that we have in our church, but it’s not something that we should ever take for granted. The area I was brought up in when I was young had lots of active churches, lots of youth groups, lots of outreach to the gospel.
(15:45 – 16:00)
I go back there now, there’s empty churches. There’s a lack of gospel. Now, none of that has come from an attack from outside.
(16:02 – 16:17)
We need to be careful that we stand firm. We stand firm in the gospel and we all stand firm in the gospel. There’s Timothy.
(16:19 – 16:29)
He’s sitting at his desk. He’s just taken out the church phone book. Now he’s on to the community group list.
(16:32 – 17:20)
He’s got his highlighter. Where does a highlighter land? He thinks, who will stand for the gospel when the heat comes? Who will be a reliable and faithful teacher for the word in Greenview? As Timothy himself has been taught by his mother and grandmother, there are many reliable witnesses in our church. And I know that as Paul writes this letter and in this chapter, he’s talking principally about elders, I think, in the church, possibly in Ephesus because of the issues not the women so much.
(17:21 – 17:38)
He writes about that for that church. But when Timothy will think back of how he was taught, it was by his mother and grandmother. And there are many people within the church who are reliable and stand firm in the gospel.
(17:42 – 18:00)
It is our duty through our one-to-one groups, our community groups. And as we preach to support each other in the truth of that gospel. That isn’t about creating a separate reliable people’s ministry.
(18:02 – 18:20)
That’s not a separate group. This is Timothy looking through the whole of the role. A church like ours, every ministry relies and stands on the gospel.
(18:23 – 18:46)
Two weeks ago, we had an evening when we considered our plans for the various ministries in Greenview. And how encouraging it was to be in that prayer time to hear people reach out in prayer and think about and name people that they wanted to reach out to with the gospel. However, as we go forward in our ministries, we find that we are short of support.
(18:47 – 18:54)
Some people just aren’t available anymore. We’re struggling to get numbers. There’s a bit of tension in the team.
(18:55 – 19:08)
This is when we must make sure that we are strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. How do we do that? By praying, by coming together, by sharing God’s word. On a Thursday evening, by coming together as a community group to talk through
(19:08 – 19:27)
what we want in the ministries, how we can get support for each other. We look diligently to Christ to strengthen us in our direction. So Paul has asked Timothy to lift his eyes to heaven and to see the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
(19:28 – 19:48)
To rely on that strength through the grace. But now he’s gonna ask him, and we will go through these points quicker now, don’t worry. He will ask him to suffer in Christ, as a soldier in Christ.
(19:49 – 20:08)
In the next few verses, Paul is encouraging Timothy to think of the service for Christ. He understands that he’s now feeling maybe it’s not unusual to suffer if you serve Christ. Suffering is part of the role of the servant.
(20:11 – 20:21)
And by the way, he says, Timothy, if you serve, you will suffer. It’s inevitable. By the very nature of the gospel, you will suffer.
(20:22 – 20:32)
The gospel in itself is offensive, or at least it should be. It disturbs. It asks people to make a change in their life.
(20:33 – 20:45)
It’s what has put Paul in chains. John 15 says, the world hates you, it hated me first. If they persecute me, then they will persecute you.
(20:45 – 21:06)
Suffering is almost inevitable. Paul helps us to understand what living as a servant of the gospel looks like, and what we should expect if we live under the invitation of suffering, like a good soldier of Christ. He does this by using three occupations as a metaphor.
(21:07 – 21:21)
Each of the occupations has their own identities and characteristics common maybe to some of our jobs. The soldier is highly disciplined. He doesn’t get distracted by issues that have no purpose in his mission.
(21:23 – 21:36)
He endures hardship and discomfort. His aim is to actively obey his commander’s orders, even to the point of injury and even death. That’s sometimes his reward for what he does.
(21:38 – 21:51)
Notably, the soldier seldom operates alone. He or she is part of an army. For a lone soldier becomes vulnerable and easily demoralised.
(21:53 – 22:23)
And that is why we spend so much time as God’s people together in our community groups on a Thursday night in prayer, because maybe it doesn’t mean death for us. Maybe it’s not such a violent attack, but people do suffer. People suffer within our church family because they’re Christians, broken relationships, because they can’t work anymore.
(22:25 – 22:43)
They’re not right for us. And during the pain of families which don’t accept us anymore, fractured marriages come as a result of faith. These are all real and part of the role of the soldier who does it for the joy of serving Christ.
(22:44 – 23:15)
The athlete, highly disciplined, passionate, goes by the rules so they’re not disqualified. How often do we hear of athletes disqualified for using drugs and cheating? That is not the role of the Christian. One thing that does come to mind for me as I was reading this, and I think back, when I was at work, Sir Chris Hoy came in and talked about his athleticism, his awards.
(23:16 – 23:28)
And what was clear from that were two things that stuck out. Diet and endurance, completely connected. We endure because of what we eat.
(23:30 – 23:41)
That was his message. He was very strong on what he allowed his body to take in. We are asked as Christians to do exactly the same thing.
(23:41 – 24:03)
We must be careful what we watch, what we read, what we get involved in, because if not, the soldier, the athlete, begins to lose their place. The farmer, too. Proverbs 10 says the farmer who’s a slugard allows thorns and weeds to come in, they destroy the crop.
(24:03 – 24:17)
They have to be out on time for the harvest to seed. I often take the dog up round about, Hazel Dean at the back of Newton Mearns, and even in the winter when it’s pitch black, you see the headlights of the tractor. Away out in the fields, sowing the seed.
(24:18 – 24:36)
So is the one who suffers for the gospel. But to do that, we need to be strengthened through the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Paul now talks about the reality of the grace that is in Christ Jesus in his own life.
(24:38 – 24:46)
He’s facing death. He’s in the cell. The reflection is very different from what we would expect a prisoner in Barlinie to be doing.
(24:46 – 24:53)
Calling for an appeal, saying it’s not right. It’s no fair. Well, Paul doesn’t say that.
(24:57 – 25:09)
There’s no signs of crying for an appeal. In verse eight, Paul again says straight to the point, the foundation on which he stands and why he’s in chains. In fact, it’s the gospel that he’s enduring the chains for.
(25:11 – 25:25)
And the reason he’s doing that is that many more may come to Christ. He says, remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead. Paul points to the divinity of Christ.
(25:26 – 25:32)
Resurrection being evidence of that. Death had no claim on him. He destroyed death.
(25:34 – 25:47)
John 10 says, the reason my father loves me is that I laid down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.
(25:47 – 26:14)
This command I received from my father. Descended from David, the promise of God from 2 Samuel 7, that Jesus will descend from the throne of David. His genealogy is evidenced in Matthew 1. Now if Christ destroyed death, was raised from the dead and will never see death again, who is there like him? Surely he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
(26:15 – 26:26)
Will chains ever bind this message? Can it be defeated? Never. God’s word is not chained, nor will it be. Paul is in chains.
(26:27 – 26:42)
The gospel is still active. Remember, he recalls Philippians 1. Well, it’s exactly the same here in 2 Timothy. Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.
(26:42 – 27:04)
This is him in chains. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare move to proclaim the gospel without fear, the power of grace.
(27:06 – 27:19)
This is the reality of the servant living his life in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Paul sees beyond death to life. And every minute on the earth, it’s about those who are and will be saved.
(27:19 – 27:48)
He is looking forward to glory, that crown of righteousness that he mentions in chapter four. Finally, in verses 11 to 13, finally, Paul recites an ancient hymn to encourage Timothy to keep going for that crown of righteousness. “If we disown him”, the word is actually ‘deny’.
(27:48 – 28:02)
The NIV is a bit of a weird translation. It’s actually, “If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are faithless, he will remain faithful for he cannot deny himself”.
(28:04 – 28:28)
Now, what I’ll say is there are different views and interpretations of this ancient hymn. Some view it as a warning. And there is no doubt that if we are outside of Christ, and if you’re outside of Christ tonight, then that first line, well, maybe it doesn’t come into being because that’s a reference to Romans chapter six.
(28:29 – 28:43)
If we have died to sin, then we have been raised to life in Christ. If we’re not in Christ, if we haven’t died to sin, then that can’t be true. Then God will deny us.
(28:45 – 29:07)
But I don’t think this is the case for Timothy. The literal and scriptural sense for me leads to an interpretation of strong encouragement for Timothy and for us. To serve the Lord faithfully, the strength to do that through the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
(29:10 – 29:28)
This could be written of us. Paul’s theme through 2 Timothy is one of reward for the athlete, the farmer, and even for the suffering soldier who will give his life. Paul reminds us in chapter four that he does await this crown.
(29:33 – 29:50)
However, we are reminded in 1 Corinthians three that not all the reward is equal. And that is the encouragement I think for Timothy. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is in Jesus Christ.
(29:51 – 30:12)
If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.
(30:13 – 30:28)
If it is burnt up, the builder will suffer loss, yet will be saved. Even though one as escaping through the flames. Our service for the Lord will be judged.
(30:29 – 30:51)
We will stand before him and take account for our service. Something not often talked about, something we often avoid. This is a reminder to all of us to run the race, to complete the race, to serve the Lord, even to the point of suffering, death, injury.
(30:54 – 31:16)
We can only do that through the strength we find in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Then we will hear these words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. That is the encouragement to Timothy.
(31:17 – 31:50)
It’s the encouragement to us, keep going, run the race, but you can only do it in the strength that we find in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. We sang this hymn this morning, I just want to read two verses. “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain, I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride”.
(31:52 – 32:10)
And I think this is about running the race. “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all”. Amen.
The post Strengthened through grace – 2 Timothy 2v1–13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, the question that we’re asking this morning is up on the screen behind me. The question we’re gonna ponder today is does Jesus really care? And if I could extend that just a little bit, when life is tough, when life is hard, when life is dark, does Jesus really care? Because it’s in those moments of life, isn’t it, when we ask that question on the sunny days of life, maybe like this morning, when health is good, when relationships are harmonious, when your dog is wagging its tail, when, you know, just living for Jesus seems easy. On those days, we wouldn’t really think to ask the question, does Jesus care? But it’s on those other days, when the storm clouds gather, when perhaps bereavement intrudes in our life, when life overwhelms us, when God doesn’t seem to be answering the big prayer that I have just now, it’s in those crisis moments that the question creeps in, does Jesus really care? Jesus, I thought you cared.
(1:27 – 1:50)
I often sing of your love, but it just doesn’t feel that way or seem that way in my experience. It’s a common question that Christians even ask. And it’s a question of great importance, even for people who aren’t Christians, but who might be considering the claims of Christ.
(1:51 – 2:18)
Because why would you trust in someone whose care you doubt? Why would you put your whole life into the hands of someone when you’re not sure they’ve got your best interests at heart? For all of us, this question matters. And the first half of John 11 helps us to answer it. Now, just a major spoiler alert as we begin.
(2:19 – 2:49)
As we look at this passage, we’re going to see that Jesus does care, and you’d expect someone to say that from a pulpit. But we’re also gonna see that while Jesus does care, and he always cares, and he even cares when your world’s falling apart, we are also going to see that often the way Jesus cares is different from our expectations. He cares, but his care often looks different from what we expect.
(2:51 – 3:10)
Jesus has my long-term care in view, not just my short-term comfort. Let’s unpack that some more in three parts this morning. So first, and we’re gonna be going quite quickly through the story in verses 1 to 16.
(3:10 – 3:38)
When he delays, does Jesus care? Verses 1 to 16, when he delays, does Jesus care? Now, we’re entering a new section of John’s gospel. John’s gospel chapters 1 to 10 basically covers the life and ministry of Jesus. But now from chapter 11 onwards, we’re entering the end game of the gospel.
(3:39 – 4:16)
Jesus, in this very passage, is about to make his final journey to Judea, to where suffering, betrayal, and even death shortly awaits him. Bethany, where Jesus travels to in this passage, is just two miles outside of Jerusalem, where Jesus will die. And you’ll see in verse eight that Jesus’ disciples are wary of Jesus making this journey south, because at the end of chapter 10, the Jews in this very region had wanted to kill him.
(4:16 – 4:35)
So Jesus is walking into danger. Jesus is choosing the road to suffering. But what is unusual, well, that is unusual, but what is also unusual, not only is he going towards suffering, but it’s how he gets there.
(4:36 – 4:50)
And it’s how long it takes him to go there. While Jesus bravely travels to Judea, he delays before going. And this is odd, given the circumstances.
(4:51 – 5:29)
We see in verses one to three that Jesus’ friend Lazarus, who lived in this town of Bethany, was critically ill. The fact that Jesus says in verse four, this illness will not end in death, suggests that Jesus knows this is a life-threatening illness. And yet despite knowing that this is a health emergency, despite being close friends with Lazarus and his two sisters, Jesus, verse six, stayed where he was for two more days.
(5:31 – 6:55)
Why did Jesus do that? If you had a best friend who lived on the other side of the country, and you received a text today which said that they were basically dying, and if you had the opportunity and the capacity and the wherewithal to go, would you not rush to them as soon as possible? You would, if you were really close. So if you would do that, and if I would do that, why doesn’t the compassionate Jesus, who we would assume has a deeper and greater level of love for people than we do, why doesn’t he go immediately? What does this communicate? When he delays, does Jesus care? Of course, we are in different situations in our life. But when Jesus delays in our situations in life, when the answer to our biggest prayer isn’t forthcoming, when a situation that’s hurting me, frankly, keeps getting worse, not better, does he really care? Some of my family and Christian friends come and support me.
(6:56 – 7:08)
But where is Jesus? Jesus seems distant. Jesus seems far off. It’s in those moments that we need to be reminded from the Bible that Jesus does care.
(7:10 – 7:32)
It came to mind, and I’m sure it was written in a different context, the little kids’ chorus, you know, Jesus loves me, this I know. What’s the second line? For the Bible tells me so. Now, on the good days of life, you don’t, and I mean this respectfully, you don’t need the Bible to tell you so, that Jesus loves you, because you just know it.
(7:32 – 7:49)
Your experience doesn’t contradict it. But there are moments in life where our experience doesn’t seem to tell us so. And in those moments, we need the reassurance of the Bible of this absolute and unchanging truth.
(7:50 – 7:59)
It’s there in verse three. The Lazarus who is ill is the one whom Jesus loves. It’s there in verse five.
(8:00 – 8:17)
Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Here is the statement of scriptural truth. It’s why we need the Bible in our hands when we’re going through the dark valleys of life.
(8:17 – 8:27)
Don’t drop your Bible. Don’t close your Bible. Don’t put it on the shelf, because the Bible declares to you what your experience denies.
(8:30 – 8:42)
Jesus’ delay did not mean that he didn’t love this little family. In fact, here’s the amazing bit. His delay actually meant the opposite.
(8:45 – 9:06)
That’s what verse six says. After saying how much Jesus loved them, the text says, so. It was because Jesus loved them so much that when he heard Lazarus was critically ill, he stayed where he was two more days.
(9:07 – 9:42)
He delayed because he loved them. But how does that make sense? How was that the loving thing to do when it meant that Lazarus was going to die? Well, the clue is in verse four, because we learn from verse four that while Jesus cares for us, he also cares about something else, and that is the glory of God. Look at that verse.
(9:42 – 10:03)
It is for God’s glory that all this is happening. And then he says, so that God’s Son, that’s Jesus himself, may be glorified through it. The glory of God in John is the radiant display of God’s godness.
(10:03 – 10:35)
God’s glory is God pulling back the curtain and revealing to the world the wonder of his deity in all of its presence and power and mercy. It’s a revealing of God to people. And Jesus says that these events that are about to unfold in chapter 11 are for the revelation of God’s glory, the Father, and the display of His glory.
(10:36 – 11:19)
If Jesus had gone to Lazarus immediately and healed him immediately, then Lazarus, Mary, and Martha would not have seen God’s glory in such an epic way, because all they would have seen was a healing, not a resurrection. Jesus’ delay was not a sign of indifference, but of love. By allowing the hardship and pain to unfold, Jesus would reveal to them the greatness of who he was, which in the longer run would lead to a deeper faith, which in the bigger picture is the loving thing to do.
(11:21 – 11:49)
It’s a little bit like what good parenting does. As I observe people who I would say are good parents, they are always concerned with the long-term outcome, as opposed to probably me, bad dad, where you just give the child everything immediately, to placate them. If they want sweets first thing in the morning, if they want chocolate, fine, as long as it keeps them quiet.
(11:50 – 12:05)
But the good parent is not concerned just with the immediate comfort, but with the child’s good in the long run. And so sometimes they delay. Sometimes they hold back.
(12:07 – 12:35)
Friends, when Jesus delays in your life, when God is slow in giving you what you think you need, he always has the longer term in view. And the bigger picture always is that he’s wanting to reveal his glory and the glory of his son to you and in you. It is in our weakness that God loves to show his strength.
(12:37 – 13:01)
So Jesus does delay, but there is this hint that he’s going to do something in the longer run. Because you’ll notice the language that he uses in verse 11, language that later becomes familiar in the writings of the apostle Paul, where Jesus refers to Lazarus as being asleep. Paul will talk about the same thing.
(13:01 – 13:13)
When believers die, they sleep. And Jesus says, I’m going down to Bethany to wake Lazarus up. It’s a hint of what’s about to come.
(13:14 – 13:36)
And so that brings us to the second part of the account, verses 17 to 24. And here we see a second thing. When hope seems gone, does Jesus really care? When hope seems gone, does Jesus really care? They make the journey down to Bethany.
(13:37 – 14:01)
There’s just a little reminder in verse 16 that this is really dangerous, because Thomas, who makes his first appearance in this gospel, courageously suggests that if Jesus is going to die in Judea, then he’s going to die as well. Now, he’s a little naive. He’s not as courageous when it comes to it, but it’s a good sense of intention from Thomas.
(14:01 – 14:20)
So we’re getting this strong sense that Jesus is walking into danger. And so finally, they get to Bethany, and Lazarus has already died. And more than that, he has been in the tomb for four days.
(14:21 – 14:41)
Now, this is significant. There was a Jewish tradition and belief that after a person died, their spirit would hover over their corpse for three days. And at the end of the third day, the tradition was their spirit would depart from the body.
(14:42 – 15:06)
The point being that by the fourth day, all hope was lost. Lazarus was definitely dead, and there is no possibility of resuscitation. There is also no hope of resurrection, because even in the Old Testament, there were never resurrections after three or four days.
(15:07 – 15:27)
I think this explains why Mary and Martha, while showing faith in this passage, do not contemplate for a second. That Lazarus could be brought back from the dead. The long delay has put Lazarus’ comeback into the impossible column.
(15:28 – 15:44)
That’s certainly what Martha thinks. Martha is the first of two sisters of Lazarus. And when Martha hears that Jesus has arrived in town, she leaves the house of mourning and comes to the outskirts of the town.
(15:44 – 16:07)
And she says to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now, this is not, I don’t think, a statement of rebuke, but a statement of limited faith. She believed that Jesus could heal the dying.
(16:08 – 16:23)
If Jesus had been there before Lazarus had died, he would have been able to do something as long as he had a pulse. So it is a statement of faith. She is affirming in a limited way her faith in Jesus.
(16:24 – 16:44)
And in verse 22, she also affirms his ongoing power. Verse 22, I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask. And yet it’s clear from the chat that follows that whatever you ask doesn’t include in her mind asking for a resurrection.
(16:46 – 17:09)
She knows Jesus is powerful, but she doesn’t know how much his power extends to. And this is why Jesus changes the subject from healing, because that’s what she’s thinking about, to resurrection, which she’s not thinking about. Jesus makes two statements.
(17:10 – 17:29)
First about her brother, verse 23, your brother will rise again. And then he makes a statement about himself in verse 25, I am the resurrection and the life. Your brother’s gonna rise, and I am the resurrection and the life.
(17:30 – 17:52)
And in between those two statements in verse 24, Martha also says something. She makes a statement that shows her limited faith. I know he will rise again, that’s faith, in the resurrection at the last day.
(17:53 – 18:08)
That’s limited faith. Yes, she was right theologically. It was mainstream Jewish belief that there would be a final resurrection of the dead on the last day of history for all believers.
(18:09 – 18:22)
She believes that her brother Lazarus will be raised and caught up in that resurrection. But that’s as far as her faith can stretch. Something might be possible at the end of history.
(18:23 – 18:53)
It might be possible in another context. I don’t mean to be unnecessarily controversial, but I think sometimes we do limit God, do we not, in that we define what we think he can do and what we think he can’t do. We think he can do something, but maybe not all that much.
(18:55 – 19:04)
Maybe not in this country. Maybe in other countries he can do it, but I’m not sure he can do it in the UK. Or he can’t do it in my context.
(19:07 – 19:31)
And we don’t expect, and I mean this in the broadest sense, we don’t expect miracles in life. We don’t expect them, and so they certainly don’t happen. Now, I realise that there are caveats to make to that, but I think too often my own faith is limited by how far my own belief can stretch, not by the greatness of God.
(19:34 – 20:15)
Jesus wants to show Martha that he can do something, not only in the future, but even here and even now. He comes back to her limited statement in verses 25 and six with words that you ordinarily hear at a funeral. But I want you to hear these, not in that context, but in this context, as Martha is believing just to a point, as she’s got this faith in maybe a future resurrection one day, in the same way that a lot of people today believe in some sort of heaven, maybe something’s there when you die.
(20:15 – 20:32)
They’ve got this kind of vague belief in an afterlife, but it’s all a bit vague. It’s all a bit far off, but Jesus brings clarity where there’s vagueness. And he brings immediacy where there’s only a vague hope for something maybe in the future.
(20:33 – 21:00)
And he says, I am the resurrection and the life. It’s not only I give resurrection in life, which he does, but I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus is the raiser of the dead, whether in the future or in the present.
(21:01 – 21:20)
He is at all times the resurrection. He’s the resurrector of bodies on the last day, and he’s the resurrector of souls even now. Jesus says here that you do not need to wait till the final day.
(21:21 – 22:19)
You do not need to wait till a moment after you die to experience resurrection power, to experience the life that Jesus is talking about here, because what he makes clear is that people can receive his life even now if they will believe in him. As we put our personal trust in Jesus as our sin-forgiving saviour through his work on the cross, as we believe in him for salvation, not ourselves for salvation, Jesus says we enter a space and we receive a life that means we can never finally die. Now, Lazarus had physically died, but Jesus says he wasn’t really dead because his spirit was alive with Christ, and his body could be raised by Jesus with just a word.
(22:20 – 22:45)
In an ultimate sense, you cannot kill a Christian believer. You can take their physical life one time, but you cannot kill their soul, nor stop Jesus from raising them in resurrection. That’s why a Christian funeral feels so markedly different to a funeral of someone without faith.
(22:47 – 23:19)
It’s why non-Christians notice when they come to Christian funerals. They say it’s so wonderfully weird, the atmosphere at a Christian funeral where the sorrow seems to be mingled with hope, and where the person isn’t just spoken of in the past tense, but in the present tense. Billy Graham, the famous evangelist, once said, he said that a time is coming when you will hear that Billy Graham is dead.
(23:20 – 23:46)
Do not believe it. When hope seems gone, does Jesus really care? When we are going through bereavement, or facing death, or facing seemingly impossible situations, does Jesus really care? Yes, He does. And He has the life-giving power to transform those situations.
(23:48 – 24:09)
Yes, at the last day. Maybe in some cases, it will only be at the last day. But I do think we limit this passage if we just limit it to then, because Jesus often does the impossible in the present, doesn’t He? I mean, that’s what conversion is, isn’t it? It’s a miracle in the present that we experience.
(24:11 – 24:32)
But Martha remains limited at this point in her faith. Jesus questioned, verse 27, do you believe this? It’s met with a good answer, but I think not a complete answer, because she doesn’t answer by saying, yes, you’re the resurrection and the life. She says, yes, you’re the Messiah, you’re the Son of God, and you’ve been sent from the Father.
(24:32 – 24:50)
Yes, those are all true things. But she doesn’t affirm the fullness of His power as the resurrected Messiah, as the life-giving Messiah. She’s gonna have to see a miracle for that to change.
(24:50 – 25:13)
Jesus is gonna have to reveal His glory to her. But in all this, and this is really important to finish with this, Jesus is not indifferent to the pain of this whole situation. Jesus isn’t just playing some game here, some game where He’s trying to win the outcome of a greater faith.
(25:15 – 25:37)
Jesus grieves over what is going on. And that brings us to our final section this morning, verses 28 to 37. When grief overwhelms us, does Jesus care? When grief overwhelms us, does Jesus really care? There’s a switching of the sisters.
(25:37 – 25:51)
Martha leaves the scene, goes back to the house. She tells Mary, Jesus is asking for you. And Mary now goes to Jesus only at His invitation.
(25:51 – 26:15)
It feels as if she’s a slightly different personality to Martha. At His invitation, she goes, and a crowd of people follow her to support her, fellow mourners, soon to become fellow witnesses of a miracle. They think that Mary is going to her brother’s tomb to grieve there, but she’s actually going to meet Jesus at the same place that Martha met Him.
(26:17 – 26:24)
And some of the same thing now happens. Mary falls at Jesus’ feet. She says exactly the same thing that her sister said.
(26:25 – 26:38)
Lord, if you’d been here, my brother would not have died. It’s the same partial faith in Jesus, the miracle worker. But notice a difference here.
(26:39 – 26:52)
It says in verse 33 that Mary is weeping. And the Jews who came along with her were also weeping. Mary has the same words, but Mary’s words come with emotion.
(26:55 – 27:10)
It isn’t recorded that Martha cried, but Mary brings her tears to Jesus’ feet. I don’t know if someone has ever set you off, you know, when they cry. Like, you weren’t ready to cry, but when they cry, you cry.
(27:10 – 27:23)
Maybe you’re that kind of reactive crier. I’m like that. Well, Jesus, on seeing their tears, was deeply moved and troubled in spirit.
(27:24 – 27:39)
He asked to see the tomb of Lazarus. And so they take Jesus and Mary to the grave. And it seems that when he sees the grave, he sees the tomb of Lazarus, his friend, that this sets him off as well.
(27:40 – 28:06)
And in one of the shortest sentences recorded in all the Bible, we’re told Jesus wept. Isn’t it profound to think of a Jesus who weeps? For some of us, that’s maybe a surprising thing or a liberating thing. Maybe even for some of us, it’s a challenging thing.
(28:07 – 28:30)
Of course, we all feel emotions differently and we all express emotions somewhat differently. But often in church circles, and certainly, and I say this as someone who comes from the West of Scotland, myself. In the West of Scotland, it’s often seen as a bad thing to express your emotions too much.
(28:32 – 28:47)
Well, Jesus dignifies our weeping. He shows that it’s normal, right, and human to not always be stoic. Stoicism is a different religion to Christianity.
(28:48 – 29:07)
Jesus in his full humanity displayed a full range of emotion. Not only sorrow, but also, shockingly, anger. The words in verse 33, deeply troubled, it’s translated in English.
(29:07 – 29:23)
It has the meaning of indignation, outrage, or anger. This word was used at this time of the angry snorting of a horse. You know when a horse snorts in anger.
(29:24 – 29:43)
So Jesus is not just sad here. He is sad, but he is also mad here at something. Most likely, he is angry at the horrible reality of death and all that death tears apart and destroys.
(29:44 – 29:50)
This is not how life should be. Death is tragic. It is brutal.
(29:50 – 29:58)
It creates separation, loneliness, and pain. Jesus isn’t stoic about it. He’s sad about it.
(29:58 – 30:20)
He’s even angry about it. Did you know that anger is an appropriate emotion to feel at a Christian funeral? It isn’t the only thing we feel. It may coexist with a sense of peace in another way, even in joy and comfort.
(30:23 – 30:43)
Church, let’s never crush legitimate emotions when even Jesus experienced them himself. But the even bigger point is that Jesus is not indifferent. He’s not just coolly declaring in this passage that he’s the resurrection and the life.
(30:44 – 31:01)
He’s standing with us at the graveside, sharing in our pain, our anger, and our loss. Jesus does care. Even though he’s gonna make everything right for every believer, he still cares.
(31:03 – 31:19)
Some of the Jews said, see how he loved them, verse 36. But some of them said, could he, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? That’s just showing us that the crowd also had a very limited faith. He could heal.
(31:19 – 31:31)
He could have healed if he was here in time, but he wasn’t here, so he didn’t. And so the crowd’s faith is simply in Jesus the healer, not the resurrection. Boy, are they gonna be in for a surprise.
(31:32 – 31:42)
A few moments from now. But we leave the story on a cliffhanger. Too long a chapter to do today, especially on this day.
(31:43 – 32:08)
But I think it’s given us a compelling answer as we come to the table shortly to this question, does Jesus really care? Does he care, especially when life gets hard? Jesus does care. The Bible tells us so. His delays are always part of a greater good that he is working.
(32:09 – 32:36)
Jesus does care, but he also cares about other things. He cares about his glory being seen, and he cares about your faith going deeper, and he loves you so much that he’ll put you through stuff in order that that will happen. He wants you to trust him for the bigger things and for the biggest things, like salvation from sin and rescue from death.
(32:37 – 33:07)
And Jesus cares enough to not be stoic about our sorrows, but to share in them. He gives dignity to our emotions. And Jesus not only weeps with us, but he then goes to a cross and bears our sin and rises from the dead himself so that he can conquer the things that we weep about, so that he can overcome the stuff that we are angry about because we know this isn’t the way the world should be.
(33:09 – 33:25)
Does Jesus care? He couldn’t care any more. Let’s pray. Living Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the resurrection and the life.
(33:27 – 33:47)
You are our hope in the face of hopelessness. You are not only the one who gives life, but you are the one who gave up his life and then took it back again when you rose from the dead. We praise you that those who believe in you can never ultimately die.
(33:48 – 33:57)
We are indestructible in your grace and in your hand. Help us to believe this today. Amen.
The post Does Jesus really care? – John 11v1–37 appeared first on Greenview Church.
The Lord Jesus and the Apostle John refer to, as well, this idea of being ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Mark 8 verse 38, Jesus says, if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels. So what that means is if we persistently buckle under the pressure, and not just in an occasional way like Peter denying that we know Christ, indeed that will come up later in the letter, if we deny him he will deny us, so this theme goes on in 2 Timothy.
(0:46 – 4:22)
The really sober message here is if we claim to know Christ but never confess him, particularly before non-Christians, if we distance ourselves from him no matter what, we might come to church on Sunday and be one kind of person on a Sunday, but through the week one of the guys, one of the girls, just going with the flow, never speaking about our faith, never confessing Christ, indeed perhaps actively distancing ourselves not only from the Lord Jesus himself but his words, because if anyone’s ashamed of me and my words, the things that Jesus has to say about a whole range of matters, if we distance ourselves then come the day of judgement, no matter what we’ve professed by faith, and Jesus says he has the perfect knowledge of what our lives have truly been like, and says well you were ashamed of me all the time, you didn’t want to identify with me, you didn’t want to have anything to do with me, you denied me by your actions, by your whole life, even though you professed to know me, even though you had plenty of Christian friends at church, and what this verse is saying is Jesus will say, well you weren’t willing to identify with me, therefore I’m not willing to identify with you, depart from me, I never knew you. Very, very sobering this verse, and then I mentioned there about the Apostle John, he builds on this as well in his first letter, chapter 2 verse 28, where he again, he’s writing in all likelihood to the church in Ephesus, which is where he was based in his latter years, and he says, and now dear children continue in him so that when he, that’s Jesus, appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. So this whole idea of not being ashamed of Christ, not being ashamed of the gospel, being prepared to stand up and be counted for our faith is a hugely, hugely important issue, and in a real sense, what we see from these verses is it’s the acid test of whether we really believe, whether we really believe in Christ, whether we are prepared to stand up and be counted and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord.
That’s really what Romans 10, 9 is about, it’s not just a one off, oh yes, I’m a Christian, and confess me at your baptism or when you join a church, but the actual tenor of your life is hiding what you believe and never putting your head above the parapet. This is what Jesus is addressing and indeed the Apostle John is addressing here as well. So Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel and Timothy shouldn’t be either, and of course by extension neither should we.
But as well as not being ashamed of the gospel, Paul urged Timothy not to be ashamed of him as the prisoner of the Lord. Now isn’t it fascinating that Paul doesn’t say a prisoner of Nero, which of course he was, and I think this is because he knows that ultimately he is the slave of Christ. Many of the letters often translated servant of Christ, but actually doulos means slave, so Paul very much saw himself as a willing slave of the Lord Jesus Christ and that his every experience is therefore governed by Christ’s providence.
(4:23 – 8:41)
He wasn’t pushing back against God because he was in prison and in horrific conditions, but he acknowledged that that was part of God’s good and wise providence in his life, and therefore he saw himself first and foremost as a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ under his care, even though he was probably being anything but cared for by the jailer in that grim dungeon. The Lord meant for him to be in prison at that time in his life, and so Paul acknowledged Christ’s sovereignty in that matter. So before we come back, and come to look at Paul’s challenge to Timothy to join him in suffering for the gospel, we need to ask ourselves, well we’ve looked at shame, what about suffering? What does suffering for the gospel actually mean? What does it look like? Well the first thing is to realise is that Paul isn’t speaking here about general trials or suffering that we all experience.
Now the New Testament does address this, Paul addresses this himself in Romans chapter 5, and James addresses this in the first chapter of his letter, all kinds of trials. So this would include things like illness, things like bereavement, things like losing your job, things like family or marriage difficulties, things that are not exclusive to Christians but are part and parcel of the challenges of living in a fallen world. And God certainly is well able to mature us and refine us through these kinds of trials and suffering, but that’s not what Paul is speaking about here.
No, he’s speaking about suffering for the gospel, suffering that is a direct consequence of his preaching and his standing up and being identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, as Colin was sharing with us last week, Timothy co-authored a number of Paul’s letters, in particular 2 Corinthians. Paul had had many, many years of ministry up to this point, and it might be helpful for us because no doubt Timothy would have had these verses in his mind as he reads here Paul’s letter, exhorting him to share in joining with Paul in the suffering for the gospel.
So we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
So then death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. And then from chapter 11, in the same letter, Paul says, I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely. I’ve been exposed to death again and again.
Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones.
Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move.
I’ve been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false believers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food.
I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak? And I do not feel weak.
Who is led into sin? And I do not inwardly burn. Well, this was the kind of suffering that Paul was now exhorting Timothy to share in. What an enormous challenge.
(8:42 – 10:17)
Timothy had known firsthand the kind of life that Paul had lived. And now, as Paul’s life’s coming to an end, he’s saying to Timothy, if you’re going to be faithful to the gospel, there’s going to be an inevitable suffering that could be as bad as mine. You need to be ready for it.
And you need to be not ashamed of the gospel because the temptation now is going to be far greater than it’s ever been with me being out the picture. And no doubt Timothy would feel overwhelmed with the burden of what that would be like, what that would mean. And in his own strength, it would be utterly impossible for him to suffer in that way, which is why Paul makes sure that Timothy knows this key truth, which is endurance is only possible by the power of God.
And that’s why he says that the spirit God has given us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. Join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Nothing else will enable us to endure, but Paul was living testimony here that he was able to endure it.
He wasn’t some kind of superhuman Christian. He was weak in many ways as he expresses that in his letters to the church at Corinth. But he said that his weakness was there, that he was able to display the spirit’s power, helping him through all the various trials that he had to go through.
(10:18 – 11:59)
And it’s true for us as well, endurance is only possible by the power of God. Timothy had to embrace that now as well, and so do we if we are serious about guarding the gospel for our own generation. If we are Christians, we have all received the spirit of power and love and self-discipline.
So let’s look now at the great incentive that Paul gives us to respond to that call to courage, and it is the gospel itself. We read there, he has saved us and called us to a holy life. Notice that there’s both negative and positive aspects to this.
It’s God’s gospel. It’s not primarily Paul’s gospel, although he does refer to it on one occasion as that, but it is the gospel of God as we read in Romans chapter one. And we could say the negative side of it is salvation itself.
We all need to be rescued, to be saved from the wrath to come. We are all sinners before a holy God. We have broken his laws.
We have spurned his goodness, rebelling against his perfect will by putting our own selfish desires first. All of this incurring his righteous eternal judgement. All of us need to be saved from that, but praise God that as we’ll be remembering shortly as we celebrate communion together, Christ has died for our sins that we might be saved from that eternal judgement.
(12:00 – 12:27)
I think one of the reasons why we are exhorted, and it is our practise to do this weekly, we must never lose the wonder of that or take it for granted. And that’s why gathering together to break bread is so important that we remind ourselves each week of how great our saviour is and how great salvation is. Jesus’ blood has purchased forgiveness for us for all of our sins.
(12:28 – 13:34)
But notice that there’s also a positive aspect to the gospel here as well that’s inseparable from salvation, and that is the call to holiness, the call to a holy life. And this rarely gets referred to in most evangelism these days, but it’s all over the New Testament. And what we find again and again is that every Christian is called to lead a holy life.
It’s not some second experience for those that are specially committed. Every single Christian is called to lead a holy life. It’s never an optional extra.
It’s an essential part of our response to the gospel. So let’s ask ourselves, are we committed to that call to holiness in every area of our lives? Living as God would have us live, walking just as Jesus did, loving, forgiving others, putting to death our sinful actions and desires. In short, no longer living for self, but for Christ.
(13:36 – 14:07)
That in case we should be overwhelmed by that responsibility, Paul goes on to speak of the gospel being all of God’s eternal purpose and grace. He says, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. That’s remarkable.
The gospel doesn’t begin with us and it doesn’t end with us. It begins and ends with God. It’s not about our performance, but about his wonderful saving grace.
(14:08 – 14:26)
In fact, Paul says that God’s grace was given to us before time began, before the universe was created. We were in the heart of God before he created anything. Just let that sink in.
(14:28 – 17:29)
I was so excited this morning because I did write most of this yesterday, but as we were singing this morning, we have been loved with everlasting love and led by grace, that love to know. Maybe that really is a word for us today. How do we experience that grace? Well our salvation is rooted in eternity, but it’s revealed in history, in Christ Jesus, through his coming to this earth, as we see in verse 10.
It has now been revealed through the appearing of our saviour, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. As Paul is facing his own death, when he summarises the gospel elsewhere or indeed unpacks it very fully in letters like his letter to the church at Rome. It’s fascinating here that perhaps here more than any other part of his writings, he’s focussing on Christ being triumphant over death as he looks to his own death and sees that because Jesus has destroyed death and brought life and immortality, life beyond the grave to light, Paul need not fear, and we need not fear.
Christ has conquered death through his own death and resurrection. One of the Puritans wrote, I think it was John Owen wrote a book, did he? The death of death in the death of Christ, and it’s so true. Now, let’s remember that death is still our enemy, and that is one of the greatest tragedies about the push for assisted suicide, both in Hollywood and Westminster, that death is seen not as an enemy, but actually as a friend, to be welcomed early, but an absolute tragedy for those who are not ready to die.
Death is still our enemy. It is the last enemy, as Paul says, but for the believer, it has lost its sting. Jesus has turned the grave into a doorway to eternal bliss with Christ forever.
So Paul says to Timothy, don’t be ashamed, don’t be afraid, take courage, stand firm in the gospel. So let’s ask ourselves, are we ashamed of the gospel? Are we more concerned about being accepted by the culture, by our circle of friends, than being faithful to Christ? The call of the gospel is not to comfort, but to courage, and the God who calls us will equip us. Well, secondly, let’s move on to our second point, verses 11 to 14, a confession of confidence.
(17:30 – 22:06)
That’s what we were singing together earlier, where Paul says that he was, that this is no cause for shame. He wasn’t ashamed, because I know whom I have believed. But let’s, before we come to that, let’s look at verse 11, where Paul testifies of his own experience.
He says, exhorting Timothy to share his own testimony, he says that he was appointed as a herald and an apostle and a teacher. Now, if you just want to turn back in your Bibles just briefly to Acts 26, we do have a tremendous little kind of insight into what it was that Jesus commissioned Paul to do, Saul of Tarsus, as he was better known then, on that Damascus road. Let’s look at Acts 26, verse 15, where Saul says to Jesus, who are you, Lord? And he says, Jesus says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
The Lord replied, now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you, same word, as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles.
I am sending you to them. Now, listen to this verse, amazing verse, verse 18, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. I think that verse should be as well known as John 3, 16.
You’re not going to find a better verse anywhere in the New Testament that sums up what true biblical conversion means than that one. And that drove Paul for the rest of his life and ministry. It was that message that he was a herald to proclaim, probably proclaiming the good news of the gospel to one and all.
He was an apostle with a divine commission and authority from heaven, from heaven itself, to formulate the gospel and to lay down the doctrinal foundation for the church along with the other apostles for all time. That’s what Paul says in Ephesians 2, 20, that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. So there is an authority to Paul’s words and message that we’ll see shortly.
And then thirdly, he is a teacher giving clear instruction to Christians. And we have the benefit of that, so much of that, in the 13 letters from Paul in the New Testament. Now, Timothy wasn’t an apostle, and there are none today in the same strict sense as the New Testament apostles, all of whom had to be witnesses to Christ’s resurrection.
That was why the risen Christ had to appear to Paul or Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road so that he could say, along with the other apostles, yes, I have witnessed with my own eyes the risen Christ. But it is the same message and it’s the same commission that the church has throughout the rest of the gospel age. This should permeate every area of church life.
We shouldn’t limit sharing the gospel and teaching to Sunday services. We need as much as we can get. Every aspect of church life should have a teaching element within it.
It should be gospel-centred and Christ-focused, with a view to discipling everyone within the Greenview community there. And as George Fermor used to say, we should never take off our spiritual L plates. And notice that Paul here is suffering as a direct consequence of his faithful preaching, because he says there, that is why I am suffering as I am.
He’s in chains not because he’s broken any law or behaved inappropriately or as a threat to societal order, but simply because he has faithfully preached the gospel. That was unacceptable to Nero and his tyrannical regime. And yet in verse 12, he says, this is no cause for shame because I know whom I have believed.
(22:07 – 24:41)
Notice that it’s not what I have believed, even though Paul understood the gospel better than anyone alive at that time, but whom I have believed. His confidence is not in a creed, although of course the creed matters. His confidence is in Christ.
Christianity is not merely a set of theological propositions. It is all about a person. In Philippians 3, Paul said that he wanted to know Christ.
And now as he nears the end of his life, he says, I know him. The verb is in the perfect tense, which really is giving the sense of I have known him and I’m continuing to know him right to the end of my life. Paul knows Jesus and because he knows him, he trusts him.
And because he trusts him, he’s not afraid. So let me ask you, do you know Jesus in this way? Few of us are likely to have any kind of suffering like the apostle Paul had, but surely with the very mild suffering that we have to face in our lives, is it really beyond us to have the same love and the same knowledge of Christ, the same trust in him for whatever trials we have to go through? Or do we simply just know about Jesus without any real personal experiential knowledge? And Paul goes on, I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. You may have a translation that flips that and says what he has entrusted to me.
So in case you have such a translation, I’m going to deal with that as a little interpretive challenge just now, just briefly. Now the word here entrusted is the same word used again in verse 14, where he says to Timothy, guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. And commentators are kind of split roughly 50-50, whether it’s simply repeating what was said earlier, that it’s a case of the gospel having been entrusted to Paul, and now it’s going to be entrusted to Timothy.
Or does it mean, as the hymn says, that Paul has entrusted something to God? The Greek could be translated either way. And I think it does work. Both interpretations, both renditions would work.
(24:43 – 27:13)
Something has been entrusted to Paul and Timothy by God, the gospel, the good deposit, but also Paul has entrusted something to God, undoubtedly. God entrusted the gospel to Paul, but Paul has entrusted his soul, his preaching, his understanding of the gospel, and his concern for all the churches to God, all of that he’s committed to God for safekeeping. And God is able to keep all of it until the day of Christ.
So Paul says, I know Christ, I trust him, he will guard what I have given him and what he has given me, and you, Timothy, must do the same. So as we go to look now at verse 13, what you heard from me keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Let’s be clear what Paul is saying here.
The gospel is not ours to guess what it might mean, as Colin was saying this morning. Christianity is true, because I sense it just seems right to me, governed by our feelings or perhaps our experience. There are many, sadly, within the evangelical church that are allowing their experience to dictate their theology, and that’s disastrous.
No, what Paul is saying here is that his teaching to Timothy needs to be preserved because it is inspired by none other than the Holy Spirit himself. The gospel is not ours to guess, it is ours to guard, to protect, to proclaim without delusion. We are not permitted to tamper with it.
We’re not called to tailor it to cultural tastes. We’re called to treasure it and pass it on faithfully. So how do we do that? Well, in three different ways.
First, with our mind, we should follow Paul’s teaching. This is hugely important for our current generation because it’s Paul’s teaching, rather than Jesus for the most part, on a range of issues that is especially under attack in our culture today and also within the church. Paul is called a misogynist, a dinosaur.
(27:13 – 28:09)
Well, Paul may say that, but Jesus doesn’t mention that, so we’ll go with Jesus’ silence on the issue rather than Paul’s clear teaching on the issue. Unbelievably, there are evangelicals that are actually coming out with this just now, and the reason is because many branches within the evangelical church are seeking to address the massive cultural changes that we’re experiencing, allegedly to try and make the church more culturally relevant and attractive to young people. So issues like leadership in the church, biblical morality, the nature of marriage, human identity and ethics, as well as deeper issues such as the exclusive claims of Christ and the real possibility of transformation in Christians’ lives.
(28:11 – 28:59)
We need to keep Paul’s sound teaching on all these matters. The Greek literally means life-giving words, pure and unadulterated, as the pattern, a model, a framework, a biblical theology, if you will, maybe even a systematic one, because the Bible’s teaching works together as a coherent whole, and Paul is several pieces of the jigsaw, we could say, in terms of that pattern, in terms of that form. Paul describes it in Romans 6, verse 17, when he said that the believers at Rome, although they had been slaves to sin, had now wholeheartedly obeyed that form, that pattern, that mould of teaching to which they had been committed.
(29:00 – 31:08)
You might think Paul would have said, you know, which has been committed to you, which is the sense here, but no, here is this mould that all of us have to fit in a theological pattern. Now, it’s not a straitjacket, don’t think of it that way, but it’s something that is life-giving and healthy, that will protect us, that will bring us life and spiritual nourishment as we carry on in our pilgrimage. We all need to fit into that mould of the Bible’s teaching.
Colin has kindly agreed to have a podcast to look into a bit more detail about these issues that are in the letter, in particular in this first chapter, remember the view, so do watch out for that in the next couple of weeks, where we’ll have a discussion on these matters in a bit more detail. So first of all with our mind, but next with our heart, Paul says that the good deposit is, or the pattern of sound teaching has to be kept with faith and love in Christ Jesus, because the way in which we hold to Paul’s pattern of sound teaching is as important as our belief in it. The late Francis Schaeffer, possibly commentating on this verse, once wisely said, there is nothing more ugly than an orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.
We need to see Paul’s teaching through the filter of the gospel, that’s what with faith in Christ Jesus means, and with a deep love for people, that’s what with love in Christ Jesus means, speaking the truth in love. And then thirdly, we hold fast to and keep Paul’s pattern of sound teaching with the Spirit who indwells us. Once again the Holy Spirit is mentioned here, the secret of everything in the Christian life, not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.
(31:09 – 31:37)
God help us if we neglect the essential work of the Holy Spirit in all that we seek to do for Christ. We perhaps think of the good deposit of the gospel as like a family heirloom, a priceless painting for example. You don’t repaint that painting to match your living room, you keep it intact, you protect it, you pass it on to the next generation.
(31:38 – 32:35)
So how can we apply this verse to ourselves? Well, it is a pastoral epistles, so I’m taking my courage in both hands, a word for the elders here, because of course in every church it’s the elders that have the primary responsibility for leading each church in preaching and teaching, and the elders here are doing a great job, and I think that we need to acknowledge that. We really are blessed to have such fine Bible teaching in this church, and I certainly find it particularly encouraging in the last couple of years for these occasional series that we’ve had going a bit deeper. For example, the one on the doctrine of scripture, on the attributes of God, and on assurance.
These are all hugely important matters for every Christian. So can I say to the elders, first of all, thank you, but also don’t sit back on your laurels. Remember that Timothy here is called to sort out huge problems in the church at Ephesus.
(32:36 – 35:45)
No other church in the New Testament had more investment in it from the Apostle Paul. There were his three years of teaching there in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. There was his majestic letter to the church, and his farewell teaching on that retreat that he had with the elders that we read of in Acts 20.
There’s also First and Second Timothy, which are addressing problems in Ephesus. First John that I mentioned earlier, because it’s widely believed that’s where he ministered in his later years, and let’s never forget the personal letter from the Lord Jesus himself in Revelation chapter two. No one can say that the church at Ephesus didn’t know what God required of them, that somehow hadn’t been adequately taught.
No church had been better taught than the church at Ephesus, yet they were still plagued with serious false teaching that had to be addressed time and time again. But what does this tell us? Surely no church is exempt from this danger, and in my work at the Institute and with my knowledge of Scottish churches, I have seen formerly solid evangelical churches cave in to liberalism in one form or another and abandon biblical truth. It’s an absolute tragedy, so let’s pray that it doesn’t happen here.
So for the rest of us, do we ever pray about this? Do we pray that every ministry at Greenview would be guarding the deposit faithfully and not compromising or neglecting it? Our culture, and indeed Christians, don’t need a diluted gospel. We all desperately need a clear gospel, one that will address the whole of life and give soul-satisfying answers to all the confusion and mess in our culture. God’s word has the answers, so we need to be crystal clear on what they are.
Tune in to the podcast to hear more. Well, finally, let’s look thirdly at a contrast in character, verses 15 to 18. And we see here that Paul gives us two examples, one negative and one positive.
So first of all, in verse 15, you are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. These two names, we know nothing else about them, but they’re forever etched in scripture as examples of cowardice and compromise. As I said, we don’t know much about them, but we know this, when the pressure came, they bailed.
They couldn’t handle the shame that was associated with Paul’s imprisonment or the cost of loyalty to the gospel. Paul was possibly relying on a number of character witnesses from the province of Asia, which is modern day Turkey, including Ephesus, to come and help him at his trial, but none did. The message is, perhaps, I really needed them to be here for me in Rome, but they’ve just stayed put in the province of Asia.
(35:46 – 36:25)
How incredibly hurtful to Paul, who had spent and been spent on their behalf so sacrificially. We need to grasp how devastating this was to Paul in that gloomy dungeon, in horrific living conditions, desperately needing Christian fellowship, desperately needing encouragement. Well, his prayers were answered.
What a contrast with, in verses 16 and 17, where we read about Onesiphorus. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. There’s that reference again.
(36:26 – 36:44)
On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. What a beautiful picture. Onesiphorus wasn’t ashamed.
He left his family in Ephesus. He left the church that he faithfully served, and he pursued Paul. It was dangerous.
(36:45 – 39:00)
Paul was shunned. Plenty of Christians would have been ashamed of him, but Onesiphorus went, no doubt, door to door, prison to prison, because there were many prisons in the huge city of Rome, until finally he found Paul. What an incredible joy that must have brought to the Apostle Paul.
Onesiphorus, no doubt, brought much needed supplies for him, because prisoners were not given food and water. They had to rely on friends and family bringing them. Onesiphorus refreshed Paul, but more than that, and this does come through in the word that Paul uses, he refreshed his soul.
He brought spiritual refreshment, fellowship, encouragement. His name means bringer of benefit, and that’s exactly what he did. He took risks to stand with Paul and be a blessing to him.
As we close, Paul prays that just as Onesiphorus found him, on that day, on the day of Christ’s return, Paul prays that Onesiphorus would find mercy. Now, does that mean that he and his household weren’t Christians? I don’t think so, but like the Apostle Peter, who in his first letter urged his readers to set their hope on the grace to be brought to them when Christ is revealed, future grace at his coming, Paul also knew there is a future aspect to God’s mercy. Paul knew that he and Onesiphorus, indeed all of us, need to pursue Christ in every area of our lives, just like Onesiphorus had sought hard to find Paul, searching hard after Christ, seeking after him until we find him, especially during trials and suffering.
As God said to Jeremiah, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Now, this isn’t just a verse for non-Christians. It should be our aim every day of our lives, seeking Christ in every area.
(39:02 – 40:10)
So as we close, which are you? Are you like Phygellus and Hermogenes, or are you like Onesiphorus? Are you disappearing into the shadows when things get hard? Are you drawing near to strengthen the saints and stand in particular with those who are faithful to the gospel, in particular in times of discouragement? We need Onesiphoruses in our day, men and women who will refresh weary saints, who will seek out those who are suffering, who will not be ashamed of the chains that come with faithfulness. Paul’s words to Timothy are the Spirit’s words to us today. Don’t be ashamed of the gospel.
Don’t be afraid to suffer. Guard the good deposit. Encourage like-minded Christians.
And you say, well, that’s a pretty tough call. Well, yes, it is. But it’s ultimately not up to us.
By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us in verse 14. So we look to Christ. We trust him.
We proclaim him. We guard the gospel. We encourage the saints.
(40:10 – 40:34)
And as we do, we’ll know the mercy of God now and on that day. So I couldn’t finish without just seeing the thread through this chapter of eternity. Verse one, the promise of life.
Immortality, verse 10. Until that day, verse 12. On that day, verse 18.
(40:36 – 41:00)
Although it was Jonathan Edwards who first said it, perhaps Paul had a similar motto for himself to, Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs. Martin Luther put it perfectly when he said, there are two days in my calendar, this day and that day. Well, may we too have that motto.
(41:00 – 41:06)
And may all of us so live this day that we are ready for that day.
The post Guarding the Deposit–2 Timothy 1v8–18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Earlier this week, I was chatting with a fellow church member who asked me why I was a Christian. Why, they said, do you believe that the gospel is true? They said, if you were speaking to someone who doesn’t have a faith, what reasons would you give for your faith? It was a hard question. It was a really deep question, but a really good question.
And it occurred to me, as I have been thinking about it all week, that there’s different ways you could answer that question. So let me give you three possible ways you could answer the question, why are you a Christian? Number one, you could give a feelings-based answer. A feelings-based answer would sound something like this.
I’m not sure why I believe. But the Christian faith just seems right to me. That’s a feelings-based answer.
Now, it’s probably not going to convince many non-Christians, but it is an answer nonetheless. So we might then move on to a second type of answer. The second type of answer would be an experience-based answer.
An experience-based answer would sound something like this. The reason I believe that Jesus is the Son of God is that He’s been at work in my life. Jesus has changed my life.
He’s moved into my life. And that’s how I know that the gospel is true. It’s a better answer than the first one.
It’s an answer that appeals particularly to a younger generation who wants to see the real-life cash-out value of faith. But I guess the limitation of it is, how do we decide between experiences? So I might say that I’ve had an experience of Jesus that’s been life-changing. And you might say you’ve had an experience of Krishna that’s been life-changing.
How can we decide which experience bears some connection to the truth? And so we need, therefore, a third possible response, which is the evidence-based answer. The evidence-based answer sounds something like this. I am a Christian because I believe in the claims of Jesus.
(2:44 – 4:55)
Jesus’ words and works, His life and death, and especially His resurrection have convinced me that the gospel is true. That’s an evidence-based answer. And it’s the kind of answer that John is giving us in his gospel.
Now, John certainly isn’t anti-feelings, and he absolutely isn’t anti-experience. This is a gospel full of people encountering Jesus personally, and we see that when they do, they are filled with wonder and joy. So there’s experience and there is feelings.
But John wants us to base our feelings and experiences on something that is solid, and that is the evidence about Jesus. One of the ways that I like to think of John that kind of helps me just frame it is to think of John, the author, as kind of like a courtroom lawyer. He’s a courtroom lawyer who chapter by chapter, miracle by miracle, witness by witness, is building a case.
And what’s John’s case? His case is that Jesus is the Son of God, and that by believing in Him, you can receive life in His name. That’s the case that John is making. And so, just to locate where we are, as we come to the middle of chapter 10, it’s worth bearing in mind that John is now deep into making his case.
By this point, there’s kind of like a pile of evidence that John has been building up. It’s almost like a mountain by this point of evidence. And we’re getting to that bit in the gospel where the people of Jesus’ day, and us as we read it, now need to start making our verdict.
(4:56 – 6:42)
If you like, the jury now needs to decide, do we think these claims are credible or not? So, as we come to this kind of climactic decision point, I want to gather our thoughts under two headings this morning. First of all, what Jesus discloses, and then secondly, what people decide. So, we’re going to see Jesus, if you like, sort of take the stand for a final time and say some things about Himself.
And then secondly, we’re going to see the people then deciding on Him. So, number one, what Jesus discloses. Now, I’m sure all of us have spoken to people who are a closed book, people who don’t give too much away.
You know the kind of people, the people who stick to one-word answers, people whose favourite word is fine? Getting information out of such people is like drawing blood out of a stone. On the other hand, there are other people who are very forthcoming with information. They’re an open book.
If you simply ask them, what’s your name? They give you their life story. Two types, cagey and open, undersharing and oversharing. Now, Jesus in this passage, as He encounters certain Jews, is more cagey than some of them want and more open than some of them expect.
(6:42 – 8:24)
Let me explain. He’s both of these things. When it came to the question, are you the Messiah? Jesus was more cagey than they wanted.
So, they asked this question, you’ll see it in verse 24, are you the Messiah? Which they demand to be answered really bluntly. Don’t mess around with us, Jesus. Just give us the plain answer, are you the Messiah or not? This is responded to by Jesus with a careful answer.
Jesus doesn’t say, yes, you’ve got me, I’m the Messiah. He more cautiously answers, I did tell you, but you did not believe me. Now, the question that you need to be asking at this point is, why is Jesus being so reserved about this? Why doesn’t He just say He’s the Messiah? To understand that, we need to understand something about the concept of Messiah in Jesus’ day.
The Messiah in Jesus’ time was seen as a revolutionary leader, as a liberating warrior, a kind of Jewish version of William Wallace, if that doesn’t discombobulate your mind. A kind of Jewish figure who’s all about overthrowing the foreign power. If the Messiah arose, it would be to overthrow the Roman occupiers at this time.
(8:26 – 10:03)
And so, this is a highly loaded question. Even more so, because Jesus is in Jerusalem at this time, and there is a huge Roman presence in Jerusalem. And John notes, it is the time of a festival, which he calls the Festival of Dedication.
Now, you probably just skip past that and think that’s not very relevant, but this festival celebrated Jewish revolution. The Festival of Dedication was the yearly festival that recalled Jewish liberation from foreign powers under the Maccabeans a few hundred years earlier. So, at this time, and in this place, if Jesus had given them the soundbite, I’m the Messiah, it would probably have gotten them arrested.
It would have probably taken them into trouble with the Romans. And so, he wisely replies, I told you, but you did not believe. I’ve done works in my father’s name that show my identity, but you will not accept it.
So, on the one hand, more cagey than they wanted. But on the other hand, as Jesus continued, he’s more open than they expected. So, notice the other side here that Jesus discloses himself to be the Son of God.
(10:04 – 10:32)
And he’s not in any way shy about this claim. It’s not that Jesus isn’t the Messiah, but he’s a different kind of Messiah. He’s the divine Messiah.
He’s the Son of God. Notice a little bit of the detail. In verse 25, Jesus refers to almighty God as my father.
(10:35 – 10:59)
Three further times before the end of this chapter, he calls God my father. Jesus is claiming not just a personal relationship with God, but a family relationship with God. He’s putting himself in the position of son to almighty God.
(11:01 – 11:15)
Now, as Christians, I think we are more familiar with the language of God as our father. Jesus taught us to pray our father. So, we just think this is pretty normal, mundane stuff.
(11:16 – 12:26)
But your average Jew would not dare to call God my father. They may have stretched to have spoken of God as the father of Israel or the father of the nation, but they would not speak in such a way that would suggest that God was their personal father. Jesus seems to be overstepping the bounds here.
He’s claiming personal family intimacy and the closest possible partnership in the family with God. Look at verse 25. He says that he does the works in his father’s name.
And later down in verse 32, he says that he shows the good works from the father. Jesus is saying he’s an earthly son who carries out his heavenly father’s work. The nearest analogy I could think of would be to have an owner of a global company.
(12:27 – 13:08)
An owner so wealthy, so important that he’s rarely ever seen. He doesn’t just show up at the local branches of his massive company. But imagine that one day, the owner’s son turns up at your Glasgow office.
The boss’s son, he walks through the front door. I imagine people are running for the red carpet, throwing it out in front of him. Everyone jumps to attention because the son comes with his father’s authority and he puts into operation whatever his father wants to happen.
(13:10 – 13:55)
That’s what Jesus is claiming here, to be executing his father’s will on earth. God’s grand business of giving eternal life is being executed on the ground by his beloved son. That’s a pretty staggering statement, isn’t it? And yet it’s not even the most radical thing that Jesus says.
The most radical thing that Jesus says is there in verse 30, where he says, I and the father are one. They’re not just close. They’re not just family.
(13:56 – 15:27)
They’re not just partners in mission. They are one. There is some kind of profound unity between them that Jesus doesn’t further explain here.
Later on, Jesus says something similar. It’s slightly different, but quite similar. Skip down to verse 38 near the end.
It’s almost the same idea. The father is in me and I am in the father. Again, he just states that.
He doesn’t really explain exactly what that means, but in some way he says, I the son indwell the father God and the father God indwells me. What a radical statement. It’s so radical that these Jews wanted to kill Jesus for saying it.
In fact, there’s an interesting structure to this whole passage, which I’m not really following in the way I’m delivering the message, but here’s the structure. Basically, if you look at this whole section, what you have is two speeches, two big speeches from Jesus. Speech one is verses 25 to 30.
Speech two is verses 32 to 38. Both of these speeches end with a radical statement from Jesus. End of first speech, he says, I and the father are one.
(15:28 – 15:41)
End of the second speech, he says, I’m in the father and the father’s in me. As a result, on both occasions, they want to kill Jesus. That’s the structure of the passage.
(15:43 – 16:12)
Jesus’ greater openness to being the son of God does not land well, at least not with some people. So that begins to bring us to what is really crucial this morning as we think of what this means for us. We now move to the response, because I think that’s what this section of John is meant to do, is to challenge us to think about what is our response to all of this.
(16:14 – 16:29)
So from what Jesus discloses to what people decide. Much of this passage is revealing who Jesus is. It’s adding a few more bits of evidence onto the already big pile.
(16:30 – 18:15)
But as much in this passage is about how the people respond to this evidence. And as we’ve seen throughout John, there are two main responses. There really are only two responses to Jesus.
On the one side, persistent unbelief. Persistent unbelief. Now, unbelief is the basic response.
It’s there in verse 25 and 26. And again in verse 38, Jesus says the response is unbelief. But it’s also persistent unbelief.
I mean, we see that in the fact that there’s two speeches, right? That Jesus gives them some evidence they don’t believe. He gives them some more evidence they still don’t believe. And there’s a really interesting little detail that I missed the first time I read this, but it’s quite important.
In verse 31, it says that again, his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him. I just double checked to make sure the word again is in the original language. It is there.
It’s odd, isn’t it? Because you say, well, when did they try and stone him before this in chapter 10? They didn’t. And then you realise that this is referring all the way back two or three chapters to chapter 8. Back at the end of chapter 8, after Jesus had said something of his relationship with the Father, the Jews had picked up stones to stone him. That was at the previous festival three months earlier.
(18:17 – 18:45)
The point John’s making here is that this unbelief was repeated, continual, and persistent. This is a very important point when we consider who is responsible for this unbelief. You may have noticed in this passage that in the background, there’s the theme of God’s sovereignty.
(18:46 – 20:05)
Did you pick that up as we’ve been going through these last weeks in John? It’s not the forefront theme. I think the forefront theme is our response to the shepherd. But always in the background, we get these little glimpses into the inner workings of God, a God who is sovereign and in complete control.
For instance, just look at verse 29 as one example. A little glimpse. We’re told that the Father gives the sheep to the Son.
That’s the church. That’s the saved people. The Father gives people to the Son, and in turn, the Son gives them life and security.
For the believer, this is a really reassuring thing to know that from start to finish, the Father has planned my salvation, and He’s made it happen in my life, and He’s going to keep me to the end. That should be really reassuring if you’re a believer. But if you’re not a believer, then it’s possible you might take this all in the wrong way.
(20:07 – 22:26)
You might read a verse like verse 26. Look at verse 26, where Jesus says, the reason these people don’t believe is because they are not His sheep. You don’t believe because you’re not my sheep.
Now, you might read that verse in a kind of fatalistic way. You might say, well, I’m off the hook now because it just looks like I’m not one of the chosen sheep. But that would be a wrong conclusion to make.
Because what is really clear from John 10 itself is that if I don’t believe, it is entirely on me. Time and again in this passage, we’re told that the people were unbelieving. And we can’t say that Jesus didn’t keep trying to reach them.
He is incredibly persistent with people that He’s already said are not His sheep. I mean, isn’t this amazing? Here’s a little thing for your personal evangelism in terms of persistence, right? Next time someone hates your witness so much that they pick up a rock to chuck it at you, don’t run away, hang around, and witness to them again. Because that’s what Jesus does.
He sticks around to persuade them. He appeals again to His miracles. And then He appeals to the Bible.
He quotes from Psalm 82 in verse 34 of the text. And He quotes from a verse that speaks of ordinary Israelites. It’s a verse in the Old Testament that speaks of ordinary Jews as gods in some sense.
God was giving the people His law, and He was saying, if you keep this, you’re going to be like me. You’re going to be like God. Well, Jesus says, if it’s okay to call these ordinary Jews gods, then how much more is it okay to call me God, the one who is God’s Son? Jesus is still trying to persuade them.
(22:27 – 22:43)
He’s still trying to challenge their unbelief with the Bible. So, let me be clear. If I’m not a Christian, the responsibility rests on me and the decision that I’m making.
(22:46 – 23:38)
And church family, there’s something here for us too. It might not be John’s primary purpose in writing, but I think it’s clear that when you read John, he always has mission in mind. He’s always aware of the next stage of the church.
You see that particularly in the discourse we’ll come to in chapters 13 to 17, Jesus preparing the apostles. So, he’s always kind of got our witness in mind as well. And on this week, when Lucy is starting with us, it’s good for us to model ourselves as a church on Jesus the evangelist.
I hope that takes the pressure off a little bit, Lucy. You don’t need to be the supreme model of evangelism. Jesus is.
(23:41 – 26:51)
Let’s all keep constantly asking, how did Jesus do it? And with what heart did Jesus do it? When we read John’s gospel, we see a Jesus who is persistent, patient, fearless, and indiscriminate with who he evangelises. He never gives up on people. Even the people who have already closed the door on him.
He keeps witnessing through his life and through the Bible, even to people who don’t want to hear it. What a model that is for us. So, the first response is that of unbelief, persistent unbelief.
But thank God there’s another response, and it’s the right response. It’s the saving response. Secondly, persistent listening and following.
Persistent listening and following, which I think you could also sum up in one word, which would be believing. So, if you jump down to the end of the passage, there’s that little extra bit John puts on at the end of chapter 10. We see that after the second time that they try to lynch Jesus, he does leave the scene.
And then he crosses over the River Jordan, and he goes to the place where John the Baptist had first been baptising. And he meets there some of the people who had been around when that was happening, who had heard John and seen what he was doing and saying. And so, this is a kind of very important bookend in John, because we’ve been in a section, chapters 5 to 10, which is the festival section.
It’s a series of festivals Jesus goes to, right? And Jesus is showing who he is. So, that’s 5 to 10. But actually, when we come to this point at the end of John 10, we realise we’re going all the way back to chapter 1, because it was in chapter 1 that John the Baptist appeared as the first witness.
He pointed the finger at Jesus and said, here’s the one that’s going to surpass me, be greater than me. And I love what happens. The people who had heard what John said, look what they say to Jesus in verse 41.
They say, John never performed a miracle, but everything he said about you was right. Your words and your works have shown that you are the greater one. You are the promised one.
He got it right. And in that place, verse 42, many believed in Jesus. So, here we have in verse 42, the contrasting group to the group we’ve just considered in Jerusalem.
(26:53 – 34:57)
And notice where they are. They’re not the insiders in Jerusalem, in the place of power, in the place of religion, but they are outsiders. The people who shouldn’t have known better, and yet they are the ones who get it, which means that they are Jesus’ sheep, which means that they listen and follow their shepherd, because that’s really what believing means.
Let’s back up to verse 27 and fill out what that believing means. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.
That defines what believing is. Believing is hearing the voice of Jesus, the shepherd, above all the other voices of the world, all the other gospels, all the other things that people say is the meaning of life. It’s hearing his voice and saying, I believe you’re the truth.
That’s my shepherd’s voice. And it’s not just hearing his voice just one time, but it’s listening to it in such a way that we begin to follow him as our shepherd, in the way that sheep in those days used to follow behind the shepherds who would walk along in front. That was the way it happened.
The shepherd would walk in front and the sheep would follow behind. Now, I know this is a bit of a distant image for us in our culture, but it’s a beautiful image if you can get your head around it. To live as a Christian is to live your life with the shepherd in front, with us at the back and Jesus in the front.
Not us in the front and Jesus in the back. Ours is a following faith. I wonder if our lives demonstrate that.
And as we follow, we’ve not to be anxious because even as we follow the shepherd through the valleys and the difficulties of life, we are safe in the hand of the shepherd. And because he’s got this oneness with the father, we’re safe in the hand of the father too. So that’s verses 28 and 29, where Jesus says, if you’re a believer, you are safe in two hands.
We’re in the hand of the son and in turn, we’re in the hand of the father. We’re held in a double grip, the double grip of the father and the son. And in that grip, not Satan or your sin, not the teaching of crooked shepherds, not life or death or anything else is able to dislodge you from the double grip of father and son.
It’s good for us to think about this on our weaker days of faith, that salvation doesn’t depend on my grip of God. It depends on his grip of me. That is a wonderfully reassuring reminder for you, if you’re a sheep.
If you’re a Christian today, read this passage and remind yourself that the reason you’re a Christian is because of Christ. Your faith isn’t floating on thin air. It’s not resting on a cloud with no substance to it.
Your faith rests on a mountain of evidence that can hold you, that’s strong beneath your feet, and you’re in the hand of father and son. But this passage also is a loving plea to that person I talked about at the beginning, who might be asking you as a Christian, why are you a Christian? What’s the reason for your faith? Maybe this passage is speaking mostly to that kind of person. It might be today that you’re here and you’re new to the Christian faith.
Maybe you’ve not really thought very much about it. And if so, you probably haven’t had the opportunity to examine much of the evidence yet. There’s lots of people like that.
I was chatting to a guy at a funeral just recently and he said, I’ve got so many questions, but I don’t know who to ask and I don’t know where to look. And I invited him along to church and hopefully we might see him sometime. But there are people like that.
Maybe you’re one of them. We’d love to help you with that. There’s things that we could sit down with you and walk through with you, whether it’s a Bible book, whether it’s a little course that explains the Christian faith, or maybe you just want to sit and ask all the questions that you have.
Please do that. Take the opportunity to examine the evidence. Would you notice that Jesus himself tells his opponents to examine the evidence and to wait and see if it’s true? Maybe that’s you.
Or maybe you’re at a time in your life where you’ve considered it in the past and you’ve rejected it in the past. Maybe you grew up with it. Maybe it was something that at one stage you sort of thought you believed in, but for various reasons, you didn’t keep going.
You didn’t keep following the shepherd. Maybe nowadays there’s more of a stone in your hand, a stone of resentment to the Christian faith than an open hand of receiving grace. Jesus hasn’t given up inviting you.
He pled with people who had stones in their hands. He pointed them to his miracles. He pointed them to the Bible, and he pled for them to believe on the basis of the abundant evidence.
It’s not me that’s calling you to believe this morning, but it’s Jesus who’s calling. I wonder what will you say? Let me pray. Father, we thank you that our shepherd still speaks.
We thank you that he calls even the resistant, even the hard-hearted. We thank you that you are the God who softens hard hearts. We thank you that you are the God who opens ears that have been closed to what you are saying.
Father, those of us who are your people, we’re so grateful that you have got through, cut through our defences, our objections, and you’ve convinced us that this is true. Help us to be people on a mission to make Jesus known patiently, fearlessly, lovingly, persistently for your glory, and in Jesus’ name, amen.
The post Whose Sheep are You?–John 10v22–42 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, good evening, everyone. Let’s open our Bibles to the letter of 2 Timothy. And as Andy says, we are starting a new series tonight, which we’ve titled, Unashamed Till the End, for reasons that will become clear pretty shortly.
(0:21 – 0:55)
So our passage is chapter one, and we’re reading the first seven verses of the letter. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dear son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
(0:56 – 3:36)
I thank God whom I serve as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience. As night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives power, love, and self-discipline.
This is the Word of God. Let’s have a brief prayer together. Let’s just seek God’s face and His help.
Father, as we open this letter together, as we hear Paul’s pleas to Timothy, would you revive our service and give us fresh resolve to finish the race? We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. After moving back to Glasgow about 10 years ago now, I was invited by a keen runner to go along to park run.
I wasn’t very fit at the time, and so a 5k run was challenging. I remember in the first Pollock park run, getting to that point, which I call the Big Hill. The Big Hill is about a mile and a half in.
It’s probably only about 20 metres long, but it feels like you’re going up Everest. And unsurprisingly, I slowed and eventually I stopped. Well, no sooner had I stopped than I felt a hand slap me on the shoulder.
It was another passing runner who had seen my plight. Clearly he was much fitter than me, and he bellowed, don’t stop mate, keep going. Out of embarrassment as much as anything, I did.
(3:37 – 4:41)
I slowly started to grind those legs and ran through the pain till the end. And that is what Paul is encouraging Timothy to do in this letter. Timothy’s not running a physical race, but the arduous race of serving Jesus in a difficult environment.
How long has Timothy been running this race? Well, by the time of this letter, for quite some time. I think it’d be fair to say that Timothy is in the middle of his race. And just like myself at that hill in Pollock, he has reached a rather big hill.
That hill is the church of Ephesus. Now we actually know a lot about this church, probably more than any other church in the New Testament. It was a church planted by the apostle Paul, who he personally pastored for three years or so.
(4:42 – 5:03)
But after Paul left the church, the church got into trouble, which is actually weirdly encouraging because you would think that any church Paul pastored for three years would go on amazingly. Except false teachers arose in the church. Bad behaviour crept in to the congregation.
(5:04 – 5:24)
And it was to stop this rot that Paul sent Timothy to the church. It was round about this time that Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, a little after he had started in Ephesus. The message of that letter was Timothy, stay in Ephesus.
(5:25 – 5:59)
Keep setting the church back into order. Well, Timothy did stay. He kept running up that steep hill.
And now some time has passed. We’re not sure quite how long, but at least a gap between a first and second letter. Let’s guess it’s maybe a year or two later.
And Timothy is now halfway up the hill. And the church is still in a mess. And Timothy is still fighting for truth.
(5:59 – 6:07)
And Timothy is exhausted. He’s slowing down. He’s in danger of stopping.
(6:08 – 6:31)
Indeed, he’s in danger of pulling out of gospel ministry altogether. And so it is at this point, and for this reason, that Paul now writes a second letter. A more personal letter than the first one, a letter encouraging him to leave Ephesus this time.
(6:32 – 12:49)
Paul’s actually pulling him out of the front line temporarily to come and visit Paul. Paul says for his joy, but one suspects that it was as much for Timothy’s sake, for Timothy’s longevity, that he invites him to come to Paul. This letter is Paul’s attempt to encourage Timothy to stay in Christian ministry.
As Paul nears the end of his race, he shouts back to Timothy, don’t stop Timothy. Keep going till the end. So this letter is a letter of ministry revitalisation.
You’ve heard of church revitalisation. This is Christian ministry, Christian service revitalisation. It’s for flagging gospel workers and exhausted gospel servants.
It’s for those tempted to stop or those already halted on the hill. It obviously has relevance to people, we might say, in full-time Christian ministry. That’s obvious.
Yet it must have a relevance to every Christian, because every Christian has a race to run and every Christian has times in the race when they slow and are tempted to stop, wondering if they can go on or whether they should go on. Sometimes those moments are momentary and they pass quickly. And other times they are seasons of discouragement.
Well, for such times, 2 Timothy is written. The verses we’ve read is Paul’s opening as he attempts to help a flagging servant keep going. I want you to notice three encouragements that Paul gives Timothy right from the off and three encouragements for us.
Number one, you’ve got a friend. You’ve got a friend. Now I could have said that in a less exciting way, the importance of spiritual friendship for our spiritual perseverance.
But you’ve got a friend is better. So observe that Paul, before giving a single instruction, simply reminds Timothy that he has a friend in Paul. This letter isn’t coming from a stranger.
The author and recipient have a rich relationship built around a number of commonalities. To start with, Paul and Timothy have a shared history. Of course, we have the backstory in the book of Acts.
They first met when Paul visited the city of Lystra, Timothy’s hometown. Paul was a travelling misonary at the time. And he saw Timothy, some promise he must have, because he recruited him as a young man and took him along as a kind of ministry apprentice on his church planting trip.
For around about the next 10 years, Paul and Timothy travelled together, planted churches together, discipled converts together, wrote letters together, and even suffered together. And no doubt as that happened, Timothy grew in maturity and the bond between Paul and Timothy strengthened. See, Paul’s not being melodramatic.
He’s not overstating things in verse 2 when he calls Timothy, my dear son. Of course, he’s like a son to Timothy at this point in their relationship. It’s not surprising, is it, verse 3, that Paul is praying for Timothy round the clock, day and night as he puts it.
It’s not a surprise, verse 4, that they both feel emotion for each other. Paul recalls the last time that he and Timothy parted and he says, Timothy, do you remember when you shed a few tears? And now for the first time in the letter, Paul states that he wants to see Timothy. This is going to be actually a very important theme.
Please note it at this point. It’s not a small theme in the letter. Paul says, I long to see you so that your parting tears will be matched by my joy in seeing you.
It’s beautiful, isn’t it? There were tears when we parted. There’s going to be joy in my heart when we meet again. Do you sense the closeness of this relationship built around a common history and a common faith? You see, that’s the glue that really holds this relationship together.
Paul and Timothy don’t just share common background, they share a common faith, a multi-generational faith. Did you see there that Paul and Timothy’s faith is multi-generational, albeit in a kind of slightly different way? So on the one hand, in verse 5, Paul tells us that Timothy’s granny was a Christian and his mum. Timothy’s faith is personal, but it was also multi-generational.
He has a Christian parent, he has a Christian grandparent. What a blessing that is to have that. It’s a wonderful thing.
(12:50 – 13:30)
One of the emphases in this letter is going to be passing on the gospel to the next generation. This letter is partly about next-gen baton passing. And Timothy’s gran and his mum have done that to Timothy.
They’ve passed on the baton so that their faith has now become his personal faith. And Paul, in another kind of way, also is part of a multi-generational faith. I find this quite fascinating because it’s not recorded anywhere in all that we read of Paul.
(13:30 – 14:41)
It’s not recorded anywhere that he had a Christian parent or a believing Christian grandparent. As far as we know, that may not have been the case. But what Paul does say in verse 2 is that he serves the God of his ancestors.
Notice that. He’s referring to his Jewish heritage, his ancestors, which Paul sees as a heritage that ultimately leads to Christ. Paul may not have had Christian parents like Timothy, like some of us who have had that privilege, but we are all part of a bigger legacy.
If you like, we all have the spiritual ancestry of Hebrews chapter 11. We’re all in a line of faith one way or another. And I think what Paul is trying to achieve with all this is to show his commonality with Timothy and to remind him of his deep friendship with him.
(14:43 – 15:26)
They have a common past, a common faith, and a common love for each other. Now, here’s the million pound question. Why does Paul start a letter on ministry revitalisation by talking about his personal friendship with Timothy for four verses? Why doesn’t he start with some big drop of theology or some huge command for Timothy to keep going in ministry? Why does he start by saying, hey, by the way, we’re friends and we pray for each other and we’ve got this loving, caring history? I’m praying for you, brother.
(15:26 – 16:30)
I love you, brother. Well, it’s probably quite obvious. If you’ve ever been through a really sticky time in your Christian walk, what you need when you’re stuck on the big hill is not, first of all, a theological lecture.
You need a friend to come alongside you, don’t you? And the principle here is simple, but we neglect it to our peril. If you want to endure the spiritual race, you need spiritual friendships. A 10-minute chat over coffee on a Sunday morning is a good thing.
It’s a wonderful thing. I’m so glad we facilitate that. But let me suggest that if that is the limit of your Christian fellowship, a chat with a Christian here and there for five or 10 minutes about how’s your week been, it’s probably not going to cut it when you’re going through the tough stuff of life.
(16:32 – 16:58)
Who are the people you can call? Who are the people you can text and say, hey, I’m really struggling in the race here. Can you pray for me? Can you come over? Can you see me? Who are those people? And it’s not just a matter of quantity time either. It’s possible to spend lots of time with someone else who’s a Christian, but have little spiritual component to the friendship.
(17:00 – 19:06)
Maybe we bond over other things that are nothing to do with Jesus. I mean, that’s fine, but it isn’t enough. Here’s one little test of that actually.
Do you pray for each other? Very simple. But do you pray for each other regularly? That’s a spiritual friendship. Now, I can just imagine the objection that’s rising in many people’s minds, dare I say, especially some of the men in the room.
What if I don’t have such a friend or friends? I mean, not every one of us has been travelling around with a band of people for 10 years where these things happen almost naturally. It does take time, work and intention. I actually remember one time when I first of all went to a church in Edinburgh, just realising I didn’t have those kind of friendships.
I had lots of acquaintances and it was something I started to pray about and intentionally make steps towards. Let me make a suggestion. If you don’t have such friends, make every effort to be such a friend.
So here’s a suggestion. Think of three people in church. Let’s start with that.
Three people who you seem to be able to talk to fairly easily and who you do talk to regularly at church and just start praying for those people. And without being intrusive, I mean, hopefully if you know them well enough, it won’t seem weird. Maybe ask them, is there anything you want me to pray about? Or if they share something with you on a Sunday morning, go away, pray about it and then tell them, text them and tell them, I was just praying for what we talked about.
It’s those kind of small yards that gradually begin to build a deeper spiritual friendship. Some of us are joining new community groups, many of us. You could write down the name of your community group members and just start praying for a different name every day.
(19:07 – 20:47)
We need to start being the sorts of friends that we would wish to make. So to a gospel minister on a tough hill, Paul reminds him, you’ve got a friend. But he then presses on.
And now I would say he gets stronger in what he says. The next thing he says is that you’ve got a gift. Having sort of built that relational warmth and let Timothy know, look, I’m for you.
Now he really does lay down the first challenge in the letter, verse six, for this reason. That is, because you have a sincere faith, Timothy, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Almost certainly, Paul is harking back to some time when he had commissioned Timothy.
Maybe at the beginning of his ministry, maybe a little more recently. Whenever it was, Paul had laid his hands on Timothy. And in that moment of commission, Paul says, God gave Timothy a gift.
Now, presumably Timothy knows what the gift is and Paul doesn’t need to spell it out to him. Unfortunately for us, he doesn’t explain it to us. Presumably, the gift was something essential and central to him conducting his ministry.
(20:48 – 21:47)
So, for example, perhaps it was maybe the gift of teaching, which was going to be central to his entire ministry. Whatever it was, Paul compares the gift to a flame. Now, I’m really sorry if you’re of a certain age and you’re used to these newfangled barbecues that are just, they’re not as authentic really, because they don’t have the coals and the tongs and you don’t use the lighting fluid and all of that fun stuff where it took you about an hour to get it even warm enough to cook anything.
If you remember those barbecues, they required constant maintenance. If you left it even for 20 minutes and came back, you would return to glowing embers. And if you didn’t intervene then, it would eventually die.
(21:48 – 23:19)
Well, that’s how it is with Timothy’s gift. Timothy is to fan his gift into flame, which I think implies that it wasn’t in full flame. Maybe Timothy, because of the pressure he was under in the opposition, was starting to pull back from using his gift.
Maybe that was part of the report that a guy called Onesiphorus had brought to him, because he’s just received someone from Timothy. Or at least Paul believed that Timothy was tempted to neglect his gift. So great was the difficulty of his ministry.
Paul must be writing this because of the reality or the fear that Timothy’s about to down tools. And you’ll notice that it’s on Timothy to fan the gift back into flame. Paul doesn’t say, chill out Timothy, God will reignite the flame for you.
Timothy must take the tongs, stir up the coals, and throw on the lighter fluid. It’s his job to fan the flame again. He needs to find the opportunities to use his gift or to step back into the opportunities that are already open to him.
(23:20 – 24:04)
It’s very striking that, the responsibility that Paul puts on Timothy. That means that you and I can never blame the Holy Spirit for the choices we are making. And sometimes we do that.
It’s like we’re waiting on God to do something when it’s actually on us to do it. It’s our part of the deal. And so the question comes to us, do you or I need to do a mid-ministry rekindling of the barbecue? Have our gifts fallen out of circulation recently? It’s not unusual for that to happen.
(24:05 – 24:26)
In a funny way, it’s kind of encouraging that this happened to Timothy. We might think that we are the worst Christian in the universe because we’ve had what Charles Spurgeon once called a fainting fit. But that sort of fainting fit is actually common, even to Christian missionaries.
(24:28 – 27:09)
If it could happen to Timothy, as such a man of God, it can happen to any of us. So Paul’s rescue package for Timothy involves the reminder you’ve got a friend, and now the encouragement you’ve got a gift. But there’s a third and final encouragement, a final revitalisation help.
The third thing is you’ve got the Spirit. You’ve got the Spirit. That’s what Paul finally adds in verse 7. For, the reason that rekindling your gift is possible, the reason you can keep using it is because the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.
God has given you the Spirit, Timothy. Now, it’s possible that the Spirit here, there’s a bit of debate around this because the Greek doesn’t have capital letters here. So it’s possible the Spirit here could be a small s spirit.
He could be speaking of God has given Timothy his own spirit of love and power and self-control. Or it could be that we should capitalise this. It’s the Holy Spirit he’s talking about.
I personally agree with the way the NIV goes on this one. It capitalises the word Spirit. Because it seems to me that Paul is giving the divine side, whereas in verse 6, we had the human side.
Human side, fan into flame your gift. Divine side, you can fan into flame your gift because the Spirit God gave you doesn’t make you timid, doesn’t make you fearful or cowardly. Here’s a question for you.
Was Timothy a particularly timid person? Was he unusually sensitive? Was he a scaredy cat by nature? Well, read lots of the commentaries and listen to lots of preachers and they’ll say yes to that. They sort of create a character analysis of Timothy’s entire character based on verse 7. But it’s also equally possible that Timothy wasn’t unusually fearful. And in fact, I think that’s even more likely.
(27:10 – 27:44)
Because after all, Timothy was a guy who left home probably around about the age of 20. He travelled the world, planted churches, suffered imprisonment, and he was sent by Paul to be his personal enforcer in the city of Ephesus. Now, does that sound like someone to you who is unusually timid? I think a safer reading of the text is that Timothy was in a situation that would make any Christian timid.
(27:46 – 28:28)
Who of us wouldn’t feel timid if we had to serve in the face of constant opposition? Imagine I was coming every week to preach here knowing I was going to be opposed from the pews in everything I said. I would be timid. And remember the wider context.
Timothy is serving at a time in the Roman Empire when the Emperor Nero is going on a bit of a header and a rampage. Exhibit A, Timothy’s mentor, Paul has been thrown into prison for the same ministry Timothy’s doing in Ephesus. And Paul is on death row for simply preaching the gospel.
(28:30 – 29:03)
Would you in such circumstances not be feeling a little timid to carry on in gospel ministry? Many of us are confident Christians until we’re put into an intimidating scenario. As Dick Lucas puts it, we’re all brave until the bullets start flying. Well, what is going to help you in that moment? Who is going to help you in that moment? Yes, a Christian friend is great, praying for you, encouraging you.
(29:04 – 29:22)
But above all, your helper is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit God’s already given us is a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. The very qualities that Timothy needs to keep going.
(29:23 – 30:02)
Power in his weakness, love for the church and the lost, and the self-discipline to not quit when everything within him wants to quit on a Monday morning. These qualities aren’t inherent in Timothy, but they are inside Timothy and available to him by the Holy Spirit. Translation into our terms, whenever Timothy is having a fainting fit, when he starts his day with a groan and a tightness in his stomach, he should remember that the Spirit will enable him to keep serving.
(30:04 – 30:53)
And he should pray in dependence on the Spirit for the power, love, and self-discipline to serve another day. The next time you feel paralysed about serving Jesus, overwhelmed by the ministry that you’re involved in, as a parent, as a worker in an office, wherever it happens to be, maybe it will be tomorrow morning. First things Monday are particularly trying, aren’t they? As the week stretches out ahead of us and all the challenges, well, why not remind yourself this morning when you get that anxiety that I have the Holy Spirit? There was no greater encouragement that Paul could have given Timothy than that.
(30:56 – 31:19)
And so Paul concludes this marvellous introduction. Let’s just, I’m going to just be a little cheeky and just sneak a toe across the line into verse eight as we finish. Paul says, so do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner.
(31:21 – 31:36)
This could almost be the key verse of 2 Timothy. These are the key themes of the letter. The central themes of revitalisation, number one, don’t be ashamed of the testimony.
(31:37 – 32:14)
That is keep preaching the word of the gospel, even if it costs you in suffering. Be unashamed of the gospel till the end, Timothy. We’re going to see him, Paul urging this again and again and again.
That’s number one. Number two, Timothy is told to not be ashamed of Paul either. Paul describes himself here as a prisoner of the Lord’s, because at this point, Paul is in prison.
(32:14 – 33:56)
He is in chains, and many people are doing a runner from Paul. Will Timothy be embarrassed about the gospel? Will Timothy be embarrassed about Paul? There is something in this letter about the significance of who you associate with. It says a lot about the values and the purpose of your heart.
Gospel faithfulness and gospel friendship are linked in 2 Timothy. But to learn more about that, we’re going to have to come back and hear the rest of the letter. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you this evening for such a relatable letter, such a timely encouragement. As people who often flag, as those whose flame burns bright one minute and flickers the next, we ask for the help of spiritual friends. Help us be those friends.
Help us be prayerful and encouraging of one another. Help us to make the right decisions and the costly choices, and most of all, through your Spirit, give us that power, love, and self-discipline that will keep us going to the end. In Jesus we pray.
Amen.
The post Fan the Flame – 2 Timothy Ch1v1-7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Is that the best you can offer us? Our mood swings between disappointment and outright distrust, and not without reason. For those in positions of authority for many decades have abused these positions, either for personal gain or social status, or even worse, power and control that’s often abused. A common feature seems to be, when you boil it all down, that if you’re in a position of leadership, it’s very rare that you care about the people that you’re supposed to be leading.
(0:40 – 1:15)
But of course there’s a problem here, because how people are led has a deep and powerful effect on their lives. Now this isn’t just true at political and business and social levels, it’s also true, and primarily true, at a spiritual level. Spiritual influence is life-changing, and God’s care for His people through history has been administered through human leaders.
(1:17 – 2:05)
In Scripture, this relationship is frequently described using the imagery of God’s people as sheep, and God’s leaders as shepherds, looking after the sheep, finding fresh pastures for the sheep, places where the sheep can feed and be nourished, and also places where they can be safe and protected. So when Jesus uses the imagery of shepherding here in John chapter 10, He’s not just picking a random picture from an agrarian culture that His hearers would have been able to see as He was talking to them. This is an image that is rooted and grounded in deep theological imagery from Israel’s history.
(2:07 – 2:18)
Where have we seen shepherds before in Scripture? Well, let’s go back to the beginning. Abel was a shepherd. Abraham was a shepherd.
(2:20 – 2:27)
Jacob was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd.
(2:29 – 3:03)
At each of the big, key, building blocks of God’s purposes in history, shepherds were used as an image, a picture of what God was doing, showing that His leadership is being administered through these individuals. So shepherding was a part of the identity of those who were God’s leaders, leaders of God’s people throughout all of history. The problem is, of course, that not all shepherds and leaders of God’s people were good.
(3:04 – 3:52)
If we turn back to Ezekiel chapter 34, if you’ve got a Bible open in front of you, you might want to just flick back there, because the passage that we’re in today is rooted and grounded in this section in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel 34, of all the Old Testament passages about shepherds, this passage sets the scene for the text here in John 10. In Ezekiel 34, God condemns and lambasts Israel’s corrupt shepherds, all of whom have failed to feed and failed to protect and failed to look after God’s people across the centuries to the point where God’s basically given up on them.
(3:52 – 4:21)
And the people are now out of Jerusalem, out of their own land, they’re in exile under God’s judgement. But God, in this incredible passage in Ezekiel 34, where He condemns all the shepherds of His people, the corrupt and false shepherds of His people, in chapter 34, in verse 15, God makes this incredible statement. Look at it there if you’ve got it open in front of you.
(4:22 – 4:54)
Ultimately, God looks in despair at the leadership that has caused His people such damage, and He says with great pathos, I Myself will be the shepherd of My sheep. I’ll shepherd you Myself, I’ll look after you Myself. So you see, when Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd in John 10, He’s doing more than just using a pastoral metaphor.
(4:56 – 5:14)
He’s claiming at that point to be the fulfilment of Ezekiel 34, 15. Do you see that? He’s claiming to be the fulfilment of Yahweh’s ancient promise. And here’s the thing.
(5:15 – 6:04)
It’s surely no surprise that the first group of people to find out that God’s shepherd had arrived weren’t those who were supposed to be the shepherds of God’s people in Jerusalem, the leaders of God’s people in the city and in the temple. The people who first heard the good news about God’s shepherd arriving to look after His people were humble shepherds out in the fields, scattered to the winds, surrounding the place of Jewish worship. Because you see, the shepherd who was going to come to be the shepherd of God’s sheep for the world was one who would have a global mission, a global love for God’s people.
(6:05 – 6:24)
He was going to be a radically different kind of shepherd to the arrogant, corrupt shepherds of the day. So with that background in place, let’s get to our text and explore it to discover the kind of shepherd that Jesus is. And we’re going to look at that under three headings.
(6:24 – 6:50)
The good shepherd who protects His sheep, the good shepherd who provides for His sheep, and the good shepherd who pursues His sheep. So let’s look firstly then in verses 1 to 6 at the good shepherd who protects His sheep. Our text this morning continues the increasingly hostile dialogue and confrontation between Jesus on the one hand and the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, on the other.
(6:51 – 7:08)
This whole passage, as Rebecca read to us so well, begins with a reminder that this is specifically addressed to them. Jesus is speaking to these religious leaders. And in verse 1, He opens with an incredible contrast.
(7:08 – 7:33)
He says to them, whoever doesn’t enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that person is a thief and a robber. Now sheepfolds in the Near East at that time were constructed with a door as the legitimate point of entry. They had reasonably high walls so that the sheep couldn’t climb out and wild animals couldn’t climb in.
(7:34 – 7:47)
Sheep stealing was a common crime back in those days. And anyone or anything climbing over the wall was a threat to the sheep. And if there was a threat to the sheep, there was a threat to the livelihood and the well-being of the shepherd.
(7:48 – 8:02)
There wasn’t a DSS back then, or a benefit system. If you lost your sheep, you lost the lot, you lost your livelihood. So it was really important that the sheep were guarded and protected.
(8:02 – 8:20)
And as John writes his gospel, the context of John 9 is vitally important to understand why he says the things he says here. To help us understand the shocking impact of what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees. Remember in John 9, Jesus has just healed a blind man.
(8:22 – 8:38)
He’s just healed a blind man. And you would think that the Pharisees, the leaders of God’s people, would be overjoyed about that. That one of the flock, who was weak and poor, has been healed and restored.
(8:39 – 9:06)
But they don’t respond with awe, the Pharisees. They respond with anger. Do you remember? What did they do to the man? Did they shepherd him? Did they look after him? Did they care for him? Did they rejoice with him? Did they nothing? They threw him out.
They threw him out. They threw him out of the synagogue. The leaders of the day were not protecting or caring for vulnerable sheep.
(9:07 – 9:21)
They were like thieves and robbers. They were leaders who were using their position and power for themselves. They’re like the corrupt shepherds that Ezekiel prophesied against in chapter 34.
(9:22 – 9:37)
Jesus, by contrast, is the true shepherd who enters the sheepfold by the gate or by the door. Now it’s important for us to understand what Jesus is saying here. He’s not just saying, I’m the guy who goes in and out the door.
(9:38 – 9:45)
I go in and out the door. He’s saying something more significant than that. This is a statement of authority.
(9:46 – 10:02)
This is a statement about Jesus’ authority. And we’ve already seen that although his authority isn’t recognised by the religious leaders, it’s been given to him by his Father. And that’s the nature of these dialogues in John’s Gospel.
(10:02 – 10:29)
Don’t you just love the depth of them? I mean, they’re very complex and very intense, aren’t they? But they give us a real insight into that tension that existed as Jesus confronted the religious system of his day with his God-given authority. This authority being given by his Father. And Jesus is going to tell us more about that in the second half of John 10 next week.
(10:29 – 10:46)
We’ll discover that. But the key feature of this section in relation to the authority of Jesus is that the sheep recognise the authoritative voice of the shepherd. The sheep recognise the authoritative voice of the shepherd.
(10:47 – 11:07)
The true shepherd calls his sheep by name and they follow him, for they know his voice. The Pharisees did not recognise Jesus’ voice. In fact, they attributed the voice of Jesus at the end of the passage that Rebecca read to us as the voice of a demon.
(11:10 – 11:39)
They attributed the voice of Jesus to the voice of a demon. That’s how far away the religious leaders were from recognising who Jesus was. If recognising Jesus is shown by listening to and recognising and responding to his voice, then the way the Pharisees respond just show how far away they were.
(11:39 – 11:46)
And that’s true for you this morning. That’s true for you. As you hear the voice of Jesus.
(11:47 – 12:11)
How you respond to the voice of Jesus from his word today is a litmus test of how close or how far away you are from him. That’s a big challenge for us, isn’t it? In fact, the Pharisees’ response to Jesus shows that they weren’t the true shepherds at all. In fact, they weren’t even true sheep.
(12:12 – 12:28)
They weren’t even true sheep. So the image of Jesus here isn’t one of herding cattle against their wishes. This isn’t Jesus as one man and his dog, you know, whistling to a dog to herd the sheep in.
(12:28 – 12:37)
It’s not that picture. This is the picture here of a relationship between the shepherd and the sheep. There’s intimacy here.
(12:39 – 12:50)
The shepherd calls the sheep by name. He speaks to them. And the sheep, without a dog, in between by the way, the sheep hear his voice.
(12:51 – 12:57)
And they recognise his voice. And they recognise his authority to lead them. And they follow him.
(12:58 – 13:04)
They follow him. He doesn’t drive them on ahead. He leads and they follow.
(13:04 – 13:15)
And there’s a challenge to us here too in this regard. In a world of false shepherds everywhere calling to us with their siren voices. Political leaders who exploit.
(13:16 – 13:32)
Social media influencers who mislead and distort. Aye, and as we’ve seen in the news this week, tragically, not too far from home, even spiritual leaders who do harm. Jesus stands out as the one whose voice we can trust.
(13:35 – 13:54)
So, whose voice is shaping your life today? Is it the voice of the shepherd? Or is it the voices of those who would rob you of a living relationship with him? And there are many of those. Voices of fear. Of shame.
(13:56 – 14:05)
Of performance. Pride. You hear these voices, don’t you, every day?
You’re not good enough!
You’re rubbish!
You’re a failure!
You’re a sinner!
You’re hopeless!
This isn’t true!
It’s all a fairy tale!
It’s all made up!
Don’t believe it!
Those voices, they come, and they speak to you, don’t they? In fact, if you really want to know the depth of your own relationship with God, listen to the voices inside your own head. Listen to what you tell yourself.
(14:33 – 14:49)
Are those voices screaming at you today to the point where you can’t hear the voice of the shepherd? All those voices do are leave you broken and vulnerable. Destroyed. But remember, that’s your enemy’s aim.
(14:50 – 15:04)
The evil one only has one aim, and that’s to destroy sheep. But the good shepherd comes to you this morning, calling to you and offering you protection. Protection.
(15:06 – 15:17)
Secondly, the good shepherd provides for the sheep. We find that in verses 7 to 10. Notice there in verse 7, Jesus changes the metaphor slightly.
(15:18 – 15:36)
He says, I’m not just the good shepherd, but I am the door or the gate, your version might have, for the sheep. You see, Jesus isn’t only the shepherd who enters the sheepfold through the door, in a wonderful way in biblical imagery. He himself is the door.
(15:38 – 15:49)
He is the door. Through him, the sheep enter into security and find food that satisfies them. Do you notice what Jesus says? If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.
(15:50 – 16:06)
What a great word that is. He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Now this phrase, will go in and out, isn’t just a filler phrase.
(16:06 – 16:14)
It’s a significant phrase. It’s an interesting one. It’s a phrase that you find frequently in the Old Testament.
(16:15 – 16:24)
In God’s promises to his ancient people. When he’s setting up his covenant relationship with them. God promises them blessings.
(16:25 – 16:39)
Blessings to people who follow him and obey his commands. If they keep their part of the agreement. And one of the blessings of the covenant, described in Deuteronomy 28.6 is this.
(16:39 – 16:52)
You will be blessed when you go in. And you will be blessed when you come out. And again in Psalm 121 verse 8. We have a lovely echo of that.
(16:52 – 17:01)
The Lord will keep your going in and your coming out from this time forth and forever more. I’ve only picked two. There are many.
(17:03 – 17:14)
This going in and coming out language in the Old Testament. Is a picture of everything you find in a covenant relationship with God himself. Because that is the only place.
(17:15 – 17:22)
On earth. Where you can find absolute safety. Absolute security.
(17:23 – 17:32)
Absolute freedom. And absolute rest. And as far back as Numbers 27.
(17:33 – 17:43)
Down at verse 15 and 17 in Numbers 27. Moses recognised the need for a leader. For God’s people who would provide that kind of security.
(17:44 – 17:53)
Who would provide that kind of freedom and safety and rest. And he pleads with God. And he says lead them out and bring them in.
(17:53 – 18:00)
Lead them out and bring them in. There’s that language again. So that the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.
(18:00 – 18:11)
So when God saves his people. When he enters into a relationship with his people. He doesn’t just abandon you in the field somewhere.
(18:15 – 18:21)
He leads you in and out. He’s with you all the time. In all the activities of your life.
(18:21 – 18:30)
Providing that safety and that security. And that trust that you so desperately need. Now of course in Moses day.
(18:30 – 18:40)
Joshua was appointed to fulfil the role wasn’t he? He was appointed to lead the people in. To the promised land. But there’s a longing in Moses request.
(18:40 – 18:47)
I hope you feel it as we read it there. There’s a longing in Moses request. For an ultimate and perfect leader of God’s people.
(18:48 – 18:59)
And that is exactly. What Jesus is saying he is. Here in verse 7. Do you notice it in verse 7? In verse 9 rather.
(19:00 – 19:06)
If anyone enters by me. He will be saved. It’s a great word.
(19:06 – 19:13)
Great Bible word being saved. He will be saved. All the safety, security, freedom, rest, forgiveness.
(19:13 – 19:20)
All of that. And will go in and out and find pasture. Do you see that promise from Jesus? He’s fulfilling the promise of the covenant.
(19:21 – 19:27)
He’s saying all of those great blessings. That God has promised in the Old Testament. You’ll find them in me.
(19:28 – 19:35)
Not anywhere else. And you see. Psalm 23 isn’t just a nice comforting psalm.
(19:36 – 19:44)
For us to read when things are tough. At funerals and at weddings. I didn’t really mean to equate tough times with weddings.
(19:44 – 19:52)
But you know what I mean. It’s not just a psalm to read at crucial times in our lives. Psalm 23.
(19:53 – 19:58)
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down by green pastures.
(19:58 – 20:06)
He leads me by still waters. It’s a prophetic psalm about Jesus. Jesus is the good shepherd.
(20:08 – 20:15)
Psalm 23 is about Jesus. Think of the door of your home. The door.
(20:16 – 20:29)
That you’ll go in when you go home. That door is the threshold between danger and safety. When you walk through your front door at night.
(20:29 – 20:36)
And you lock it behind you. There’s a feeling of security. A feeling of safety.
(20:36 – 20:44)
A feeling of well-being. You are home. And home is meant to be a safe place.
(20:46 – 20:50)
Home is where you belong. Where you can be authentic. Truly yourself.
(20:50 – 20:55)
Where you can relax. Where the burdens of the world leave you. Where you’re secure.
(21:00 – 21:23)
And that’s what it’s like to be saved. So let me ask you a very old-fashioned question this morning. Are you saved? Are you saved? Have you come to Jesus? Have you entered through the door? Because Jesus says, I am that door.
(21:23 – 21:35)
I am the threshold into the life you’ve always wanted. And look what he offers there. It’s radically different to the bad shepherds.
(21:36 – 21:46)
Look at the incredible contrast in verse 10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come, says Jesus, that you may have life.
(21:47 – 21:58)
And have it abundantly. Have it to the full. Now it’s important that we understand what life to the full means.
(21:59 – 22:07)
What this abundant life means that Jesus is offering. Let’s not misunderstand that. Otherwise we’ll end up in strange fields.
(22:08 – 22:25)
This isn’t a prosperity gospel for a start. It’s not a promise of material abundance. The abundance and fullness in the text relates to the quality of the life Jesus gives.
(22:25 – 22:38)
Do you notice the text, the construction of the text? Let’s look at it together. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. Have life abundantly.
(22:38 – 22:48)
And what is the life? It’s the life that Jesus is offering that’s abundant. Not the things of life. Do you see? Life itself.
(22:48 – 22:55)
It’s the quality of life. Eternal, spiritual life. Life in a different dimension.
(22:55 – 23:05)
Life that sees beyond what you see out there. Beyond what we see as real here. And recognises the ultimate reality lies beyond here.
(23:06 – 23:19)
These are the shadow lands. A life, a spiritual, eternal life that can be experienced now. But culminates ultimately in the new creation.
(23:21 – 23:32)
And in fact, that is where so many of our disaffectations lie. So many of our struggles. So many of our angers and angsts.
(23:32 – 23:48)
That’s where they come from, isn’t it? We often make the mistake of thinking, especially as Christian people, that if we’ve come to Christ for this abundant life, that in some ways we look around our lives and we think, it doesn’t look very abundant to me. I’m still struggling. Still can’t find a job.
(23:48 – 23:51)
Still struggling. Didn’t get my grades. Still struggling.
(23:53 – 23:59)
Problems at home in my marriage. My kids are wandering. Nobody’s listening.
I’m unhappy. Don’t have enough money. Whatever.
(23:59 – 24:14)
Where is this abundant life? Lord, I’ve come to you for this life and look, it’s a bit of a mess. And we become dissatisfied. A bit like the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son.
(24:14 – 24:28)
I’ve served you all my life. I’ve slaved away for you in that church and look at the mess. And we get annoyed when we get sick, even sometimes.
(24:30 – 24:53)
Why is this happening? He gave his life to serve the church and look, he’s got cancer. How did that happen? When things don’t go our way, we’re like that older brother. But you see, when we look for signs of God’s blessing and abundance and fullness in life in all the wrong places, we’ll never experience what Jesus is promising here.
(24:55 – 25:13)
Because he’s not promising fullness of life in terms of our careers, our relationships, our social status. Because abundant life isn’t the same as success and it’s not the same as excess. It’s not the same as success and it’s not the same as excess.
(25:13 – 25:43)
Abundant life, full life is the deep soul satisfaction that comes from your personal relationship and communion contact with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The abundant life Jesus is offering doesn’t involve offering more stuff or less hassle. He’s offering us, listen, he’s offering us more of himself.
(25:45 – 26:23)
He is the abundant life, himself, life is in him. So let me ask you again this morning, how much do you know of that hunger, that desire to know Jesus more? The one thing I pray when I preach at the end of all of this, Lord, I pray that they might know Jesus more. That I might know Jesus more.
(26:25 – 26:45)
Will you know Jesus more at the end of this service? Will you know Jesus more at the end of next week? That’s abundant life, you see. That’s the promise of life that Jesus offers. So he provides for his sheep.
(26:45 – 26:59)
And then, finally, he pursues his sheep. We find that in verses 11 to 21, the last section. Notice that there’s a relentlessness and a determination, if you like, about the Good Shepherd.
(27:00 – 27:21)
Here in John 10, at the heart of this passage is Jesus’ incredible declaration about what ultimately defines the Good Shepherd and sets him apart from all the other shepherds in Israel’s checkered history. I am the Good Shepherd, verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd.
(27:21 – 27:37)
Here it is. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Here Jesus distinguishes himself from the hired hand who runs when danger comes.
(27:38 – 27:55)
And he distinguishes himself from the bad shepherds, the religious leaders of the day who abandon the sheep. He’s the Good Shepherd who pursues the sheep, even to the point where it costs him everything. Now, Jesus isn’t just being poetic here.
(27:58 – 28:08)
Jesus is being prophetic. He’s pointing ahead to the cross. The shepherd is going to die for the flock.
(28:09 – 28:22)
He’s going to lay down his life so that the sheep can have life. And this turns everything on its head. Normally in Israel, throughout all of their history, sheep die for the shepherd.
(28:24 – 28:38)
Either they die as sacrifices or they die as food. But here Jesus says, I’m the Good Shepherd. And the Good Shepherd is going to die for the sheep.
(28:41 – 28:59)
Jesus fulfils here what the prophets foretold and what the Pharisees should have recognised. Not that Jesus was demon-possessed and raving mad. But that God himself would come to shepherd his people in fulfilment of those promises and longings in the Old Testament.
(29:00 – 29:13)
And he would do it through Messiah who would lay down his life for the sheep. Jesus would be the one who would stand between the wolf and the flock. The hired hand runs for the hills.
(29:14 – 29:24)
But Jesus faces up and lays down his life. He absorbs the attack that we deserve. So that we might live.
(29:26 – 29:35)
But there’s more in this pursuit of Jesus. Do you notice it there in verse 16? It’s really important. I have other sheep.
(29:35 – 29:46)
This is him speaking to the Pharisees, remember? Think how shocking this was. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.
(29:50 – 30:01)
Because you see, Jesus the Good Shepherd doesn’t just pursue sheep from his own Jewish culture and faith. Not just from the Pharisees’ fold. He pursues them across every culture.
(30:02 – 30:22)
And across all time. And here Jesus shows that he’s fulfilling the role that Israel’s leaders in the Old Testament ought to have had in leading the nation as a missionary nation. In the Old Testament, Israel was given God’s presence and God’s law to shine it out to the nations.
(30:23 – 30:35)
To be a missionary nation. And here is the Good Shepherd’s global mission. Where Old Testament Israel failed, Jesus is going to succeed.
(30:36 – 30:51)
As the Good Shepherd. The fulfilment of all that Israel was and should have been. Because the sheep in his fold will include Jews, yes, from this fold.
(30:51 – 31:13)
But will also include non-Jews, shockingly, Gentiles, who are not of this fold. And Jesus says clearly in verse 16, notice it together. And there will be, notice, one flock and one shepherd.
(31:15 – 31:26)
Not two flocks and one shepherd. Not something going on with Israel and something going on with the church. Not two flocks.
(31:26 – 31:32)
One flock and one shepherd. Remarkable. Together.
(31:34 – 31:50)
Not two separate entities, Israel and the church. But one flock and one shepherd. And this, friends, is God’s promise to Abraham back in Genesis 12, 3. That all the nations in the world would be blessed through his descendants.
(31:51 – 32:07)
That’s that promise being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And how would they experience that blessing? Well, it would come through the Good Shepherd who would give his life for the sheep. But who would rise again and lead his flock to glory.
(32:07 – 32:19)
In verses 17 and 18, you’ll notice Jesus doesn’t just speak of entering into death. He speaks about his authority. Remember, this passage is all about his authority.
(32:19 – 32:33)
He speaks about his authority over death. I lay down my life that I may take it again. The crucifixion wasn’t an accident, you see.
(32:33 – 32:46)
It was a mission given to Jesus by his Father. And as we’ve already seen in John’s Gospel, everything Jesus does, he does to please the Father. Everything he does.
(32:47 – 33:05)
And that was true of his death too, you see. Now, it’s true that Jesus loved you and died for you because of his love for you. But as we’ve seen already in John’s Gospel, Jesus died primarily because he loved his Father.
(33:08 – 33:24)
And he was obeying his Father’s will. He was fulfilling his Father’s plan. And in dying for sinners, out of love for his Father, he draws those whom the Father loves to him.
(33:28 – 33:45)
So becoming a Christian, you see, isn’t about earning God’s love. It’s about receiving the love of the Good Shepherd who has died to bear your judgement. And has been raised to life by the Father because the Father was pleased with the work he did.
(33:49 – 34:31)
Now, as we finish, there are a number of challenges that come to us this morning from this passage, aren’t there? We’ve already thought about whether we recognise the voice of Jesus when he’s speaking to us. And also the catastrophic consequences of dismissing that voice, or worse, attributing it to some other activity. But where do we hear his voice? Well, are we regularly in his Word? Are we responsive to the Shepherd’s call? We come every week to hear God speaking to us from his Word.
(34:31 – 35:01)
And we’re used to that. And the power of that often fails to penetrate the hardness of our hearts. Are you experiencing this morning that deep fullness of communion, of life with the risen Lord Jesus? And like him, are you laying down your life for others? See, this morning, Jesus isn’t offering you religion.
(35:01 – 35:08)
He’s not offering you ritual. He’s not offering you self-improvement. He’s not even offering you morality.
(35:09 – 35:26)
He’s offering you a voice, a relationship, a Shepherd who calls you by name. He knows your name. And he’s calling you by name this morning.
(35:27 – 36:06)
Can you hear him speaking to you by name? And he’s wanting to lead you into life. Now then, if he laid down his life for you, and he’s calling you by name now, what part of your life, tell me, what part of your life is too important or too big to surrender to him? There’s no other leader worth following. Let’s pray.
(36:16 – 36:44)
Father, we ask that by your Holy Spirit you will write your Word deeply into our hearts and into our minds. And we pray that you will give us wills to respond to your call through Christ this morning. That we may hear him speaking clearly to us, calling us above the voices of the world around us to follow him.
(36:45 – 36:55)
And to find in him all that we will need for this life. And all we will need forever. We ask this in his name.
(36:55 – 36:56)
Amen.
The post Follow the leader– John Ch10v1–21 appeared first on Greenview Church.
John Chapter 9, After several months away, we’re back in John and back with a bang, a brilliant story that runs through the whole of chapter 9. So let’s just have that open in front of us. Now, we all know this, I think, that some situations in life seem impossible to change. Some things in life you can change.
You can change your eating habits, your aftershave, your car. But other things in life, well, they’re just not so easy to change. The chronic illness that we’ve had for years, that dysfunctional relationship that we’ve struggled with for decades, that career path that we seem pretty much locked into.
(1:05 – 1:53)
Some things you can readily change, but other things feel impossible. And in John chapter 9, we meet a man who seemed impossibly stuck like that. In fact, I dare say that his stuckness, if I could coin a word, stuckness, seemed harder to change than many of those examples I’ve just given.
Because as the curtain opens on John chapter 9, the first thing we learn about this man is his blindness. That’s our first of three words this morning that will capture the movement of this story. This story starts with blindness.
(1:55 – 2:20)
Take a look at verse 1. As Jesus went along, He saw a man blind from birth. Jesus, ever the protagonist, spots an unnamed man with an obvious problem. Jesus identifies a man who hadn’t just lost his sight, but a man who never had his sight.
(2:21 – 3:51)
Talk about a stuck situation. Before we can even see how Jesus will respond to this, Jesus’ disciples who spot the man too, have a rather deep question to ask their teacher. Look down and see it there.
The disciples asked Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, since he was born blind? You see, it was a common Jewish assumption that suffering and sin were very tightly linked. If you were suffering in an unusual way, then either you or your parents had done something sinful. Who takes the blame here? Jesus’ answer, neither.
Verse 3. This is something we learn from the book of Job, incidentally, that while there is a general link between suffering and sin, while there is a historical link between suffering and sin, specific sufferings are rarely the result of specific sin. Jesus gives an alternative explanation. This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
(3:52 – 4:41)
His blindness wasn’t a punishment, says Jesus. It was part of God’s plan to show God’s works in the world. Notice there the plural, works, because God is going to do multiple things, multiple works, not just healing him physically, but actually doing other remarkable things spiritually.
It’s not a punishment. It’s a plan. It’s amazing, isn’t it, to think that all these centuries later, 2,000 years later, we still are reading and learning from this story.
(4:41 – 7:00)
The works of God have reached down the centuries indeed. How hard that is to fathom at times. How counterintuitive it is to the Christian who is patiently enduring continual stress, ongoing disappointment, sharp pain.
How unobvious it often is to them that God might have a plan for their pain, but that was true here, and it’s so often true for us too. This man’s healing is going to be one of Jesus’ greatest works. What if our greatest opportunities for witness are not in the pain-free moments, but in the painful moments of our lives? Well, Jesus then says something a little bit puzzling in verse 4. Having mentioned God’s works, Jesus now states the time in which such works can be done.
It’s a bit of an enigmatic statement. As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.
It’s a little bit puzzling when you first read it, but Jesus is using the imagery of day and night to illustrate a point. In His image, the day is the time of opportunity to do God’s works, while the night represents the time when no one can work. For Jesus, His day was His short ministry on earth, around about 33 years of ministry.
But the night would soon come when Jesus would return to the Father, and such hands-on miracles would not be possible, at least not directly, personally. The point is that Jesus is urgent in His earthly ministry. Why? Because the time is short.
(7:01 – 12:08)
There is only so much daylight. And this isn’t just true for Jesus. Notice that in verse 4, Jesus includes His disciples in His description.
He says, we do these works. We all have limited daylight to serve the Lord. Next time you go to a Christian funeral, I hope it’s something that encourages you.
I always find Christian funerals really encouraging. But as you hear the life story of the person, and as you hear listed all the different things they did in serving the Lord, consider this. That at that point, what is done is done.
And whatever wasn’t done, wasn’t done. I mean, they’ve transitioned to something wonderful and joyful, and yet in another sense, the curtain has come down on all that they were able to do for the Lord. Your life and my life is on the clock.
We only have so much daylight. We must not waste the time that we have. Jesus, who always made most of His time, presses on with a miracle in verses 6 and 7. And it’s not only a powerful miracle, but I think you will agree it is an unusual miracle.
It’s arguably the weirdest miracle that is recorded in the Gospels. It’s the mud miracle. Or, sorry if you’re squeamish, it’s the spit miracle.
How odd and unpleasant. And it raises a few questions. Let me start with an easier question and then go on to a much tougher question.
The easier question, but an important one. Why is the man sent to the pool of Siloam? Why, to heal his blindness, was he sent to this particular pool to wash in its water? Well, helpfully, we know something about the pool of Siloam. We know that it was located in Jerusalem, and that this pool had temple connections.
You may remember from chapter 7 that Siloam was the pool that the priests would draw water from during the Feast of Tabernacles. The priest drew water from Siloam, marched it to the temple, and poured the water out at the base of the altar, the place of sacrifice and forgiveness. So, the pool of Siloam is more than a watering hole.
It carries a symbolism of life restored and of sins forgiven. While this man wasn’t being punished for a particular sin, his healing is a picture of the cleansing work that all sinners need. So, the meaning of the water in the miracle is pretty clear.
Far less obvious, much less clear is the meaning of the mud. Why the mud? Why did Jesus take some mud and mix it with His saliva and apply it to the man’s eyes before telling Him to wash? The meaning of this mud is a puzzle, though there are no end of suggestions as to what it might mean. I mean, there are literally hundreds of suggestions.
The best of the guesses in my mind is that the mud is a symbol of new creation, because back in Genesis, God made the first man in a personal way from the mud, the dust of the earth. Could Jesus be picturing a new creation in this man’s life, or is that making too much of the mud? We can’t be absolutely sure. We can’t actually be sure of everything in Scripture.
I highly doubt that this man knew what the symbolism meant. In a way, the very weirdness of it calls for the man to trust Jesus and to do His words, even if he doesn’t understand. It’s like the Old Testament story.
(12:08 – 12:28)
You remember the one where the prophet Elijah meets this man called Naaman. Naaman’s got leprosy, and Elijah commands him to wash himself not once or twice or three times, but seven times in the Jordan. What a strange thing to be asked.
(12:29 – 14:52)
But Naaman in faith chooses to do it anyway, and he’s healed. And it’s a reminder to us, isn’t it, that we need to be willing to do some things in life just because Jesus says we should. I don’t need to fully understand everything before I do it.
There’s a kind of holding back that some people have that’s just not helpful, a kind of I need to understand every little nook and cranny of something before I step into it. The person who always needs just a little more information before believing the gospel, the person who feels they don’t understand just quite enough about baptism or just enough about church membership before they’ll take the plunge, this man without full understanding obeys the words of Jesus. And as a result, verse 7, he came home seeing.
I don’t know if your face wash in the sink this morning was very life-changing. For me, it just sort of woke me up a little bit. But what a face wash this is.
He clears the mud away, and as he opens his eyelids, the light shines in for the first time in his life. His blindness turns to sight, and Jesus is the reason. What an amazing start.
What an amazing miracle. And yet, this chapter is more than just the miracle. In fact, the miracle only takes up the first seven verses.
Don’t worry, I’m going to go a bit quicker now. We move then to the second point, the second thing, which is, I think, a main theme in the passage, which is boldness. From blindness, we now move to boldness.
And I want you to notice something unusual in verses 8 to 34, which we’re just going to skim fairly quickly. If we had time, I might ask you to read verses 8 to 34 and tell me what you think is unusual in these verses. Now, we don’t have five minutes to do that, but for the sake of time, I’ll tell you.
(14:52 – 19:17)
What is unusual is that Jesus isn’t present in these verses. For about 30 verses, Jesus is absent. Normally, in any gospel, Jesus is ever-present in every scene and in every conversation, but here He’s absent.
I think it’s a kind of preview of what’s going to happen in the book of Acts, when in one sense, Jesus won’t be visible and present. He’ll be with the church by His Spirit, but He won’t be right alongside visibly. And so, this man is kind of witnessing in a very, what seems a very vulnerable position, but we’re going to see that He does remarkably well by God’s strength.
Now, notice the mixed responses to the miracle. You might think that having been healed, that everyone would be excited and thrilled about it, but that’s not the way it works. First of all, there are those who recognise the miracle.
The man’s neighbours begin to chat, and some of them recognise that this used to be the beggar, the blind beggar, that used to sit on the street corner. Verse 9, they recognise that his life has changed, but others are less certain. This miracle is so astonishing that some suggest He might not even be the man, He might be a lookalike.
Eventually, the man himself chips in and says, I’m not a doppelganger, I am the man. So, there’s recognition, there’s confusion, and then what takes most of this section, there is opposition. The opponents come in the form of the Pharisees, surprising opponents in one sense.
These are the respected religious Jewish leaders. The opinion of these men mattered in the community. They had, as we will see, huge influence over the synagogues.
This blind man is brought to them by the people, and the Pharisees launch an investigation into the alleged healing. Firstly, they question the man, asking him how he has received his sight, and he answers, look at verse 15, very straightforwardly, that Jesus put mud on my eyes and I washed, and now I see. What a simple, powerful little testimony.
When I was a young Christian, I was told to write out my testimony on one side of A4. This guy does it in three lines. He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.
We don’t need to be eloquent preachers or long-winded speakers, as most of us up here are, to give our testimony. In fact, the simplest testimonies are often the best and most authentic. They get to the point, and the point is Jesus, and they tell the story.
Well, the Pharisees don’t respond with, what a wonderful story. Thank you so much for sharing. The mention of Jesus is like a red rag to a bull, verse 16.
Some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. For the second time in this gospel, Jesus has healed on the Sabbath day. And the Pharisees cannot square this with a man who is sent from God.
But the trouble they have is all the other evidence. All the other evidence seems to point in just the opposite direction. When they put the healed man on the spot, they ask him what he thinks of Jesus.
(19:18 – 19:31)
His reply is that Jesus is a prophet. And that makes more sense of the evidence. Such an amazing miracle is something that only a man of God would do.
(19:32 – 20:05)
But the Pharisees won’t accept this. In verses 18 to 23, they try to find an escape route. They find the man’s parents, they interview them.
They’re hoping to discover a case of mistaken identity. They’re hoping that this man wasn’t blind in the first place. But his parents, though cagey, confirm that this is their son, and he was born blind.
(20:06 – 20:25)
A miracle has definitely happened, and Jesus has definitely done it. Well, where do they go now? The answer is round and round in circles. They haul in the healed man for a second time.
(20:26 – 23:46)
And from now on, it’s less of a genuine investigation, and it’s more of a shouting match. The Pharisees turn up the heat in verse 24. Give glory to God, they say, by telling the truth.
Give glory to God here is code for, you better agree with our truth and say bad things about Jesus. Give glory to God, because we know that this man is a sinner, growing in boldness, but still lacking in understanding. The man replies, “Whether this man is a sinner or not, I don’t know.
But one thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see.” He points them to the undisputed miracle, which makes the Pharisees even more frustrated, even more heated. Running out of ideas and trying to find some flaw in his story, they ask him to tell the story of healing again.
And you can understand that by this point, the blind man is exasperated. “I’ve told you already, he says, and you didn’t listen”. I love his note of, he obviously came from Glasgow, this guy, because he’s very sarcastic.
He says, “Do you want to become his disciples too? Is that why you’re asking me for the story again? You want to be a convert?” Of course, that’s the furthest thing from their minds. Insults now fly like bullets. The man’s condemned as a disciple of Jesus.
They think that’s a bad thing, while they, on the other hand, are disciples of Moses. They don’t know where this Jesus has come from, but he certainly hasn’t come from God. I think verse 30 is probably the point where I would have shut up and maybe just given up trying to convince these guys.
But then again, I haven’t been healed from decades of blindness. The man answered, “Now that is remarkable. That is remarkable that you don’t know where he comes from.
You don’t know where Jesus comes from, yet he opened my eyes. You call him a sinner, yet we know God doesn’t listen to sinners. But Jesus’ prayer seems to have been answered.
And further, nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. Jesus has done a unique miracle, and you don’t know where he comes from”. Talk about going for the jugular.
Talk about boldness in the face of opposition. Talk about bringing the factual to the irrational. Notice that it’s the disciples of Jesus, the disciple of Jesus here, who is rational, not his irrational opponents.
(23:48 – 25:41)
It’s a common idea today, isn’t it, that people of faith generally, but people of Christian faith particularly are the irrational ones. You know, You’re the people who have thrown your heads and minds out of the window. People say that the rejection of Christianity is evidence-based.
But when you read the gospels, you see the exact opposite thing happening. Mountains and mountains of evidence pile up in the words and the works of Jesus, even a resurrection at the end of the gospel, yet people don’t want to believe in spite of the evidence. It’s the old thing of, I know what I think, don’t confuse me with the facts.
I wonder if you are here this morning, and you’re not a Christian today, whether your rejection of Jesus is truly evidence-based. How much time have you really taken to weigh up the evidence of the Christian faith with an open mind and an open heart, and with the time it really does take to examine the biblical evidence? And my brother and sister in Christ, don’t be surprised if not everyone in your family, your friend group, your workplace, don’t be surprised if they’re not all jumping up and down when you announce that you’ve seen the light. Stick closely to the facts, but don’t be surprised if sometimes even the facts don’t penetrate the armour of someone who’s made up their mind.
(25:42 – 26:07)
Keep speaking boldly, briefly, and personally. This man moves from blindness to boldness, but wonderfully, it doesn’t even end quite there. There’s a final movement at the end of the passage to believing, and this is so important for this man that he comes to this point.
(26:08 – 27:41)
Now, I love the detail of verse 35, that Jesus heard that the man had been thrown out, thrown out of the synagogue, thrown out of the whole community, and he found him. For the second time in the passage, it happened at the beginning, Jesus is the one who finds the man, not the other way around. But he finds him not just to offer him support, he finds him to finish the man’s journey to faith.
Have you noticed the gradual progression of understanding in this man? He already thought that Jesus was a prophet. He could come to no other conclusion than that Jesus had come from God, and yet he still doesn’t have the full picture. There is another crucial higher step to take, and this often happens when people come to faith.
They often have a partial but growing understanding. That’s very normal. He believes that Jesus is a prophet.
He believes that he’s come from God. But Jesus now takes him to the full reality in his question in verse 35. Do you believe in the Son of Man? The Son of Man was a title of a glorious Old Testament figure.
(27:41 – 28:15)
The Son of Man was an authoritative ruler and judge who seems on a par with God, who was equal with God. We read of the Son of Man in the book of Daniel. And Jesus says, do you believe in the Son of Man, in this divine figure, this divine judge, to which the man replies, who is he, sir? If you tell me who he is, I’ll believe in him.
(28:17 – 28:36)
To which Jesus responds, you have now seen him. With your newly functioning eyes, you are looking at the Son of Man. You are hearing the very words of the Son of Man.
(28:37 – 28:56)
And what has been gradual now becomes instant. The man responds on the spot, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him. Notice that the man’s worship is the evidence of his belief.
(28:57 – 29:58)
And notice that the man’s belief is the foundation of his worship. Some of you might remember back in chapter 4, Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman, and he said this to her. He said, the time is coming and has now come when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
A day of worship is about to break out, says Jesus. In fact, it’s already happening. And here, five chapters on, we have a man who is worshipping God in the person of Christ.
And why does he worship? Because he believes. See, that’s the heart of worship. Worship is not a series of rituals you perform externally.
(29:59 – 32:07)
And worship is neither simply a flurry of emotions. Both action and emotion can be involved in true worship, but they’re not the heart of it. True worship begins when we believe in Jesus as God, Saviour, and Lord.
Worship is an organic, almost instinctive response to believing in the Christ. If you want to worship right, check what you believe, or maybe more precisely, check in whom you believe. And that will show itself in how you live way beyond just a Sunday, for all of our life expresses our worship.
Every decision, every word, every aspect. That’s why John never moves far from the theme of believing in this gospel, because believing affects everything. So, what do you believe? Not just what did you believe years ago, but what do you believe today? Are you in the category of seeing and believing, or are you in the category of the Pharisees at the end of this chapter? This very sad little exchange at the end of the chapter.
As Jesus explains that part of His mission is to bring judgement to the world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind. What’s Jesus’ point there? I think what Jesus is saying is that as He brings His light into the world, that will inevitably bring about not only a seeing response, but sadly, a blind response from some. While some will see the light, others will be blinded by the light.
(32:09 – 32:51)
They’ll respond with unbelief, rejection, scepticism. There’s a few Pharisees hanging around as Jesus says this in verses 40 and 41. They overhear Jesus’ words, and they ask, they kind of but in, and they say, are you saying that we are blind too? Is this true of us? The answer, I think, for them was yes.
They were blind, but they couldn’t see it. And you see, that’s the real tragedy that Jesus homes in on at the end, is that so often those who are blind don’t see that they are blind. They think that they see.
(32:53 – 34:51)
That makes sense, doesn’t it? If you think you’ve already got the answers to life, then you won’t go looking for the answers in Jesus. We see that in so many people, don’t we? They think they’ve already got it nailed. And that’s what this man thought.
He thought he knew the truth. He thought that Jesus wasn’t part of it. And yet if he recognised his blindness, there would have been hope for spiritual sight.
This passage isn’t just a warm invite to come and see the light, although it is, but it’s also a warning not to stay blind while thinking that you see. We all need the cleansing that Jesus provides. We’re all in the category of sinner.
You know, the Jews at the beginning of the passage, the disciples, they thought there were sinners over here and the good, righteous people over there, but we’re all in the category of sinners. We all need the bath of spiritual cleansing. We all need the work of Jesus on the cross to bring forgiveness and restoration.
And the wonderful thing is that Jesus is willing. He’s willing to open your blind eyes and make a new creation out of you. And when that happens in your life through simple faith in him, it results in a humble dependence, in an obedience, and even then in a boldness.
Because if someone opens your eyes, you cannot shut up about it. We talked in the beginning of the message about impossible things or almost impossible things. It should be almost impossible not to speak of the change that God has done in our lives.
(34:52 – 35:10)
It should be almost impossible to keep our mouth shut if God has opened our eyes in Christ. Not to give an elaborate testimony, but a simple story. You can sum it up like this if you like.
(35:11 – 35:29)
I once was blind, but now I see. Father, help us to to know that story for ourselves. May that be our story.
(35:31 – 35:55)
Open our eyes, Lord Jesus, if we’ve not seen the truth about you before. And help us in seeing then to open our mouth in humble and yet bold witness. And may many others be drawn to seeing the light for their joy and for your glory.
Amen.
The post I Was blind but now I see – John 9 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Good morning. I want to ask you a simple question this morning. Where is your identity? We live in a world where there’s an obsession with our identity.
Identity by definition is a unique set of characteristics that can be used to identify a person as himself and no one else. I appreciate the image that Glenn has put on the slide for us, because to identify someone after a disaster, there are three primary ways to determine someone’s identity. Forensic odontology, which Alastair Macphail will know as dental records.
(0:48 – 2:01)
Forensic radiology, fingerprints, palm prints, and footprints, and DNA. These are proven ways to identify someone. And failing that, there are many secondary identifiers, marks, scars, tattoos, among other things.
However, identity can be used in different ways and in different contexts. On a personal level, identity often refers to someone’s sense of self, meaning that how they view themselves as how other people might view them. I seem to be booming just a wee bit.
I don’t know if that can be helped. We now, despite God creating two genders, male and female, we now have an explosion of 107 different genders, based on how people feel about themselves. Identity extends to all nine protected characteristics, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage, pregnancy, race, colour, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
(2:02 – 5:13)
Identity extends to our image. And this is why Gen Z, for them, gyms are the new pubs, where young people like to hang out and socialise, want to be seen and where they work on their image, which is deeply connected to identity. People find their identity in academia, in the job that they have, in the salary that they earn, how they look on social media and who follows them.
We are obsessed with our identity. Well, today, we’re going to look at what the Bible has to say about our identity. And just to put it out there right at the beginning, spoiler alert, we’re going to discover that the heart of our identity is binary.
We are either in the world or we’re in Christ. So turn with me to Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, which is modern day Turkey. Ephesians chapter 2, it’s on page 1173, if you’re using the red Bibles, and it’ll be on the screen behind me.
I’m conscious that we’re dropping right into the middle of this letter. And context is important. Paul, in this letter, is speaking to Jews and Gentiles and giving a big encouragement about oneness.
So let’s read what is arguably the greatest summary of the gospel in 10 verses in the whole Bible. So strap in and get ready. Ephesians chapter 2, “As for you, you are dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath”. That’s a pretty bleak outlook on life.
Verse 4, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace that you have been saved, and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourself, it is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do”. Amen. And this is the word of the Lord.
(5:14 – 6:48)
This morning, in the time that we have remaining, we’re going to address the question of where is your identity, and we’re going to look at an identity crisis, an identity transformation, and our identity in Christ. So firstly, our identity crisis. If I had just read the first three verses and stopped, and you were sitting there with your friend that you brought to church for the first time after years of trying to get them along, they’d been saying to you, “But it’s all judgement and woe is me”, and I stopped at the end of verse three and closed my Bible, you would have been squirming in your seat, a bead of sweat running down your back thinking, really Andy, the whole Bible, and you chose that.
That’s pretty pessimistic, but really, you are dead in your transgressions and sins. You followed the ways of this world, the spirit who is now at work, and those who are disobedient, gratifying the cravings of our flesh. We were by nature, or children, deserving of wrath.
Bleak, bleak stuff. And this was, and this is for some, our identity. It is tragic, it is scary, and it is real.
(6:50 – 11:12)
But this is why Paul is a great writer. He said what we needed to hear. He said what his audience needed to hear, those he was writing to.
However, it is a devastating description of our human condition. It looks like Paul is initially addressing just the Gentile listeners, as for you, he starts, but soon he’s highlighting that this is all humanity. Verse three, all of us, he includes himself in it.
What Paul is describing is universal. Often we go through life and we don’t really think about our position before an omnipotent God. But these verses bring that into a sharp, sharp focus.
Where is your identity? As for you, you are dead in your transgressions and sins. This is our natural position, dead. Now, as you look at the world, people might not look as though they are dead.
Walking through Silverburn, lying on a beach abroad, as some of you might have done recently, is not a scene from the Azombie apocalypse with literal dead bodies walking around. But Paul is highlighting that because of sin, we are cut off from the source of life that is God, and we are spiritually dead, which means that when we do physically die, we will remain cut off from God and be faced with an eternity in hell. Why are we dead in our transgressions, that crossing the line, as it were, that deviation from the right path? Why are we dead in our sins, that falling short of the mark? Because our identity was in the world.
We were following the ways of this world. Our world is predominantly a selfish world. People are out to better themselves, to make their own lives comfortable.
It’s very much a me first. This is why we look longingly at those who have more than us. If only I had, my life would be so much better.
But we are dead. And not only are we dead, we are slaves. We are not only following the ways of the world, we’re following the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is at work in those who are disobedient.
Behind our sins is that we’re enslaved by the devil himself. John Stott in his commentary highlighted that churches are shying away from the existence of the devil. But John Stott highlights that Jesus teaches it, that the devil is the source of our temptation.
The devil is a lion and a murderer. Verse three, all of us, this is universal as I’ve already indicated, lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, of our bodies, following its desires and thoughts. What might be some of these cravings of the flesh? Well, let’s look briefly at three.
And again, I’ll thank John Stott for this. Food, sleep, and sex. There is nothing wrong with these things in the right place.
However, it becomes a problem when our desire for food becomes gluttony, our desire for sleep becomes slothful, and our desire for sex becomes lustful. Natural desires become perverted into sinful desires. We are dead, we are enslaved, and we’re also, verse three, condemned.
Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. Paul packs another punch in this verse, this bleak picture of our position, of our identity in the world. It’s not getting much better.
(11:13 – 11:28)
What do you think of when you think of wrath? By definition, this is extreme anger. A mother or father flying off at the handle because their son or daughter has done something wrong. It feels OTT.
(11:31 – 13:32)
When everything settles down, you think that was a bit much. The problem being that humans are sinful and that our image of wrath is often one that seems, well, a bit wrong, a bit over the top. However, this is not the image with God.
God is consistently and constantly in opposition to sin, in hostility with evil. If we are sinning, we are under the wrath of God because God hates sin. I wasn’t sure about using that word.
God hates sin. But read Proverbs chapter six, the last few verses. There are six things that the Lord hates and seven that are detestable to him.
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, the heart that deceives evil, wicked schemes, the feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and the person who stirs up conflict in the community. The Bible is clear that God hates sin. So we this morning are by nature sinners and God’s anger, his wrath is what we deserve.
When I went to school, I went to school with a guy who used to go on about how could I believe in a God who is full of wrath. And I get where he’s coming from because it’s pretty heavy stuff. You might be sitting there this morning here or sitting at home thinking the same as my friend Davy Connolly.
And if you are, I want you to keep listening because there’s a but. As we read earlier, our text doesn’t stop at verse three. And that is wonderful.
(13:36 – 13:50)
God’s wrath is not incompatible with God’s love. So we’re going to now look at our identity transformation. In verses one to three, we saw how we were dead, enslaved, and condemned.
(13:51 – 15:05)
But God, it says in the ESV and the NIV, it says, but because of his great love for us, God. And we’ll come on to the NIV in a minute, but pause briefly to think on how the ESV closes down this bleak picture that I painted to you in the last 10 minutes with two simple words, but God. We were dead, but God.
We were enslaved, but God. We were condemned, but God. I said at the prayer meeting on Thursday that we have a God who doesn’t just sit with his arms folded in anger and wrath.
We have a God who moves towards us in love. In Isaiah 65 verse two and Romans 10 verse 21, it says, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. But God, God acts, and as we’ll hopefully see, to bring about a transformation in our identity, and it is all his doing.
(15:07 – 16:02)
Why does God intervene? In this middle section, verses four to seven, we see the amazing answer, because God is a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of grace, and a God of kindness. But God, or the expanded version in the NIV, but because of his great love, God. It says on the wall here in Greenview, 1 John chapter four, verse eight, God is love.
God’s wrath and God’s love are not incompatible. Because God hates sin and is consistently and constantly in opposition to sin, he shows anger and wrath. But because of his love, he’s provided an escape from this wrath.
(16:03 – 16:26)
The bleak picture that was painted in verses one to three shows why we’re deserving of wrath. But because of his great love, God, who is rich in mercy. Mercy, as I’ve said here before, and I remember it was shared at the YF many, many years ago, mercy is not getting what we deserve.
(16:27 – 18:16)
It’s the judge in court saying to the man in the dock, you deserve a life sentence, but I’m going to set you free. God, who is rich in mercy, is not giving us what we deserve, his wrath. He’s made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgression.
This text is full of contrasts between these two binary identities, dead in transgression, now made alive. Talk about transformation. Sadly, we lost our dear brother Ronnie last week, but we can rejoice as he was transformed.
Ronnie, for those who don’t know, was a guy who came along to the Greenview Cafe and through conversations started to read the Bible. He then accepted Jesus as his saviour and Lord. Ronnie was no longer living for himself.
He was living for Jesus. He was once dead spiritually, but made alive in Christ. Though he died physically to cancer, he remains alive eternally in Christ.
Where is your identity? Ronnie knew where his identity was. This wonderful text about transformation continues. Verse five, it is by grace that you have been saved, grace and mercy.
If mercy is not getting what we deserve, grace is a gift. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. Going back to our judge in the court, grace is a judge taking off his gown and his wig and saying, I am going to take your life sentence.
(18:18 – 18:48)
God didn’t need to reach out to save us. God didn’t need to give us his rescuer. God didn’t have to send Jesus into the world as a baby to die, to live a perfect life, to die on a cross, accepting the punishment that we deserved.
But God did all of this because of his love. And in grace gave us the free gift of salvation. It is by grace that you have been saved.
(18:49 – 20:26)
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Talk about transformation.
We were dead in our transgressions and sins, and God has raised us up as he did with Christ and seated him with him in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus. This is the confidence of a Christian. This is why we can rejoice that Ronnie is seated with God in the heavenly realms because he was transformed and he is in Christ Jesus.
God did all of this for us, showing us verse seven, the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Love, mercy, grace, and kindness from God who transforms our identity. Our God truly is an awesome God.
And we’ve moved from an identity crisis, and God has transformed our identity to our identity in Christ, which is our third point. Scotty Scheffler is the world’s number one golfer. He cruised to victory in the Open just a couple of weeks ago, becoming only the third player since World War II to have won 15 PGA titles and three different majors before turning the age of 29, along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, two of the greatest players to ever play golf.
(20:28 – 22:34)
But before the Open, Scotty Scheffler said words that caused a stir. It’s on the screen for us. This is not a fulfilling life.
You know there are a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfil them in life, and when they get there, all of a sudden, you get to number one in the world, and then they say, what’s the point? And I really do believe that because you know what is the point. Journalists and commentators were perplexed at Scotty’s comments because here’s a man who is on top of the world, earning millions, world number one, a man who in human terms has made it, but he’s asking, what is the point? He went on to say that if golf got in the way of him being a good husband or being a good dad, he would give up golf. You see behind these comments is a bigger picture, and we’re going to watch a short video.
My buddies told me this morning, you know, my victory was secure on the cross, and that’s a pretty special feeling. I was sitting around with my buddies this morning. I was a bit overwhelmed because I told them, I was like, I wish that I didn’t want to win as badly as I did, or as badly as I do.
I think it would make the mornings easier, but I love winning. I hate losing. I really do, and when you’re hearing the biggest moments when I’m sitting there with the lead on Sunday, I really, really want to win badly, and my buddies told me this morning, you know, my victory was secure on the cross, and that’s a pretty special feeling to know that I’m secure for forever, and it doesn’t matter, you know, whether or not I win this tournament or if I lose this tournament, you know, my identity is secure for forever.
(22:41 – 24:02)
In this short video, Scotty Scheffler, when asking what is the point, he was highlighting that he is not in an identity crisis. No, as we saw in that video, his victory, as his friends were saying to him, was already secure. It didn’t matter if he won or lost.
Scotty’s identity was secure forever, as the ultimate victory was Jesus on the cross. As we turn to this last section, I need us to be thinking, and what? Paul explains to his readers, verse 8, for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, God’s gift, our faith, but before you think that you have anything to boast about, and this is not from yourselves, so that no one, sorry, this is not from yourself, it is grace, a gift from God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Paul has explained that the gospel, Paul has explained the gospel in one of the most amazing gospel texts ever written.
(24:03 – 29:36)
He mentions faith, this is our humble trust, our turning to God, but then he’s very quick to close down any opportunity of self-congratulations or boasting. This transformation, death to life, this world to the heavenly realms, by nature, by grace, under the devil, seated with Christ, not through works, through faith, is all a gift from God, and what? How do we apply this to our lives? Verse 10, for we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. We are created by God, we are saved by grace, our identity in Christ is exactly that, it is our identity, so we are called to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
So, hot off the back of verses 8 and 9, this is not so that we can earn our salvation, we already know that this is a gift from God, but we are called to do good works. Jesus, on the Sermon on the Mount, preached that we are salt and light, to be different, to be distinct from the world around us, so people should see that you are a Christian by your good works, by the things that you do, by the works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. So, an example of that, yesterday, warm spaces, keeping in touch day, that’s a good work.
Speaking to your colleagues in the middle of November, or parents at the school gate when they ask, what are you doing this weekend? And you say, I’m cooking for people in the community who are going to come into our church, to warm spaces, or I’m going to church to chat to people from the community. This is a good work, and immediately the person that you’re chatting to realises that you’re actually invested in your faith, you’re committed to doing good works that God has prepared in advance for you to do. It’s important to continually be open with people.
I took a phone call on Friday from a coach who I’m slowly starting to get to know, and I answered after a number of rings, and he said, sorry, you weren’t on night shift, were you? And I replied, no, I was actually working on a sermon for Sunday. Pause at the other end of the line. Cogs whirring.
Then he just got on with asking the question that he was phoning about, and I’ll pick up that pregnant pause another day with him, because it is so important just to keep sharing the things that we’re involved in. It’s so important to let people know that we’re a Christian by the good works that we do. In the last half an hour, we’ve looked at what I introduced as arguably the greatest summary of the gospel in 10 verses in the whole Bible.
These 10 verses summarise Romans chapter 1 through to chapter 5. We saw the utter depravity of our identity crisis, and we’ve hopefully been amazed at our transformation to having an identity in Christ. But if you’re not a Christian today, and you’re sitting here, or you’re watching online, take time to consider what you have heard. Come speak to me.
Come speak to the person beside you. Ask questions. Don’t remain dead, enslaved, and condemned.
Instead, be made alive, raised up, and seated in the heavenly realms. If you are a Christian already, can you really keep all of this wondrously glorious gospel to yourselves? No. Part of the good works that you’re called to do, which God has prepared in advance for you to do, is to share the good news about him.
At the prayer meeting on Thursday night, under the title of People We Love, we shared in our groups a name that we each wanted to pray for, so we could seek to share the gospel with them, and we prayed for these people by name. Pray for opportunities, and when God answers, and he will, when God answers your prayers, take that opportunity to share the gospel. Because as we’ve seen today, it’s a matter of life and death.
Last week, Callum Finbow challenged us about our report card here at Greenview, in terms of how good are we at communicating the gospel? Is the quiet revival real, he asked. In two weeks, we take on a new staff worker, Lucy Thompson, as our outreach and women’s worker. As elders, we want the focus of our church to be on evangelism, but this is not a one-person role.
(29:37 – 30:17)
We are called, all of us, to roll up our sleeves and take part. So as Lucy undertakes this role, be ready to be uncomfortable for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of sharing the good news that moves someone from death to life, in the cafe, in warm spaces, in tots, in the discovery club, in your workplace, in your street. Because we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good work, which God created in advance for us to do.
(30:18 – 32:03)
So let’s be ready to share the good news. Let’s be ready to live as Christians. Let’s be ready to do good works.
And no matter what life throws at you, it might not be the chance to win the U.S. Open like Scotty Scheffler. But how you react to a cancer diagnosis, how you are when you’re promoted at work, how you are when you don’t get that job interview, how you are when you fail an exam, or even when you score a goal, remember that the victory is won and our identity in Christ is secure. Let’s pray.
Lord, we come before you just now and we want to thank you for the words that you gave Paul all those years ago to write to the church in Ephesus. Lord, we want to thank you for the wonder and the glory of that gospel message, of how we’ve been brought from death to life, how we’ve been enslaved and now we are free, how we’ve been condemned and now we have been saved. And Lord, we pray that you will help each of us to consider where is our identity? Is our identity in the world or is our identity in your son Christ Jesus? Lord, we pray that as a church that you will help us to do good works.
(32:03 – 32:30)
You will help us to share your wondrous gospel message and that we will proclaim it in the community that we live in, in the community that we work in, in the community here in Pollokshaws. Lord, pray that you will help us to do the good works that you have prepared in advance for us to do. In Jesus name.
Amen.
The post Where is your Identity?–Ephesians 2v1–10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Thanks Colin and thank you all, Greenview, for having me here. It’s a great privilege to be here. I’m very thankful for Colin and his impact on my life, pastoring me and Balamuni for that time and if you’ve been at Greenview for any length of time you’ll be deeply thankful, I’m sure, for Colin and the work that he does in pastoring.
He’s an excellent Bible teacher and I’m thankful for the invitation today. We’re going to spend a bit of time in a great little parable in Matthew 25 today, the parable of the bags of gold, as it is in the NIV, you might know it as the parable of the talents and you can help me with this a bit because I’ve been thinking a bit about this parable for leaders in the context of our church plant and so I’d love your thoughts and reflections as we jump into this now. So if you’ve got your Bibles there let’s open up to Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 to 30, let’s read that together.
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags and to another one bag, each according to his ability. And then he went on his journey.
The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five bags of gold, see I have gained five more.
His master replied, well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things, I’ll put you in charge of many things, come and share your master’s happiness. The man with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two bags of gold, see I have gained two more.
His master replied, well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things, I’ll put you in charge of many things, come and share your master’s happiness. Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
(2:47 – 4:11)
So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground, see here is what belongs to you. And his master replied, you wicked lazy servant, so you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed, well then you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has 10 bags, for whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance, whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, as we think about these weighty words, we are thankful for them even though they are bold. And we yearn, Lord, as we come to this passage of Scripture this morning, that you would mould us and shape us to be good and faithful servants, who are good stewards of the gifts that you have given us. We pray that in Christ’s name, Amen.
(4:14 – 4:49)
Now, there’s a dear brother at St Silas, who came to faith in the last year or two, let’s call him Adam, and I was chatting with him after church last Sunday. He was sharing with me his efforts to share Jesus with people at the gym, who he meets at the gym and he was expressing to me that he didn’t feel like he had the right answers to the questions that these people were asking him. He was trying to show videos on his phone and well, the people just weren’t picking up what he was putting down.
(4:52 – 5:26)
And he said to me, I just don’t have everything figured out in my head yet and I feel like I should. Should I wait until I have mastered this thing a bit more before I start trying to convince other people of who Jesus is? I feel like a bit of an imposter. I reckon we all know what it’s like to feel like an imposter in the Christian life, especially when we’re trying to live for the Kingdom in an intentional way.
(5:26 – 7:32)
So, the Christian parent has an imposter syndrome, when they’re trying to disciple their kids, I’m just making this thing up as I go along, maybe I’m making this worse. The Christian university student has an imposter syndrome, when they try to challenge a friend who is slipping away from the faith, I’m just making this up as I go along, I’m nervous I’m making this worse. The Christian retiree has an imposter syndrome, as they try to work out the best way to use their time.
The Christian minister, I assure you, has an imposter syndrome. We’re supposed to be the ones who know everything. The Christian missionary has an imposter syndrome.
Lindsay was saying before how she feels vastly underqualified for the job that she is doing. We all have an imposter syndrome that kicks in and especially when we try to do something for the Kingdom and it doesn’t go as we want. And because of that, I think this parable freaks us out.
If you are a Christian, is there anything that you desire to hear more than your Master at the end of your life saying, well done, good and faithful servant? And yet, as you look at your life, if you’re anything like me, there’ll be moments where you just can’t imagine Christ saying that to you. And so, as we jump into Matthew 25 today, I want to say that this parable is for those who feel like they are imposters. And as we hear these words on the lips of Jesus, there is genuine encouragement for us, as we think about who we are, who you are, with all of your strengths and all of your weaknesses, with all of the experience that you’ve got from life, and all of the baggage that you carry from life as well.
(7:34 – 8:05)
There is encouragement for how you, as an individual, can live life for the Kingdom. And there are three considerations that are fuel for us to live out our lives in a way that makes an impact for the Kingdom, and we have three points for today, the Master’s absence, the Master’s character, and the Master’s servant. Now, all of this will help us to be stewards of God’s gift.
(8:05 – 10:24)
So, I hope you’ve got Matthew 25 open. We’re going to start with our first point, the Master’s absence, verse 14. Again, Jesus says, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
So, I just want to situate us in the book of Matthew, because we’re just jumping into this on a sort of one-off, so let’s situate ourselves in the book. Jesus is speaking here to the twelve disciples, and we know that because 24 verse 3 says, as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. And so, it is this very small setting where Jesus is speaking these parables.
And He’s been teaching the twelve disciples, and this is His third of four consecutive parables that He tells. The first one comes in 24, verses 45 to 51, and it’s about a senior servant who is waiting for his Master by looking after the other servants well. And if he doesn’t, there’s eternal judgement.
The second parable comes in 25, verses 1 to 13, it’s about ten virgins who are awaiting the bridegroom to celebrate at the wedding when He comes. And those who are prepared, are watching for Him, they enter into the wedding. But those who aren’t prepared, are not able to come in.
Eternal judgement. Then there’s our parable for today, which we’ll come back to in a second. Then the fourth parable is in 24, verses 31 to 46, it’s about disciples of Jesus who look after other disciples of Jesus, until Jesus returns.
But those who don’t, face eternal judgement. And all four parables are Jesus giving the twelve, a pre-match prep talk, as He comes to the crescendo of His earthly ministry, as He’s about to come to the cross, and He will die, and rise again, and ascend, and He will be gone. And He’s preparing them for life after He has gone.
(10:25 – 12:34)
And He emphasises heaven and hell to remind them that the stakes are high. The life they are living matters because Jesus is entrusting the Kingdom to them, and by extension, He’s entrusting the Kingdom to us. And so it is in our parable.
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. It’s actually a pretty straightforward parable. It is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Christ is the man, the Master, and the twelve, and by extension us, the twelve are the servants. And the Master is going on a journey, and so He gives His servants some Kingdom responsibility, while He is away. Verse 15, to one He gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one, each according to his ability.
And then He went on His journey. So think of a CEO who’s taking an extended sabbatical, and he invites his core team into the office with him, and he’s going to divide up ten areas of responsibility among them. And so to his right-hand man, who has been with him through thick and thin, he says, look, you’re the best equipped to take on the bulk of this, so you take five areas of responsibility.
And to someone else, he says, well, here are two things that I’d like you to do. And then there’s sort of a junior employee who he wants to test out a little bit, and so he says, well, you can take this area of responsibility and see how you go. And then the CEO goes on leave.
When Jesus was on earth, the disciples were learners, they were apprentices, they were following Jesus around, they were scribbling down notes in their notebook to see what He did, how He acted. And then, sometimes they, you know, they didn’t learn all that well, right? Peter asked a few silly questions in his time as a disciple of Jesus. But then Jesus left, and they were the ones who had to step up and do things.
(12:35 – 13:26)
And what do you know, Peter, well, Peter turns out to be a five bags of gold guy. Once the Spirit comes at Pentecost, Peter goes from bumbling, full, nervous wreck, to courageous preacher, bold leader. His personality, his gifts, his leadership potential, all of them used powerfully for the sake of the Kingdom.
And when Peter was martyred, a few decades later, you can imagine him being welcomed home by Christ. Well done, good and faithful servant. Along with Peter, Matthew and John, a part of that group who are listening to Jesus tell this parable, and they go on to pen words of Scripture.
(13:28 – 14:02)
The reason why we have this parable written down is because Matthew wrote it down for us. Well done, good and faithful servants. And they did that after the Master had gone, they stepped up and carried on the ministry of Jesus, for the sake of the Kingdom, in his absence.
And so that’s how the parable plays out. Verse 16, the man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work, and he gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags gained two more.
(14:03 – 15:49)
The Master’s absence, and the fact that He’s coming back, ought to be something that spurs us on to living for the Kingdom. It’s wonderful to hear Abbey say, talk about, talking about her faith in Tanzania, and a place where that can happen. That’s Kingdom work, when we’re sharing about Jesus with others, either that others might come into the Kingdom, or that Christian believers are matured in their faith.
That’s the Kingdom work that we have in mind here, and that what the parable is getting at. And Christ has entrusted gifts to you, to all of us, your personality, wisdom, intelligence, love, grace, and the task is for us to steward those gifts. And we steward those gifts for a short time, either until Christ comes back, or we die.
If you’ve been on a long-haul flight, then you will have been served by a flight steward. Now, I say a long-haul flight because the illustration kind of breaks down on a low-cost airline. I think Ryan Air’s employees are encouraged to give poor service.
But on a long-haul flight, the steward is there, and the steward controls all the resources that are there for the sake of the passengers. So, the steward controls the storage space, the steward controls the meals, the steward controls the blankets, controls the activity sets for the kids. And if you’re a new flight steward, and you’re on a plane, you can’t just say, well, I’m just new, I’m going to wait a few hours before I get involved.
(15:50 – 17:06)
The flight’s over in a few hours, you don’t have long to steward the resources that are there for you. Now, nobody’s expecting you to look after the first-class passengers on your first flight, but you better help with the meal service, because time is short. And so, we are to live with a certain urgency because we are living in the time of the Master’s absence.
The most important thing about living in 2025 is that Jesus has gone, and He isn’t back yet. That is a more important time consideration than what year you’re in at school, or your kids are in at school. You ought to have a stronger hold on how you spend your time, than how many years away retirement is.
Right, if you’re getting married next year, congratulations! And Christ rejoices with you. But the thing that should determine how you live this year, and what your priorities are, this year, and next, and the year after, is that we are servants living in the time of the Master’s absence. And Christ has put you where you are, with the gifts that you have, for Kingdom work.
(17:08 – 18:25)
And this is what the third servant gets wrong, verse 18, but the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and he hid his Master’s money. It seems, incidentally, that he did this straight away and then did nothing else, while he was waiting for the Master’s return. Like, this is an inexplicable response.
It makes absolutely no sense, because, well, it’s his job to do something with this. And so, while the other servants are commended at the end of our passage, this servant is judged, verse 28. So, take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags, for whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.
Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them, and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness, where they will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so, from the positive command in the passage, and from this warning, be a good steward of the resources that God has given you, in the short time that you have in this life. That’s the thrust of the parable, it’s a pretty simple parable.
(18:28 – 20:13)
But I think that for most of us, at this point, there’s a few more things going on in our heads, as we get to the end of the parable. If we’re honest with ourselves, and it’s always important to be honest with ourselves when we’re reading the Bible. If we’re honest with ourselves, we think that maybe the Master’s a little bit harsh here.
We’ve got questions, perhaps, over the Master’s character. And if we’re honest, we’re not sure how we stack up as servants. There’s a nagging fear, maybe I haven’t done enough, which goes against our knowledge that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone.
So, we’re not quite sure what to do with that. We’ve got questions over the Master’s character, and we’ve got questions over the Master’s servant, ourselves. And so, the risk is, I think, that if we just walk away from this, with the main general thrust of the parable there, like we can tick off the Bible study session to say that, yes, I’ve understood the parable, but then the little nagging questions are maybe still there, and if they sit there unanswered, we don’t end up believing this with enough clarity to actually have it make any difference in our lives.
So, let’s hunt for clarity, let’s search for clarity. Second thing I want you to think about today, the Master’s character. Throughout the history of the Church, there has always been an awareness that you can’t understand humanity, and you can’t understand yourself, until you’ve grappled with God.
(20:16 – 21:28)
The Reformation theologian, John Calvin, said, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself, unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating Him, to scrutinise himself. If we’re to understand ourselves, we’ve got to think about God, the Master in the parable. The Master has entrusted His servants with the bags of gold, and He’s gone off, but note the tone, as He comes back.
Verse 19, after a long time, the Master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who’d received five bags of gold, brought the other five. Master, He said, you entrusted me with five bags of gold, see I have gained five more.
Note the tone of the Master’s reply, well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things, come and share your Master’s happiness. Three things that I think are worth noticing here, about the Master’s character.
(21:30 – 21:46)
He is encouraging, He is incredibly wealthy, and He is generous. He’s encouraging, well done, good and faithful servant. But that says more about the Master, than it does about the servant.
(21:47 – 23:14)
There is a delight that He has, in the faithfulness of His servants, and that is the delight that God has, in the faithfulness of His people. Now, these words are said at the end, after He has come back, but there’s no reason to think that this is not how God thinks of His servants now. In C.S. Lewis’s, The Screwtape Letters, he writes, as a senior devil to a junior devil, that sounds really weird, if you haven’t read the book, but it’s a good book, you should go and read it.
And in there, he’s reflecting on how God matures His people, and he says this, he says, he wants them to learn to walk, and must therefore take away his hands. He is pleased, even with their stumbles. God delights in your obedience.
He’s encouraging. Second, He’s wealthy, you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. A few things, He says, to the person who is in charge of five bags of gold.
Now, it’s hard for us to work out exactly how much the equivalent of that would be, in our day and age. There’s a footnote in your Bible that says, a talent, like a bag of gold, is about 20 years labour. So, we’re talking more than a lifetime’s income, when you’ve got five of them.
(23:16 – 23:31)
This is a few things to the Master, and that’s deliberate, because there is no mentality of stinginess. Christ owns everything in this universe. Christ cannot suffer loss.
(23:32 – 24:40)
In Kingdom accounting, there is no risk of losing, so invest. And Christ invites you into the mission, not because He’s greedy for what you might get for Him, but because He values you, and He wants to bestow on you the privilege of being involved in His Kingdom work. He’s encouraging, and He is wealthy beyond imagination, and thirdly, He is generous.
Come and share your Master’s happiness. Do you know that God is happy? It’s that joy word, a permanent state, for eternity past, eternity future, right now, God is a Father loving His Son by His Spirit. He is delightful, and He longs to welcome His servants in to share His joy.
(24:41 – 25:01)
He doesn’t have good days and bad days, He’s love. And so, the path to joy is being a faithful servant of the Master, because the more faithful we are, the more we experience that joy of our Master. Think of the most joyful Christian who you know.
(25:04 – 26:43)
Have you got someone in mind? I’ve no idea who that is for you, but my guess is that they are someone who sacrifices for the Kingdom. And did you notice too, that the second servant gets an identical response to the first one? The first one did more work, made more profit, but the encouragement, the wealth, the generosity of the Master is shared equally, with the one who had two bags, as the one who had five bags. It’s word for word, the same.
Why? Because this is not a bonus scheme, where the highest producers get the best perks. This is not a works-based Kingdom, where whoever does more gets the most honour. All faithful servants are invited in equally, because your place in the Kingdom is based on God, not on you.
You can’t be made an imposter, through poor performance. So, as we’ve thought about God’s character, that is who the Master is, in our parable, we can now think of ourselves, the Master’s servant. What does it look like if we get God wrong? And what does it look like if we get God right? Well, the mistake of the third servant is that he gets God wrong.
(26:45 – 28:38)
As this was spoken to the Twelve, in the flow of Matthew’s narrative, I think it’s Judas who plays this part. But it’s true too, for anyone who, by their actions, reject, rebel against, the Master. Look at the third servant’s logic in verse 24, it’s full of misjudgment.
Then the man who had received one bag of gold came, Master, he said, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown, and gathering where you’ve not scattered seeds. Where does this idea come from, that the Master is a hard man? This is not what we have seen, this is not what the other servants have experienced. Verse 25, so I was afraid.
Now, there is a godly fear in the Christian life, but there’s also a sinful fear. And a godly fear is one that reminds us that God is all we’ve got, and so we cling on to Him, desperately fearful that we might run away from Him. But there is a holy fear, a godly fear, so that is the godly fear.
The sinful fear is different, the sinful fear causes distance between us and God. It starts to warp your picture of who God is, because it’s not being refreshed by the true God, but just the lies that come. And so, God turns from being an eternally loving trinity of persons, in perfect joyous relationship with each other, and God becomes a harsh, curmudgeonly dictator, who is eyeing you with a suspicious gaze.
(28:41 – 30:18)
And it causes you to live in falsehood, when you’ve got that wrong conception of God. So, the servant, verse 25, went out and hid your gold in the ground, see here is what belongs to you. Misjudgment of God’s character leads to a sinful fear, and that fear leads to someone who makes no investment in the Kingdom, because they actually don’t know the Kingdom, they don’t know the King.
I think that’s the best explanation of verse 29, when it says, whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. What does the servant not have? He doesn’t have a right knowledge of the King, he doesn’t have a right knowledge of the Master, and so he’ll lose everything. I mean, the life that he had been trusted with is not his to lose ownership of anyway, and there’s no place for him in the Kingdom, if he is ignorant of the King.
If you’re here this morning and you don’t know Jesus, it’s so good that you’re here. Now, take that word as a warning. What is your conception of God? And do you need to change your conception of God to be more like the Master that we see in this parable? Get God wrong and it has bad impacts for us, but what about for the servants who get God right? Well, the parable tells us that they will invest in the Kingdom and in its King.
(30:19 – 32:31)
The broader narrative gives us a bit more of a taste of what that might look like for someone who’s an actual character and not just a character in a parable. In both Mark’s Gospel and here in Matthew, Jesus steps down from this extended speech, that’s called, it’s on the Mount of Olives, and He steps down from this in both Gospels, and the next scene is in Bethany, where Jesus is anointed by a woman with a jar of perfume, and this woman of questionable reputation, of little means, has just about nothing in life but she’s got this jar, the jar of perfume, and she breaks it and she honours Jesus with it. And there’s a beautiful line in Mark’s account where the disciples have been criticising the woman for being wasteful and Jesus says, leave her alone, why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing and He adds in verse 8 of Mark 14, she did what she could.
Is that not the heart of our parable for today? Was not the sinful woman who anointed Jesus welcomed home for eternity with the words, well done good and faithful servant, you did what you could and Jesus doesn’t expect anything more from you. You may be the servant who can do very much, entrusted with many bags of gold, well praise God, go and do what you can for the Kingdom, don’t let laziness distract you, as the Master is absent, time is short, crack on. You may be the servant who can do very little, entrusted with just a couple of bags of gold, praise God, go and do what you can for the Kingdom.
(32:33 – 33:05)
Neither of those servants are impostors and regardless of how much or how little you can do for the Kingdom, none of us are the servant who does the most. For of course, Jesus doesn’t demand anything from us that He has not done first. The servant who was entrusted with the most bags of gold was Christ Himself.
(33:07 – 33:47)
He tells this story to His disciples as He is days away from the cross, where He will pay the price for all of their sin and all of our sin, that He might be able to invite them and us into His eternal joy, when He is your Master. You cannot be an imposter and that is a Master who you can actually give your life to. That is a Master who you will want to steward gifts for.
(33:49 – 34:50)
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we’re so thankful that Jesus is our Master, because in our world there are so many other Masters who want us to serve them. So many things that will enslave us, if given the opportunity.
But Christ is a Master who gives and You have given us gifts to use for His Kingdom. And so we pray, Father, that we would use them, boldly, and that each of us would walk away from this parable, these words of Jesus saying, what can I do for the Kingdom? And we pray that in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
The post Stewards of God’s gifts– Matthew 25v14–30 appeared first on Greenview Church.
The reading is taken from page 1074, if you have the pew Bibles, and it’s from the Gospel of John, and chapter 8. For me, the most wonderful book in the world.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
(0:29 – 1:30)
They answered him, We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free? Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham’s descendants, yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.
Abraham is our father, they answered. If you were Abraham’s children, said Jesus, then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.
(1:31 – 2:48)
Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father. We are not illegitimate children, they protested.
The only father we have is God himself. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me. For I have come here from God.
I have not come on my own. God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me.
Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God. The Jews answered him, Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon possessed? I am not possessed by a demon, said Jesus, but I honour my father and you dishonour me.
(2:49 – 4:13)
I am not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys me, whoever obeys my word, will never see death. At this, they exclaimed, Now we know that you are demon possessed.
Abraham died, and so did the prophets. Yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets.
Who do you think you are? Jesus replied, If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him.
If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad.
You are not yet fifty years old, they said to him. And you have seen Abraham? Very truly, I tell you, Jesus answered, Before Abraham was born, I am. At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
(4:25 – 4:56)
Thank you very much Ian, very much appreciative of you reading that. I loved the gravelly voice. Imagine a young guy leaving home after the summer.
It’s not too hard to imagine. Off to some university or college, away from parents, family, and other people who have known him all his life. Now no one is on his case, asking where he’s been or what he’s doing.
(4:57 – 5:14)
He could follow his own rules, make his own plans, live by his own script, independence. And it feels really great. Imagine too, in time, that he meets someone and starts dating.
(5:16 – 5:31)
And it’s an exciting time, yet slowly something shifts. He has to think about someone else. He wants to make weekend plans, but starts to think, I should probably tell her.
(5:32 – 6:03)
And then he feels it, the subtle pushback inside, the little protest. Wait, do I have to? Does that mean I’m losing my freedom? But also he wants to share what he’s up to and what once were dominant feelings and actions of independence, start to bend under the weight of this belonging to her, this love for another. So here’s the tension he’s grappling with.
(6:04 – 6:39)
The more someone matters to him, the more he wants to start giving up things. Time, preferences, control. And part of him resists that.
He’s thinking, I don’t want to be accountable or tied down. I want to be free, do what I want. But here’s the thing, real love is going to cost him.
It’s going to constrain him. He’s going to have to give up his freedom. But what he’s going to learn is that what he gains is far, far better.
(6:40 – 8:46)
And it won’t feel like constraints and limitations, it will feel something richer and deeper. Well, this is the kind of freedom that Jesus is talking about here in this passage in John chapter 8 that was read for us. To this crowd of Jews who said that they believed in him, Jesus brings together two things, freedom and belonging.
And he talks about what genuine disciples are, real disciples are, who belong to him and surrender to him and live his way. So that’s the dynamic of true, genuine and real faith in Jesus that Jesus is exploring here. That’s how Jesus starts in verse 31.
Jesus says to the people who say they believed in him, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. But these people whom he’s speaking to, who claim to believe that, they push back, they get defensive.
So keep your eyes on the passage, look down verse 33, as Jesus challenges them, they answered and said, we’re Abraham’s descendants and have never been a slave of anyone. How can you say we shall be set free? I wonder as Ian read that passage, did you hear the tone of voice, not Ian’s tone, but the tone of voice of these Jewish believers, so-called believers, the challenge, if you like, that was through their tone, the defensive pushback that characterises their interaction with Jesus. So John writes that they protested in verse 39 and in time they racially slur Jesus, calling him a Samaritan.
They basically say to Jesus, you’re crazy by the way. They call him demon possessed, down in verse 48 and 52. They’re upset and it’s like they’re shouting to him, who do you think you are speaking to us like this? That’s down at verse 53.
(8:47 – 9:44)
At the end we read of them actually picking up stones to stone him, down at verse 58, which actually Jesus knew all about. For he tells them earlier in the interaction, he says, you’re looking for ways to kill me. So even as we start, can we ask ourselves, what attitude do we have towards Jesus? Are you defensive? As the Bible passages challenge us week after week about who Jesus is, what he’s calling us to believe in, how to live our lives to please him? Is it getting at your thoughts of independence and freedom? Who has authority in your life? Are you as challenged about the reality of your faith and what it looks like as these people are being challenged? We’re going to unpack that in the passage just that little bit further.
(9:44 – 11:34)
And there’s three arguments I want us to bring that I think Jesus is making. The first argument is about true freedom, that they’re slaves and not free. There’s a second argument about who they really belong to, who they genuinely belong to, the devil or God.
And then this third argument is about real discipleship. Are they going to hold on to his teaching or not? So let’s think about the first argument about true freedom. They are slaves, not free.
So when Jesus offers freedom, he’s exposing their slavery. But they deny it. They point to their heritage as Abraham’s descendants.
Now, of course, as Abraham’s descendants, the Jews were once slaves. They were slaves in Egypt. And later in their history, they were exiled to Babylon.
And right now, the Roman forces are occupying them. But what they mean is this. As Abraham’s descendants, they believe they’re free because they believe they belong to God.
They believe they’re God’s people. We’re the people of God. They don’t need to rely on others to get to know God.
They’ve been given God’s laws. They’ve been given a temple at Jerusalem, the sacrificial system, and so on. They are the people, and that’s what they’re relying on.
Yet their confidence in these things, their confidence in the spiritual status, it reveals an arrogance, doesn’t it? It reveals a self-righteousness even, and Jesus is laying it bare. He’s saying, you’re actually not free at all. You’re slaves to sin.
You know why? Because inside every human heart is a heart of sin. And sin is the ultimate enemy of freedom. That’s what Jesus is exposing.
(11:37 – 11:55)
So let’s think about this a wee bit more. Jesus has already been challenging various people’s perceptions about what really matters. Remember Nicodemus a few weeks back, way back in chapter 3? Jesus challenged his dependence on observing religious rules.
(11:56 – 14:34)
Jesus said, you need something outside of you to change you radically on the inside. It’s not about you keeping rules. You can’t.
You need to be born again. Jesus challenged the Samaritan woman there in chapter 4. Her belief that satisfaction in life was just dependent on having multiple relationships. But she needed Jesus to truly satisfy her desire for belonging.
What about the disabled man beside the pool? He thought he would be free as long as he was physically healed. He thought he could join the community and belong with them by walking again, but he needed a greater healing on the inside. And Jesus challenged the crowds.
Remember the crowds, thousands of them listening to him? They thought freedom was social justice. Social justice from the Roman oppressors. They needed Jesus to be king, the political leader for them.
They thought if Jesus could just fill their stomachs with food and be a never-ending food bank, that’s freedom for them. But Jesus is saying, no, you want to know what true freedom is? To be truly free, you need to know the truth. That’s in verse 32.
The truth that God is our creator, that he made us, that he knows what is good and right for our lives, that actually there’s something that needs to be sorted in our lives. And this contrasts the worldview, doesn’t it? Our worldview that we may have that says there’s no authority over us except ourselves, that we are independent, that we can do what suits us. But it’s a deception.
Jesus is saying, this gets to the essence of the problem, this problem of sin. It’s fundamentally a rebellion against the creator God who made us and his rightful good authority over all he has made, including us. Sin is disobeying the creator.
It’s like ignoring your car manual when things go wrong. God’s laws are not arbitrary, but they’re essential for our human well-being, their human flourishing. And violating these laws actually lead to psychological, emotional, physical problems.
But instead we resist his authority over us. We don’t want to be told what to do. We ultimately resist God and his ways for us.
We simply don’t believe his ways are best. So we believe a deception, a lie instead. And it doesn’t bring true freedom.
(14:36 – 15:06)
We believe this deception that anything that interferes with our ability to choose is a loss of freedom. Yet, that doesn’t work in so many levels. Imagine someone loves certain foods and drink, brings them great joy, comfort, but one day a doctor says, you’re going to have to stop eating these things, you’re going to have to stop drinking those things, or you’re going to face a heart attack, possibly death, severely limited life.
(15:07 – 15:31)
Now what does freedom mean? Our culture says freedom is doing whatever you want, but what if the desires clash? This person wants to enjoy his food and his lifestyle and stay alive, yet they can’t have both. True freedom is choosing the better desire, the one that brings lasting life and flourishing. The decision that brings short-term pleasure is
(15:31 – 16:06)
different. We must give up one freedom to gain another. Freedom isn’t the absence of limits.
It’s about wise limits and constraints. We constrain ourselves for the better good. Musicians, athletes, students, we understand that, don’t we? We understand that the discipline to cultivate and practise means the removal of certain things and the giving up of certain things to gain that freedom and being able to carry out these skills and craft and calling.
(16:08 – 16:30)
The biblical view is that we’re only free when we accept the good, liberating, wise constraints of a God who knows what we need, what is good and keeps us from harm. That includes ultimately spiritual harm, spiritual death and judgement that comes from sin. These things are all wrapped up in who Jesus is and his teaching.
(16:30 – 16:50)
Because as Jesus has already said again and again, he says what his Father God has given him. He is the Word of God. He is truth.
Following him and his way sets us truly free. But there’s another deception. It’s that we believe that our problems are out there.
(16:52 – 17:13)
It’s not about getting everyone to live by a set of religious standards and then, you know, society would be better and it would be so much easier to live. And it’s not simply mandating that people shouldn’t have multiple partners and live a certain way like the Samaritan woman. It’s not about fixing an unjust political system that the Jewish people wanted or providing a never-ending food bank.
(17:15 – 17:30)
A wrong worldview is that the enemy to your freedom is outside of you. It’s out there. It’s people in society that need fixed.
It’s forces out there that are keeping you back. It’s those circumstances in that relationship. That’s a deceptive way the world thinks.
(17:31 – 17:50)
You have a desire to be free and you want to express your true self and there’s things out there that are keeping you from being what you want to be and the enemies of your freedom are out there. Sure there’s enemies out there. Of course there are.
There are oppressive forces. We’ve been thinking about Iran and what’s going on there. We think about Gaza and the Middle East.
(17:51 – 18:42)
People do bad things. There is evil. There is misery.
There is suffering. I don’t mean there’s not. But Jesus says the ultimate enemy of your true freedom is in here.
It’s in you. It’s in me. The ultimate enemy is our sinful hearts.
What do you believe is true? Or what deceptions are you holding on to? What’s shaping your life, truth or lies? You know the practise of sin proves that you and I are slaves to sin and the practise of sin actually enslaves us. Jesus is calling out the real barrier to true freedom which is sin. It’s why these people are getting so narked with Jesus, so annoyed and they argue with him.
(18:43 – 19:09)
Their defensive responses to him come from this proud self-righteous heart. These supposed believers are actually rejecting Jesus’ rightful authority over them and they don’t listen to his word. They hold on to their heritage and their own standards.
Their pride is blinding and deafening them. They don’t see their need and they don’t see Jesus who’s standing right there in front of them. Yet their very words and actions reveal their slavery to sin.
(19:12 – 19:20)
But the ultimate source of freedom is Jesus. He is the true liberator. So let’s think about the second argument and it’s a wee bit shorter.
(19:22 – 20:59)
Who do we belong to? Genuine belonging. They assume their heritage guaranteed they belong to God but Jesus is challenging that. He says they belong to the devil.
Now that’s a shocker isn’t it? And here’s how it happens. Here’s how Jesus reveals this. He tells him in verse 35, look down, now a slave has no permanent place in the family but a son belongs to it forever.
Then he tells him, verse 37, look I know you’re Abraham’s descendants yet you’re looking for a way to kill me. You are doing what you’ve heard from your father. And then down in verse 39 Jesus goes on.
He says yes you’re Abraham’s descendants but really that counts for very little. If you’re truly Abraham’s children you would act like him. Abraham obeyed God fully.
But here’s the contrast. Look in verse 40. As it is you are looking for a way to kill me.
A man, that’s him Jesus, who has told you the truth that he heard from God. Abraham didn’t do such things. But instead they’re rejecting Jesus and they want to kill him and that’s the proof that their hearts aren’t tuned to God’s voice.
It proves they don’t really belong to God. Jesus says if you belong to God you’d love me. Look down in verse 42.
But instead they’re opposing Jesus aren’t they? They’re refusing to listen because they actually don’t know God. They don’t know the truth. It’s why they can’t hear the truth.
(21:00 – 21:29)
So instead Jesus contrasts their behaviour and attitude with the devil’s. These so-called believers actions show a different source. Their real father isn’t God at all but the devil.
Verse 44. And their desires are matching his. Jesus says he’s been a murderer from the start.
He’s been killing through deception since the beginning. He’s been a liar since the beginning. He lied to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
(21:30 – 21:37)
He’s continued that deception ever since. There’s no truth in him says Jesus. He’s a liar by nature.
(21:38 – 22:08)
So when Jesus speaks the truth they reject it because it is the truth. They don’t believe the truth because they don’t belong to God. And who we belong to actually really matters.
And genuine belonging is shown by likeness to Jesus. So we’ve got to ask who do we belong to? Real disciples belong to God. There is children.
(22:09 – 23:21)
We’re to become sons and daughters. Children of God. And as we’ve been learning through John’s gospel that needs a different work entirely.
It starts with a new birth. It needs a divine drawing from God. But it calls for our response.
We are to believe. We are to follow. Know him who is the truth.
The only one who can make you a child of God and not a slave is Jesus. And how does he do that? Well let’s think more about Jesus and the third argument. In last week’s section back in verse 25 in the interaction that’s continuing here they’d already asked Jesus who are you? And Jesus is now explaining a bit more.
And he says in verse 42 he says I’ve come from God. He sent me. So they call him crazy.
That’s the implication of being accused of demon possession. You’re out your mind by the way. Still Jesus insists he honours the father.
(23:21 – 23:46)
Verse 49 he knows him and he obeys his word. Verse 55 look down. Everything Jesus does flows from his relationship with his father.
And it’s for a greater purpose that will mean the removal of death. You want to know who I am and what I’m doing? Listen he says your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad.
(23:48 – 24:10)
And so they say you’re not even 50 years old and you’ve seen Abraham. And Jesus says before Abraham was born I am. We’ve seen this before remember.
Jesus is the I am. He’s saying my name is the divine name. He’s telling them I’m God.
(24:13 – 25:37)
Jesus can do many many things. He’s God. We might want to do many many things but we can’t.
We’re limited. Reality constrains us. Our bodily limitations, intellectual constraints, emotional weaknesses, geographical location.
But Jesus the I am is the omnipotent God. It’s interesting John the writer includes that in verse 58 when they picked up stones to kill Jesus for claiming to be God he slipped away and hid himself. How did he do that? It’s like when Jesus calmed the storm back in chapter 5. Do you remember they were in the middle of the lake.
It’s miles wide this lake. They’re in the middle of the lake and the storm’s happened and Jesus calms it and so on. And John writes and says they get to the other shore immediately.
Both moments hint at something beyond the natural don’t they. He’s the I am. John had previously written about when Jesus knew what was in people’s hearts chapter 2 after the miracle in Cana turning water into wine.
In chapter 4 remember the Samaritan woman. She said come listen to a man who’s told me everything I ever did. They only met for a short while at that well and this is her testimony.
(25:39 – 25:58)
In chapter 5 Jesus knew that the disabled man’s hope was only for physical healing. And Jesus knew that the crowd on the hillside really just wanted their stomachs filled and they just wanted to remove the Romans. Remember John writes at the beginning of his gospel.
(25:59 – 26:45)
How does he put it? In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory. The glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth.
And what did Jesus come to do? Something glorious. Jesus the I am willingly constrained himself. He took on a human body and one day when the right time would come he would let them take him.
And he would let them falsely accuse him and he would let them kill him. They would nail him to a tree. The all-powerful I am nailed to a cross.
(26:46 – 27:47)
And they mocked him. If you’re God come down. And he could have but he didn’t.
He was truly free but he chose to constrain that freedom for our good out of love and for glory. And there it is. Jesus honoured his father and gave up divine freedom so that we might belong to God and freely serve him by choice.
He gave up infinite freedom to enter our world to live in a body in a specific place under human limits. He let himself be wrongly condemned and brutally tortured and crucified. Why? So we could know true freedom.
So we could genuinely belong. So our relationship with God would be transformed from slave to child from mere rule keeping and standards and duty to loving and serving with choice. And that’s the ultimate freedom and belonging a relationship with our father in heaven.
(27:49 – 28:20)
So we come back to where we started. Verse 31. Look up.
It says if you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. To hold to Jesus’ teaching means to abide.
Jesus is going to talk a little bit more about this in the chapters coming up in chapter 15. But here it means to remain in Jesus to abide. It’s not simply agreeing that Jesus is God or picking parts of his teaching that suit us.
(28:21 – 28:47)
It means his whole teaching, the full gospel, it shapes our life. We trust it. We live by it.
We follow Jesus even when we don’t fully understand. Even if circumstances and relationships are difficult, we keep learning by his spirit and we apply what we learn so we persevere and we endure to the end. It means God’s word and Jesus has authority over our lives.
(28:48 – 29:17)
His word reforms us. It places constraints on us, our thoughts, our desires and actions, some things must stop. You’re a disciple of Jesus.
There are some things in your life that must stop and other things must start and continue. We’re to believe and repent. It’s a continuing believing and repenting and following that’s caught up in this abiding in Jesus’ teaching.
(29:19 – 29:41)
Rather than defensiveness and arguing with God and trying to hold on to our independence and believing the lies of the devil that whispers into our ears and says, you’ll lose your freedom if you follow Jesus. Instead, what was once independence bends under the weight of belonging to God and loving Jesus. Jesus said to them, if you belong to God, you will love me.
(29:42 – 30:11)
Later he says to his disciples, if you love me, you’ll obey me. Here’s the tension that real disciples grapple with because we don’t do this stuff perfectly. God in his wisdom allows us from the day we are given new hearts to the day that we die, he keeps us here on this earth to go through all the different circumstances and challenges and situations of life to grow in trusting him and live out this discipleship.
(30:11 – 30:37)
So, here’s the tension that we’re grappling with day by day and moment by moment. The more Jesus matters to us, the more things we have to give up for him. Our time, our preferences, control, and we have to fight against the simple desire that says, I don’t want to be accountable.
I don’t want to be tied down. I want to set the rules. But who we belong to is going to be shown in how we respond to Jesus.
(30:38 – 32:19)
Real love for Jesus is going to cost us our independence, at least a real discipleship. You see, Jesus is not looking for converts. As you read John’s gospel, note that.
He’s not trying to maximise the number of people that come and follow him. He’s telling them again and again, if you want to be my disciple, this is what it means. He’s going to lay that out in further detail about here’s the cost of being a disciple.
He’s not looking for mere converts. He’s not looking for mere surface level followers. He desires real disciples.
Real disciples learn that what is gained is far, better because following Jesus and his teaching doesn’t feel like constraints or limitations anymore. It feels something richer and deeper because you’re truly free and you genuinely belong. So let me pray.
Father, Jesus’ words are challenging, even as they come to us down through time. And your spirit is speaking to us about what it means to truly, really follow you and to hold on to his teaching. Lord, we can’t do this on our own.
We need your spirit. We need help from each other as your people, the people of God together to grow into the likeness of Jesus. So Lord, encourage us and help us and strengthen us.
And for those of us here who don’t know you, who may claim to know you, but don’t really know you, Lord, may today be a day when they turn to you and truly seek you and follow you. And we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The post Whose Child are You?– John 8:31–58 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, let’s come to God in an opening prayer. Let’s pray for his help. Our God and Father, we thank you tonight for these great words of confidence and hope.
(0:16 – 0:36)
We thank you that as we go through the valleys of life, as we go through the dark places, that indeed Jesus is with us. We indeed follow the light as we were thinking this morning. We thank you that we have a shepherd who is beside us and before us.
(0:36 – 1:13)
We thank you that we have one who laid down his life for us, one who is risen for us, one who is reigning for us, and one who is coming for us. And so we pray tonight that you will fill us afresh with hope, not in ourselves, in all of our feebleness, Lord, but that we will have a strong hope in Jesus tonight. And we pray then as we open your word and as we hear from you, that you will build up our faith, that you will challenge us where necessary, and that you will lead us to yourself.
(1:14 – 2:33)
And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Well, this is the last of three messages on the subject of assurance. And just to define that, assurance is the inner certainty that I am a Christian.
It’s that inner assurance that I am God’s child. And one of the things when you preach is that you get feedback. And after both of the messages that we’ve done in this series, I received a few questions.
And the questions were about the issue of false assurance or fake assurance. And what people were asking was, how do I know the difference between a genuine assurance of salvation and a false assurance of salvation, where I’m confident I’m a Christian, but really I’m deluded? And false assurance is a real thing. Jesus speaks about it in Matthew chapter 7, when he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
(2:34 – 7:24)
Imagine that. There will be people on a day to come who will call Jesus Lord, and yet they won’t enter God’s eternal rest. That’s a scary thought, isn’t it? There is such a thing as false assurance.
And when you think about it, it’s actually a much bigger problem than to be a genuine Christian and struggle with assurance. To be a genuine Christian who struggles with assurance, well, that’s difficult. That’s hard for us.
But it’s so much worse to think that you are saved and be eternally wrong. That’s an infinitely worse kind of problem. And so the question hangs in the air.
And I was scurrying around trying to kind of answer it. How do I know that my assurance is the real deal? Well, to answer that, we firstly need to know what genuine assurance looks like. I think they maybe still do this.
I don’t know. But they used to do this. When they used to train people to spot fake money, like cashiers and whatnot, what they did was they made them study genuine cash.
And they would spend days and days studying genuine sterling. They didn’t train them by making them look at all of the fakes because there’s millions of fakes. But they made them so conversant with the authentic article that they could then spot the difference.
And I think fake assurance is detected like that. You need to get a grip of what real assurance looks like, and then you can fairly easily spot the difference. Because you see that there’s something badly missing in what you believe.
Or you see that there’s a huge hole missing in terms of evidence in your life that the Holy Spirit is at work. I’ll come back to this at the end of the message, because we’re going to look a little bit more at some of the genuine evidence for assurance. And once we’ve put all of that in place, I’m going to come back to this and we’ll think about, well, how would we discern fake assurance from real assurance? But tonight, we’re going to focus on the inner evidence in my life that I’m saved.
And just a recap of last week, we said last week that our assurance primarily rests on something outside of ourselves. The gospel is not search for the hero inside yourself, to quote a song. The gospel is Jesus saves and Jesus has died for you.
That’s the gospel. My assurance rests on Jesus’ finished work. It rests on His advocacy, His righteousness.
And as we thought last week, it rests on the testimony of God, His testimony about who Jesus is. That was last week’s message. And all of that is true, but it isn’t the whole story.
Remember Fanny Crosby’s hymn, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Well, how do I know that the saving Jesus is my Jesus? How do I know that His sufficient finished work on the cross is mine, that it’s been applied to me? Yes, the work is all sufficient for all who believe, but how do I know that I’ve believed that Jesus is my Saviour? You might call this the personalisation question. How do I know that this has been personalised to me? And the answer is that the only way we can know is to take a steady look at our lives.
Indeed, this is something that the New Testament actually encourages. And I could give you quite a list of references, but let me give you perhaps the clearest and most famous, which is from 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5, where Paul says, examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. I wonder if you or I have ever done that.
(7:24 – 9:38)
He did that command to examine myself, to see if I am in the faith. So, salvation isn’t found in ourselves, but there will be evidence in our life that salvation has come to ourselves. We ended last week with a quote from Sinclair Ferguson, and I think it still holds true.
Remember that he said that most people in contemporary culture, and often Christians too, are far too inward-looking for their own good. We tend in our culture to be very self-absorbed, and I think that is true. But we’re going to see this evening that we mustn’t swing to the opposite extreme of eliminating the personal, ignoring the subjective, because the gospel is always personal.
Even as we place all of our confidence outside of ourselves, we must examine ourselves to see if God is at work. And so to help us do that, let’s turn to Romans 8 for a few minutes. After that unseasonably long introduction, but I hope it sets things up for what’s to come.
And we’re going to look at Romans 8. You might remember actually that we looked at the end of Romans 8 in our first sermon, and we focused on objective assurance largely. But actually in the middle of this chapter, there’s a big focus on God’s work in our lives. So, let’s turn to the personal, and we’re picking up at verse 12 and reading to verse 17.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
(9:39 – 11:36)
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you receive does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
And by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are children, then we are also heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
If indeed we share in the sufferings, in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory. This is God’s Word. Now, I’m not going to give an exposition of every phrase and every verse in this text.
I want to home in particularly on verse 16, but I do then want to understand verse 16 by referring to some of the context. So, verse 16 says this, the Spirit, that’s the Holy Spirit himself, testifies with our spirit, that’s with our soul, that we are God’s children. So, the Spirit testifies with our spirit.
He communicates in some way with our inner person. And Paul says, the Spirit conveys to us that we are God’s children. This verse could not be clearer in the sense that it shows us a Christian should normally have an inner sense of personal assurance.
(11:37 – 12:25)
With all the caveats that we’ve said before, that this may not always be a consistent thing, that the level of assurance may rise and fall at times, it’s nonetheless plain from the text that there is this internal witness, that somehow the Holy Spirit communicates to our hearts that we are the children of God. And so, while to use the old Murray McShane quote, for every 10 looks to Christ, we should only then take one look to self. Well, we do need to retain that one look to self, especially in moments of doubt.
(12:26 – 13:01)
I should ask myself, am I a child of God? We shouldn’t be afraid of asking that question, of speaking also to Christian loved ones and saying, do you see evidence in me that I am a child of God? Because I’m promised in this verse that the Spirit will communicate assurance to me in some shape or form. Now, I choose those words very carefully. I’m promised that the Spirit will testify to my spirit in some shape or form.
(13:02 – 13:24)
And here’s why I say it like that. Because often, when we read this text, we frankly read in to this text. We take this promise, and it is a promise, but often we decide the form in which we think the Spirit must testify to us.
(13:25 – 14:06)
So, for instance, when I was a Christian teenager, I remember reading this verse and making the assumption that what Paul meant was, when he said the Spirit testifies with my spirit, what I thought he must mean is that in something like an internal whisper, there would be actually a mysterious small voice, and the Spirit would audibly say, Colin, you’re God’s child. And I waited around for that, and I prayed for that, and it never quite came. But of course, when you look at the verse, it says no such thing.
(14:07 – 16:57)
Paul doesn’t say that the Spirit will testify to your spirit in a small interior voice. That’s something we’re just adding that in, aren’t we? One of the reasons people get themselves in knots with this verse is that they read their ideas into it, and they don’t look at the surrounding context, which actually gives us the real meaning of the verse. John Piper has done some really helpful work on this verse.
And, you know, preachers are always indebted to other preachers, so most of this sermon is basically John Piper’s point, so I’m just going to confess that. But he says in the context, there are three ways in which the Spirit testifies with our spirit. So, how does the Spirit do it? Well, number one, here’s the first one, the Spirit creates a cry.
The Spirit creates a cry of prayer. Go back to the end of verse 15, by Him, that’s by the Spirit, we cry out, Abba, Father. Now, at one level, you know, let’s not misread this, anyone can pray and simply say the words, Abba, Father, in terms of just saying the mechanical words.
You know, I could put it into my chat GTP or something and get it to audibly repeat it back. It wouldn’t mean that the computer is saved, would it? So, this is not about a form of words. The word here, cry, is significant.
Those who cry, Abba, Father. It’s not about just saying a form of words, it’s that genuine cry from a dependent heart, a cry of dependent faith in God as Father. To put it another way, you may never have had a little small voice whispering to your soul, by the way, you’re a Christian, but have you ever spoken to God in prayer and meant it? Have you ever prayed with a genuine sense that the heaven is not some brass obstacle, but actually God can hear you through Jesus? Have you ever recognised that God is not only transcendent, but He’s also reachable by your prayers through Christ? And have you ever prayed with intimacy to God as a Father? Well, if so, it’s a major flag that you’re a Christian.
(16:58 – 17:20)
That’s what Paul is saying here. Some of us who say we struggle with internal assurance, and we feel uncertain about our standing, and yet we pray, we pray. The existence of a prayer life with God our Father at its heart is the Spirit’s testimony.
(17:23 – 20:14)
I was thinking of the illustration of Paul or Saul as he was before he was converted. Remember that story that this guy, he’s basically a hunter of Christians. He’s hunting them down from city to city.
He’s throwing them into prison and all the rest of it. The kind of guy you can’t imagine being truly converted. And then this poor bloke, Ananias, gets this job that no one else in the church wants to put their hand up for when he’s told, can you be the one just to go and double, you know, go and see this guy that we think has been converted and just, you know, just see if he’s a Christian and see if he’s okay.
And of course, the wonder of it all, the reassurance that’s given to him is, behold, he prays. The evidence of Paul’s conversion is seen in how he prays, and it’s seen in how we pray too. So that’s the first thing.
The first thing is that the Spirit creates a cry. Here’s the second evidence. Paul also says that the Spirit creates a commitment.
The Spirit creates a commitment, a commitment to wage war against sin. Again, it’s in the context. Look at verse 13.
But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. When the Holy Spirit is genuinely at work in your life, you will have a new commitment to oppose sin. And even as Paul describes it here, you’ll have a commitment to slay sin and kill it.
Our attitude towards sin changes when we’re converted. Our hatred towards sin, it’s as if someone turns a button on and it suddenly becomes operational. Like, even when we sin, even as we do it and part of us wants to do it, we also hate the thing that we’re doing.
And our approach to sin becomes one of warfare. Now, this is not a matter of sinless perfection, but it is a change of attitude that really can be seen in our lives. You know, just to be blunt about it, if someone claims to be saved by Jesus and their life continues along exactly the same trajectory, you know, like a ship that’s on a particular course, and it doesn’t move even a single degree in how they live, and they continue in the same behaviours as before they were saved, then the claim that they are saved is highly dubious.
(20:15 – 21:04)
If a casual attitude towards sin continues, then the Holy Spirit cannot be at work, because the Holy Spirit gives us a different mindset towards sin. You can see this positively. Let’s be positive for a moment.
I was chatting to a friend of mine who’s a pastor, and he saw it wonderfully. He saw this young couple, totally unchurched couple, they both came to faith in Jesus. And he was a little bit uncertain as he was trying to start discipling them, because for quite a number of years they had been, as many people do, they’d been living together in the same house, and they’d been sleeping together, and they weren’t married.
(21:04 – 23:43)
And so this pastor, he was building himself up for quite a hard conversation about purity and all of that kind of stuff. But when he met up with them, before he managed to get it out of his mouth, they said to him, we’ve actually sat down, and we’ve decided, because we’ve been reading the Bible, and we’ve decided that the right thing to do is to stop what we thought was okay, and we’re just going to fast-track getting ourselves married. That is an evidence of the Holy Spirit being at work in someone’s life.
And it might be, I mean, I’m giving that example, but it might be seen in a hundred different ways. I’ve heard people say that when they became Christians, like overnight, their language started to change, and people began to notice it. It might be a difference in our financial ethics.
It might be that we no longer consciously lie about things. These are all the work of the Spirit. And it’s not perfection from then on, but it is a change of attitude from then on.
John Owen, the Puritan, said that the difference between a Christian and someone who isn’t, isn’t that a Christian never sins. It’s that a Christian hates sinning, and so they sin less, and they repent more. No Christian can be consistently casual about sin.
That’s why, incidentally, when we are casual about sin, our assurance is massively undermined, you know, in a certain area where we’re just like, I’m just cool with this, and we’re not even trying. We will never have a strong sense of assurance because no Christian can be casual about sin in their lives and have a strong confidence that they’re saved. And so we shake ourselves out of the casualness, and we re-engage in the fight.
And so there are two things we’ve seen so far, that if I’m crying out to God as my heavenly Father, and if I hate sin and have some commitment to wage the war, then the Spirit in these ways is testifying to my spirit that I am God’s child. But there’s a third evidence, thirdly and finally. Not just a cry and a commitment, but the Spirit creates a creed or a belief in our hearts.
(23:45 – 26:17)
And for this, we go to verse 17, where we’re very much going to see something that we believe as Christians. In verse 17, we’re not only called the children of God, but we’re also called heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. The word Christ here is significant.
If we think back to John’s gospel, the whole gospel of John is written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And there’s a whole catalogue of truth that lies within that word Christ. But here in verse 17 is a believer who has a belief in Christ.
But I love the emphasis of verse 17, because in some ways, it summarises all that we believe about Christ. It doesn’t just say that we believe in His life and death and resurrection, although we do, but it says that because of that, we are heirs with God and co-heirs with Christ. We believe that through Jesus, we will actually share in a heavenly inheritance with Him.
The intimacy Christ enjoys with the Father is something that we too will enjoy by grace. The glory that Jesus will enjoy with the Father is a glory that we will enjoy with Him. And the point here is that a genuine Christian is not just someone who’s praying to the Father now and fighting against sin now with their head down, but it’s someone who has that upward belief, that upward creed that their future is bound up with Christ.
They have very simply the hope of heaven within them. And I hope that that encourages you as you see these marks, because while each of them is remarkable in one sense and they are God-given, they are in another sense not extraordinary. You know, this is the kind of stuff we expect to see in any believer, a real prayer life, a real evidence that the Holy Spirit might have moved into the premises because I think of sin in the same way He does.
(26:19 – 28:14)
And I hope within my heart that because of the cross and the empty tomb, that one day I will share in the blessings with Jesus of heaven. I mean, in one sense, that’s fairly normal everyday Christian living. We don’t need to be able to do miracles or speak in tongues or have had some super dramatic encounter with the presence of God to know that we’re saved.
We simply need to have a prayer life that’s real, a mindset towards sin that’s different, and a real hope for the future in Christ. Now, I said at the start of the sermon that I would come back to the issue of false assurance. And so I’m going to do that now.
How do I know if my assurance is false? Well, by comparing it. By comparing it with what genuine assurance looks like. Think about last week and think about this week.
The objective truths that we believe and then the subjective impact in our lives. Here’s the kind of questions you need to ask. Do I believe the gospel of the Bible? Do I believe the testimony of God and the gospel of the apostles? And if I do, do I have that inner testimony of the Spirit seen in prayer, in an attitude towards sin, and in a hope for the future in Christ? If any of these major aspects is lacking, then the assurance we have is on a shaky nail.
(28:15 – 28:39)
Right? Because real Christians believe the gospel, they pray, they seek to live a holy life, and they have the hope of heaven. That’s normal Christian assurance. But the encouragement is that in the, I was going to say the average Christian, in every Christian actually, these things are seen and these things are true.
(28:40 – 29:14)
Even when you’re having a really bad day and you’re mucking it up in 101 ways, these things are still the case. That we know whom we have believed in, and the Spirit is giving us the confirmation that we are God’s children. And even when we don’t necessarily see that because we’re really down on ourselves on a particular day, we can ask someone else, do you see these things in my life? And either they’re going to look at you and think, yeah, they’re lacking, or hopefully they’re going to say, of course you’re a Christian.
(29:14 – 30:33)
We can all see the evidences of these things. Now, the sermon is done really, but I want to leave you with an illustration that is a good one, and I couldn’t work out where else to put it. And so I thought, I’ll finish with it.
I’ll finish the little series with it. One of my favourite preachers is Charles Spurgeon. In fact, he’s really one of my favourite Christians.
And I think part of why I enjoy Spurgeon is not only because his sermons are so full of Christ, but also when you read his biography, he’s such an ordinary guy. And despite the amazing giftedness, he’s really, you know, it’s warts and all when you read him. And one of the things Spurgeon struggled with was a lack of assurance at times.
Isn’t that amazing, right? This guy, the most famous preacher in the world at that time, had seasons, often, I think, because of his depression, actually, where he doubted that he was a child of God. And there’s this story about him that he was going through a time like that. And he went a long, he was on holiday, and he went along one Sunday morning to a little country church.
(30:35 – 31:44)
And in that little country church, there was a man who wasn’t a minister, he was just a layman. And in the days before you could grab a sermon off the internet, he had a printed Charles Spurgeon sermon in the newspaper. And so Spurgeon’s sitting in the pew, this guy gets up at the front of the church, not knowing that Spurgeon is there in the congregation.
And word for word starts to preach one of Charles’ own sermons. Well, as he went through the sermon and preached about Christ and the gospel and all of that, Spurgeon says, the tears began to roll down my cheeks. And he said, I knew in my heart that I believed it.
And it was amazing, he got to the door and the guy was out of himself, you can just imagine it, he was so embarrassed. And Spurgeon said, this was in God’s providence that you preached my own sermon to me today. It assured me once again that I believe the things that I preach.
(31:45 – 32:33)
So may the people of God be assured as we hear the gospel again tonight, that we do believe it despite all of our ups and downs. And if you do have doubts and struggles with that, please do come, please come to one of the elders or come to myself, seek the help of fellow Christians and don’t battle with it alone. Father, please, would you take this pastoral encouragement tonight? Would you help us with the battles that we have to believe, the doubts we have about ourselves and help us, Lord, to feel that confidence in you, in your keeping power.
And it’s in Jesus’ name we ask, amen.
The post Assurance from Within– Romans 8v12–17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins.
If you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins. Who are you? they asked. Just what I have been telling you from the beginning, Jesus replied.
(0:22 – 0:47)
I have much to say in judgement of you, but He who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from Him, I tell the world. They did not understand that He was telling them about His Father. So Jesus said, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on my own, but speak just what the Father has taught me.
(0:48 – 1:49)
The One who sent me is with me, He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him. Even as He spoke, many believed in Him. Many thanks, Alison.
There’s a massive difference between disliking something and opposing it. Let me just give you a silly example of the difference. You might dislike cauliflower.
Fair enough. But if you dislike cauliflower, you probably haven’t banned it from the house so that no one else can eat it, and you probably haven’t written to your MP saying cauliflower must be stopped, because you just dislike it, and dislike is just a matter of preference. But think by contrast of when preference becomes a matter of allegiance.
(1:50 – 2:12)
So think about a soldier, for instance. Now, a soldier may or may not like the enemy. In one sense, that’s kind of immaterial.
A soldier has picked a side. They fight for a country. They have an allegiance to their country and their commanding officer.
(2:13 – 3:06)
For them, it’s not just a matter of preference, it’s a matter of allegiance. Now, what I would like us to see this morning is that when it comes to Jesus, as we carry on our journey in John, following Jesus is a matter of allegiance. Now, often people don’t think of Jesus in this kind of way.
In a world of choice and tolerance, people may see Jesus as little more than a preference. So, maybe you prefer to follow Jesus, but I prefer fishing. Maybe you prefer to follow Christ, but I prefer to have football
(3:06 – 3:23)
as my religion, or you could fill in the other options. I prefer another religion, or I prefer another kind of spirituality. And it’s not that I deeply oppose Jesus or hate Jesus.
(3:24 – 4:27)
He’s just not my thing. And so in this kind of mindset, belief is preference in a supermarket of options. And you can pick any belief you like, so long as it doesn’t harm anyone else.
That’s the way that many people think today. And yet it’s not the view of the passage that we just read a few moments ago. It’s certainly not the line that the gospel of John takes, is it? Because in the gospel of John and in this text, we meet a Jesus who isn’t a preference, but a light.
Jesus is the light of the world. And anything else we try to build our lives around and build our core identity around, Jesus calls darkness. With Jesus, you have to pick a side.
(4:28 – 6:50)
And the question is, what side are you on? In the language of the passage today, am I opposing the light or am I following the light? Let’s use those as our two headings this morning, these two questions. So, first question, am I opposing the light? Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there were many people who opposed the light of who He was, including here in this. This is a really clear example of it.
And you might remember that back in John chapter 1, John gave us a little spoiler that this would be the case. He’s got this spoiler in chapter 1 verse 5. As he sets up the gospel, John says this, the light, which is Jesus, shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. That’s John chapter 1 verse 5. It seems like a really cool verse until you notice that it implies a conflict, doesn’t it? It actually implies a battle.
Jesus’ light overcomes the darkness. But you see there that the darkness needs to be overcome. There’s a conflict, there’s a resistance there.
It’s like when you flick a light switch in a pitch black room. There’s a darkness that the light must overcome. And we don’t think about it because the battle lasts for a split second, but there is a darkness that must be overcome.
And so it was that when Jesus entered the world, when He revealed His identity, when He displayed His godness, there was a darkness that kept resisting Him. So, for instance, at the end of chapter 7, just have a flick back to there, and you’ll see that a group of religious leaders, the Pharisees, were trying to arrest Jesus. They were trying to detain Him and shut down the light of His ministry.
(6:52 – 7:25)
And here from verse 12 of chapter 8, the same opposition, the same darkness, is continuing to push back against the light. Now, just as a little aside, let me say something quickly about the little story at the start of chapter 8, which in your Bible might be in italics or brackets. Maybe you’re wondering why we’re just skipping over that story in our series, the story of the woman caught in adultery.
(7:26 – 11:54)
Very briefly, it wasn’t part of the original text of John’s gospel. We absolutely do know that because of the early manuscripts that we have. And so while it’s a wonderful little story, we are committed to preaching the inspired Word of God as it is found in the original text of Scripture.
I think it’s possible that this incident really did happen, and it was so good that people thought, we need to stick this in John’s gospel somewhere, because it’s an amazing story. Now, if you’ve got any questions about that, come and speak to me afterwards about it. But you will see that when we pick up at verse 12 of chapter 8, it really does carry straight on from the end of chapter 7. Jesus is still in the courts of the temple.
It’s still the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus is still declaring who He is, and now He declares, I am the light of the world. It’s one of the greatest lines that Jesus ever said.
But did you notice that immediately it was challenged? The darkness is pushing straight back from verse 14 onwards. The Pharisees, who were the spiritual leaders of Israel at the time, are having none of this claim of Jesus. They’re having none of it.
And incidentally, this is a reminder that opposition to Jesus sometimes comes from the strangest of places. It sometimes comes from religious places. It can come from Pharisees.
It can come today from archbishops of Canterbury. It can come from ministers of religion. It can come from people who wear a collar and look a part, and yet they’re not always on Jesus’ side.
We see that here, don’t we? Although it’s a danger for all of us, isn’t it? Even those of us who are punters in the pew. It can be fairly easy, really, to look religious, but in our heart of hearts, are we really submitting to the lordship of Jesus? Now, here’s the question, why do people resist Jesus? When He’s such a wonderful person, why do people resist Him? I guess there’s a bunch of reasons and answers that the Bible gives us to that, from wanting to run my own life, to personal pride, to worshipping the wrong alternative. I mean, there’s a number of reasons.
But the reason that Jesus highlights in this incident is the reason of ignorance. Ignorance is where we lack knowledge of something, or we lack an awareness of something. And here’s the thing about ignorance.
The thing about ignorance is that people who are ignorant tend to not think they’re ignorant. They tend to be very confident that they’re right, when they’re ignorant. And so, in this case, they’re very confident that they’ve figured Jesus out, and they’ve figured life out, and they have a different view of life to Jesus, and a different view of Jesus.
And there’s an ignorance in that. Now, I wouldn’t say that to anyone this morning. I wouldn’t point at any of you and say, you’re ignorant.
But it’s actually Jesus here who’s saying this to whoever it’s relevant for. He says to these religious men, who thought they knew better, that they were ignorant in three ways. Firstly, they were ignorant about Jesus’ origin and destination.
His origin and destination. We’ve seen this theme before, actually. This emerges here in verses 13 and 14, where Jesus mysteriously says, you don’t know where I’ve come from, and you don’t know where I’m going.
(11:55 – 12:40)
Now, if we understand the rest of the gospel, we know that Jesus came from heaven, and he’s returning to heaven. But they don’t know that. If they knew that, they wouldn’t have challenged Jesus’ claims.
They wouldn’t have come back with his, I am the light of the world, by saying, what right have you to testify to yourself that you’re the light of the world? Because here’s the thing. A heavenly man who is God in the flesh doesn’t need to have his credentials checked. He doesn’t need permission to speak and to say things.
(12:40 – 12:47)
If he’s the creator of the cosmos. But they don’t know that. They don’t know where he comes from.
(12:47 – 13:01)
They don’t know where he’s going, that he’s the heavenly man, that he’s God in the flesh. And they’re also ignorant of something else. They’re ignorant of Jesus’ identity and the Father’s identity.
(13:03 – 13:28)
Jesus, in verse 15, says something that sounds a little bit strange on first reading. Jesus says that he judges no one, whereas his opponents judge by human standards, which I think means that they judge, the Pharisees judged Jesus on a superficial level. You know, that he comes from Galilee, and therefore he can’t be all that he claims to be.
(13:28 – 13:48)
So they’re really superficial in their judgement, and they’re mistaken. But Jesus says of himself, I judge no one. I think what he’s saying is that on this point in the salvation timeline, it’s time for salvation, not judgement.
(13:50 – 18:01)
Right? At this moment, when Jesus has come into the world for the first time, he has come to be the sacrificial lamb who suffers and bears away the sin of the world. At this moment, Jesus has come to be the sacrificial lamb out of God’s great love for sinners. Judgement is in the future.
But actually, Jesus says, if I were to make a judgement right now, you know what? My judgement would be right. And notice the reason he gives for it. He says, because I stand with the Father who sent me.
Now, word to the wise, don’t use this next time you have a disagreement with someone. Don’t say to them when you’re having an argument, you know, I’m always right, because I’m in perfect sync with the God of heaven. Wherever he stands, I’m standing right beside him.
Only Jesus can say this as the second person of the Godhead. Only he can say in verse 18 that if we want a second witness to verify who he is, then go and ask the Father. My second witness is the God and Father of heaven.
But actually, they can’t go and ask him, because they don’t know who Jesus’ Father is, as their question in verse 19 reveals. And they don’t know who Jesus is either. Later on in the passage, they actually say to him, who are you? They don’t really know who he is.
So, they don’t know Jesus, and they don’t know the Father. They’re ignorant about both of them. They’re ignorant about Jesus, and they’re ignorant about God.
And let’s not miss the bombshell that is, because what Jesus is really saying is, if you don’t know me, you don’t know God either. Think about that. There’s a lot of people who think they know God, who think they have a grasp of who God is in their own framework, but Jesus is saying, if you don’t know me as Lord and Saviour, then you don’t know God at all, because only if you know me do you know the Father.
That’s one of the great messages of John’s gospel. So, that’s a second example of ignorance, the ignorance about Jesus and the Father. And then, Jesus isn’t done.
He’s not making himself very popular here, is he? But he’s not done with exposing the darkness, because listen, until we see we’re in the darkness, we’re never going to seek the light. So, this is a loving thing that Jesus is doing. But the third thing he says is that they are also ignorant about death, ignorant about death.
Now, they’re actually ignorant about Jesus’ death and their own death. On the side of Jesus’ death, they think that when Jesus talks about, he keeps saying, he’s going away, he’s going away, he’s going away, and they wrongly think that he’s threatening suicide. They really don’t get how Jesus will actually die.
They don’t understand that the cross is coming, when his life will be taken and surrendered there. But even more crucially for them, they don’t know the danger of their own death. Jesus, in verses 21 and 24, twice warns them that if their opposition doesn’t change, they will die in their sins.
(18:03 – 18:52)
See, there’s two ways to die. People often think that there’s lots of ways to die. Maybe that’s true physiologically, but spiritually speaking, there are only two ways to die.
Either we die in Christ, which means that through my faith in Jesus, I am united with him spiritually, and all of my sins are forgiven in him, and the condemnation I deserved is removed by him, and all of his righteousness and perfection becomes ours, even though it’s not inherently mine. That’s the first way you can die. You can die in Christ.
(18:54 – 23:18)
Or secondly, you can die in your sins, which means that you take your sins not just to the grave, but through the grave, beyond the grave. To die in your sins is to face a holy God after death, to be guilty, and to have no excuses. And this is the conversation we need to have most urgently about death.
David mentioned earlier, like other Christians, I was grieved this week by what decision was made in the House of Commons. We need to keep praying for that as it goes to the House of Lords. We need to keep having the bold conversations with people, including those in power, around the tragedy of this.
But you know what struck me as I thought about that, how energised Christians have been, and other groups, to speak out about that. You know what struck me was, I wonder if we have the same urgency to have this other conversation around death, which is of eternal importance. Because you see, however quickly or slowly people are moving towards death, the big question is, how are people going to die? Are they going to die in their sin, or are they going to die in Christ? Jesus was brave enough to have this conversation, and He was loving enough twice over to point out where these Pharisees were heading if they died right now.
You see, the wonderful thing is that those in the darkness can come over into the light. In fact, isn’t that how the apostle Paul describes conversion? He describes it as Colossians 1.13, a transfer from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of light. In sports right now, it’s off-season in football, there’s people getting transfers, well, you could have a transfer.
And it’s the gospel transfer from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light. No one in the dark needs to stay in the dark. No one dying in their sins needs to die in their sins.
And it’s to them and to us that Jesus cries out invitingly, I am the light of the world. And so we come to the second question. Second question today is, am I following the light? Am I following the light? And for this, we come back to the opening verse of the passage, which is a very backward way to preach a sermon, right? I’ve basically preached verse 13 pretty much to the end, and now we’re coming all the way back, and I’m going to finish in verse 12.
But you’ve got to finish on the positive. I want us to end with this great claim that Jesus makes. The second ‘I am’ statement in the gospel.
First, ‘I am the bread of life’, and now ‘I am the light of the world’. But to understand this verse, I think we need to get a grip of the context of the verse. And I’ve already highlighted part of that that’s often missed, which is there’s a conflict context to this verse.
These lovely I am statements that we frame and we put up on our wall, and we think, how beautiful is that? When Jesus first said them, they were explosive. Many people came to believe, as we see in verse 30, but many people opposed it immediately. So there’s a context of conflict we mustn’t ignore.
(23:19 – 23:38)
However, there is also another context that’s very significant, and that’s the historical context. Because Jesus says this, again, at the festival of tabernacles. And as we’ve said in previous weeks, there’s connotations that come with this feast.
(23:39 – 24:21)
This festival is about things like Exodus, harvest. Remember, we said it’s also about water and the water ceremony. But there’s another thing that was associated with this festival, and that is light.
On the first day of this festival, there was a celebration of light. One of the courts in the Jewish temple, it was actually the women’s court, they would have this great ceremony where they would light these four enormous lamps. And historical reports say that it was as if the whole of Jerusalem was lit up by them.
(24:22 – 25:19)
And people would bring their own torches as well, and they would dance into the night, singing songs to God. It was this wonderful festival of light. And what was the significance of it? Well, the Jews were remembering that way back in the wilderness, God had been Israel’s light.
Remember, they had followed a pillar of fire. And this pillar of fire had lit the way and guided the people to the promised land. And so with all of that as background, and additionally, further promises God made in the prophets, where God started to say that when the Messiah appears, when the Saviour of all appears, He will bring light again to the people.
(25:20 – 25:43)
That once again, people will be able to follow a light in this Messiah person. With all of that in the background, Jesus stands up and says, I am the light of the world. Not just Israel’s light, but the world’s light.
(25:44 – 26:20)
A saving light that can lead sinners to the promised land. But of course, the only way to get to that promised land is to follow the light. And so notice that alongside the claim here, we also have a call here.
Jesus doesn’t just say, I am the light, full stop. He then says, essentially, come follow the light. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.
(26:22 – 28:11)
Such a beautiful picture of that, isn’t it? Following and enjoying the lights along the way. It’s quite an image, isn’t it? I’ve been a Christian for a long time, and it’s easy to become overly familiar with the way the Bible describes being a Christian. And this came, at least to me, with some real freshness, that being a Christian is about following the light, following the light.
It’s really just another way of saying that we must have faith in Jesus, because to have faith in Jesus is to follow Jesus. There is no faith that does not follow. We’ve discovered this on holiday a few times, gone on a few of those walking tours.
And you know, the people, the guides on these tours, the whole point is they’re meant to know where they’re going. And they know everything about the place, and they usually do. And they’ve got these umbrellas.
Have you ever been on one of these tours? They often have an umbrella, so that even if you’re a bit further back, you can still see them and you keep following them. And you keep following them because you have faith in them. The moment you lose faith in them, the moment you think, this person’s not trustworthy, they don’t seem to have any clue what’s really going on in this city, you’re going to leave them, aren’t you? You’re going to follow another path and find another guide, because who you follow reveals who you trust.
(28:15 – 32:04)
And in the imagery of this passage, here’s the wonderful thing, that as we trust Jesus and follow the light, He leads us through all the dark places on the way to the promised land, so that we have His light in every situation. As we follow Jesus into the arena of the workplace, as we follow Him into the challenging conversations where there might be opposition that comes against us, or as we follow Him into moments of suffering in our lives, perhaps even into those darkest of valleys, maybe even the valley of the shadow of death itself, the darkness can be all around us, but we’re never left in the dark, because right there beside us and right there before us is the light. It really struck me this, there is no truly dark place for the child of God, because Jesus is always with us, and so there is a light with us on the way if we will respond to the call that is given.
The consequence of that is found at the end of the journey, because you’ll notice, don’t miss the very end of verse 12, it ends by saying that those who never walk in darkness will have the light of life. Where is this light leading us to? It’s not the land of Canaan, it’s life. Life is the destination, and we’ve seen in John’s gospel this means eternal life, where the glory of God’s light will shine forever.
And this is why following Jesus can never be just a matter of preference, because it’s either heading to life with Jesus or being stuck in death without Him. Jesus is the light and the life giver, and He’s not looking for people who just say that they like Him. There are too many people, even many professing Christians, who never seem to get beyond a vague admiration of Jesus.
Jesus isn’t looking for admirers. He’s looking for followers, people who will go beyond clicking the like button every so often, people who will say, in the words of an old chorus, I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. Or in the words of the second verse, which you always must sing if you sing the first verse, though none go with me, I still will follow, no turning back, no turning back.
I wonder if you are following, and I wonder if your life would reveal to those around you that you’re continuing to follow. Let me pray for us all. Our Father, may we never in our ignorance treat Jesus like a preference or keep Him at a distance.
(32:05 – 32:24)
Forgive us for where we have been respectful but not repentant. Forgive us for when we have been impressed but not surrendered. Forgive us for when we have loved the darkness and not chosen to follow the light.
(32:26 – 32:37)
Draw us today to follow Him afresh, that we will be surrounded and blessed by His light. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
The post The Light of the World–John 8v12–30 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Well, good evening everyone. Tonight is the second message on the subject of assurance, and it is encouraging you’re back for a second round on this. Assurance is the inner certainty, the inside your soul confidence that you are a Christian.
It’s that belief, that assurance that you’re saved. And there were really two things last Sunday that I emphasised. So number one, it’s possible and even normal to lack assurance at times as a Christian.
(0:39 – 1:21)
It’s not strange if from time to time you wonder if you’re saved. But we also said, and I was quoting Donald Whitney with this, that it is abnormal for a Christian to never have assurance. So that would not be typical.
That would be deeply concerning if at no point in our lives had we ever had a sense that we were a child of God. In the kindness of God, He not only grants us salvation, but He wants us to know that we are saved. Let me use a little bit of an illustration to give you maybe a picture of this.
(1:23 – 2:51)
Imagine a very wealthy billionaire, maybe one of the most rich men in the world. And he has a number of priceless items in his collection. And one of the things he has is a priceless jewel.
And this extremely wealthy man, he wants to pass on this priceless jewel to one of his children, his son, his daughter. He wants them to possess it. Well, here’s what he won’t do.
Here’s what he won’t do. He won’t secretly slip the jewel into the inside pocket of his son’s jacket and not tell him that he put it there. He won’t take the priceless jewel and hide it at the bottom of his daughter’s bag, you know, the one with 50 things in it, where she might not find it or discover it for years.
No, if that father gave his child something so precious, he would surely tell them that they possessed it. He would want them to know that they had it in their possession. And when God gives His children an even more precious gift than that, the gift of eternal life, He wants His children not only to have the jewel, but He wants us to know that we have it.
(2:52 – 3:47)
The normal Christian life is where you know what you possess. You know that you have eternal life, you have a heavenly inheritance, you know that God’s Spirit is living within your life. That is the normal Christian experience.
And yet, as we were saying last week, there can be times and seasons when it might not be like that. Times where we may question whether we do possess the jewel of eternal life, where we’re sort of padding around our person and we can’t seem to locate it on our person. We talked last week of some of the reasons for this, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
(3:47 – 4:14)
Sometimes these things will cause us to doubt our possession of salvation. And this little series is really just trying to speak in to those unsettling moments of doubt. I want to try and point us in the right direction the next time we feel lost about where to go next, where maybe you don’t know where to look or what to do.
(4:15 – 4:29)
Well, this evening is the first part of the answer to that. Over these next two weeks, we’re going to look in two directions. So tonight, we’re going to look outside of ourselves, and then next week, we’re going to look within.
(4:30 – 5:29)
What we’re going to say this evening is that the first thing we should do when we feel unsettled about our salvation is we should look out from ourselves to the glorious gospel. What we’re going to see is this, that our assurance must be built on the solid rock of Christ and on the glorious gospel. We don’t look first to our experiences of Christ or the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.
That may provide additional confirmation that you are a Christian, and we will look at that next week. But these things are not the rock on which we rest our soul. You will never find an assured Christian who spends most of their time looking within, trying to examine how saved they are.
(5:30 – 7:18)
But you will find assured Christians who spend most of their time looking to Jesus and His finished work. Now, we could go to different passages to see this point, but I want to turn for a few minutes to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. The whole letter of 1 John is an interesting place to go when it comes to assurance. This letter points us to an assurance that does come from without, but it also examines the assurance we can find within.
There’s both an objective assurance and a subjective confirmation that you’re a Christian. But John lays a great emphasis on the objective gospel, which should give us confidence that we’re saved. So, let’s read about that in chapter 5, verse 6, down to verse 12.
Verse 6, this is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
For there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood. And the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which He has given about His Son.
(7:19 – 7:51)
Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony.
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
(7:54 – 8:38)
Now, for better or for worse, this message has one main point. It goes like this. Our assurance must not rest on anything within us, but on the Word and work of God that comes from outside of us.
I’ll say that again. Our assurance must not rest on anything within us, but on the Word and work of God that comes from outside of us. The fruit of the Spirit within us may confirm that I am God’s child, but it never can be the basis for the fact.
(8:39 – 9:06)
Our assurance must rest on the Word of gospel grace, and our assurance must rest on the work that is finished and complete. James Denny, the 19th century Scottish theologian, who I recently discovered came from Paisley, he once said this. This is a great little quote.
(9:06 – 10:23)
He said, the acid test of any version of Christianity is its attitude towards assurance. If someone tells you that they are preaching or believing the gospel, the way you can test that is genuine comes down to their attitude to assurance. Does their gospel produce a sense of assurance? Because if their gospel can never produce a sense of assurance of heaven, then it is not the genuine gospel.
People talk about the bad state of Europe today, but I was thinking about this just this week. You know, if you were living in the 1400s anywhere in Europe, including here in the UK, or the early 1500s, I think the situation was far worse. On the face of it, it didn’t look that way because the church looked bigger at the time.
There were filled churches all over the place. There was preaching happening all over the place. And yet the official church of that day was denying the possibility of assurance.
(10:24 – 12:20)
The Roman church of that time said that it was presumptuous to think you could have assurance this side of heaven. Because in their version of the gospel, yes, you needed the work of Christ, but your sin hadn’t been dealt with to the degree that it was dealt with forever. You could go back to being lost if you committed a serious sin and you didn’t perform the right ritual of repentance through the church.
And this was why the Reformation brought a wind of change through Europe. This is what guys like Martin Luther, this handsome bloke on the screen, this is what he was saying as he re-emphasised the biblical gospel, that you can be justified by faith alone, through the work of Christ alone, by grace alone, and to God’s glory alone, so that you will not only be saved through this gospel, but you can know you are saved. In a sense, what the Reformers recovered was the cry of Jesus on the cross, it is finished.
When Jesus said that, He meant it. And so, yes, Denny is right. The test of our gospel is, does it lead to assurance? Can it lead to assurance? When John was writing his first letter, there were false teachers whose gospel, and I put that in air quotes, their gospel was not producing assurance.
(12:21 – 13:54)
It seems from what we can gather in this letter, that these men were dismissing a number of things. They were dismissing the full humanity of Jesus. They were discarding the divine sonship of Jesus, that He was the Christ.
And it seems, at least implicitly appears to be the case, that they may have been undermining the work of the cross. Because it’s only in this letter that three times over, I think there’s also another appearance of it in Romans, but this is the other two places where the word propitiation is used in the New Testament. John says so much about the wrath of God being turned away at the cross.
It seems that these men were undermining the work of Christ at Calvary. So, these men had the wrong gospel, and it was undermining the assurance of the church. Because how can you be assured of any sort of salvation if Jesus never became fully human? How can you be assured of anything if Jesus is not the Son of God? And how can you be assured of sins forgiven without the cross on which the wrath of God was appeased because of the love of God? You can’t have assurance without that gospel, can you? And this is why John writes these verses.
(13:55 – 15:55)
He says, and I’m going to just paraphrase him heavily here, he says in effect, stop listening to these mere men and start listening to the testimony of God. Look at how he puts it in verse 6. This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.
Now, it seems a puzzling phrase at first, but along with most of the commentators, I think, very likely John is speaking here of the baptism, the water of Jesus, and the death of Jesus, the blood. You’ll notice that he puts them in that particular order. It’s water before blood, not blood before water.
I think that’s significant. If you read it, some people think the blood and the water are both about the cross, but when you read in John’s gospel, the order’s in reverse. Here, it’s water before blood.
Why? Because what John is talking about here are the facts of Jesus’ life and death. He’s talking about the key markers in the life and ministry of Jesus, the staging posts, as it were. How did Jesus’ public ministry begin? It began with water.
He comes by water. He is baptised by John the Baptist. And what is significant about that event is not only that he got baptised, but much more importantly, that the Spirit came on him in earnest as a symbol that he was the Spirit-filled Messiah, and the voice came from heaven from the Father declaring Jesus to be God the Son.
(15:56 – 17:01)
These false teachers in 1 John might be denying that Jesus is the Christ, but the Father has already publicly declared it in the waters of baptism. And he didn’t come by water only. He also came by blood.
We’re seeing this in John’s gospel, I think, in a way we don’t normally think of the cross. The cross is a moment of revelation. It’s a moment of disclosure.
It reveals something of who Jesus is. It’s a public reveal that Jesus is God the Son. As we witness the manner of his sufferings, and as we see the signs that accompany the event of the cross, remember that centurion that when he witnessed all the manner in which Jesus died, and the signs that accompanied it, he then said, surely this man is the Son of God.
(17:02 – 17:19)
Do you see the events of the cross had testified to him from God to him that this man is who he claimed to be. So, Jesus’ identity is revealed by water. It’s revealed in the blood of the cross.
(17:20 – 18:54)
And more than that, the Spirit also testifies. And John here, of course, is speaking of the Holy Spirit. And whereas the other two testifiers are historical, they happened in the past, the Spirit is utterly contemporary.
The ascended Christ has sent the Spirit of truth, who testifies to hearts and minds today that Jesus is the Christ. If you’re a Christian, why are you a Christian? Because the Spirit testified to your heart that Jesus is the Christ, and you believed his testimony. And so John says, add them up.
Add them up like a sum. And you will see that there are three that testify. In a Jewish court, you only needed two witnesses.
Three was even better. John says, I’ve got three witnesses. The water, the blood, and the Spirit all testify that Jesus is the Christ of God.
And this testimony is greater than human testimony. I love verse 9. Verse 9, it kind of comes across almost as a circular argument. John says, you should accept God’s testimony because it’s God’s testimony.
(18:56 – 19:23)
See, everyone else can lie, but God can’t lie. God is the benchmark of truth. And everyone else must testify on the basis of something greater than themselves, whether they swear on a Bible or they swear to tell the truth on the law of the land, whatever the greater thing is that might come down on you if you fail to tell the whole truth.
(19:24 – 21:27)
God doesn’t need to swear on any of those things because there’s nothing higher than Him or greater than Him to swear on. If we should listen to anybody’s testimony, surely it would be the testimony of the Creator. And John says, God has been very public about this testimony, and He’s ongoing in it.
He testifies even today by His Spirit. And so, the great question, verse 10, is whether you will believe this testimony or not. That’s the great question.
It’s always the great question. And it’s the decisive question, because those who believe it have life, and those who do not believe it do not have life. Now, that’s a bit of the detail of the text, but as we step back from it, I think it’s really quite suggestive and directive to us.
It shows me that when it comes to my personal assurance, my assurance must rest on God’s Word, not man’s Word. How does one have assurance? We see the answer here, by believing in the Word of God. It’s not by listening to my thoughts or my inner assessment of things.
It’s not by fixating on my inner life, but by believing in the things that come out of the mouth of God. What is a Christian? A Christian is not someone who believes in themselves and in their testimony. It is someone who believes that Jesus is the Christ.
As the Spirit persuades me, that is the case. You may have heard this illustration. It’s been used by more than a few preachers.
(21:28 – 24:20)
It’s the one of the person approaching the gates of heaven, and there’s a kind of checking system at the doorway, because there’s always a checking system whenever you’re trying to get into somewhere good, isn’t there? And there’s some security guy at the door, and he asked the question, by what rights should I let you in this door? You know, what is the basis that I should actually let you cross the threshold of the new creation? The only proper answer must begin, because God, or because Jesus. Because God said I could come by grace. Because Jesus died for me.
That’s the only reason I think I’ve got the entry ticket. The sentence can never begin with, because I. Because I did such and such a thing. You know, one Thursday in 2025, I did this nice thing.
Helped an old lady across the road. I think that’ll just about cut it. Can’t be that.
It can’t be I’ve lived such and such a life. Because if we start to hold up the good things, God’s going to start to hold up all the bad stuff, and we’ll be quickly condemned. It can’t even be our sense of assurance.
You know, I think I’ve had just about enough faith. There’s been enough of a flicker of it on the dashboard that I hope you’ll let me in. Even our assurance is not the basis of the entry.
No. There will be people there who struggled all of their life with a feeble faith and a flickering sense of assurance. And as they say, because Christ, the heaven’s gate will fling open for them.
The most important way to counter a lack of assurance is to continually open our ears to God’s word and to fix our eyes on the lamb who was slain. Is there never a place to look inward? Come back for next week’s sermon if you can. Although just a little glimpse of it.
Look at how John does it. Earlier in 1 John chapter 1 verse 8, John says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Well, there’s some self-examination, isn’t there? You need to be looking in yourself to the degree that you are aware of your sin, aware enough that you can confess your sin.
(24:21 – 24:47)
But notice how he quickly goes on. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. There is the gospel summed up in the faithful and just character of God and in the cleansing work of Christ.
(24:48 – 28:10)
I’m not faithful, but He is. I’m not just, but He is. My sin is the ailment, but His cross is the cure.
And it’s the same thing at the beginning of chapter 2, isn’t it? I write this so that you will not sin. Well, there’s a look inward, isn’t there? There’s self-awareness. But if anybody does sin, and of course we will, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
I must be aware of my inner self and inner life and inner sin, but it can never be the place where I rest my soul. My reassurance comes as I look at the way He describes Jesus here. This is all significant.
As I look to Jesus Christ, His humanity and His divinity, His earthly life, His righteousness, He calls Him here the righteous one. I look to His righteousness, not my own, and then He describes Him as my heavenly advocate pleading before the throne on the basis of His own blood. His sacrifice hasn’t just paid, look at verse 2 there, it hasn’t just paid for our sins.
It’s so much greater than your sin that it’s able to pay for the sins of the worldwide church, the whole globe. This is a remarkable thing, but we will only see it if we look up and if we look out. Sinclair Ferguson, I found him really helpful on all of this.
If you don’t get so much out of me, go and read him and he’ll sort it out. But commenting on the church today, I wonder if you agree with this. This is his assessment.
He says, the evangelical orientation, that is where we tend to look in our lives, the evangelical orientation is inward and subjective. It’s looking to me. We are far better at looking inward than we are at looking outward.
Now, I would say that there is a good bit of truth in that. There’s a very good kind of introspection where we apply the gospel to our lives, where we seek to see real change in our lives. That’s very important.
But it is also the case that one of the reasons the church today is so filled with anxiety, not least about personal assurance, and one of the reasons why there is such a malaise in the contemporary church is because we’re giving far too much attention to ourselves. We are obsessed with ourselves. We are caught up with ourselves.
(28:11 – 28:58)
Even the way we live the Christian life can be very self-absorbed and self-focused. I mean, if you think about it, that’s the essence of godlessness, isn’t it? To be godless is to be obsessed with yourself, to not look out and up to him. And so to finish off with another Sinclair quote, I’m going to conclude as he concludes, what is the answer to the self-absorbed kind of introspection that’s unhelpful, that looks all to me to the exclusion of looking to the one who is my redemption? It’s this.
(28:59 – 29:26)
He says, instead, we need to expend our energies admiring, exploring, expositing, and extolling Jesus Christ. Let’s pray. Father, this is a sermon that all of us, I’m sure, need to hear.
(29:27 – 30:27)
Lord, there’s more than a bit of the older brother in our hearts. We so easily get caught up in self-absorption, in concern about our own lives, even the condition of our own souls and our own feelings. And Father, while these things are not inconsequential, we thank you that we don’t need to sit around measuring the increments of our faith, but you call us to explore and admire the basis of it.
And we pray tonight that you will help us as a people, as a church together, and also as individuals, to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, the one who for the joy set before him endured the cross. And it’s in his name we pray. Amen.
The post Assurance from Without – 1 John 5v6–13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 0:23)
God is glorious, that’s what we’re looking at together tonight in this series. Now, it’s the time of year, isn’t it, when you get wasps and blue bottles in your house? And they fly repeatedly into windows, yes. They sense the light, don’t they? They know to fly that way, but they can’t seem to sense that there’s glass.
(0:24 – 1:23)
And you open a window, come on, out this way, out you come, but they insist, don’t they, on head-butting the window. Stupid creatures. They see partially, but not fully.
And as we come to think about the glorious God, creator of all things, we need to recognize our limitations as creatures, created things, created beings. Because we, wasp-like, cannot begin to grasp the limitless, infinite God, because we just do not have capacity. In fact, we can only get anywhere near the light of understanding because God opens his word and reveals himself to us in a way.
(1:23 – 2:06)
He ushers us through that window, if you like, all in a way so that we can understand. And so as we think tonight about this vast subject of God being glorious, we need to recognize we understand a sliver. And what we do understand is only through what God has revealed about himself.
We are fully reliant on him. So the passage we are going to read from Exodus, starting at verse 12, is slap-bang in a narrative. So let me bring you up to speed of the storyline.
(2:08 – 2:33)
Gloriously, up the mountain, the Lord has given Moses the Ten Commandments. But shamefully, down the mountain, the people have persuaded Aaron to make them a replacement God in the form of a golden calf. All that glitters is not glorious.
(2:35 – 3:27)
And because of this great sin, the Lord tells Moses he’s going to destroy the people. But Moses intercedes for them. And because the Lord is faithful to his promise to Abraham, he says he will not destroy them.
God is faithful. Remember that from before. We read, though, that the Lord has just told Moses that in order for the people not to be destroyed, the Lord will not go with them into the promised land.
And so here we are at Exodus 33, verses 12 to 23, which is the bit that Colin asked me to read, but I’m going to jump on a wee bit as well and read verses 4 and 9 from the next chapter. So here we go. Exodus 33 at verse 12.
(3:29 – 3:57)
Moses said to the Lord, you have been telling me, lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, I know you by name, and you have found favour with me. If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways, so I may know and continue to find favour with you.
(3:58 – 9:33)
Remember that this nation is your people. The Lord replied, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. And then Moses said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name. Then Moses said, now show me your glory. And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But, he said, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. Then the Lord said, there is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.
When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen. Well, let’s skip on just a little to chapter 34 at verse 4, and live this glorious moment with Moses.
And so Moses chiseled out two stone tablets, like the first ones, and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him. And he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.
And he passed in front of Moses proclaiming, the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and the fourth generation.
And Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshipped. Lord, he said, if I found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin and take us as your inheritance.
Wow, this is the awesome magnificence of God shared with his chosen leader. And amazingly, we then read about the Lord entering into a covenant with Moses and this stiff-necked, stubborn people. So in terms of glory, because that’s what we’re thinking about tonight, take note of this.
Moses asks to see God’s glory. And the Lord, despite all that the people have done, he says yes to Moses. How kind of God, wouldn’t you agree? He desires to share his glory with us.
He says, yes, but not all of my glory, lest you be consumed. Kindly, God protects Moses. For if he was to see the face of God, he would perish.
What was the request? Let me see your glory. What’s the response? I will show you my goodness, declare my name in your presence, and describe my character, but I’m going to give you only as much as you can take. Show you my goodness, declare my name in your presence, describe my character, but only as much as you can take.
Note then that in this part of scripture, God’s glory is his goodness, his character, his name, and in its fullness, his glory is dangerous to sinful humanity. And so I want you to keep those ideals in your pocket for later. Just put them in there.
And we’ll look at our first point, which is that God’s glory is weighty. God’s glory is weighty. Not a term I advise you use to most people, but God’s glory is weighty.
(9:33 – 10:54)
So glory is a word in the Bible that is used a lot, isn’t it? We sing it a lot. It’s even generally used a lot in society, isn’t it? Now of all the lights in the sky, I just love the moon. I love the moon.
Have you ever seen the moon rise in the evening from behind a mountain? I had this view once in Spain, evening in Spain, and the moon came up from this mountain. It was glorious. You hear people say that a lot.
Today I said, Claire, that soup was glorious. Have you seen the full moon shining so strongly in the dark night sky that it casts shadows? And if you’re childish like me, you maybe jump about and just enjoy that. Glorious, the moon.
Don’t you think so? Can you picture that moon in your head and then just keep that for later? Think of Psalm 19 verse 1 with me, because creation speaks of God’s glory. The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the works of his hands.
(10:55 – 11:13)
Glory, a word we associate with kings, rulers. He had a bit of a wait, didn’t he, in being crowned, but Charles did on his day look glorious. We associate glory with achievements, superstars.
(11:15 – 15:26)
When Josh Kerr wins the 1500 metres at the Paris Olympics, it will be a glorious moment. You’ve got great seats at the Hydro to see your favourite band or singer, and they sing your favourite song for you. It is glorious.
Now, when we use the word glory in the Hebrew Bible, it actually has a real sense of weightiness, of substance, of honour, and it contrasts entirely with the flimsy, breakable glory of human beings. As I’ve already mentioned, I played for about 25 years in the Strathclyde Evangelical Churches League, and when I hear the name Greenview Church, I immediately think of football games against you, usually at Netherpolk. I managed a team, and so did Andy.
He managed your team, and I can’t speak for him, that’s Eilidh’s job, but I spent too much energy and time chasing glory for my silly little football team. I played yesterday for the first time in about a year for SOA. I was quite good at football, and unlike Andy, I was a regular goal scorer.
Look, here’s one of my trophies for being top goal scorer, how glorious. It’s very good at gathering dust, and look, it came apart. Compared to God’s glory, who cares about your Olympic gold medal? Sold out stadiums, platinum records, it’s frivolous, transitory, pathetic attempts at glory, and if idols that was prayed about earlier, it’s sinful glory.
I need to put this down now, hang on. Paul is right, is he not? All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. That’s the human story.
What’s the story? It’s morning glory, but what’s God’s story? It’s everlasting glory. The glory of God is weighty and is substantial. The stars, the shining lights and the galaxies of the universe speak of his weightiness, of his substance, yet even when they’re compared to his eternal rule, they’re just mere moments.
They eventually fade. God’s glory, weighty forever, and Moses is right, therefore, to pursue it. Our second heading that we’ll look at is God is glory.
So in preparing for this sermon, the more I thought about it, and this was a bit disconcerting, the more I thought about it, the more I thought I didn’t know what I was talking about. What do we mean by God’s glory? It just became so difficult to define. I was thinking, is glory something that must be displayed, shown for it to be glorious? Is it an external display of what God is internally? Can God be glorious if there’s no creation to witness his glory? Well, if glory is an internal attribute of God, then that can’t quite be right.
(15:27 – 17:14)
Glory is all over the Bible. It is vital to every single doctrine of Christian theology. We speak about God’s glory descending or filling.
We might speak of seeing God’s glory. We might speak about humans being the crowning glory of creation. We speak about Christians who have died and gone to glory.
We might say we give glory to God. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. See how it’s getting hard to define? The Old Testament associates God’s glory with creation, with God’s image being shared with humans.
God’s glory is linked with the exodus and fire and light and a cloud. God’s glory is linked to the Sabbath and it fills the tabernacle, it fills the earth, it fills the temple. It is identified even with God’s people and is revealed to prophets like Ezekiel and Isaiah in visions.
God’s glory is linked with his holiness, his otherness, do you remember that? His perfection. Remember, round the throne of the Lord, the angels cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory.
(17:15 – 18:08)
You may be expected after three holies to say the whole earth is full of his holiness, but it’s glory. Glory is like a mega theme of the Bible. 30 minutes, Colin.
And all of this before we’ve even discussed Jesus Christ, who is the word. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us and we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. So, this all being so, theologian, I found that word hard to say there, Christopher Morgan agreed with my musings and said, glory is virtually impossible to define.
(18:08 – 18:46)
Oh, I took a sigh of relief when I read that. I thought, oh, it’s not just me. But Morgan continues though with this.
In a sense, God’s glory is the magnificence, worth, loveliness, and grandeur of his many perfections. Often, glory communicates God’s special presence. Morgan says it’s virtually impossible to define, but it didn’t stop him writing a book on the subject that helped me write this sermon.
(18:47 – 19:34)
So, in saying all of that, let’s land with God is glory. When thinking of God’s glory as an attribute belonging to his nature, we need to be thinking that the glory of God includes his moral excellence, his complete and utter beauty, his unfailing love, his eternal perfections. And we need to remember that this is all being fully possessed and communicated within the three persons of the one being that declares himself the Lord God.
(19:35 – 20:11)
Head hurting a wee bit, isn’t it? Beyond our full comprehension, yet when we sense this about God, it is glorious. And it’s not just that he is glorious, but more that he is glory. He is what it means to be glory.
And God’s glory, third point, is all that he is. God’s glory is all that he is. And so this is really a development of point two.
(20:13 – 20:59)
You see, it’s really important that when we think of God’s divine nature, that we don’t think of God like a cake. I’m sure you thought about God like a cake or a pizza in slices. He’s a slice of love, a slice of faithfulness, a slice of holiness.
And it’s all held together by his glory. No, that is not it. That’s not it.
You see, God is not made up of different parts. He is fully all that he is all the time. All that is in God is God.
(21:00 – 24:34)
So God is fully love, fully faithful, fully holy, and all the other attributes that he is, he is fully and is that all the time. All that he is, is fully glorious. And so he is the very definition of faithfulness.
And this faithfulness is completely glorious. His love is glorious, and he is what love means. So anything that humans say is love, but is not love as found in or declared love by God, is not love.
All of God is glory, and nothing in him is not glory. Well, the glory of God is wide ranging, isn’t it? It’s comprehensive, and it belongs entirely to him. And I wonder, do you feel like a wasp banging your head off the window yet? Let’s open the window of scripture.
Let’s get to more familiar ground. What is Moses asking for? He’s already met the Lord as a burning bush, heard the name of God, revealed Yahweh. He, Moses, had been the announcer of 10 plagues.
He’s led Israel through the Red Sea. Moses had seen the cloud and the fire of the Lord. He’d heard the thunder and the earthquake of the holy God at the mountain.
So after experiencing all of that glory in our pasage today, what did he expect by saying, show me your glory? Isn’t it encouraging that after all of that, Moses is still pursuing the glory of God? I mean, what else was there to see? Well, I take it from the passage, and by the way the Lord responds, that in some way, he wanted to see God physically. He wanted that vision of God that we sang about earlier, sometimes known as the beatific vision. He’s asking to be shown who God is.
Let me see your face. Let me see you. But in understanding God’s glory, God’s response is more important than Moses’ request.
Right, Bilbo Baggins, bring out what’s in your pocket. Remember, I put something in there. I told you that God’s glory is his goodness, character, and name, and in its fullness, his glory is dangerous to sinful humanity.
Remember that. Spot this now as we go through. And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you.
I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
It may be useful just to have that in front of you. When the Lord shares his glory, he proclaims his name in Moses’ presence. By doing so, he says, my glory is all that is me, because his name is, I am who I am.
(24:34 – 24:54)
I will be who I will be. I have been who I’ve always been. My glory is all that is me.
My glory is all that I am. I am glory. He proclaims his name and then his character.
(24:56 – 29:42)
Now, although God’s not made up of parts, the Creator reveals himself to his creatures in a way we can take it in. He’s not made up of things, but to help us have some understanding of his glory, he says, everything about me is glory. My mercy is glory.
My compassion is glory. My will is glory. My goodness is glory.
It’s all intrinsic to who I am, and all I am is glory. When he passes in front of Moses, he speaks to say who he is. Moses asks for vision, but the Lord accompanies the vision with words about his character.
My glory is this, the Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, sin, what a great God, and yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children and their children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation. Well, there’s a whole sermon series there, and we don’t have time to talk about that, but I want you to know, when asked to show his glory, he talks about who he is and how he deals with his creatures.
If I remember rightly, this is the longest description of God’s character by God in the Bible worth learning off by heart. His glory, therefore, is all that he is and all that he does. He describes his character as if to say, my glory is all that is intrinsic to me.
My glory is all that I am, and I am gloriously good, which is why God being concerned for the glory of his name in all the earth is a good thing. It’s not an ego trip. This is not Muhammad Ali declaring, I am the greatest, or Jose Mourinho, I am the special one.
No, God being concerned for the glory of his name is right and good because he is the very essence of perfect goodness. And if his glory is the very essence of what goodness is, then that is what the world needs now and forever, and thus God being good, he must necessarily be concerned for the glory of his name. All right, final point.
God’s glory is to be displayed. How are you doing? You all right? Give your neighbor a shake if they’re snoring. Even if your head is hurting, keep going because this stuff is good for your heart, okay? Keep working away at it.
We’ve seen that God’s nature is all that God is, and thankfully, he does not keep this to himself. He displays this throughout creation. Yes, through the stars, and the mountains, and the animals, and all he made, he displays his glory.
But will you think Sam 8 with me for a minute? Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants, you’ve established a stronghold against your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars which you have set in place, what is mankind? In other words, who are we? What is mankind that you are mindful of them? Human beings that you care for them. You made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands.
You put everything under their feet, flocks and herds, animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the sea. Lord, oh Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. David is saying, what? God’s glory is displayed through us.
(29:43 – 30:41)
Yes, he’s stunned at creation, but supremely, he’s stunned that the Lord would make humans his crowning glory. The Lord displays his glory to creation by making us his image bearers, meaning we are to rule as he would rule. He crowns us with that glorious task, therefore, of ruling well, because glory is a communicable attribute.
He shares the task of ruling gloriously with us. Now, maybe you can see better the utter tragedy of sin, of falling short of God’s glory. Instead of embracing God’s glory, we reach for false glories that were no glories at all.
(30:42 – 32:01)
We’re so unclean, aren’t we, that God’s full glory is a danger to us. You cannot see my face, lest you die. And yet, in line with his glorious character, compassion, gracious, slow to anger, God is still eager to share his glory with mankind.
And so God the Son added human nature to his divine nature in the person of Christ that we might be restored to glory. He became flesh. He dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory of the only Son of the Father.
He who did not see equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but in order to display God’s glory, he took the low place, became human, lower, a servant, lower, a crucified criminal, lowest. Thus God has exalted him to the highest place that all should confess him as Lord to the glory of God. God’s glory is ultimately displayed to us in Christ.
(32:02 – 32:30)
We’ve just touched on that. We’ve not even mentioned the transfiguration, the glorious descriptions of Christ in Revelation or the eternal city, where, unlike the Moses scene, we don’t need protection from God’s glory, because the Lamb on the throne has dealt with the sin problem in that city. In that city, his glorious presence is the light.
(32:30 – 33:43)
A glory that is weighty forever and comprehensive. God’s glory is his perfect goodness. It is all that he is and is best displayed in Christ, and it is to be displayed in you.
So let me finish with one final image from Philippians 2, 16, which says that in this crooked generation, we are to shine like stars. You know those things that declare God’s glory? You have to shine like them in the world, however light or however dark it is. Paul tells the Philippians, no grumbling, no mourning.
Be blameless and innocent. Shine with God’s glory. And so, Greenview, your task is to shine and to be God’s glory.
You have to be like the moon. It’s mostly seen at night, isn’t it? But sometimes in the day. I made you picture it earlier.
(33:45 – 34:44)
It can shine so bright in the darkness, it makes shadows on the earth, but it has no light. Of its own. It only reflects the greater light, the sun’s glory.
Oh yes, the moon can be gloriously beautiful in the darkness, but it is only lit by the sun. And so Greenview, to shine in this world, you need to be so lit up and filled by Christ that no matter whether it’s a bright morning, or twilight, or it’s getting really dark, or it’s the darkest of dark nights, you are shining with God’s glory, the glory of God. Let me pray with you.
(34:45 – 35:49)
Father God, we can only begin to scratch the surface as it were. You are fully what glory is. You are glory.
Lord, forgive us when we look at our lives right now and think, it doesn’t feel very glorious. May we remember our lives are hid with Christ. But when Christ returns, it will be revealed that the service of Christ that did not look glorious was the glorious life.
Teach us more about you. Teach us to glory in you. Teach us to glorify you to a world needing your light.
This we pray in Jesus’ great and glorious name. Amen.
The post God is Glorious – Exodus Ch33v12to33 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Thanks Douglas, good evening everybody. We’ve not got an opening Bible passage tonight, it’s a bit more of a kind of topical kind of Bible study, but we do have quite a lot of verses to look at, but they’ll be on the screen to save you having to sort of fumble about continually. Well we live in a world that seems to be obsessed by justice.
The demands are everywhere. Economic justice, racial justice, climate justice, each one of those has a whole bunch of sub-categories of its own. The list goes on and on.
And of course we are rightly shocked, aren’t we, by miscarriages of justice when we hear of innocent people who have been imprisoned for years or decades. And of course nothing offends us more than when we are personally cheated or treated badly by people who then just seem to get away with it, whether that’s an online scam or just a queue jumper. Justice is a huge issue.
We feel it personally and our world cries out for it. Now when we come to the subject of God is just, this great attribute, justice is a huge issue and God’s justice is equally prominent. All God’s attributes are equally excellent, aren’t they? And indeed as we go through this series we’re realizing that all God’s attributes are equally essential if we are to have a right view of God.
That incidentally is what theologians mean when they talk about the simplicity of God. If you ever come across this idea of the simplicity of God, it’s not that God is kind of easy to understand or to figure out. It’s the idea that every attribute of God runs through every other attribute of God.
So you can’t prize apart God’s holiness from his love or his power from his eternity. God’s not a kind of Lego model that you can kind of take a bit off and still have 95% of God left. No, God by definition can only be God if every one of his attributes are fully present all the time.
Because the God of the Bible is by definition the most maximally excellent being. So God is always fully all-knowing or else he couldn’t be God. God is always 100% holy or else he couldn’t be God.
We can’t separate these things from each other. Think of any of God’s wonderful attributes that we’ve been going through in the series or we find in the Bible. God is the 100% fullness of them.
So when we go back to justice, an idea that God is just, it’s not in that sense more important than any other divine attribute. But I think it will often have, particularly in our world and time today, a very immediate relevance for people, both pastorally and evangelistically. The question is constantly asked, isn’t it? Sometimes it’s shouted as an allegation.
Is God just? And if so, why is there so much injustice in the world? Well, firstly, I guess we should define what we mean by saying God is just. The word just or justice, when you see it in the Bible, actually comes from the same root, the same group of words that are often translated in the Bible as righteous or righteousness. That’s true both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
It’s a word, the original word in the Hebrew or the Greek that means in accordance with that which is right. Old English translations used to use the word right-wise when they were translating it. It’s the idea of being straight, not deviant or crooked.
And so when the word just or righteous is applied to God, it’s the idea that God always acts in line with what is moral, good and upright, which means for God always acting in accordance and alignment with his own nature. After all, God is himself the standard of righteousness. See that in Deuteronomy chapter 32, this great hymn of praise in that chapter, he is the rock.
His works are perfect and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. God is the benchmark of righteousness or justice.
There is no standard of righteousness. There’s no concept of justice beyond God or outside of God. Indeed, we would have no idea or even inkling of such a standard were it not for God.
You see, the only reason why any of us, any human being has any sense of good and evil, that there is such a thing as right and wrong isn’t because you are a highly evolved ape, it’s because you were made in the image of God. I mean, why do you care when the weak are walked over? What’s it to you that children thousands of miles away are exploited? Why do the statues of long dead slave owners rankle you? Why were you so indignant when you watched Mr. Bates versus the post office? That deep visceral reaction you have to abuse and unfairness exists inside of you because of a God implanted conscience. Your sense of justice is an echo of your divine origin.
Now, of course, because of sin, our internal sense of justice or righteousness often gets distorted. We can twist it. Our self-interest bends it.
It gets obscured by bias and selfishness and greed, which is why we need the Bible. We need God’s word to clarify and take us back to true justice and righteousness. You can see this right across the Old Testament and the New Testament, many of the Psalms, Psalm 19, the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm.
All of them are righteous, or it’s the same word, are just. Psalm 119, teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart towards your statutes, your law, your commands, your words, and not towards selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things.
Preserve my life according to your word. And we could have read many other verses. We could have read the whole of Psalm 119 to make that point.
You see, that was the purpose of the law. That is the purpose of God’s words, not to give us a list of arbitrary rules, but the Old Testament law was given to reveal to us what righteousness looks like, and in doing so, to reveal the character of God behind all those laws and commands. So our starting point for understanding justice, what is right, isn’t the European Court of Human Rights or the UN High Commissioner, but God, as He has revealed Himself in the Bible.
Now, at the heart of God’s justice, and this takes us on to the particular application I want to focus on tonight, at the heart of God’s justice, when we use the word justice even as opposed to righteousness, I think is the idea of fairness. Romans 2.11, God does not show favoritism. 1 Peter 1.27, you call on a father who judges each person’s work impartially.
That is, God treats people fairly. It’s not a case of one rule for some and another for others. Fairness is at the heart of justice, and fairness is the idea of getting what you deserve, being treated fairly.
So when justice would be to punish somebody who was innocent, would be to put that innocent person in prison for 20 years, they didn’t deserve that. It was unfair. Equally, not getting paid your agreed wages is unjust, it’s unfair, because you were denied what you were entitled to, what you should have received, the payment for your labor.
And the Bible wants us to know that in an unjust world, God is just. He is never, ever less than fair. And I say never less than fair because such is the grace and kindness of God, he’ll sometimes be more than fair.
You know, sometimes when people owe you some money and they top it up a bit or they put an extra tenner on it, you think, well, that’s more than fair. God will sometimes give us favor and blessings beyond anything we might actually expect to receive, but we’ll come back to that. But if justice is fairness, the big question must be, what do we deserve? What does fair treatment from God look like? After all, many people today are very quick to accuse God of unfairness, of not being just.
They might point to atrocities in the world or just their own personal circumstances, and they’ll ask, how is that just? Or the anguished cry, this isn’t fair. How can a God who is just allow this? And those are real, genuine pastoral questions. Indeed, for some, they are faith-blocking questions.
Like the famous objection, if God is truly loving and all-powerful, he would surely stop evil and suffering. And so the fact that he doesn’t, hasn’t stopped evil and suffering must mean that he’s either not truly loving or he’s not all-powerful, or perhaps he’s just not just. Well, I guess one way to respond to that is, and you need to know who you’re talking to, we don’t like glib answers, but one answer to that could be, be careful what you wish for.
Because the Bible is very clear when it comes to what we deserve, we’re all actually in a bit of trouble. Because none of us have lived the righteous life that would be deserving of God’s blessing and favor. Our lives have not been right-wise.
If we’re honest, we’ll know that in so many ways and at so many levels, our lives have been crooked. We have willfully deviated from God’s laws. Times where we have suppressed our consciences, not least in our own outworking of justice, that is in how we have treated others.
No one has consistently treated others as they ought to have done. Tim Keller in his book, Making Sense of God, says this in chapter 10, he says, every Christian who understands the gospel admits that he or she has been an oppressor. When we lie, we deprive people of the truth they have a right to.
When we break our promises, we deprive people of the goods they have a right to. And if we are not poor and we close our hearts to those who are, we deprive them of sustenance they have a right to. Christians know they have the heart of oppressors.
And just as that image of God within us cries out for accountability, for redress, for consequences when we see injustice elsewhere, when we cry out for polluters to be sanctioned, for post office CEOs to be stripped of their CBE or corrupt MPs sent to prison, so likewise if God is just, we too must face a reckoning. That’s only fair. And actually I think that’s a point that we can be bolder in making in our justice fixated society.
Those who study these things tell us that the baby boomer generation as a whole, obviously lots of exceptions no doubt here as well, but the baby boomers evangelistically hated the idea of hell. Talk of hell to them was just harsh, unpleasant and mean. That kind of fire and brimstone preaching as they viewed it was to be left behind in the Victorian era.
And perhaps there was some validity in those complaints inasmuch as perhaps people had used that subject and preached on it with maybe a bit too much enjoyment as a stick to beat people with. But in response to that kind of rejection of hell, a lot of preaching moved away from that subject, or at the very least it kind of soft peddled it. But perhaps in a cancel culture world that demands justice, perhaps there is an open door to speak to people about a God of justice, to talk once again even about hell, to speak about a God who will put things right, who will call wickedness to account, who will not let the guilty go unpunished, but whose ultimate concern for justice doesn’t conveniently stop at the boardroom, but it penetrates into the deepest corner of every human heart.
And on the day when God brings his judgment to bear on the world, when everything that is done in secret will be brought to light and every injustice uncovered, there’ll be no arguments, there’ll be no self-justification, there’ll be no dodging the truth, because every life will be held up against God’s own righteousness. So as Romans chapter 3 says, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. And because God is all-knowing and utterly righteous, we know that his judgments will be fair.
There’ll be no missing documents, no unknown motives, no one pulling the wool over his eyes, no one on that day will say at the judgment seat of God, you will not hear the words, this isn’t fair, or I don’t deserve this, because justice will be done. But of course, even as we take that message to a world that demands justice, it begs the question, what hope for us? How then can anyone be saved? Well, that of course is the glory of the gospel, because Romans chapter 3 continues, God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.
He did it to demonstrate his righteousness or his justice. You can get that translated both ways depending on your version, your Bible version at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. What Paul the apostle is saying here is at the cross, God punished sin just as it deserved to be, but because Jesus took the punishment for that sin, those who have faith in him, those whose lives have been folded into Christ’s can go free, because their penalty has been paid.
Justice is upheld while at the same time paying the debt we could not pay. You see, it’s precisely because our forgiveness and our salvation is based on justice that John can write, we had this verse this morning, if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Notice that little clause there, God is just to forgive us our sins.
He’s not turning a blind eye to them. In that sense, not to forgive us when we come to Jesus in confession and faith would be unjust. I think it’s good to remember that.
We often look to God’s mercy when we want assurance and reassurance in our faith and our sense of forgiveness, but actually perhaps our greater assurance is in God’s justice. God is just to forgive us our sins. It would be unjust not to forgive them if Jesus has died for them.
But also notice in Romans 3.25 there the idea of God holding back his justice to that time of the cross and his forbearance. You see, God delaying his final justice is an act of God’s grace. Because of course, if God was to instantaneously enact justice for every sin, we’d all have been struck down long ago.
But as Peter puts it, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Justice delayed is grace and mercy.
So as we wait for that day, if you’re a Christian safe in Christ, folded into Christ, shielded by Christ, his death counted as your death, your debt written off in Christ as you have been joined to him in faith, how are we to live in an unjust world? Well, Micah 6 verse 8 sums it up. He has shown you, O mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. It’s an obvious point, isn’t it? But Christians should be concerned about justice.
Now, the instruction to act justly there is as noted, bound up with the idea of acting rightly. And acting rightly and justly includes being honest and faithful and self-controlled, even as God is. But as we’ve seen, it also means being fair and impartial, treating people equally, not judging people by their social status or because of personal preference, but viewing every man and woman as a God-made, precious, immortal soul.
James forbids favoritism, the idea, for example, of the rich being privileged over the poor. In chapter 2 of James, if you show special attention to the man fearing fine clothes and say, here’s a good seat for you, but say to the poor man, you stand there or sit on the floor by my feet, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Notice how the Bible calls out such discrimination as an evil, not just a minor social faux pas. And so, in our personal lives, in our church family life, we need to be vigilant, don’t we, and guard against that kind of partiality.
But let me also suggest that we shouldn’t be unconcerned about justice when it comes to wider society. Indeed, historically, Christians led many of the great campaigns and movements against societal injustice. The campaigns against slavery and the civil rights movement in the U.S. The historian Tom Holland writes this, Martin Luther King, by stirring the slumbering conscience of white Christians, succeeded in setting his country on a transformative new path.
This was the same vision that in the 18th century had inspired Quakers and evangelicals to campaign for the abolition of slavery. But now in the 1960s, the spark that had set it to flame with a renewed brilliance was the faith of African Americans. The sound of protest was the sound of the black churches.
Well, of course, injustice sadly didn’t disappear in the 18th century or even in the 1960s, but it continues today. Exploitation of the poor, that could include climate justice, the idea of the rich polluting the countries and lands and habitats of the poor, sex trafficking, abortion, greedy landlords that prey on weak and disempowered individuals in slum conditions and do nothing about it. Now, not every Christian is going to be equally involved in such causes.
Not every Christian is going to have the resources or the energy to be fully involved in many of these great issues. But I think it’s right to prompt ourselves about it. I was convicted of my lack of activism in those areas.
I think especially as there is a tendency for conservative evangelicals to be wary of those kinds of issues, often because of toxic politics and theological liberalism. Conservative evangelicals have tended to view those issues as just left-wing politics, or if we go into those kinds of things, we’ll just end up preaching a social gospel. But I think the Bible is pretty clear that we should be concerned about those kind of things, standing up for the weak, defending the fatherless and widows, loving others, treating other people the way that we want to be treated, and to do those things along with holding on to correct doctrine, and to do those things while all the time pointing people to the greatest injustice of all, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
God not being treated as he deserved to be, not thanked, not honored, not loved, not respected, but nailed to a cross, a monstrous injustice, which in his love he endured that we might be justly forgiven. Justice will be done. Abraham said in Genesis, the judge of all the earth will do right.
So be assured every act of cruelty, every lie, every abuse, every act of exploitation will receive its due and just punishment. You can be assured of that. But in his mercy, if God delays it, it’s only so there’s an opportunity for men and women to go to the cross, to take hold of Jesus before the final judgment falls.
And even as we seek justice rightly, we campaign for it, we seek it on behalf of others, it’s also good to remember that grace that along with justice God extends even now. Remember also to love mercy and to walk humbly, to get the whole verse. And that means we won’t simply rush to cancel other people or condemn them or crush them in the way that our society often seems so quick to do so, that we can turn the other cheek on occasions and in doing so show to others and to the world the grace and the mercy and the love that God has shown to us.
Confident that like Jesus himself, facing that monstrous injustice, we can entrust ourselves to the one who judges justly. And may God bless his thoughts to us from his word. Amen.
The post God is Just appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 1:49)
Let’s open our Bibles together to Luke’s Gospel, the Gospel account of Jesus’ life in Luke, and chapter 14. The NIV describes the parable we’re going to look at as the parable of the great banquet. Luke 14, from verse 15.
15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
(1:51 – 4:41)
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
This is the word of God.
Have you noticed that in modern society, people hate awkwardness? It feels as if awkwardness is just not on.
So let’s say, for instance, you’re invited to a night out at work, and you’re meant to be bonding around a meal. And two of your work colleagues start to talk about the upcoming election. And sparks begin to fly, things get a bit heated, and everyone else sits back in silence.
But the telling bit is afterwards, isn’t it? Because afterwards, someone will whisper, that was awkward. They won’t comment on the substance of the arguments. They won’t say anything about who was right or who was wrong.
That’s irrelevant. What was wrong was the feeling of awkwardness that we all just experienced. And of course, that’s a bad thing.
It’s always a bad thing to feel awkward. So, we’re living in this culture that seeks to avoid awkwardness, that seeks to even eliminate awkwardness. We would like to feel comfortable all of the time.
Thank you very much. And yet, I think it’s worth us asking the question whether this is always, in fact, helpful. Is it always a good thing if we never feel awkward? I’m always struck whenever I read the Gospels that when we encounter in its pages the person of Jesus, I’m struck that Jesus isn’t always scared about making people feel awkward.
Oh, at times He’s comfortable company. But on occasion, Jesus has zero qualms about saying the uncomfortable thing. Not because He doesn’t care for people, but because He does.
(4:43 – 7:31)
Because He understands actually that comfortableness is not always good for us. He knows that as human beings, we far too easily become comfortable in our sin. And He knows that that’s eternally dangerous.
And so He’s willing from time to time to provoke us to feel even huge discomfort. Because only then will we be shaken out of our complacency. Only then will we see our great need for His cross.
And that’s the dynamic at play in our passage, I think, this morning. The situation is that Jesus is a guest at a meal. He’s been invited by a prominent Pharisee to have some supper.
And the fellow guests at the meal are some experts in the Jewish law. These are all the sorts of men that you might expect Jesus to get on with. Jesus is a great teacher of God’s Word.
You might have expected Him to be mingling with these sorts of people. But to the contrary, this dinner party, up to this point where we started reading, has been extremely awkward. In the opening stages of the meal, Jesus has been calling out these religious men in various ways.
He’s called out their wrong views of the Sabbath, their self-important pride, and their self-serving dinner parties. He says, you invite people to your home who you know will invite you back. Someone is surely whispering it by the time we reach verse 15, this is awkward.
But I love what happens next. There’s a guy at the table, and there’s always someone like this, who tries to change the subject and defuse the awkwardness. There’s always someone who tries to make a segue to something lighter.
Ideally, something related, but sometimes even that’s out the window. This guy at the table, he exclaims, verse 15, blessed is the one who will eat in the feast of the kingdom of God. Let’s pivot from our dinner parties, that was the awkward discussion, and let’s shift to something much more agreeable.
(7:32 – 8:26)
Blessed is the person who will eat around the table in the kingdom of God. It was the Jewish expectation that in a future day, God’s kingdom would come on earth fully. And the manifestation, the way you would know that that blessing, that kingdom had come, is that there would be a great feast, this great banquet that God himself would host that was promised in the Old Testament.
It would be the party of all parties. And this man says, blessed are those who will sit at the table in that feast. I think the assumption that’s in play here, of course, is that we, us guys who sit around this table, we, of course, will be part of that feast.
(8:28 – 9:07)
This is meant to be a unifying thought. Let’s fix our happy thoughts on the feast that we will one day be part of. It’s a genius level of pivoting, but Jesus is having none of it.
He cares way too much for the souls of these lost men, religious but lost men. And it’s not that Jesus disagrees with the overall sentiment. He doesn’t deny that a person is blessed if they eat at that feast.
(9:09 – 9:56)
But you see, that’s the very question. What he challenges is their assumption about who will actually be there, because in fact, the men at this table were in danger of missing out. Why was that the case? And what does this mean for us? That’s what we’re going to think about over the next minutes.
And we just pray that God by His Spirit will move among us and make us appropriately uncomfortable as we sit under His Word. Well, let’s walk through the parable. Notice that it starts with a generous host.
(9:57 – 10:51)
Our first point today, the generosity of the host. Verse 16, a certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. So we have this unnamed man.
We don’t know who he is. We don’t know what he does for a living, but we know two things about him. We know that he is wealthy and that he is generous.
He decides to throw a great banquet for many guests, not just a few. And I think it’s significant, possibly, that he does so for no stated reason. So we’re not told that this was a wedding or that it was a king celebrating his coronation or something like that.
(10:51 – 11:29)
There’s no obvious occasion. It appears that this is something he just wants to do. And of course, as we start to interpret this parable, this is surely a description of God.
This is what the God of heaven is like. God makes plans for His people’s joy. God is a generous creator and a generous Savior.
(11:30 – 13:18)
The reputation that people often stick on God just doesn’t stand up to the scrutiny of the Bible or of reality. I think it was C.S. Lewis who talked about people’s perception that God is a cosmic killjoy. That’s what people think of God, isn’t it? But that doesn’t line up with the God of the Bible.
In the Bible, God creates the world for no other reason than His sheer generosity. In Scripture, it is God who saves in a totally unnecessary and unprecedented act of grace. He’s the giver of all givers.
He’s the generous host. And if we have a view of God that is otherwise, then it just doesn’t square up with the God who exists. And maybe that’s why we might be responding to God with the kind of response that now follows.
We come secondly to the fragility of the excuses. The fragility of the excuses. A bit of cultural background that’s quite important for us just to get what’s going on here.
In those days, when you were invited to a party, you were invited twice. So you’d get the first invitation a few weeks or months before the big date, rather like a wedding invitation. But unlike the way we do it, on the day of the party, a servant would be sent out into the town to invite people a second time.
(13:19 – 14:02)
Maybe in days without watches, you needed to know dinner’s ready right now. And so they would go into the town, they would go from house to house, and they would give that second invitation. It’s dinner time, come to the feast.
It would be kind of like a best man at a wedding phoning around every guest on the morning of the wedding and saying, be at church at two o’clock, don’t be late. Now, that would make their job a little more stressful than it typically is. And of course, at this stage, you are not expecting many call-offs.
(14:03 – 14:24)
If people weren’t planning to come, they would have sent their apologies earlier. We’re not expecting here a mass pullout. But as the servant does the rounds, he not only receives some call-offs, he discovers that everyone calls off.
(14:26 – 20:04)
Imagine that happening on the day of a wedding. It’s kind of like the opposite of Taylor Swift. Those tickets for Taylor Swift, I didn’t try and get any, but they were gold dust, weren’t they? And virtually nobody, unless they had some extreme reason or they wanted to earn a lot of money by selling their ticket, no one was pulling out of that party.
Some kind of record attendance in Scotland at a concert. Well, this is a record. This is the greatest pullout of any major party ever.
Nobody comes. And even worse, the excuses are flimsy. We’re given a sample of the excuses.
There’s this bloke who’s just bought a field who says he must go and see it. Well, I don’t know much about buying a field, but I’m assuming that if you were to buy a field, you would go to see it before you bought it rather than after you bought it. It’s clearly a flimsy excuse.
Just like the chap who bought five yoke of oxen. Now, that may not sound much to us, but I’m told that this was something that a very rich farmer would own. Five yoke of oxen, way more than what you would typically need.
This is a major investment of money. Now, if you were working on a farm and you invested in tractors and machinery and equipment worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, I am assuming you would have done all the checks and all the research and all the testing before you engaged that massive outlay of money. This excuse is as flimsy as a house of cards, as is the excuse about marriage in verse 20.
Now, this last one might seem like a stronger reason than the first two, mightn’t it? Especially if you’re Jewish, because actually there was a law in the law of Moses that said that in the first year of marriage, a man was exempt from going to war and he was exempt from taking on heavy commitments so that he could be at home a good amount of the time. But Jewish history reveals that the Jews did not understand this law as a complete exemption from social duties. It wasn’t that the couple became hobbits for a year and then emerged after 12 months, right? Newlyweds still went to the temple.
They still attended the festivals. They still engaged in community. They carried on the basic social obligations.
The law wasn’t preventing that. And so this man too had a flimsy excuse that would shatter under any reasonable scrutiny. And the host, when he hears not only the rejections, but when he hears the excuses, he is rightly angry.
Not just because his generosity is being rejected, but because clearly he himself is being dishonored. The host is generous, but the invited don’t honor him. That’s what’s going on here in a kind of honor and shame culture.
And actually, if you read the Bible, this is the storyline of the whole Bible. Later this year, God willing, we’re hoping to study the early chapters of Genesis. And so it might be a good idea for you just to take some time over the next months to read Genesis 1 to 11.
But this is part of what we’re going to see there. God is generous. He creates a world out of his grace, chapters 1 and 2. But then, shockingly and sadly, human beings don’t honor God.
They don’t listen to their creator. They don’t worship him and obey him as they should. That’s chapters 3 to 11.
And of course, the rest of the story unfolds following that. And the worst part is the self-justifying excuses we make for our rejection of God. We excuse ourselves, don’t we, from giving God his place.
Human beings are self-justifying beings. Have you noticed that? You know, when someone rejects an invitation to come to a party or something that you put on or a birthday or something, they always will give you an excuse because we’re self-justifying beings. And we do that with God, don’t we? We excuse ourselves from the urgency of repenting of sin and believing in Christ.
(20:05 – 22:16)
We can’t come to God. We can’t come to him now, at least. We’re too busy living our lives and chasing our dreams and pursuing our happiness.
Or we raise those seemingly moral objections to coming. And we kind of like those moral objections because when you give a moral objection to Christianity, it kind of feels like you’re taking the high ground. You’re actually a really good person, an intelligent person.
And so we say, I’m not becoming a Christian because Christians are hypocrites. Or I’m not coming to Christ because I’ve got moral and scientific objections to the Bible. And sometimes people genuinely have these objections and wrestles.
But too often, these become convenient objections culled from the internet to keep my Christian friend at arm’s length for another week. It’s just a good reason to not explore this more deeply. Or maybe our excuse to not come to Jesus is actually a religious one because actually that’s the context of this passage, isn’t it? Remember that Jesus is sitting at this table with religious men, religious men who think their salvation with God is sorted even while they reject Jesus.
See, that’s who Jesus was aiming this parable at. Who do you think the invited are in this text? Who are these invited people that reject? It’s the people at the table with Jesus. That’s who he’s targeting, isn’t it? They were invited to a table of grace, but their religion kept them back from coming.
(22:19 – 22:56)
If you think your religion can save you, you will never come to Jesus to save you, will you? Because you don’t need Jesus. You’ve got your steps, you’ve got your practices, you’ve got your faith in God, and that’s going to be enough. The big point of it all is that the excuses can be different, but they’re all alike.
They land you in the same place. They leave you outside the feast. And the thing is that God can see right through every one of those excuses.
(22:58 – 23:39)
If you’re not following Jesus today, and I’m assuming that’s true of some of us at least, what excuse are you sending back to God as the reason that you cannot come? That’s an awkward question, isn’t it? But that’s a needed one, because the reality is that the generous host is rightly angry at the flimsiness of our excuses. He’s generous, but he’s just. Don’t be one who misses out, because as we now see, God will invite others in.
(23:41 – 26:27)
The generosity of God, notice that it resurfaces again. If this were me with nobody coming, I would call it quits at this point. I think I might just call off the party and eat all the food myself.
But God remains a generous host. And that brings us thirdly to the intensity of the mission. What does the host do now? He sends out his servant again.
He sends out his servant with urgency. Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. So the servant sent out to bring in, you might say, the less privileged people.
Jesus, as we see in Luke’s gospel, has a particular heart for the weak, the poor, and the vulnerable. Just incidentally, this is where we need to be careful not to read parables too literally or too woodenly. Because if we read it in that way, we might think that Jesus went to the privileged, the privileged rejected him, and then he thought as a kind of afterthought, maybe I should go to the poor now.
But when you read the gospel, that’s not what happens at all. In fact, if anything, Jesus prioritizes the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable. So don’t read this parable in a wooden way.
It is the case that Jesus reached out to people who were often overlooked. And so the servant goes out to them and finds that they are much more receptive. And he comes back with some of them, but then he says to the host, actually, there is still more room at the feast.
And again, I think I might have stopped at this point. I mean, we don’t always need a Taylor Swift sellout all the time, right? This is not a disaster if it’s two-thirds full, isn’t that okay? Unlike Matthew’s gospel, in a similar parable, the servant here is sent out two extra times. If you read Matthew tells a similar story, the servant is only sent out one extra time.
But in Luke, the servant is sent out two extra times. Once to the town to bring in the lowly, and the second time to the roads and the country lanes to bring in everyone else. There’s a relentlessness to this mission.
(26:27 – 26:54)
And again, in one sense, the whole of the Bible is the story of this mission. I mentioned earlier Genesis 1 to 11, but of course, when you get to Genesis 12, you find that the generous God continues to be generous. And he gives that great promise to Abram to make him into a great nation and through that nation to bless the world.
(26:56 – 27:12)
A mission to bless the nations, a mission to bring the nations back to God’s blessing, back to the feast. And there’s something of that here, isn’t there? The roads here are really, think of them as the motorways. They’re the highways of the world.
(27:14 – 28:54)
It’s a place of international travel. The country lanes speak of the difficult places. It’s a picture of world evangelism.
And of course, Luke is very concerned with this. When you read Luke’s second volume, the book of Acts, you find that the gospel will be sent out from Jerusalem to the very ends of the earth. Far and near hear the call, worship Him Lord of all.
That’s what sang earlier, wasn’t it? That’s the mission that God is relentlessly on. And it is therefore the mission that the church should be relentlessly on. You know, the penny dropped for me this week.
I sort of remember others making this point previously, but it’s not so much that we’re on mission, it’s that God is on mission. The only question is whether we’re joining Him in the mission that He is about. And He is building His church.
And people are coming in from everywhere. And it’s sometimes hard for us to grasp that reality, that in the world, this gospel is growing and bearing fruit. The continent of Africa is where the gospel is growing at its fastest rate.
Did you know that? At the rate of 2.7% per year, the church is growing. In Asia, it’s 1.5% per year that the church is growing. There are over 100 million Christians in China right now.
(28:56 – 29:10)
They reckon there’s 1.75 in the UK. That number in China is massively growing. Even since 2019, when the government clamped down more heavily in the church, the church is continuing to grow.
(29:12 – 30:06)
Even some of what we’re hearing today about Ukraine, there are stories coming out of Ukraine of more and more people coming to Christ, and more and more people heading into Christian ministry all across Ukraine. Sometimes in the things that we think are disasters, and they are at one level, we need to see that at a deeper level, God is working in these things and through these things. And so this should challenge us whether our mission aligns with God, whether it’s evangelism into our immediate community, or whether it’s within the realm of your own personal community, because each of us has our own personal community, the places where you work, the family that you engage with, the friendship circle that you have, or whether it’s in supporting missions across the world.
(30:06 – 35:30)
Will we not only commit to this task, but will we keep committing to it? Or will we become content with the people we already have? Are we happy with the fact that our church is two-thirds full this morning? Or are we seeing that as a challenge like the host did here? Not because this full church matters, but because the full feast matters. Can I just ask you to wrestle with something a little bit here? I understand that each of us have preferences when it comes to the size of our local church. I understand that.
And we all have preferences when it comes to numbers about the size of church where we feel comfortable. And some people like small churches, and some people like just this perfect middle, medium-sized church that’s not too small and not too big. And then other people actually quite like a big church.
And there’s dynamics there. I get it. You know that some people don’t like it when things are just too relationally busy and overwhelming, and there’s too many names to understand and learn, and they feel overloaded.
And I get that on one level. But can I say on the basis of this passage that our personal comfort should not be our greatest concern? Our greatest concern should be that people are outside of the kingdom. And I’m not saying that we should be excited about transfer growth from other churches.
People move into our area, and they come to our church. We’re delighted to welcome them. We’re not shutting the doors.
They’re very welcome. But what I am saying is that we should be praying for conversion growth. What if we were to see at Greenview over the next 10 years, what if we were to see 40 people coming to faith in Jesus? And what if it meant that every single seat here was full, and we had a serious problem about what we’re going to do in terms of our services? That is a problem we should want to have, isn’t it? See, the danger is we can feel so comfortable because we’ve already got a seat.
But the Father is saying to us, go out there and bring in some more. Is our attitude, this is enough, or is it bring in more? I’m so challenged by that. I’m so challenged by the relentlessness of a host who says, get back out there because I’m not finished bringing people in.
And so this passage challenges us to share the heart of God and to hear the command to go. And yet this parable and passage lands with a challenge for those outside the church. And I want to finish on that briefly and hopefully impactfully.
Finally, this morning, notice with me the simplicity of the punchline. The simplicity of the punchline. It’s there in verse 24, and there’s something that might not be clear in English.
When Jesus says in verse 24, I tell you, the you there is plural. It’s all of you, each and every one of you. So in other words, the man in this parable is addressing every one of the people who rejected his invitation.
And therefore, this speaks to every person who was sitting around the table. He’s not just speaking to the one guy who said, blessed is the… He’s speaking to them all. And here’s the punchline to them all.
The punchline of this parable is not about mission. It’s a punchline about missing out. Look at it.
I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet. Not one of those people who made their excuses and thought it was legitimate will eat a bite at the table of the kingdom. You think you’re in? You think you’ll be one of the blessed at the banquet to come? If you reject God’s invitation now, then you will not be at the table then.
There was an article posted last week in the Times newspaper that was called Prepping for the End of the World. 15 Things You Need for the End of the World, I think was the subtitle. It includes a gas mask, an axe, and a winter sleeping bag.
(35:31 – 36:27)
Just what you need in the event of a nuclear holocaust. Actually, there’s only one thing you need for the end of the world, and that is faith in Christ. Because as awkward as it may feel, rather than us trying to deal with our sins ourselves in our own way and by our own efforts, the best thing we can do with that awkwardness is bring it to God in a moment of confession and repentance and to say, I am broken before you.
I have broken your laws. And as much as I’ve tried to honor you, I have failed. Please forgive me and give me through faith that forgiveness and grace that only comes through the cross of Jesus Christ, through the blood that he shed for me.
(36:29 – 37:38)
That’s the only sure way to be ready for the end of the world and to sit at that table. And so, very simply, I don’t want to belabor it this morning, but that’s the challenge for you. If you’re not a Christian today, if you’re here this morning, if you’ve never really taken that step, maybe you’ve been a churchgoer for many years, maybe you’ve come along with family, but you’ve never, you’ve felt awkward a number of times, but you’ve never done anything about it, there’s an opportunity to do that today.
You need to respond to an invitation. You have to reply. You’ve got to do something.
And there’s an opportunity to do that today, to come to pray and to put your faith in Jesus. And if you want to do that, there’ll be, I’ll be down the front, there’ll be others here who you can come and pray with. If you want to read more that will help you to respond, we’ve got some booklets and books that we can give you that will help you do that.
(37:40 – 37:45)
Let’s respond to God’s invitation and not delay this morning.
The post The Invited – Luke Ch14v15–24 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 0:23) Transcript
As we begin this message on the faithfulness of God, I’d like you to consider that in 2024, the word faithful is in decline. It’s in decline. Now, this might surprise you if you come around church regularly, because we use the word faithful all the time.
(0:24 – 1:27)
But outside the church, beyond the bubble of the church, faithful is becoming an increasingly antiquated word. So, people may speak of loyal friends or loyal employees, but you seldom hear people speaking of Mr. So-and-so being faithful or she is faithful. Yet there is a word like it that is much more commonly used.
It’s splattered over the newspapers. You hear it constantly on television. It has only two extra letters.
It’s the word unfaithful, unfaithful. And it’s much more in vogue. We see it and we hear it everywhere.
(1:28 – 4:18)
And that tells us a lot about our society, and none of it’s very good. It tells us that we, as human beings, all too often are capable of unfaithfulness, whether some kind of unfaithfulness to each other or unfaithfulness to the God who gave us life and breath. Unfaithfulness can be tragically true of us, but it is never, never, ever true of God.
Nowhere in the Bible is God ever called unfaithful. God is and always will be a faithful God. Now, here’s the problem.
We tend to take this attribute of God for granted, I think. At least I’m guilty of that. And we don’t always see how spectacular it is that day after day and year after year and century after century, God is faithful.
My life and my salvation depends on the faithfulness of God. And in the end, it’s the very reason why I can trust God, because He is faithful. This is spectacular.
And anything but mundane, as we’ve said, it’s sort of step with an unfaithful world, so that actually God’s faithfulness can become one of the great magnets that can pull an unbeliever to the gospel, this perfect faithfulness of God in Christ. So, let’s explore this theme in a little more depth. And we’re going to look at this under three headings this evening.
The first is God’s faithfulness in Himself. God’s faithfulness in Himself. And what I’d like you to see, first of all, is that faithfulness is integral to God.
It’s part of His nature. When we think of the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, this is who God is. He is faithful.
(4:19 – 5:03)
Now, let’s see this together in Deuteronomy chapter 7. If you’d like to turn to Deuteronomy 7, one of the most foundational passages in the Bible, one of the early passages on God’s faithfulness. There are others like Exodus 34, but we’re opting for Deuteronomy 7. At this point, Israel have been rescued out of Egypt. They’re standing on the brink of the promised land with all of the fears and the worries that that could conjure up in their minds.
(5:03 – 5:45)
And how does God instill faith in His people? By reminding them of His faithfulness. Let’s read from verse 7. The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your ancestors, that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
(5:46 – 7:12)
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands. Now, there’s a few things I want you to spot here.
The first thing is the plain, straightforward statement that God is faithful. Look again at verse 9. The Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God.
So, faithfulness isn’t just the way God is sometimes. It’s not something God acts like on occasion. Like when we say, or when somebody says, sometimes he’s sweet, sometimes she’s nice.
No. This is the permanent, inherent, and abundant characteristic of God’s character. Faithful defines God’s very being.
(7:15 – 7:29)
When I was a little boy, I was made to read lots of different books, but one of the series of books I had to read was the Mr. Men books. Very profound. I think they’re still on the go today.
(7:30 – 8:08)
And the idea was that the characters in the Mr. Men books, they were all called the attribute that defined them most. So, Mr. Happy was always happy, and Mr. Greedy was always greedy. That was the core of who they were.
Well, Deuteronomy is saying that at the core of God, he is faithful. This is who he is. He is, another way of saying it would be, he is unchanging.
(8:09 – 8:42)
He’s faithful. Now, the question then arises, how would we know that? How can we know that this is true beyond the bare assertion of Scripture, that God is faithful? We’ll notice the second thing here, that this inherent faithfulness, this faithfulness inside of God can be seen by his world. And we see it in a variety of ways, of course.
(8:43 – 9:02)
But supremely, we see God’s faithfulness in the promises God keeps. God’s promises are where God’s faithfulness is seen. Check out verse 9 again.
(9:03 – 9:17)
And notice the reason God gives for rescuing Israel out of Egypt. It wasn’t simply a random act of grace. Now, it was all of grace, it was all of love, but it wasn’t a random act of grace and love.
(9:17 – 9:38)
It wasn’t on the spur of a moment. The verse says, he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations. A covenant is a promise.
(9:39 – 10:08)
It’s a solemn pledge. It’s what you do when you get married. It’s a solemn pledge to live in a loyal relationship with someone.
And God had made such a pledge or oath, if you look back at verse 8, it’s talking about the same thing there. God had made such an oath. He had sworn it to Israel’s ancestors, people like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(10:09 – 10:38)
And so, what it’s saying is, it wasn’t that one day God said to himself, he just decided, I think I might save the Israelites. I’ll deliver the Israelites from slavery. No, God had promised their ancestors that He would make their descendants into a nation, and that God would bless them, and that God would bless the world through them.
(10:39 – 12:53)
The exodus was God coming good on His promise. And so, what this verse is showing us is that God’s faithfulness is seen and proven by His promises, as they are made and then as they are kept. And notice that these promises, they hold fast not just for a few years or a few decades, but forever.
Well, as the end of the verse puts it, for a thousand generations, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations. Now, the Bible itself tells us that between the time when God made the promise, first of all, to Abraham to bless him and make him into a nation, between that time and the day that the Israelites walked out of Egypt, the Bible tells us there was a gap of 430 years. We learn that in Exodus chapter 12, 430 years.
Now, if we, there’s different ideas of maybe what a generation is, but if we count one generation as 40 years of time, then they were roughly, roughly 11 generations between the promise to Abraham and the exodus fulfillment, when this rabble of slaves came out and became a nation at Sinai. Eleven generations between the promise made and the promise kept. Now, that might seem quite a long time, right? Four hundred, 430 years, right? For us, that’s back to the 1600s.
Eleven generations seems like a long time. But God said, says here, that is nothing. I keep my covenant promises to the thousandth generation.
(12:55 – 13:12)
For as long as you can imagine, I remain faithful. Because that’s the sense, I think, of the phrase. A thousand generations for these Jews, it’s as long as their brains can compute.
(13:13 – 16:55)
It’s an endless amount of time. It’s not as if on the thousand and first generation, God stops being faithful. Psalm 100 verse 5 says, God’s faithfulness continues throughout all generations.
But putting a number on it, I think sometimes this is why the Bible does put numbers and things, putting a number on it helps us glimpse the greatness of the scale of it. You think eleven generations is a long time to be faithful? I’m a one thousand generation sort of God. Psalm 117, the shortest Psalm in the Psalter, has only two verses.
And one of them says this, for great is His love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Forever. When we sing, as we sometimes do, forever God is faithful, forever God is strong, forever God is with us, forever we are not singing fantasy, we are affirming reality.
In a world where 50 years of faithfulness is seen as extraordinary, you know, you see people interviewing folk, you know, how did you do it to 60 years of marriage? What was the secret? Here is the God whose faithfulness goes on and on. And I think this first point, actually, this is the thing that’s really spoken to me most this week, this first point. This first point is actually life-changing for us, I think, because it prevents us from basing our belief on God’s faithfulness on whether we see it in the precise moment, something just to be a little careful of.
You know that thing where God answers one of your prayers, something you’ve been praying for for a while, and when He does, you say to Him and you tell your Christian friends, you say to Him and you say to them, God has been faithful. Ever said that? Ever done that? He has, and you should. It’s a good thing to say.
But just be a little careful, just a little careful, because would God have been any less faithful had He not answered that prayer at that time and in that way? Do you see what I’m saying? Is He only faithful when He comes through in the manner that I hope for or in the time frame that I expect? Oh, we need to be just a little bit careful. In times when things don’t seem to be going well, when my expectations are dashed, God is just as faithful as He always was. Now, that may not seem obvious to me in the moment, but I know it’s true of God, and I see it in the bigger picture, and I know that that is who He is, and so I trust it.
(16:58 – 19:32)
And above all, I always see His faithfulness, of course, in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our second point this evening. So God’s faithfulness in Himself, and then secondly, God’s faithfulness in Christ. God’s faithfulness seen in the Old Testament, of course, reaches its pinnacle.
You get to the summit of His faithfulness in Christ. And to see how that’s the case, let’s briefly return to Deuteronomy 7 verse 9. Did you notice that there is an uncomfortable and even perhaps an alarming phrase in verse 9? In this verse that is a soft blanket of comfort, there is a jaggy bit that might make us feel uncomfortable. It’s the end of verse 9. After all that reassuring stuff about God’s faithfulness to a thousand generations, it adds, of those who love Him and keep His commands.
Am I the only one who winced at the end of that verse? I’m promised never-ending faithfulness, but there is a condition I need to fulfill. To receive the thousand generations of faithfulness, I need to keep loving God and to keep keeping His commands. In other words, I need to be faithful back.
Now, what do we do with that bit? Do you do what I sometimes do with passages? You kind of selectively ignore like half of the verse and just skip on, just take the bit that would seem comforting. You can’t do that with the Bible. It does seem to be saying that for me to have a relationship with God, there must be faithfulness on my side.
It’s kind of, it is like a healthy marriage. God’s faithfulness needs to be married to our faithfulness. But here’s the problem.
(19:34 – 21:19)
According to the whole Bible, none of us are faithful. Israel, who God was speaking to, would be later described by God as spiritual adulterers, because they didn’t love God as they should. They loved other gods.
They loved other things. They loved their sin more than Him. And God famously, in an illustration of this, told one of His prophets, Hosea, you remember that story? He told Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman.
Now, that is usually not a good plan for marriage, just speaking to the young guys here or the girls. This is not usually going to work well. But this is what He’s told to do, to marry a promiscuous woman.
Why? To demonstrate and illustrate to Israel that this is the kind of bride that God has married, a people who do not love Him back with faithfulness, a people who are spiritually promiscuous. And so, as we come through the rest of the Old Testament, we’re asking the question, how is this relationship going to work? How is it going to last when there is such unfaithfulness, not on God’s side, but on our side? Oh, we might say, well, what you’ve got to understand about God is that God is forgiving, and God is gracious, and He is. But He is also a God of noble character.
(21:21 – 28:42)
Right? I mean, any noble person, any noble husband expects the one he faithfully loves to faithfully love him. This great and desperate conundrum is only resolved through Christ. This is where Jesus, and only Jesus fits the bill.
Have you ever spotted that in the New Testament, Jesus is constantly described? Like, now that we’re focusing on this, you’re going to be just seeing it everywhere, as I am seeing it. But He is constantly described in terms of His faithfulness. One of my favorite places is Revelation chapter 19.
Revelation 19, Jesus in that chapter is depicted as a warrior on horseback, and He’s coming. He’s this warrior who’s coming to bring God’s justice on God’s enemies. And we read in Revelation 19 verse 11, we read this, this is John writing, I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True.
Now, it is clear from the context that the rider here is Christ, but He’s not called Jesus here. He is called Faithful and True. In a world filled with the shattered glass of broken promises, Jesus’ name is Faithful and True.
And many other passages echo this fact. Hebrews 2 describes Jesus as the merciful and faithful High Priest. In Hebrews 3, He’s called the Faithful Son.
In Hebrews 13, Jesus Christ is the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. In the Gospels, we don’t just go straight to the cross in the Gospels, even though it takes up much of the gospel accounts, but actually there’s a lot of the life of Jesus that is given to us.
Why is that there? It is portraying Jesus’ faithfulness to the Father. John describes Jesus at the beginning of his gospel as full of grace and truth. Truth is an idea closely associated with faithfulness.
And in John 14, Jesus almost echoes exactly Deuteronomy 7 when He says, I love the Father and do exactly what the Father has commanded. And when Jesus, of course, hangs on the cross, as He comes to breathe His last breath, He can say, it is finished. The entire plan that the Father had laid down for Him, He finished at the final line.
Faithful and True are well-earned titles of our faithful and true Savior. He is the only Mr. Faithful who has ever lived. Jesus fulfills on the human side what a noble God would, of course, require.
And in doing that, He didn’t just pay the penalty for the guilt of our sin, but He lived with a righteous consistency that was just as much required. And I need this, and you need this more than I need anything else thinking about this morning. What do we really need? We need a great high priest whose name is love, who ever lives and intercedes for me.
That’s what we really need. You know, going back to that earlier discussion of our prayers and God’s faithfulness, you know, it struck me this week, actually, that sometimes we confuse our expectations with what God has promised. Our expectations with what God has promised.
Sometimes the things that we expect of God are not actually things that He has promised us and guaranteed to us. God never fails to give us what He has promised, but that is not always the same thing as the things that we want. But He gives us what we need the most.
He gives us what we will need when we’re just a few hours from meeting our Maker. When perhaps, I mean, I can’t imagine what that’s going to be like, but perhaps if we’re composementives enough, we’ll be thinking, how is this going to go? How will I, you know, even though I’ve been a person of faith in Christ all the years, but maybe we’ll have doubts in that moment, how will I be ever able to face God in my own unfaithfulness and all of its facets? It can only be in Christ. Paul Tripp writes, he can be trusted even when you cannot.
He will be faithful in goods even when you’re not. He will do what is right and best even when you don’t. That’s what we’ll be clinging onto, is it not? And that’s what He’s promised to give us, to give us His own faithfulness in Christ.
Now, does that mean then that we just lean back, rest ourselves on grace, and give up all of our efforts in being faithful? Well, of course not. It’s actually from, like so many of these other graces and practices of our faith, it’s actually from a position of grace and security that we are then enabled by the Spirit to increasingly, though not perfectly to glory, but we are able to increasingly mirror God’s faithfulness as those who are in His image. And so thirdly, we finish on this, God’s faithfulness in us, God’s faithfulness in us, because His faithfulness to us becomes His faithfulness through us.
(28:43 – 29:53)
It’s simply impossible to read the New Testament and not see that faithfulness is to characterize the people of the faithful God. One of the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness, Galatians 5. Jesus calls us to be good and faithful servants, Matthew 25. In Revelation 2, Jesus calls the church in the face of suffering to be faithful unto death.
And even in passages that don’t explicitly use the word faithful, it’s the idea of faithful. The book of James is all about faithfulness, isn’t it? James is discouraging double-mindedness and warns us not to be an adulterous people who are friends with the world and also pretending to be friends with God, compromising with sin. And then there’s a pile of texts in the New Testament that are all about our integrity and our honesty in speech, which is very closely connected to faithfulness.
(29:55 – 30:13)
We see faithfulness in marriage is expected. We see that our lives as a whole are meant to have a blameless consistency to them. We will not always be this, but we are called to be this.
(30:14 – 35:58)
Think of the immense opportunity we have in a world where promises are cheap and commitment is so shallow. I mean, commitment has probably never been shallower than it is today. I mean, it’s not always good to make these sweeping statements, but it seems true, doesn’t it, in lots of ways.
And in that context, we can stand out from the crowd through the simple fact that we actually do the things that we say we will do. We keep the commitments we make and we stick to the vows that we’ve committed to. We will not always be this, but we are called to be this.
It’s the sort of faithfulness that we see in the life of B.B. Warfield. Now, I’m conscious that this, if we’re finished with this illustration, this is a marriage illustration, and I’m very conscious these days of the kind of illustrations we use. I know some of you are not married, but there’s something in this that surely sets an example to all of us.
Think of whatever relationships you have in your life that demand commitment, faithfulness from you. It might be your friendships. It might be within your workplace.
It might be with your family. It might be with your spouse. B.B. Warfield, if you know of him at all, is someone who’s known as a writer.
He’s an American theologian. He wrote all sorts of quite intellectual books, you know, defending the inspiration and authority of Scripture, among other things. So, if you’ve read a bit of church history, you’ve probably heard of him.
He was the president of Princeton in the United States. Now, what you may not know and what I did not know was that he had a wife, and his wife, Annie Warfield, was a seriously ill woman. Now, he wasn’t ill when they got married, and this is one of the reasons why you make those vows, you know.
When people ask me, they come with their own vows, and I say, well, you can say whatever you want, but you need to say these bits. These bits do need to be in there, and part of it’s the sickness and unhealthy for this reason. So, they went away to Europe on their honeymoon, and while they were there, just weeks into the marriage, she suddenly started becoming seriously ill, and her health took a plunge, and she ended up bedridden through most of their married life.
And this had, as you can imagine, a transformative effect on Benjamin, as well as his wife, Annie. It’s said that he could never leave the house for more than a few hours at a time. So, this is a guy, he’s running a Bible call, he’s running a seminary, and he would nip to the seminary, do two hours of lectures, and then he would come straight back home.
And essentially, in days before working from home was cool, he had to work from home for decades in order to be there for his wife. It’s said that for a 10-year stretch, he never left Princeton College, where they lived, except on one occasion. And the reason he left was not to go on a holiday, it was to try and secure a treatment for his wife, which ended up failing.
He would read to her for a couple of hours every day. And none of this was done with any fanfare, but it was inevitably observed by, can you imagine, the thousands of students coming through Princeton, who would have seen this in the life of this Christian man. Not what you expect from a heavyweight theologian, is it? And yet surely, this shows us the kind of real theologian he was, as he put on display something of God’s own faithfulness to him and to his church.
And of course, God always uses these things in ways that we don’t expect, because as Warfield was confined so much to home, he devoted more of his life to a writing ministry that has blessed the church down the decades and the years ever since. Now, I hear stories like that, and I pray that I would even just have a few ounces of that kind of faithfulness in the responsibilities that I’ve been given. And I hope as you listen to that, that you’re praying for that too, even as we rest in the fact that when we don’t get it right, and we won’t always get it right, his faithfulness is enough.
(36:00 – 36:28)
Paul, another beautiful thing he says to Timothy, I’m going to just leave you with this. He says, and this is the bottom line for the Christian, that if we are faithless, he remains faithful because he cannot disown himself. Faithfulness is who he is.
(36:30 – 36:36)
Let’s thank God for that this evening as we go into this week and serve.
The post God is Faithful – Deuteronomy Ch7v7to9 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 0:24) Transcript
Look at chapter 12 verses 13 to 21. Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied, Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you? Then he said to them, Watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
(0:25 – 0:34)
A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them this parable. The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
(0:34 – 0:55)
He thought to himself, What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I’ll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.
(0:55 – 1:19)
But God said to him, You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. Well, we’re on a famous parable today, but I wonder if you’ve heard of another famous parable.
(1:19 – 1:48)
It’s the parable of the boiling frog. You know the story. If you put a frog in tepid water, it sits there thinking, This is fantastic.
Where else would I rather be? And if you slowly increase the temperature, the frog won’t notice. It will still keep sitting there thinking, This is great. And if you keep just slowly increasing the temperature, the frog doesn’t notice, and eventually it will just sit there, and it will allow itself to be slowly boiled to death.
(1:50 – 2:20)
Of course, it’s completely untrue. I’m reliably informed that a frog will actually jump out when the heat’s too much, but it’s a powerful picture of what we can be like as human beings. That’s why this story does the rounds, and it becomes believable, unless, of course, you Google it, and you find out otherwise.
You see, we’re often frog-like in life. We adapt to what’s going on around us. We become comfortable in our environment, even when it’s sometimes dangerous for us.
(2:21 – 2:46)
And when it comes to the issue of today’s passage, that’s a point well made. In verse 15, Jesus says, Be on your guard against all kinds of greed or covetousness, for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. It’s a serious warning because it comes in a section of Luke’s gospel where God’s judgment and matters of eternity are being considered.
(2:47 – 4:43)
Our passage seems to scream of the danger that greed and even wealth itself can sometimes lead us away from God. And we can be like that frog because here in the West, as we know, we are seeped in the tepid water of materialism, which has also been a slow burn over the centuries. It just feels like normal life to have stuff.
We forget that for long periods, wealth and easy access to credit were not so attainable. And I’m part of the problem, of course. If I don’t remind myself, I will quickly forget that owning a three-bedroom semi-detached in Clarkston puts me amongst the most privileged of human beings in our world.
Well, if it’s hard to identify the greedy, covetous heart that we are to be on guard for in verse 15, let me highlight four indicators from our passage that may be of use for us today. Perhaps a greedy heart is on the rise when in life we start using, neglecting, indulging, and assuming. And let me try and explain these along the way.
Firstly, maybe a greedy heart is on the rise when we start using. That is where people, and even God himself, is viewed as a means for some material gain. In verse 13, someone in the crowd comes to Jesus, who he’s been teaching, and he says, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.
In verse 15, Jesus interprets this man’s motives for us as greed. Now, it’s interesting to note just before our main point how greed can distort even the closest of relationships in life. Greed can set family members against one another, even at a time when they should be united in support, like in these circumstances.
(4:45 – 5:15)
In addition, a covetous heart creates an internal struggle, one that involves looking at what other people have that you don’t, and finding it hard to be happy for other people’s successes in life. It’s not missed on the commentaries that, like today, wealth and status went hand in hand in the first century. And so the request in verse 13 reveals a heart that thirsts for status, and to be first in line before others, as well as the desire for cold, hard cash.
(5:16 – 9:50)
We have to be on guard against all of that in life. But for our main point, it’s the nature of inheritance in biblical times that paints the picture for us. In ancient Israel, it was the elder brother who would usually receive a double portion of the family inheritance, and the rest would then be evenly spread between the younger brothers.
So the elder brother would usually receive a bit more. And it’s thought that this is the situation that this guy here is facing in verse 13. And so what seems to be going on here is that this guy recognizes something unique about Jesus, as we may do ourselves when we hear his teaching on eternal matters and the previous verses.
And he seems to think to himself, well, here’s a guy who could be useful in my family’s financial matters. And so he views Jesus as a means to an end, which really means viewing God in the same way. And of course, it’s never pleasant or godly when we do that, either toward God and the so-called prosperity gospel, where it is believed that through faith, we ought to be blessed with health, wealth, and happiness now, nor is it pleasant or godly if it’s directed toward people.
As I prepared, I was actually reminded of the Netflix film that I watched recently called The Founder with Michael Keating. And it’s about the rise of McDonald’s as a global brand. And that happened because of a guy called Ray Kroc.
But the first McDonald’s was run by a pair of humble brothers, and Kroc abused their business. He managed to get them on board with franchising, pretended to be interested in them as people. He found out how they set up their business, struck up a partnership, and then he started doing things out in the field that the brothers would never do.
Eventually, he exposed the loopholes and he bought up land for every new McDonald’s to be built on. It was not part of the original plan for the McDonald’s brothers. And eventually, they were in an impossible position but to sell everything to Ray Kroc.
And the icing on the cake was when he opened one of his own national McDonald’s right across from the brothers’ original restaurant and even put the first ever McDonald’s out of business. It may sound like a leap to go there, considering a man in verse 13 just asks a simple question. But one thing you might say about Ray Kroc is that he had a ruthless self-assertion, one that sees people as a means to an end.
And it’s not without relevance that the exact word for greed that Jesus uses here in response to this man is defined precisely as expressing ruthless self-assertion, which is applied to possessions. You see, greed distorts our ethics and our outlook in life, often pushing people to become fast and loose with boundaries. And this man in verse 13, perhaps in a less overt way, then goes on to do that.
He seems to be prepared to do likewise by asking Jesus to arbitrate in this issue, to try and gain a bit more than what he’s legitimately due. Of course, Jesus knows that the usual process would be to go to the local synagogue, so he doesn’t allow himself to get drawn in, even though he could resolve the issue. You see, ruthless self-assertion and greed distorts how we view people, and it distorts how we view God himself.
In light of all this, it’s a good reminder, as Jesus opts not to get involved in verse 14, that God and our Lord doesn’t simply exist to make our lives better, financial or otherwise. Of course, he may do that, but his ministry, which always points toward his work at the cross for the forgiveness of sin is of far greater concern for him in verse 14, even in some of the matters that consume us so much in this life. And we are to love our Lord for that first and foremost, before and above anything else.
(9:52 – 11:38)
So perhaps a greedy heart is on the rise in life when we start using other people, or even using God and viewing people in God as a means to an end financially. But secondly, perhaps it’s also on the rise when we start neglecting, neglecting the poor, that is. Of course, the poor get special attention throughout Luke’s gospel.
And in verses 16 to 18, Jesus introduces our parable to develop what he said in verse 15. It’s the parable of the rich fool. And it’s a simple parable.
It’s about a farmer businessman who yields a good return on the harvest, and he decides to build bigger barns to store up his wealth. And again, it’s helpful just to know a couple of things before our main point, one being how self-centered we may become when there’s money in the mix. One expression of that, of course, is the tendency to try and hold onto wealth and to strive with great energy to keep it and to manage it at all costs.
Incidentally, my daughter came home from school recently, and she told me that if Jeff Bezos, the creator of Amazon, dropped 500 pounds whilst walking down the street, he wouldn’t pick it up. I was surprised, and I said, really? Why not? I think I’d want to hold onto that money. And she said, because by the time it takes him to bend down and pick it up, he will have earned another 500 pounds.
I immediately said to her, well, I’ll tell you something. If I ever drop 20 pence, no chance. I’m not getting down for that.
(11:41 – 18:59)
Well, a greedy heart is a self-centered heart, and this man is certainly focused on the self. In verse 16, Jesus says, the ground produced a good crop, not the man, which really means that God, in his good grace, who sends the sun and the rain, who oversees nature, and who even provides the human laborers of the field as part of his creation, is responsible for this man’s success. But he doesn’t seem to see it that way.
His impulse in verse 17 is, what shall I do with my crops, presumably, that I’ve produced? And his answer is to store them up, in verse 18. It’s a common misstep, I think, in life, to feel that we are the masters of our own success, because of the choices that we’ve made in life, when a lot of it is to do with things that are out with our control, things that are down to the sovereignty of God, things like the particular part of the world that you find yourself in, things like the period of human history that you find yourself in, things like the character and skills that you have been given by God. And if we want to fight against the rising, covetous heart that is focused on the self, gratitude toward God is one of the weapons, as is generosity.
And this is part of the problem for this guy who is lacking both, and in storing up as neglecting the poor, which is actually our main point here. And we have to think a little bit about what’s going on here. I’m not an expert on the first century economy, but I’ve read enough to get the point that for most people in a first century village, the local market is key.
It’s all the more essential than today. You tend to rely on local produce when there’s no such thing as the bus, or the car, or the train. And so by storing up these riches, this guy is used as an example by Jesus of someone who’s starving the local market.
And the fact that he needs such bigger barns in verse 18 suggests this is a significant portion of the small local economy. And the point is that if he does this, rather than reintroduce his profit back into the market, not only does he starve the market, but he drives the price up because there’s a lot less of the produce going around. But the people who suffer significantly in all of that are the poor.
And most people in small villages in first century Palestine were in fact poor. And so Jesus is highlighting that there is a responsibility that comes with wealth that this guy is ignoring. And it’s in light of parables like this that Christians are known for trying to aid the poor.
I know that over the years here at Greenview, there have been many ministries in which you can think about getting involved in, which have sought to do just that. Or maybe it’s just about increasing the missionary links that you have with people who are out in the field already so we can serve the poor and the gospel. But there’s other ways to think beyond that as well.
There’s an obvious link to business. For Jesus, a greedy heart is not a fair heart. The Christian in business should be seeking fairness rather than being exploitative toward others and especially toward the poor.
And I know here that we live with contradictions because often the stuff that we buy is made by people in poorer countries. I remember a guy in Bible college who actually made his own clothes to avoid purchasing certain clothes. But there is a way to think about it in terms of business.
But there’s also a link to our individual lives and perhaps in the jobs that we do. The Christian may want to think about the particular industry that they find themselves in. They might want to avoid those that have a tendency to exploit the poor in order to build great wealth.
There’s many examples of this, but the gambling industry might be one, as would be working at the local off-license just down the road. We could also keep in mind that we sometimes have our own version of building bigger barns. A bigger wage in life does not always equate to greater care for the poor.
Often it can mean a bigger house or an extension or a bigger car or even bigger debt. The point is that it’s easy to ignore the poor and especially when we’re accumulating and when there’s greed in our hearts. And I’m maybe getting a bit off track here, but something else that did come to my mind personally on this general topic that I thought I would share was when I attended an online event and I listened to Tim Farran, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats.
And he made a point that’s remained with me for quite some time. He highlighted that certain ethical issues tend to get special attention from Christians, particularly conservative Christians. And he said he’ll receive a flurry of letters as an MP about these when an issue bursts.
But he pointed out as an example that when the overseas aid budget for the poor in other countries was cut a few years ago, which he thought was a shocker, he said they received virtually nothing. And that’s not a political point, but it says something. Over the years, I’ve written to politicians about abortion, about marriage, about gender, about education, things that may affect the lifestyle that I look for in society.
But to my shame, not once in my 20 plus years as a Christian have I written directly about a poverty issue. And so a greedy heart may be on the rise when we start neglecting, neglecting the poor as we accumulate in life, which of course contrasts with the Lord himself who came alongside those who are both physically and spiritually poor. And lastly, maybe it’s also on the rise if we start indulging and assuming.
I’ll put these two together, which you may be relieved to hear. In verse 19, this rich man having stored up his wealth says to himself, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry.
If this guy’s present perspective is self-centered, so too is his future perspective. Because at a time when he should feel more responsible for others, given his great wealth, he’s actually feeling less responsible for anything. And I’m not sure what that says about retirement, but I’ll leave that with you.
(19:00 – 23:01)
And in some ways, we perhaps have a picture of the modern person. The rich man is someone who has found his personal security and wealth, and it makes him feel safe and secure and relaxed, something that I may feel myself depending on the bank balance. Secondly, he’s perhaps also an extreme version of me time, and the dream that many have, or perhaps could have, to spend every waking moment sipping pina coladas on the beach.
Thirdly, he’s also found his happiness and his wealth, thinking that life will be merry from this day forth, which is how many feel about the goal of accumulating wealth, as if that in itself is going to solve every other problem that you have in life. All of this presents a man who is indulging in his wealth and making big assumptions about the future. But there’s a foolishness in all of that, aside from verse 20, which we will get to, because wealth can be temporary and contingent.
It doesn’t provide true security. We only need to be reminded of 2008 and the great wealth that people lost and the credit crunch. Changing interest rates and cost of living issues recently highlight to us that our own personal wealth is often in a state of flux.
Furthermore, me time is always limited. Too much me time leaves us feeling empty and purposeless. That’s why in retirement people often end up going back into work.
And true happiness, thirdly, can’t be found in wealth or even the personal success that goes with it. The author Jack Higgins was asked at the height of his fame and fortune, would you wish someone had told you when you were younger? And he famously said, I wish someone had told me that when you get to the top, there’s nothing there. For these kinds of reasons, life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
And what we say about the gospel is that true security can only be found in God himself because of what he’s done at the cross and Christ to secure eternity with him through forgiveness of sin. That’s why the answer to just about everything we’re flagging up this morning is to be rich towards God in verse 21, which really means counting God greater than any of the riches on earth that we’ve been highlighting, which leads to less angst about these things as Jesus highlights in the passage immediately after the one that we’re on today. But greed will distort all of that.
And so too can wealth, which has blinded this guy to his need of God and an awareness that he’ll answer to God. And in closing, verse 20 then gives us the actual reason then given by Jesus as to why the man in our parable is a fool rather than the reasons I’ve just given. Verse 20, but God said to him, you fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you.
Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? If it’s hard to identify the greedy, covetous heart that we are to be in guard for in verse 15, living here in the West, it’s helpful to say that the greedy heart may be on the rise when we start using and neglecting and indulging and assuming. And we should be aware of all that because there will also be an answering in verse 20. After all that work, the rich man had a lot less time than he realized to enjoy his wealth.
(23:02 – 24:25)
It’s left behind for others to use or misuse, or it may just fritter away depending on whether you’ve thought that through in verse 20. These things can lead to a sense of regret later in life at just how much has been poured into the task of making money for what in the end feels like nothing. But that’s a small matter compared to what’s next for the rich fool.
Because your life will be demanded from you, Jesus says, which suggests there’s an answering to take place before God as to what we choose to do with our resources in this life. And as we close, I was reminded of an interview I saw recently with Oliver Stone that kind of illustrates the point to me when it’s contrasted with someone else. He directed the 80s film Wall Street about the New York Stock Exchange at the height of the 80s financial boom.
And it had the famous catchphrase, greed is good. And he said that he made that film to warn people away from Wall Street. But he said it had the complete opposite effect, such as the nature of the human heart and always looking for more.
(24:26 – 24:52)
But the attitude of Wall Street and all that the film stood for contrasts sharply with another famous Christian example of the 20th century, being that of John Lange, the businessman. He was the founder of Lange’s, the large construction company of the 20th century. And the author Tim Chester writes that Lange’s plan for life included a financial plan.
(24:53 – 25:06)
He decided how much he would live on and how much to give away. As his income rose, the giving increased. But once the earnings hit a certain amount, his income remained the same.
(25:07 – 25:45)
The company went on to make millions, Chester writes, as he continued to give away the majority of his income. He funded a host of mainline Christian ministries. We don’t really know how much he gave away, but we do know this.
He presided over a multimillion pound company. And yet at his death, his estate was valued at just 371 pounds. When I read that again, I thought, wow, I thought that’s even a lot less than the value of a three bedroom semi-detached house in Clarkston.
(25:46 – 26:45)
But here was a man who was rich toward God. And unlike the rich ruler, people benefited, and people are still benefiting to this day from his work. But if you get behind his life, we will see that it was the gospel that underpinned everything.
And when it sinks in to this dull heart, that there’s an inheritance coming my way, that’s as big as God himself, because of the riches of God’s grace displayed at the cross, I’m sure counting God greater than any of the riches on earth becomes easier. As will my ability to give and to be on guard against all kinds of greed, for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And may God bless his word to us this morning.
The post The Fool – Luke Ch12v13to21 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 2:56)
Asking the question, what is God like? What is God like? And each week we’re answering that by saying God is something. God is something. So last week God is love, and this week God is holy.
And we’re getting these, of course, from the Bible. So we’re not guessing who God is, we are discovering who He is from the Scriptures themselves. And one of the things God is, is that God is holy.
Let’s open up our Bible to Isaiah chapter 6, please. Probably the best known passage on the holiness of God. And there’s a reason that that’s the case.
This chapter tells us so much about what God’s holiness means. So let’s read Isaiah 6 from verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings.
With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.
At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me, I cried. I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.
And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips.
Your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for. This is the words of the Lord.
The holiness of God is the most prominent attribute of God in the Bible. Now, I didn’t say it’s the most important attribute of God. All of God’s attributes are His attributes, and all of them, therefore, are important.
(2:56 – 11:55)
But it is nonetheless the most frequent and the most favorite way of describing God in the Bible. Over 600 times in Scripture, God is called holy. In Isaiah’s prophecy alone, God is called the Holy One of Israel some 25 times.
And so it must be worthy of our time. It must be critical to our knowledge of God. It must be vital to our gospel understanding that we know at least something of what the holiness of God means.
Of course, inevitably, this is going to stretch our limited minds. And yet God has given us passages like Isaiah 6, I assume, so that we with limited minds can know something, can know more of mysterious subjects like the holiness of God. And so if we all go away knowing a little bit more, then I will be very satisfied that my prayers this week have been answered.
So what is God’s holiness? What does it mean when we say God is holy? Well, I think it starts with the idea that God is other. God is other. If we just start with the word itself, we’re going to get to the passage in a moment.
If we just start with the word itself, holy, this word has the idea of something that is separate. When something is holy, that thing is separate from other things. It is different, distinct, set apart.
And when applied to God, it means that God is separate. God is distinct. God is set apart.
God stands apart from his creation. He is God. He is holy.
Don Carson writes about holiness. He says that holy is really just an adjective for God. It’s an adjective for the godness of God.
To say that God is holy is really just to say that God is God. He stands alone. There is none like him.
That in terms of the word itself is what holy means. And this is the word that comes in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah has this vision of the thrice holy God. The angels before the throne praise God as holy, not just once or even twice, but three times.
The English author Andrew Wilson has this brilliant little comment where he says that if you speak to the average man in the street and you ask the average Joe, what is God like, they will all tell you God is love. And he says if you speak to people in the church and you say to people in the church, what is God like, that they’ll tell you a bunch of things because they know a little bit more than just the fact that God is love. They’ll tell you a bunch of things.
But he says this, if you ask an angel what is God like, an angel will undoubtedly tell you that God is holy. Right? Because that’s what we see in Isaiah chapter 6. And that is also what we see later in Revelation chapter 4, which is the only other time in the Bible when three times God is called holy. It happens in Isaiah 6 and it happens in Revelation 4, and both times it’s on the lips of angels.
And both times the angels call God holy, holy, holy. It’s remarkable that, isn’t it? You think about the timeline there. Isaiah’s prophecy and the time of John the Apostle in Revelation, like we’re talking about 800 years apart, an 800 year gap.
And 800 years after the angels first said God was holy, they’re still saying it before the throne. They’ve still got the same answer. God is holy, holy, holy.
So this is central to who God is. But what does it mean? Can we say, can we sort of expand on that a little more? Can we say a little more than just God is other, God is separate? Can we fill that out? Well, we can because Isaiah 6 is here to help us. So this passage delves into the detail of the otherness of God.
So let’s look at just a few aspects of this. And I’m sure Isaiah is not telling us everything there is to know of God’s otherness, but notice these things. First of all, that God is other in his eternity, in his eternity.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Uzziah was a king of Judah. He was one of the better kings of Judah.
He was one of the longest reigning kings. Uzziah reigned for 52 years on the throne of Judah. He was a kind of Queen Elizabeth sort of monarch, the kind of monarch that seems to go on and on and on.
And yet in a certain year Uzziah died. And in that year, Isaiah looks up in his vision and he sees another king who is always seated on the throne. And there’s something here of the otherness of God in his eternity.
God is not time limited in his reign. He is eternal. And then there’s the otherness of God’s sovereignty here, his sovereignty.
I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne. There’s something to look out for. When you read in the Bible, I know this seems like a really obvious thing, but I didn’t think about this very much.
Have you noticed how often in the Bible, God is described in terms of height, height. God’s always up above us, up there. Psalm 2 says that God is enthroned in heaven.
Psalm 103 says that God is enthroned in the skies. Have you noticed in Scripture when God comes to meet people, particularly early in the Bible, God comes to the top of mountains. Now, it’s not that God lives on mountains as other deities and other religions and gods and goddesses are meant to live on mountains.
God doesn’t live on mountains, but he comes, he stoops down because he’s even higher than that. He stoops down and he meets with man on the top of mountains. And all of that is conveying something of the high sovereignty of God.
He’s high and exalted. He’s above any earthly power. On a week of an election campaign being announced, this is helpful for us to bear in mind, isn’t it? That the power they are all going to scramble and fight over is utterly puny and time limited compared to the eternal reign of God.
I’m not saying it doesn’t matter. I’m not saying that the decisions of the election won’t have an impact on people’s lives. Of course it matters.
But we’re saying that human power is nothing compared to the lofty sovereign rule that God wields from eternity to eternity. God’s other in his eternity. He’s other in his sovereignty.
He is other, here’s something else that holiness means. He’s other in his beauty. His beauty, the train of his robe filled the temple.
(11:55 – 12:46)
Of course, this is just imagery here to convey an idea. The train of his robe. Think of the train of a bride’s gown as it fills the aisle behind her.
That’s the kind of imagery here. But notice here that the train of this robe, it doesn’t just fill the aisle. It’s so large and grand that it fills the entire temple.
So if this was a wedding, all the wedding guests would need to get shooed out of the room because there’d be no room for the wedding guests because the train would fill the entire building. That’s the picture. This is a beauty and a grandeur that is unmatched.
(12:47 – 17:16)
Part of what holiness is, part of what it is, is the idea that God is unique in his beauty. Stephen Charnock, a Puritan, says this, power is God’s hand and arm. Omniscience is his eye, mercy his heart, eternity his duration, and holiness his beauty.
All of that is found in verse 1, if we don’t just rush through it. All of that’s found in verse 1. That God’s holiness is his otherness in things like eternity, sovereignty, beauty. But also, as we move forward in the passage, he is other in his purity.
His purity. And I think this is often what comes to mind when we think of the holiness of God. We think of God’s ethical and moral qualities, and rightly so.
Although we must realize, of course, that God’s holiness, we’ve just seen that, is broader than just his morality, but it’s not less than that. In a world of sin, purity is part of God’s otherness. And that’s what Isaiah crumbles under in verses 5 and 6. When he stands before God as God, Isaiah becomes aware of who he is, a man of unclean lips.
You see, Isaiah can’t match the purity of the God who speaks to his creation. God can speak to him with holiness, but he can’t speak holy words back. He can’t speak without sin on his lips, because there is sin in his heart.
And actually, when you think about that, if we stopped there in the passage, this would be a very dispiriting sermon, wouldn’t it? If we stopped just there, we would be in awe of God, certainly if we stopped at this point. But we surely wouldn’t dare draw near to God. To realize simply that God is other than us in all these different ways, and that he is utterly unlike us in his purity.
Therefore, we would be asking, well, how can we know him? How can we approach him? How can we come to sit with him at a table tonight in fellowship? The holiness of God becomes a barrier at this point. There is indeed here separation. But I just love how the passage unfolds, because Isaiah surely wasn’t expecting what happened next.
He probably thought God was just going to agree with him when he said, woe to me, I’m ruined. Maybe God was just going to speak back and say, of course you are. Yes, you are ruined.
But instead, God dispatches an angel who goes to the altar, which I take it is the altar of sacrifice. He brings a coal from the altar in some tongues, and he touches Isaiah’s sinful lips with the burning coal from the altar, which is a picture of purification. He says, your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.
I take it the key thing there is that the coal is associated with the sacrifice, the blood sacrifice of atonement. And in the basis of that sacrifice of atonement, unclean Isaiah has his sin taken away, removed completely. And that’s already starting to hint to us, even in Isaiah, even 600 years before Christ, it’s starting to hint to us where the whole story of the Bible is actually going.
(17:16 – 17:31)
It’s not going towards judgment for all sinners. It’s going to take this surprising twist, and it’s going to take us to our second point tonight. Our first point is that God is other.
(17:32 – 17:48)
He’s essentially unlike us in lots of ways, particularly in his purity. But secondly, in grace, the holy God draws near. In grace, the holy God draws near.
(17:48 – 20:05)
Now, this is one of the things I’ve been reflecting on this week. Although separateness is definitely a word we can use when we talk about holiness. There’s a reason I’ve chosen the word other rather than separate as my definition.
I think I prefer the word other because the word separateness in itself doesn’t capture a very important fact that the holy one in the Bible draws near. He draws near. The holy draws near.
Yes, God remains God. God is always other. He’s always God.
But actually, the wonder of the gospel and the paradox of holiness is that the holy God who we shouldn’t be able to approach, who we shouldn’t be able to speak to as one might speak to a friend, is the very God who comes near to us. If I could put it this way, the God who is holy and other doesn’t desire to keep himself separate from human beings. The separate one doesn’t like being separate from us.
And we see that in the Old Testament, don’t we? Although the encounters with God are often frightening, we see God encountering people, appearing to an Abraham or a Moses, and then meeting with the whole people in the tabernacle and then in the temple. And what’s that all about? What are all those chapters about the tent and the tabernacle about? And why, in all their details that can seem mundane, why are they actually thrilling chapters if we really understand them? Well, because what they are saying is that the God who is high and holy and perfect and eternal and utterly unlike us, this God wants not just to come to the top of mountains to meet with one or two individuals like Moses, but he actually wants to come down even further and he wants to live in the neighborhood. He wants to live among us all.
(20:06 – 22:13)
Oh, he’s no ordinary neighbor. I mean, if you read the whole thing around the tabernacle, particularly in that era of history, you better not just rush into God’s door as you would anyone else. But it’s an astonishing concept at all that the God who is exalted in the highest heaven should want to be anywhere near us.
Friends, this is amazing grace and a different view of holiness. We often think of holiness as only to do with the otherness of God, but God’s holiness is complex. It’s other, but it’s near.
It’s high, but it comes low. We fear it in our sin, but God makes a way for us to draw near. It’s striking.
When you look at this in Revelation 4 and you see the angels again saying, holy, holy, holy, there’s a noticeable addition in that scene. Because as you probably know, Revelation 4 really sits with Revelation 5 as a pair. And you discover that in that throne room of God in 800 years later, in that vision of John, you discover that there’s something there that there wasn’t in the vision of Isaiah 6. What is there in Revelation 4 and 5 that isn’t there in Isaiah 6? There is a lamb there.
John says in chapter 5, he looked and he saw a lamb that looked as if it had been slain. How is it that we can have more confidence than trembling Isaiah had? Because God isn’t any less holy tonight than he was in Isaiah’s day. And yet there is a difference.
(22:15 – 23:58)
Living as we do on this side of the cross, what’s the difference? How can we, in the words of the author of Hebrews, draw near to God with confidence? Revelation gives you the answer. There is a lamb in the throne room of the holy. That’s our confidence.
That’s why we dare approach the eternal throne. You know, when you sing that old hymn, and can it be? I don’t know how you find the line when it says, bold I approach the eternal throne. How bold do you feel when you sing that line? Really, how bold do you actually feel? How many of us, if we’re honest, feel remotely bold to approach the eternal throne? Knowing our sins as we do, any confidence that we have, any boldness that we have, surely comes only because there’s a lamb in the presence of the holy.
And maybe if we’re sort of reluctant to come to God at a time like this, or if we’re reluctant in our daily prayers and we think, I can’t come. Maybe the problem is not that we’re seeing our sin. We’re seeing that all right.
(23:59 – 25:16)
But maybe the problem is that we’re not seeing the lamb in the presence of the holy. He’s the one who gives us confidence. Because through faith in Christ and our union with Christ, the holy God makes sinners like us holy.
And that’s where we’re going to end things this evening. Here’s the full message. God is other, but by grace the holy God draws near and makes sinners like us holy.
Now, I’m not going to say too much in this point, because our holiness, our holiness is a whole message in itself. But the staggering thing is that this is the gospel. The gospel is that a holy God has given his holy son so that by his holy spirit, sinners like us can be made into a holy people.
And actually, the holiness of God, and this is amazing, the holiness of God is actually something that we can, in some respects, share in. Now, that is remarkable. Some of God’s attributes we can’t share in.
(25:17 – 26:47)
Other attributes he does share with us. You can’t share in the fact that God is omnipresent. He is everywhere all the time.
You are one place at one time. And you chose to be here this evening, didn’t you? You can share in the love of God. God loves, you can love.
The remarkable thing is that you would expect, out of all God’s attributes, you would expect the holiness of God to be surely the one attribute that God would not share, right? Because holiness, what does it mean? It means otherness. It means the Godness, the difference that God is. But the remarkable thing is that the Bible says that God makes sinners holy.
Through the work of Jesus on the cross, God puts us in the category of the other, as he sets us apart from a sinful world, as we become the people of the holy God. And so there’s this status change, there’s this positional change. And more than that, there’s also a moral change that comes with it.
(26:48 – 27:22)
We know when God says in the New Testament, be holy because I am holy, it’s clear that he’s calling for us to live lives in a way that reflect his purity, his morality, his righteousness. There is a moral component to that. So holiness, as we find it applied to the Christian, is both a position you are given by grace and something that you practice every day, right? It’s a position, it’s a status.
(27:24 – 28:45)
Paul even says of the Christians in Corinth, who were not the most, what shall we say, well-behaved Christians, he even says of them, he calls them saints, holy ones. Do you know the word saints, which is a word that we never seem to use, but you know that that word is used way more often in the New Testament of Christians than the word Christians, right? Paul uses it all the time to describe us. He calls us saints, holy ones.
Maybe that’s something we should start using of each other. How are you, my fellow saint, right? Because it’s a position that you receive through the cross of Christ. It’s not about how you’ve behaved today, good or bad.
It’s to do with the work of Christ and the position you now have in him. That’s wonderful, isn’t it? But it’s not just a position. It is something then that we need to then practice and live up to.
We need to look to our heavenly father and model ourselves as his children on his pattern of love and justice and purity. Now, I’m going to just finish with this. As I was searching through some old notes on holiness and just findings, bits and pieces, I came across a quote from a guy called Jerry Bridges.
(28:47 – 29:01)
And it was a quote years ago I read and I felt really challenged by it. And as I read it again, maybe 10 years later, I thought, well, I still feel challenged by that. And this is what he says in this book, In the Pursuit of Holiness.
(29:03 – 31:40)
He says, many Christians have what we might call a cultural holiness. They adapt to the character and behavior and pattern of those Christians around them. You could take out the word Christian there and say, you know, anyone around them.
It might be non-Christians who you sort of copy and mimic. They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of those Christians around them. As the culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy.
But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity with the character of God.
What is it they say? That bad company corrupts good character? God is the best kind of company. And if God is your company, then something of who he is is going to rub off on you. And so we don’t conform to the norms of the group, whether it’s the Christian group or whether it’s the non-Christian group.
We don’t set our standards by people. And neither do we shrug people off, because this is the other thing people do. They say, well, I’m not going to fit in with the crowd, but I’m going to just live my way.
I’m going to just be an individual. I’m going to be the best version of me. Well, that’s fine.
Be the best version of you, so long as you realize that the best version of you is when you become more like him. The best version of you is when you become more like him. That’s what all this holiness stuff in the Bible is about.
It’s about us becoming like the one who is so very different from us. So let’s now, as we come to the Lord’s table, let’s now draw near to God. Maybe you’ve come in tonight.
Maybe the last thing you actually feel like doing is drawing near to God. Maybe you feel as if you’re coming with no sense of confidence, really, that you can do this. But you’re not coming in yourself or in your own holiness.
(31:42 – 32:04)
You’re drawing near to God because in the presence of the holy, there’s a lamb. And so we come, we don’t come lightly, but neither do we come with crippling fear, because by his grace, God has made us into his holy people. So let’s come.
The post God Is Holy – Isaiah Ch6v1–7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 1:58)
One occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law, he replied, and how do you read it? He answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.
You have answered correctly, Jesus replied, do this and you will live. But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? In reply, Jesus said, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine, and then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.
(2:01 – 6:32)
Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him, go and do likewise. Amen, and this is the Word of God.
Last week, Colin started us on a new series, looking at the parables contained within the gospel of Luke. Colin asked us if parables were like light switches or puzzles, before settling on the idea that parables were like stained glass windows. They reward the curious.
If you come inside and look at them, they are clear and glorious. So before you get comfortable this morning, I want to ask you a question. Are you curious? I’m kind of guessing that you must be curious to be either sitting there this morning or to be watching online.
Either that or you’re just appeasing somebody by coming along with them. The interesting thing about this parable is it was spoken primarily to those who are not yet following Jesus. They were on the outside looking at the stained glass, but not seeing it clearly from the inside.
The lawyer who has his own ideas about getting to heaven, and those from Capernaum who had rejected Jesus. People who think they have a better route to heaven. So I want to ask you today, are you asking the right questions? When thinking about the parable of the Good Samaritan, you may already have formed in your head that you know what it is all about.
So widely known or popular as this particular parable, that the term Good Samaritan or even Samaritan is part of our normal language and understanding. You can even find Good Samaritan in the dictionary. It is a charitable or a helpful person, someone who helps a stranger.
We have probably all heard of the Samaritan’s helpline, a crisis helpline answering a call every 10 seconds to people who are contemplating suicide. Although not a religious organization, the Samaritans was formed by a vicar named Chad Varad just over 70 years ago in 1953 as a man willing to listen with a bass and an emergency telephone. Samaritan was also the name of Sylvester Stallone’s recent movie, which probably none of you have watched, but there we are.
He plays a superhero coaxed out of obscurity to save a city rife with crime. From hospitals to movies, charities to common phrases, it seems like the Samaritan or the Good Samaritan is well known to us. However, I want us to look at this story afresh.
In my opinion, the parable itself is not the big take home point. No, the context, the setting is the big take home point. Notice in the text that we read today, there are a series of questions and these are all really key.
(6:33 – 8:19)
What must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law and how do you read it? Who is my neighbor? And which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? We see in this text, verse 25, that the lawyer is asking questions of Jesus, or to put it more accurately, a man steeped in Jewish religious laws seeks to catch Jesus out. He stands up to test Jesus. It’s not abundantly clear whether or not he actually wanted to hear the answer, or if he was trying to trip Jesus up, or if he just wanted to intellectually spar with this great teacher.
However, he does ask a great question. So can I ask you today, what brings you to church? Genuinely, what questions do you have? This man, knowledgeable in religious law, asks a great question. What must I do to inherit eternal life? The lawyer is ultimately looking for a set of rules to follow in order to earn eternal life.
(8:23 – 8:50)
We just sung a song, no list of sins I have not done, no list of virtues I pursue. No list of those I am not like can earn my place, myself a place with you. The lawyer was looking for a set of rules to follow in order to earn eternal life.
(8:50 – 9:36)
And rather than giving him an answer, Jesus replies with questions of his own. He puts the lawyer onto his mastermind’s subject of choice. What is written in the law? And how do you, Mr. Lawyer, read it? The lawyer answers, well, he combines Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5 and Leviticus 19 verse 18 in his answer.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. The combination of two laws known together as the greatest commandment.
(9:36 – 10:13)
However, there’s a problem here, as the lawyer by his questioning was saying, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And by his answer, going straight to Old Testament laws, are this man’s attempt to earn his way into heaven. This was a very Jewish, very pharisaical approach. As the uber strict Jews, the Pharisees had lots and lots of extra laws, over 600 in fact.
(10:14 – 10:43)
And now you would think that that would make things harder to get into heaven. But effectively, it made it easier to achieve because there are many amendments within these laws, so that outwardly, you could at least be seen to be ticking all the right boxes. And this is the approach in our world as well, and to many world religions.
(10:44 – 11:11)
Think about it. We reward good effort for performance all the time. Kids go to the dentist, and they get a sticker.
Some kids at football are on a fiver for a goal. The parents in Zach’s football team think I’m really mean because I don’t give them any money for scoring a goal. Surely it’s just the joy of scoring a goal.
(11:13 – 12:26)
Muslims have to pray five times a day and fast for a month to be a good Muslim. And I could go on. Scratch at the surface a bit, and most people have a set of standards that set them apart as a good or a bad person.
This is most notably seen at funerals where people talk about those who have passed away, looking down on us as they were a good man or a good woman. Despite the fact that at no point in their life did they ever claim to have faith, or believe in God. The lawyer bases his answers on things that he can do, completely missing the point at the beginning of the Ten Commandments.
Have you seen this? In Exodus 20, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of slavery. God wasn’t rewarding the Israelites for anything that they had done. God did this out of grace.
(12:28 – 13:04)
Because of His grace and love shown to the Israelites, the Ten Commandments are now how they are to live. It starts with grace. So although the lawyer is climbing the achievement ladder, and in terms of his answer, he is correct.
Jesus says it. As Jesus says, do this and you will live. But Jesus knows that this is an impossible standard, and that He needs grace.
(13:05 – 15:30)
And the lawyer too realized that the standard is too high. Instead of seeing God’s grace in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, he immediately jumps to how can I make those laws, that answer that I’ve just given you, Jesus, to love you more than anything else, and to love my neighbor as myself. How can I make that more attainable? How can I achieve this law? And he comes back with, who is my neighbor? You see, the lawyer is trying to exclude people in the response he’s looking from Jesus.
He is looking to exclude non-neighbors from the requirement of fulfilling the law. One of the Jewish books of wisdom at that time told readers not to help a sinner. For the lawyer to attain, to achieve eternal life under his own steam, surely Jesus means that you just need to be a good neighbor to other fellow Jews who are nice to you so that I can tick that box and earn eternal life.
The lawyers want to say, Douglas is a good guy. I’ll be his neighbor. But Chris, I don’t like him.
I won’t be his neighbor. The lawyer is seeking to make divisions. The lawyer isn’t understanding the exacting standards of his own answer.
To love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and with all of your mind is total devotion, not mere list-ticking. And all of this context is really important for this parable. So, what should we learn from this parable? Jesus is addressing the suggestion of having non-neighbors in the parable.
(15:31 – 22:04)
Now, personally, I don’t think we should teach this parable in terms of allegory, that it is a puzzle, as one of the things that Colin was also rejecting last week, that all the different parts have different meanings. If we were using allegory for the Good Samaritan, and that all the different parts had different meanings, we could easily say that the victim is the human race, that the robbers are bad spirits or even original sin, that the priest and the Levite were the law and the prophets, that the Samaritan is Jesus, the rejected one, the oil and wine are the sacraments, communion and baptism, and the inn is the church. Sounds almost plausible.
And Catholics would have you believe that the innkeeper could even be the Pope. But is this really all in this parable? Personally, I don’t see it. I’m not ruling out the use of allegory in interpreting the Scripture, but it does have its issues, because its limits are your imagination.
And I think that Scripture has to be far more obvious. So let’s look at what Jesus does say. The road that this man was walking on alone, and perhaps he should have heeded the words of the cop, you’ll never walk alone, as this was a notoriously bad road.
It was 17 miles long, dropping 3,000 feet, going over rocky terrain, where it was easy for robbers to hide. This was the equivalent of an out-of-towner walking through some of the roughest areas of Glasgow or Liverpool in a high crime area with poor lighting and gangs loitering on the streets. The man is stripped and beaten and left half dead.
And who comes along the road? A priest, a good guy. Surely he’ll help him, the crowd are probably thinking. This is the right neighborly thing to do.
But the priest, maybe scared for his own safety, maybe worried about becoming unclean because he touches a dead body, Leviticus 21, or perhaps he just didn’t care, walks by on the other side. Next up, the Levite from the tribe of the Levites, who work for the priests, another great example of somebody who should be ready to help. But he walks by on the other side.
Now, the priest and the Levite might have remained pure in terms of the law in Leviticus 21, if this person had indeed be dead. But did they really keep the heart of the law by passing by on the other side? They were a bit like all those during lockdown seeking to exploit holes and hastily arrange legislation by following the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. And you probably all had those conversations during COVID, but can I do this? And not doing what was actually right.
The crowd seeing the progression down the Jewish religious pecking order, expect the next person to be a normal Jew. And hopefully they will get it right. Hopefully they will be the neighbor.
But no, the next person along the road is a Samaritan. And this is properly provocative. This is like an Irish Republican, almost dead at the side of the road, and a Protestant Orangeman comes along and helps during the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
This is like this week, an Israeli soldier lying almost dead, and a Hamas fighter comes along and saves him. The crowd would never have seen this one coming, this particular story. The Samaritans were half breeds.
They were half Jewish, half Gentile, hated by Jews, hated by Gentiles alike, known as traitors. The Jews would take massive detours so as not to have to pass through the area of Samaria for fear of coming themselves, becoming unclean. And this good Samaritan, ridiculous.
How could any Samaritan be good? Well, in fact, he was. And he does absolutely everything in his power to help this Jewish stranger. He takes pity on him.
He pours oil and wine known for healing and cleansing. He puts a man on his donkey, meaning that he has to walk. He takes him to an inn and doesn’t just leave him there, he cares for him.
He then pays, and the scholars are debating this one, between two weeks and two months worth of wages to initially ensure that this man is cared for. And he promises to return and settle any outstanding debt. To say that he goes above and beyond is probably a wee bit of an understatement.
But Jesus is making a big point. The lawyer wants to be a neighbor to a select and an easy few. But the call from Jesus is, be a neighbor to those who are in need.
(22:05 – 24:32)
Don’t limit those who you act as a neighbor to. For as we serve, you too will be blessed. For a number of years, we opened up our home to a single mom and her son, and it was a blessing to be in a position to care and demonstrate love.
Are we willing to give of ourselves? Do we have an attitude of whatever is mine is God’s? As we seek to love, honor, and help others by using the gifts that God has given us. Jesus then asks another question. Which of these three do you think is a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? The answer clearly stuck in the throat, as did you notice the lawyer couldn’t even bring himself to say that it was the Samaritan? Instead, he says the man who had mercy on him.
Jesus says to the lawyer, go and do likewise. So what’s the application for us this morning? I see that there’s three big application points. Firstly, we don’t earn our way into heaven.
The clue was in the lawyer’s initial question, and I don’t even think he realized. What must I do to inherit eternal life? His focus was on the do, whereas his focus should have been on inherit. What must I do to inherit eternal life? We don’t do anything to inherit.
We inherit because we are family, because we’re a son or a daughter. It’s not about doing. Nowhere in the Bible are we encouraged that God is keeping a tally, that those above a certain score get in.
Romans chapter 3, verse 20 says, therefore, no one will be declared righteous. No one will be declared right in God’s sight by works of the law. Rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sin.
(24:33 – 25:24)
If there were a pass mark, the pass mark would be perfection, and no one can achieve that. Hence, the lawyer, the rule keeper, the list ticker, practically begs Jesus, but surely not everyone is my neighbor. And Jesus shares the parable, which brings us to our second point of application.
Jesus turns the question from who is my neighbor to how can I be a neighbor? Failure to keep the commandment comes from a lack of love, not a lack of information. It is not more knowledge that the lawyer needed, but a renewed heart. The lawyer needed to be looking at the stained glass window from the inside, not from the outside.
(25:25 – 27:38)
It’s not your activities that matter, but it’s your attitude. We are called to show love, not just to our friends, not just to people who can repay our kindness with kindness of their own, but we are called to reach out and show kindness to the hardest of people, to the boss who’s a bully, from the person at school who no one likes, from the person at work who is openly gay, to the person who has gossiped about us. One of the things that I find ironic about equality, diversity, and inclusion at work is that Christians are often given a bad press because we speak up for the truth and what we believe in.
But at the same time, Christians, to do what is right, we should be showing love and kindness, even in our differences. It doesn’t mean we have to agree, but we do need to be loving and respectful. The Deuteronomy, love with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength in this passage is great as it takes eyes and ears to see and hear the needs of people.
And then this needs to be backed up by a compassionate heart. So is that something that you’re willing to do today? To see the needs of others and to meet them. And the final point of application is that as we’re not earning, in our not earning salvation, we are called to show kindness, but it also means that we aren’t to be so busy because we’re trying to do all things to all people.
(27:40 – 28:35)
I was personally struck by the thorns in the parable of the sower that Colin said last week. The challenge that came from him, that if your life is too full for Christ, then your life is too full. And I say that as somebody who is busy myself.
But notice again, the context of where this parable sits. It is of no surprise to me that the very next story is that of Mary and Martha. Jesus goes to visit their house.
Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens. Meanwhile, Martha is too distracted by being busy. Be a good neighbour, see need, respond in love.
(28:38 – 29:23)
Whilst at the same time, making sure that you have time in your life for God. I want you to get that balance today. I don’t want you going away from here today thinking, I’ve got to do so much.
Yes, we do need to be good neighbours and we do have a lot to do. But we need to find that balance and we need to realise the context of where this passage sits. Jesus shares the Good Samaritan story immediately before Mary and Martha, as it is important for us to learn to prioritise the value of simply coming to listen to the Word of God being spoken.
(29:25 – 29:44)
So please, whether it’s your first time or your hundredth time here or watching online, please keep coming back. Come with questions of these parables. Come inside, be curious.
(29:45 – 29:59)
And hopefully as we go through this provocative series, we can see just how God is speaking to us and what he is saying from inside the stained glass windows. Amen.
The post The Good Samaritan – Luke Ch10v25–37 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 4:49)
In the YF, maybe 35 years ago, we used to do memory verses, and one of the exercises that we did was to memorize the 3:16s in the New Testament, or at least six of them. Your mind’s already gone to John 3:16, but we did 1 Corinthians 3:16, Colossians 3:16, 1 and 2 Timothy 3:16, and then the last of that six was 1 John 3:16, and I want to take us there for a minute tonight. Let’s read 1 John 3:16.
This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
What I want to try and do in a few minutes here, is just to get us from where Vic has been taking us this evening to the Lord’s table, because of all God’s attributes, his love is probably the most accessible to us. It’s a communicable attribute.
It’s not like his holiness, or his eternity, or his omniscience, aspects of existence that are way beyond our ability to even begin to understand. We’ve considered multiple aspects of his love tonight, and it shines, doesn’t it, as we’ve seen, like a multifaceted diamond. A hymn writer put it like this many years ago:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
and every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky.
These are majestic words, and they give us a sense of the grandeur of the love of God. But, but, but, there is one single defining feature of God’s love, above all others. And therefore, there is one single defining feature of love itself, because God is the origin and source of all love, as we’ve heard eloquently tonight.
And John himself, known as the apostle of love, writes this, the literal translation: “By this we have come to know love”. And then he tells us what “this” is.
Now, what John’s saying there is that there was a time when we didn’t know. There was a time when our understanding of love was very different. Maybe as the human race, we saw love in terms of human relationship, at best, human intimacy. But as we’ve heard tonight, when God showed up in the self-sacrifice of Jesus, the category in human experience marked love was redefined forever.
Look what John says. “This is how we know what love is”. I love John, I love John’s writing because he, he always tells us what he’s on about.
“This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us”.
No one made him do it. He didn’t have to do it. But as we come around the Lord’s table tonight, we remember that he chose to do it out of love for us. No one has ever given themselves so fully and completely to others in total selflessness.
We love sacrificially. We’re capable of that as beings made in God’s image. But our motives are always mixed.
(4:51 – 5:13)
And our motivation is usually driven by a sense of responsibility or obligation, and usually to friends or family or people that we’re close to. But the Lord Jesus loved us. The Lord Jesus loved me when you and I were his enemies, not his family or friends.
(5:15 – 5:50)
And the tense of the word, as we finish, the tense of the word ‘know’ is vital here. This is how we know what love is. That tense is important.
It’s the perfect tense. That means this is how we know fully, perfectly, for all time, beyond all shadow of a doubt, with nothing else to be added to it ever. Okay? This is how we know in that way.
(5:51 – 6:42)
Fullness of knowledge is the word. This is how we have fullness of knowledge of what love is. It’s in the sacrifice of Christ.
There is no greater love. We’re going to sing:
Here is love. Vast as the ocean,
loving kindness as a flood,
When the prince of life, our ransom,
shed for us his precious blood.
And then we’re going to ask each other a question or two:
Who his love will not remember?
We’re not going to fail to remember it tonight around His table, are you?
Who his love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing his praise?
Well, it’s not going to be us, is it? Not tonight.
He will never be forgotten
throughout heaven’s eternal days.
The post Love (thoughts after sermon) – 1 John Ch3v16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 0:11)
Well, let me give you my own welcome tonight. What a wonderful topic we have tonight. It has thrilled me and it has scared me in equal measure.
(0:11 – 0:23)
And I just want to pray as we look at this big topic. I’ve had to come to peace that I’m, but I would love you to embrace it and to know it and for it to grip your heart. So let’s pray tonight.
(0:25 – 0:52)
Lord, thank you that you are a God of love. Your word is full of it and it speaks to us and it tells us that you want to be known as a God of love. And even as we scratch the surface tonight, would you come and be here and be the God of love to us so that your love touches our hearts because that’s the way you operate.
(0:53 – 1:14)
May we know you a bit better as a result of tonight and know your heart for we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen. So tonight we are starting a new series on the attributes of God. And some people call these communicable attributes.
(1:15 – 1:52)
So there are lots of aspects of God that are mysterious to us and that we could never emulate, but there are some aspects of God’s character that we can reflect at least in part. So these communicable attributes that we’re gonna look at over the next few weeks are God is love, God is holy, God is faithful, God is glorious, God is just, God is patient, and God is wise. That promises to be a fascinating series, hugely beneficial and I hope you will be with us and enjoy learning.
(1:53 – 2:07)
But there’s a warning with that. Be prepared that this is no mere academic exercise. We wanna learn so that we can apply and change and reflect some of that in our lives.
(2:07 – 2:31)
Isn’t that an amazing thing? We are exhorted to imitate God’s. Humans are made in the image of God and particularly Christians who’ve been given the Holy Spirit have the capacity to reflect the character of the Lord in who we are and in what we do. So maybe a good verse for us as we look at the start of this series is Ephesians 1 chapter five.
(2:31 – 2:38)
I’m gonna touch on a lot of verses tonight. You might struggle to keep up with them. If there’s any you missed, come and speak to me afterwards.
(2:38 – 3:02)
But Ephesians 5 verse one simply says, follow God’s example therefore as dearly loved children and live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So there you have it. The God of love expects us to be people of love.
(3:03 – 3:13)
Follow his example, no mere academic exercise. The Bible is full of references to love. Many of them you will know well.
(3:13 – 3:24)
We even have the text God is love up there on the wall behind us. We could spend the next 30 minutes picking up verses throughout the Bible. I don’t wanna do that though.
(3:25 – 3:44)
My prayer as I’ve already prayed is that we will be thrilled by the character of God. And I wanna just bring out some aspects, multifaceted aspects, multidimensional aspects of the life, the love of God. And I’m actually gonna take us into the Old Testament so that we can have a look at that wonderful, generous love.
(3:44 – 3:52)
And we’re gonna look at Psalm 33. We’re gonna look under a number of topics. So we’ll look and think about God’s providential love.
(3:53 – 4:11)
We’ll think about his inviting love. We’ll think about his elective love, his covenantal love, his Trinitarian love, and his responsive love, our part in responding to him. So turn with me to Psalm 33, page 560.
(4:13 – 4:25)
You might think this is an odd chapter to go to, but the psalmist here rejoices in a love that is seen across the world. So let’s read together. Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous.
(4:26 – 4:33)
It’s fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with a harp. Make music to him on the 10-stringed lyre.
(4:33 – 4:42)
Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully and shout for joy. For the word of the Lord is right and true.
(4:43 – 4:53)
He is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of his unfailing love.
(4:54 – 5:03)
By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made. Their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars.
(5:03 – 5:11)
He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all people of the world revere him.
(5:11 – 5:18)
For he spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations.
(5:18 – 5:29)
He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever. The purposes of his heart through all generations.
(5:31 – 5:41)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. The people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind.
(5:41 – 5:56)
From his dwelling place he watches all who live on the earth. He who forms the hearts of all who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army.
(5:56 – 6:09)
No warrior escaped by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him.
(6:10 – 6:19)
On those whose hope is in his unfailing love. To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord.
(6:20 – 6:27)
He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice. For we trust in his holy name.
(6:29 – 6:45)
And then for the third time he says, may your unfailing love be with us Lord. Even as we put our hope in you. So let’s see what this psalm beautifully illustrates for us about God and his love.
(6:46 – 7:06)
Now the psalm is essentially a song of praise celebrating the character of God and his positive attributes. The first thing we notice is that God is praiseworthy by the upright, the righteous. It’s fitting for them in particular to praise him as the ultimate source of goodness and righteousness.
(7:07 – 7:25)
The human heart wants to see good character, doesn’t it? We are quick to spot inconsistency and failures, especially in our leaders. And sadly good character is a rare trait these days. But the psalmist is pointing out a God who is to whom the most upright look to.
(7:26 – 7:35)
The upright look and they admire the most upright God if you like. And they rejoice because he is praiseworthy. He is right and true says the psalmist.
(7:35 – 7:48)
Faithful in all he does, verse four. And he loves righteousness and justice. All of this says the psalmist is a demonstration of his unfailing love.
(7:49 – 8:05)
The earth is full of his unfailing love says verse five. Commenting on this, Jonathan Parnell says God’s faithfulness is a palatable expression of his love. It’s his love tasted and seen in our history.
(8:06 – 8:29)
It’s the mechanics of his love wired to fulfill his promises for our good. In fact, God’s faithfulness and his steadfast love are so closely intertwined that in Psalm 33, they’re basically the same. So much of God’s character is linked together and at the heart of it is his love.
(8:31 – 8:46)
Carson describes this evidence of God’s love in the world expressed in the creation that the psalmist talks about as his providential love. That’s the first of our topics that we’ll think about as we think about God is love. His providential love.
(8:48 – 9:01)
The unconditional love of the creator who spoke the world into being. And we get a beautiful description of it in the Psalms. Of course, we’re in the genre of Psalms and poetry.
(9:01 – 9:15)
So beautifully expressed by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars. He puts them in storehouses.
(9:15 – 9:27)
You get a sense of his power, his capability, but also his care for this world. A good world that we are able to enjoy. So many of us have enjoyed the good weather this weekend.
(9:27 – 10:01)
A world that is predominantly suited to the human race and is sustained by a loving creator. Sunshine and the rain are sent on all, regardless to the righteous and then the unrighteous, Jesus says in Matthew 5. Psalm 104, where all creatures look to their creator who sends food at the proper time. God is love is first and foremost expressed in a providential love to all and to all of his creation.
(10:03 – 10:23)
We see that, don’t we, in many aspects of life. Most notably, maybe in family love. Where across creation and especially in the human race, even people who have no regard for God have that common grace of love expressed in their lives.
(10:24 – 10:44)
Most instinctively to their young children. I’ve just come from recent time in the maternity ward in a hospital and there is love on display there, isn’t there, between mothers and caring staff. That’s not by chance that love is on display in our worlds.
(10:45 – 11:09)
It could easily have been otherwise, couldn’t it? But the great God who made the heavens in awesome power is also the God who the psalmist says fills the earth with his unfailing love. Notice it. So before we rush to think about all the ways God has expressed himself to us, let’s just take time to thank God for his love.
(11:11 – 11:33)
He is a God of love. The psalmist rejoices in the display of his love across the world and tells the musicians to do their best in praising God for what’s on display. If you like a modern day equivalent to Mike and to Alistair would be to the musicians, play it with all your heart, give it loudly, praise this great creator who is the God of love.
(11:35 – 11:45)
He is a providential, loving God. God is love. So as well as his providential love, there is an inviting love.
(11:46 – 12:00)
This almighty and generous God is not distant. He didn’t just pour love into our world and walk away. That would hardly be loving, would it? He invites us humans to respond to him.
(12:01 – 12:09)
We see that touched on in verse eight. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all people in the world revere him.
(12:11 – 12:21)
And we’ve seen he is someone who welcomes our praise. God invites humans to respond to him. It’s inviting love.
(12:21 – 12:31)
But sadly we see in this Psalm too that not all the earth wants to do that. We see that in our own lives. The human heart doesn’t instinctively reach out to this loving creator.
(12:34 – 12:57)
Verse 10, sadly we too have our own plans and purposes that are opposed to him, but in love. He won’t stand by indefinitely without a care for that. The ultimate conclusion of his love towards his people is that if they oppose him, he will thwart them in their plans.
(12:58 – 13:04)
We see the contrast. It’s God’s plans that stand firm. The purposes of his heart.
(13:05 – 13:17)
Do you see that? God’s purposes are driven by his heart. Verse 11, it is love behind his power and his wisdom. And he’s a God who looks into human hearts.
(13:17 – 13:31)
Verse 14, beautiful poetry. He who forms the hearts of all considers everything they do. So this God watches and he weighs up.
(13:31 – 13:49)
He’s interested in whether we respond to his invitation, whether we revere him or go our own way. Even tonight, let that sink into your heart. He who made the human heart assesses our hearts.
(13:51 – 14:08)
Which direction is your heart going in? The God of love wants our hearts to be responsive to him. He’s concerned for our safety because he knows that if we continue to rebel him against him, we’ll ultimately face his judgment. He wants our safety.
(14:09 – 14:27)
He wants our salvation. Opposing him is a dangerous place to be. And the psalmist notes that no matter how much we might gather up or assume where our strength might be, it is folly to assume that anything else than God can save us.
(14:31 – 14:45)
And throughout the Bible, we can see God’s invitation to respond to him in so many ways. Let me give you just a few of them. Hear the words of Jesus say, come to me, all you who are weary.
(14:47 – 15:02)
Hear the verse of John 3, 16. God so loved the world, he sent his one and only son that whosoever believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Hear the words of Isaiah.
(15:03 – 15:14)
Look to me, turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. Our God of love is an inviting love. He has inviting love.
(15:16 – 15:25)
In love he invites rebellious people like us to come to him. Don’t put that off. Hear God inviting you tonight.
(15:27 – 15:35)
So we also want to think about God’s elective love. So he’s providential love to all people. He’s got inviting love to all.
(15:36 – 15:49)
But this psalmist also brings out another aspect of God’s love, elective love. His decision to choose a particular people to be in relationship to him. Verse 12.
(15:51 – 16:29)
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. Incredibly, despite all that this God sees and knows and he knows it all, we learn that God chooses such a people to call his own. Human love is driven by attraction generally, isn’t it? At one point I got a phone call from a future son-in-law that said, I love your daughter very much.
(16:30 – 16:57)
And he then proceeded to tell me the things that I knew about her, of course, but that he appreciated about her, that drew him to her. Her character, her abilities, her attractiveness to him. That’s how our love tends to work, isn’t it? Can you imagine my response if he had said, I love your daughter, there’s not much attractive about her.
(16:59 – 17:15)
She’s pretty hopeless in fact, but I love her and I will stick with her despite all of that. You can imagine my response. But doesn’t that illustrate God’s love to us? He knows all about us, he knows all of our feelings.
(17:16 – 17:35)
There’s nothing in us that attracts us to him. He spells that out to this chosen people in Deuteronomy chapter seven. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
(17:36 – 17:53)
Why did he love them? It was because the Lord loved them. The Lord loved you, kept the oath he swore to his ancestors. He chose us and he loved us simply because he loves us.
(17:54 – 18:11)
Quite a different kind of love altogether. It’s the God that we meet in the Bible, a God who is love and chooses us. A God that in the New Testament we learn that Abraham chose the church because he loved her.
(18:13 – 18:47)
A God who demonstrates his love in that while we were still sinners, still sinners, Christ died for us. And having chosen the church, and we as members of that described as his bride. Again, the language of love tells husbands to love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.
(18:48 – 19:09)
Ephesians five, Jesus tells his disciples, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you. This is my command that you love one another.
(19:12 – 19:27)
Let’s pause to consider. If you’re a believer tonight, it’s not that we chose God. Surely in his goodness he helped us to respond to him, but he chose us.
(19:28 – 19:48)
He chose me. God is love. Without his acting to present his truth and his love to us, helping us to see it, moving our hearts to respond, we too would be those whose purposes are against his and destined for destruction.
(19:53 – 20:28)
And while we’ve focused most of tonight’s talk in Psalm 33 in the Old Testament, as we go into the New Testament, we learn even more about God’s love, don’t we? In Jesus, we get a glimpse into the heart of God. Of what existed long before the world began. We learn of a three-person God where love is central, where God is and always has been.
(20:28 – 20:44)
Love. Let me just touch on three verses briefly. Matthew 3, 17, a voice from heaven said, God the Father speaking, this is my son whom I love.
(20:45 – 21:03)
With him I am well pleased. Jesus saying about his love for the Father, John 14, 31. So that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
(21:06 – 21:17)
John 15, nine, the Father loves the Son as the Father has loved me. So I have loved you. Now remain in my love.
(21:21 – 21:49)
We learn that God was happy in himself but chose to love us. Love for us arises out of that very essence of love that has existed for eternity past and stretches out way into the eternity in the future, never to end. In his book, Knowing God, Packer says that, makes this observation.
(21:50 – 22:00)
God was happy without humans before they were made. He would have continued happy had he simply destroyed them after they were made. had he simply destroyed them after they had sinned.
(22:01 – 22:22)
But as it is, he has set his heart upon particular sinners. And this means that by his own free voluntary choice, he will not know perfect and unmixed happiness again until he has brought every one of them to heaven. He has in effect resolved that henceforth, for all eternity, his happiness shall be conditionable, conditional upon ours.
(22:26 – 22:37)
God is love. I struggle to get my head around that. And God doesn’t ask me to do that.
(22:37 – 23:03)
He asks me to accept it and to embrace it. We’re covering a lot tonight and I just wanted to touch briefly upon questions that might arise and we’ll not go into this in detail, but simply to say that there are times when we wonder about the love of God and the power of God in the midst of suffering. It’s a question all Christians will wrestle with sooner or later.
(23:07 – 23:34)
Many people have thought about that, wrestled with that. And I just wanted to give you a sense from a book, A Great and Terrible Love, A Spiritual Journey into the Attributes of God that Mark Galley wrote when he said, “‘Where is God when it hurts?’ I find these words helpful. Well, he shows up as a helpless, vulnerable baby, as a common laborer sharing the struggles of all those who make their living by the sweat of their brow.
(23:34 – 24:11)
He shows up as one who weeps with those who weep, like the time he broke down at the death of his friend Lazarus. He shows up as the one who prays the night before his execution, praying not like some Greek God, some heroic mythical figure who defies fate with bravado, but as one who sweats blood and begs to be saved. He shows up on a cross as one who knows there are times when suffering is so excruciating and so unjust that it feels like we are on the other side of the chasm from God.
(24:12 – 24:34)
We discover Christ. We discover in Christ that he asks that question, he asks the question himself, except he puts it this way. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Where is the God of love when it hurts? He’s at the center of the cross.
(24:35 – 25:05)
He is to be found in the midst of pain and in the healing and forgiveness that can attend it. We’ve thought about a lot of aspects of God’s love, but I want to, in conclusion, come back to where that leaves us. I don’t know about you, but I’m grateful that I’ve been born into a world that was created and overseen by a God who is love.
(25:06 – 25:24)
And whose love is on display all over the place. I’m grateful that he didn’t start the world spinning and walk away. I’m grateful that he invites us, even chooses us to be in relationship with him.
(25:25 – 25:44)
The God of love invites us to share his heart of love. He even welcomes us to join the family of love, to joy in a celebration that will last forever. God is love.
(25:44 – 25:50)
What a wonderful subject. We’ve only scratched the surface. I hope we’ve unearthed some gems.
(25:50 – 26:12)
I hope you’ve taken some things away, perhaps expanded your view of the breadth, width of God’s love. One of the hymn writers said, it’s an ocean full of blessing, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free. I hope that even in these few words, you’ve been sparked to go deeper.
(26:14 – 26:32)
You can go as deep as you want into the love of God. Returning briefly to Psalm 33 in verse 22, his closing prayer was, may your unfailing love be with us, Lord. Even as we put our hope in you.
(26:34 – 27:01)
That Psalmist didn’t know a fraction of what we know, but that prayer was gloriously answered in ways that the Psalmist could never have imagined. That that unfailing love would be shared with us and we would be brought so close. Paul in Ephesians 3 prays, and that would be our prayer for all of us tonight, is that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith.
(27:02 – 27:34)
And that us being rooted and established in love may have power with all of the Lord’s holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. We noted the expectation at the beginning that we should imitate God’s character and attributes.
(27:35 – 27:55)
That this love that we’ve been thinking a little bit about tonight should be seen in us, on display in our lives. And it would be strange if after being touched by love, we didn’t reciprocate that love in any sort of ways. Let’s think just lastly about responsive love.
(27:57 – 28:18)
Our response in our love should, of course, be to God himself. That’s why Christians describe themselves not just as believers, but as those who love the Lord. And out of love we live to please him, to know him better, to grow in confidence in our trust of him.
(28:19 – 28:33)
And that in all of our circumstances, he knows best. That seems a challenge, doesn’t it? But the great news is that the loving God makes that possible. He has poured his love into our hearts.
(28:33 – 28:56)
That’s what Romans 5 tells us, through the Holy Spirit. So we have that sense of that God of love, his love being poured into our lives and then overflowing, keeping being filled. So he helps us to respond to God, helps us in our expression of gratitude and of love back to him.
(28:57 – 29:20)
And of course, we will do that as part of responding to what he’s asked us to do as we remember him tonight. And as that love fills our hearts and overflows, of course it flows to one another. It would be strange if we have learned about God’s love but don’t love our brothers and sisters.
(29:20 – 29:39)
That’s what John tells us in his epistle when he tells us about God’s love. So let’s be people who are overflowing with God’s love in our lives. Let’s be people who our daily prayer is that he would fill us with his love.
(29:42 – 30:09)
And let some of that great love of our God overflow from our lives. It’s not conditional love, but generous, overflowing love. Let’s get less upset with the small stuff, holding back in whatever relationship or responding in a harsh way because he or she did this or that.
(30:10 – 30:44)
In our relationships, with our fellow Christians, with our neighbors, with our colleagues, with the stranger, how is God’s love gonna flow out of our lives? We are in the business of being reflectors of God’s love. That challenges me and I’m sure you will feel that too. But in God’s strength and with his spirit, let’s do that.
(30:45 – 31:11)
We are most likely to win people by our love rather than our arguments. Isn’t that the way that God has used to attract us to him? Isn’t that God’s way? Because he is love and wonderfully, he invites us to be that way too. Let’s thank him for his goodness and for his love.
(31:13 – 31:20)
Father, we thank you that you are love. You’ve always been love. You always will be.
(31:21 – 31:36)
And we don’t fully understand it, but we grasp aspects of it, just even in a small way. And we ask that even tonight, we would enjoy your love. We’d get to know you a bit better and your love even better.
(31:37 – 31:51)
I thank you that it’s so infinite that we will be able to enjoy it and go on getting to know it forever. I thank you for expressing your love to us and drawing us close and doing it in Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen.
The post Love – Psalm 33 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 2:18)
We start a series this morning on the parables of Jesus, and I would love it if you would turn back with me to Luke’s gospel and chapter 8. Let’s look back at this parable that many consider to be a foundational parable. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell this parable first. It seems that there’s something of a priority, something of a foundation that this parable is laying to all the other parables to come.
Well, let’s begin in this way. What are parables? Or at least, what are parables like? What could we compare a parable to? Are they, here’s option one, are they like light switches? You know when you go into a dark room, it’s pitch black, and someone flicks on the light switch. Everything in the room lights up immediately, and anyone in the room can see exactly what’s going on.
Are parables like light switches? Does Jesus tell parables and everyone in the crowd can now see the meaning? That’s one view you hear of parables, isn’t it? They’re these brilliant illustrations. The trouble is when you read the gospels, you find that when Jesus tells the parables, some people in the crowd don’t get them. So here’s option two.
If the parables aren’t light switches, are they puzzles? Or maybe we should say, are they impossi-puzzles? Puzzles that are almost impossible to solve. Are they the opposite of light switches? Do parables hide the truth from people? Well, that doesn’t always work either. Because in our passage today, we discover that at least the disciples understand the meaning of the parable.
(2:21 – 2:43)
So they’re not light switches. Everyone can see the meaning. They’re not puzzles.
No one can figure them out. So what are they like? Well, here’s an illustration that I’ve nabbed from somebody that’s a very good one, I think. Parables are like stained glass windows, stained glass windows.
(2:44 – 3:16)
Here’s the thing about stained glass windows. They reward the curious. From the outside of the building, they don’t look very much.
In fact, stained glass windows are not designed for people outside the building. But if you make the effort to go in, suddenly it’s a whole different story. As the light shines in through the glass, the pattern comes alive.
(3:18 – 3:28)
And the text, which of course is facing those inside, becomes clear. From the inside, it’s clear. From the outside, it’s just a window.
(3:31 – 4:46)
It’s only the curious who see the glory of a stained glass window. And I think that’s what Jesus is telling us in the middle of our passage. If you look at the passage, you’ll notice it’s an interesting structure.
Jesus, first of all, tells the parable of the sower. At the end of the section, he then explains the parable of the sower. But in between, he sticks this thing in between in verses 8 and 9 and 10, where he explains how all parables work.
And it’s something like stained glass windows. He says to the disciples, verse 10, the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom have been given to you. You’ve come inside the cathedral.
You’re seeing all the secrets of the gospel and the kingdom from the inside. But to others, I speak in parables, Jesus says, so that those seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not hear. Tell them it’s just a window.
(4:47 – 5:00)
It’s just a story about a farmer and some soils. Now, Jesus there is quoting that seeing, not seeing, hearing, not hearing. He’s actually quoting from the prophet Isaiah.
(5:02 – 6:48)
And Isaiah was a prophet who preached in his own day to people who didn’t want to hear what he was preaching, by and large. And so what he said and what Jesus quotes is that when people refuse to listen to God, God sometimes then speaks in a way that reflects judgment. If people don’t want the truth, God will sometimes give them what they want.
And he will speak in ways that expose the hardness and the apathy of their hearts. Because parables make you work. They reward the curious.
You have to make the effort to go inside the building and see what’s going on. You have to ask, what was that parable about? And so there’s a sense in which the clarity of parables depends on you. It depends on the eagerness of your heart or the apathy of your heart, on whether you want to hear God’s truth or not.
If you do, you will. If you don’t, you won’t. Which is what this opening parable is all about.
Now, we mustn’t miss the context. Little bit of a side note here. The context of a parable often helps you with the meaning of it.
(6:49 – 9:05)
Parables are quite difficult, but the context is always helpful. The context often steers you on the right roads of what the parable is about and why the parable was told. Have a look back to verse 1 of chapter 8. Jesus here is in the middle of his Galilean ministry.
And we’re told in that verse that Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. And then on to verse 4, immediately before our parable, while a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told them this parable. So, Lucas stressing that Jesus is preaching God’s words and that his popularity is rising, the crowds are swelling at this point.
Maybe we would have been excited by this. We love a good crowd at church, don’t we? We love a well-attended event. We, if truth be told, often correlate numbers with success.
But Jesus says, hold on. Jesus provokes us to see through this parable that the crowd isn’t all that it seems to be. We’ve titled this series, Provocative.
And you might be wondering why we’ve given it that title. It’s because I’m convinced that somehow or another, I at least have developed a view of the parables that’s quite tame. It might be something to do with the countryside imagery, the normality of the stories.
(9:06 – 9:27)
It’s as if the imagery for the series should really be like the front cover of Farmer’s World or Gardener’s World. And yet, when you get inside these stories, there’s nothing mundane about them. These parables are often provocative.
(9:27 – 10:36)
Provocative. They prod our ways of thinking. They push us and challenge our expectations of Jesus and of being a disciple.
You think that everyone in this vast crowd, Jesus says, you think that everyone is really where they should be? Do you think that everyone gathered in church on a Sunday are all in the same place and in the right place? No, there are four different soils and only one of them is fruitful. And the provocative question is, which soil are you? And which soil will you continue to be? Will you persevere in to be? You see, the farmer goes out and he sows his seed. That’s how it begins, isn’t it? Even as Jesus was going from town to town.
(10:36 – 11:28)
Remember verse one. The farmer isn’t explicitly identified, but the context makes it plain. Jesus is the sower.
Preachers and evangelists today are only ever at most the mouthpiece of the real preacher. Jesus is always the sower of the seed. The seed, which in verse 11 is said to represent the word of God.
Jesus isn’t casting the words of men. He’s scattering divine words from the mouth of God himself. And it’s clear from what follows that this word is scattered far and wide.
(11:30 – 12:07)
The picture here is not what you sometimes see in some modern farming, where seed drills precisely plant the seeds in exact spots and even to a precise depth. That’s not the idea here. The farmer is hand casting seed with freedom and abandon.
This is what you call broadcasting. That’s where broadcasting comes from. Just a little thought here in just a line.
(12:09 – 13:05)
Is there sometimes a danger that we only do precision evangelism, where we identify just that right person, that right individual, those people that we think we might have a chance of reaching with the gospel, that community over there. That’s the community we can reach, not that one. Jesus is an indiscriminate sower, isn’t he? And as the seed is flung, some of it falls on the path, the path that travelers used to travel through the middle of the field.
And the birds loved this path. It was their favorite part of the field. Because when the seed fell there, it lay on the surface.
(13:07 – 13:29)
And so long as human feet didn’t trample it first, the birds could have their lunch. And Jesus says, this is like some hearers of my word, verse 12. These are the ones who hear, but the devil comes along and takes the word from their heart.
(13:33 – 16:33)
One commentator explains it like this. The factor here is spiritual opposition. A spiritual battle ensues whenever the word is preached.
Now, if you don’t know Jesus today, we’re really glad you’re here. But let me just explain a phenomenon that sometimes we experience as Christians. Sometimes we invite people who aren’t Christians to church or to some special kind of outreach event.
And this doesn’t always happen, but sometimes the person who gives the talk knocks it out of the park. And we think, as we’re listening to it, it is so clear, it’s so compelling that if we weren’t a Christian, we would become a good. As the clarity and the power of the gospel is held out, that Jesus lived a perfect life, and Jesus died on our behalf.
And rather than us facing the fear and just judgment of God, Jesus took it to restore our relationship with God. If we will just turn from our sin and believe in him, and as we’re sitting there, it’s utterly compelling. And we turn to our non-Christian companion at the end, and we’re expecting they’ll be in tears.
And the first thing out of their mouth is, that was a really good joke in the introduction. That was funny. Or some comment about what they’re thinking of having for lunch.
And we wonder, did they hear the same thing I heard? The answer is no. They didn’t hear the same thing you heard. They listened to the same audio, but it didn’t sink in.
And the devil, through one of a hundred different strategies, shifted their focus to anything except Jesus, and anything except the need for a right relationship with God. He snatched the seed away with a joke and a microwave meal. And this has such a serious consequence.
Look at it. So that they may not believe and be saved. This is the only soil where there is zero fruit.
(16:34 – 19:06)
And where it explicitly says, there is no salvation. Could I dare be provocative this morning and ask if this is you? Is this you every Sunday morning? A hard path that the gospel bounces off? Being in the crowd has no essential connection to being in the kingdom. Being under the sound of the gospel doesn’t mean you’re saved by the gospel.
Has Jesus just pinpointed you? This is why we as a church need to be passionately investing in prayer. Because when we do the stuff we do, when we scatter the seed from the pulpit, when we spread it in a ministry, when we cast it to our kids at home, when we toss the seed across the table in Starbucks, we’re not just up against the person in front of us and their objections to the gospel. We’re up against a spiritual enemy who is snatching the seed away in the moment that we speak it.
But the sower keeps sowing. And other seeds fell. It fell secondly on rocky ground.
Now, this is not some soil that has some rocks in it. Like my garden, there’s always annoyingly stones kicked up onto the grass and other places. But this is a sheet of rock that ran underneath the soil, hidden underneath.
And Jesus said that the seed went in, and because there was a little bit of soil, something came up. This is not like the path soil, where nothing comes up, where there’s no visible response. No, something starts to grow.
(19:07 – 19:54)
The trouble is, it is short-lived, because there is no root, because the rock underneath prevents the plant from getting any moisture. The plant above weathers as quickly as it came. The rocky soil, verse 13, are those who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.
They gladly pray a prayer. They happily plunge into the baptism tank. They throw themselves into serving, and they’re probably the encouragement of the church.
(19:57 – 22:56)
This is the person you’re talking about when you speak to your friend from another church, and they say, what’s the news? What’s happening at Greenview? And you say, we’ve got this amazing guy. We’ve got this great girl. And they’ve come out of nowhere.
They’ve come out of the blue, and they’ve come to faith in Jesus. And their passion for Jesus, their witness, their life, is putting the rest of us pedestrians to shame. This is that person.
And they may be the same person that six months later, you have another conversation with your friend about, and they say, see that, remember that amazing guy? What’s he doing now? That girl, what trees is she now pulling up? And to the bafflement of you both, you are forced to say, actually, she’s not coming to church any longer, or any church. Thankfully, that doesn’t always happen, but it does happen. And this is that very happening.
Verse 13, they believe for a while, but in the time of testing, they fall away. I wonder what kind of testing it is. Maybe it’s the testing of temptation.
Jesus commands you not to do something that you’re tempted to do. And the question at that point is, three months in, four months in, whatever it is, will I stick with Jesus, or will I depart from Him at this point? Or maybe it’s the testing of opposition. I heard a story recently about a man who was a Jew by upbringing, and he came to faith in Jesus.
And when he became a Christian, he knew that his family would hate it. And so for six months, he never told them. And after six months, he thought, I need to do this.
And so he told his family. And his parents, as he expected, publicly disowned him. They literally went to the family and said, this person is no longer my son, our son.
How many of us would keep following Jesus if that happened to us? I hope we would. He did, although it was excruciatingly difficult. And in time, eventually, he restored his relationship with his parents.
(22:57 – 24:08)
But these are the sorts of tests that can cause people to wither away. We want the joy of knowing Jesus, but not the cost of following Jesus. That’s the rocky soil.
And I wonder if it speaks of you. I wonder if it speaks of me. Did you once follow Jesus closely, but then it got tough and you got out? I mean, that could be going on even if you’re sitting here this morning.
You may have checked out as a Christian, even though you’re putting on the face of one. Or maybe it’s the reason you’re not following Jesus, because you fear the costs that will come with it. The cost of giving up your selfish independence, losing your respectable place in the family and your friendship group in the world.
Jesus knows that response, and he calls for something different. But Jesus keeps on sowing. He keeps on broadcasting.
(24:10 – 25:02)
And as the seed is spread afar, some other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Now, in Palestinian farming, there are these massive thorny weeds. And the thing about these huge thorny weeds is the room they take.
They need so much space beneath the soil, and they fill so much room above the soil that they crowd out, they choke out the good harvest. And this is a picture, verse 13, of those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures. Now, notice, very important.
(25:03 – 27:32)
Jesus does not say that these are sinful worries or guilty pleasures. They might be. They also may not be.
The point Jesus is making is that these worries and pleasures and so on, they are the focus of the person’s life. Here is a person so fixated on life’s experiences and personal pursuits that it chokes out any room for God’s Word. If you ask them why they never read their Bible or go to church often or give God priority in what they do, they will tell you that they do not have the time or space.
Such a person, Jesus says, does not mature. Now, just by the by, they don’t mature. Some people have asked, is this third soil someone who is a believer, who just doesn’t go on to maturity, or is this describing someone who was never a believer? And a similar debate revolves around the rocky soil as well, soil two.
Is this someone who was never a Christian, or is it a Christian who’s lost their first flush of commitment? Just a couple of thoughts on this. The first and the fourth soil are absolutely clear, aren’t they? Absolutely clear. Soil one says they’re not saved.
Soil four says they’re fruitful, so clearly they’re saved. Soils two and three are more ambiguous. That’s obvious, isn’t it? Otherwise, the commentators wouldn’t be debating it.
I wonder if this is deliberately so. I wonder if Jesus is warning these disciples not to go down the road of soils two and three. Don’t let these things creep in with you, with the eventual result that you may well drift away completely.
(27:33 – 28:24)
I just wonder if there’s this deliberate ambiguity. The other thought is that we may not be asking the entirely right question when we try to work out whether soils two or three are saved or not. Because the point of the parable is not to give us an exposition of the condition of unsaved people, but rather to tell you to be the fourth soil.
That’s the point of the parable, isn’t it? It’s not to get into theological knots over the destiny of two of the soils. What we should be engaging our attention to is are we hearing the Word of God fruitfully ourselves? Not being that short-term Christian. Not being that person who says, you know, I was keen in my 20s.
(28:24 – 29:16)
It mattered in my 20s. Well, why doesn’t it matter in your 30s, your 40s, your 50s? Is Jesus less important? Is the gospel less true? Then what are you doing? It’s provocative, isn’t it? All my life is filled up with so much stuff. I don’t have space.
I don’t really have space at the moment for God and his concerns. Dear friend, if your life is too full for Christ, then your life is too full. Peter says, quoting from Isaiah 40, that the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.
(29:18 – 31:15)
All that stuff that’s filling your space, that bucket list you’re ticking off, all those things you’re stressing about, staying awake at night worrying about, will one day be withered like the flowers in the vase that’s been there for a fortnight? That’s what it’s going to be. And yet the Word of the Lord endures forever. If the Word of the Lord endures forever, then why is there no space for the Word of the Lord? I could speak to the community.
If we are going to become all that God intends for us to become, if we’re going to see some sort of breakthrough in the lives of those we witness to, then there will be a direct correlation to the fact that this community has let the Word of God dominate its life and its thinking and its heart. A church distracted by the world is never going to reach the world. A church that is dominated by the Word will reach the world.
The sower keeps sowing. Jesus, He keeps broadcasting. And some of the seed lands finally and thankfully on good soil, where it came up and yielded a crop 100 times what was sown.
A normal yield for farmers was 30 times what was sown. An amazing yield was 60. An incredible, almost miraculous yield was 100.
(31:17 – 32:15)
This last soil is the miraculous yield when God’s Word truly plants itself in someone’s life. It represents, verse 15, those with a noble and good heart who hear the Word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Notice here that hearing happens with your heart, not really with your ears.
Your ears just take in the sounds. It’s your heart that hears or rejects the Word. Jesus says there are some people, and the Word of God plants itself in their soft, receptive hearts, and they retain the Word.
They hold on to the Word. And I’ve never really noticed this in this parable. There’s a big stress on, they persevere.
(32:15 – 32:35)
They go on. They continue with the Word. See, this is helpful.
Darl Bock, in his commentary, he makes the point, Jesus isn’t describing here how you respond to a one-off sermon. That’s usually how I read this parable, right? This is like a sermon. This is how we’re responding.
(32:35 – 34:37)
He says that’s not the way to read this. He says what Jesus is describing is the pattern of a person’s life. It’s the pattern of your response.
It’s not about whether three weeks ago you were particularly tired after, well, maybe last week after watching Eurovision and wasting your time with Andy Hunter watching Eurovision. As he was telling me, he said he came to… Actually, maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but he said, I’m coming to church to cleanse my soul this morning having watched Eurovision. But this is not that.
This is not about a one-off response. What is the pattern of your whole life? Is it one where the Word is welcomed into your heart? Is it one where you’re holding on and you’re persevering with it through every trial and every temptation, which certainly begins on a Sunday morning, but it doesn’t end on a Sunday morning. This is about whether you’re still responding on a Monday and a Thursday, and maybe especially on a Friday and a Saturday night, right? This is about taking the gospel seriously all the time so that our life is fruitful.
And it’s wonderful, isn’t it, that as Jesus describes He holds out something attractive. You know, in the other tellings of this parable, Mark and Matthew, they tell us that there was a fruit of 30, 60, and 100 times. There’s levels of fruitfulness in Christians.
Notice that Luke doesn’t record that bit. He just says when the Word goes in, it’s 100 times. I think what Luke is stressing is that it’s 100 times worth it to listen to the Lord Jesus.
(34:39 – 35:50)
You will live an abundantly fruitful life if you make the right decision to Jesus’ Word as He produces that fruit of inner contentment, the fruit of godly character, the fruit of a life filled with hope, the fruit of a life filled with the abundance of Jesus-like deeds. Be like the guy in Psalm 1 who is described as blessed. Why? Because he meditated on the Word of God.
And how is he described? Like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. People will say today that folk who love the Bible are at best weird and at worst bigoted. But the Bible says that the Word of God lives forever.
(35:50 – 36:18)
And those in whom the living Word works will bear a fruit that lasts into eternity. That’s a very different take on God’s Word, isn’t it? And it’s a very appealing one. So how are you hearing the Word of God?
The post The Sower – Luke Ch8v5to15 appeared first on Greenview Church.
(0:00 – 2:28)
We’ve arrived at the final talk on handling the Bible with care, and we come last but certainly not least to where the rubber meets the road in terms of application. I once heard a preacher make the most basic of points that when you apply anything, there is contact with a surface. The rubber comes into contact with the surface of the road.
The paint on the brush comes into contact with the wall. Whenever we apply anything, we make contact, and that contact changes the object that it contacts. The brush leaves color on the wall.
The tire in some situations leaves marks on the road. And so it is with the Word of God. When the Word of God comes into contact with the people of God, it leaves an unmistakable mark of change upon them.
I mean, if we are Christians this evening, this is self-evident. The Word of God has saved you and brought you surely to this point. And this Word continues to apply into your life because this is an ongoing process of change through the Word.
And I hope that at this stage in your Christian life, you do want to grow in this, that you’re not becoming stale, you’re not becoming dull and deaf to the Word that has saved you. Well, this evening, I’ve jotted down some thoughts that I pray might help you to apply the Bible a little bit better. I’m not going to tell you how many I have.
I’ve got a few. The first one is a conviction about the Bible, and it’s this, the Bible is intended to be applied. Or to put it another way, when you apply the Bible, you are going with the grain of the Bible.
(2:28 – 4:08)
You are going with the intent of the Bible. The Bible by God’s intention is designed to be an agent of change. Isn’t that what Timothy was told in 2 Timothy chapter 3? It’s a great little section.
If you want to just look it up in your Bible before you, chapter 3, verse 15, Paul reminds Timothy that the holy Scriptures, this book that stands alone within the world of literature, this holy book, was able to make Timothy wise unto salvation. I was struck by that. If you ask Timothy, Timothy, what is the first thing you got from the Bible? He might have answered by saying, I didn’t get anything from the Bible.
The Bible got me. It got hold of this dead man, this sinful zombie marching towards the final judgment, and it gave me saving life through Jesus. And he might then have told you that the Word of God didn’t stop there, that the breathed-out Word of God had equipped the man of God by teaching him, this is verse 17, and rebuking him and correcting him and training him.
(4:09 – 8:48)
God saved him and then equipped him, as God does in the life of every believer. That is the Bible’s own intent, which means we do not make the Bible relevant. The Bible is relevant.
Our only job is to uncover the relevance the Bible already has. Application is not a bolt-on. It is a built-in into the Scriptures itself.
That’s the first thought. Now, my second thought is that patience is indispensable. Patience is indispensable to application.
Now, this could just be my own weakness, but I’m guessing I’m not alone. My instinct is to rush to relevance. I know the Bible is relevant, and I want to get to the relevance, and I’m making time for God.
Maybe not as much time as I should be, but I’m making some time, and I’m kind of in a hurry. What I want to get to from this passage is a quick takeaway for my day. And the trouble is that when I’m in such a hurry, I rush past the context, I skip the observation, I barely take a minute to consider the original meaning or how the Old Testament passage might relate to Christ, and I snatch hold of any application that appeals immediately to my mind that may be related to the application of the passage or may be a hundred miles from it.
Here’s the vital thing about application. Application is more like the roof of the house than it is like the foundation or the floors of the house. If you like, application sits on top of everything else.
The Bible teacher David Jackman puts it this way. He writes, good application is the fruit of good interpretation. Good application is the fruit of good interpretation.
You only get the right application when the right interpretation is underneath, when the context is in place, when you’ve observed the passage carefully and gained an accurate sense of what it meant and therefore what it means, what God said and what God therefore is speaking today. Only then will application be done. Who knew that our sin of impatience could actually make us poor Bible readers? But I think that is the case.
Now, I hope you’re staying with me. Thirdly, the most important question when it comes to application. And if there’s anything on method tonight, there’s not a lot on it, but this is maybe the big takeaway just in terms of a practical thing.
Thirdly, ask why. Ask why. Cornhill students, as Rory will know, are schooled in handling the Bible.
And they’re often told, I mean, I’ve not been in a class, but I believe they’re told that there are two questions to ask of every Bible passage. I’m not going to quiz you on it, Rory, just in case. Number one, what does the text say? And number two, why is the author saying it? Why is Moses, why is David, why is Mark, John, Peter, Paul, why are they saying the they are saying? Andrew Sack is a pastor in London, and he gives this really helpful illustration.
(8:49 – 12:52)
He says, there’s a mother shouting at her son from the kitchen. She bellows through the house, your dirty rugby kit is on the floor. Now, it’s obvious what she’s saying, but why is she saying it? Is she giving her son some factual information? You know, is she just observing a number of things in the kitchen and explaining their location? You know, the toaster is on the worktop, and the knives are in the knife block, and the dirty rugby kit is on the kitchen floor.
Well, of course, we know why she is saying it. She says it to correct her son and to change his behavior in the future insofar as next time he will put his strip inside the washing machine. You see, it’s not enough just to note what is being said.
We need to get behind that to the intent, the why it is being said. And what we’ve got to realize is that every book of the Bible is written with a reason why. And every passage within each book is written with a reason why.
So, John in his gospel very famously tells us, I have written these things to you so that you may believe, and so that by believing, you may have life in Jesus’ name. Why is John writing? Well, it’s not a secret, is it? He’s trying to make a believer out of you, or to keep you believing what you believe. And so when you read any passage in John, you should be asking the question, how does this passage help me believe in Jesus? Now, there may be other applications, but that is the main line of application through John, because John tells you.
Or, you know, when I’m reading an individual passage, say a very famous one, 1 Corinthians 13, that beautiful poem about love, love is patient, love is kind, and so on. When you read that in its context, you discover that Paul, he’s not just been doing some poetry classes and thinking about love and how beautiful love is. He’s not writing a poem to be read at weddings.
That wasn’t why he wrote it in the first place. But he is beautifully and gently but clearly correcting the Corinthians. He is actually redirecting them away from their selfishness and pride.
Let me show you, he tells you that at the beginning of the text, let me show you a more excellent way, because you’re not going down the excellent way. Let me show you a more beautiful sort of way. And so now I realize that the intent of the passage for me, similarly, is that God would beautifully and yet gently and yet clearly redirect me from the ugly selfishness that can creep into my heart.
That makes you read the text in a very different kind of way, doesn’t it? In a way that examines your own heart. So I think this is the greatest key to unlocking the application of any passage, asking why. But the application, fourthly, needs to be done to the whole person.
(12:53 – 13:41)
Here’s a forethought, apply to the whole person. I can’t believe it was round about 12 months ago, I was on a sabbatical, and I thought that I should read some books that were longer, that I don’t normally have the patience and time to read. You know the sort of books that they could double up as a, if you didn’t have a chair, you could stand on them to get to the top shelf or throw thick.
So I tried to read this thick tome by a guy called Christopher Watkin, and I didn’t understand about half of it. But there were some lovely little nuggets in the book, and one of them came to mind this week. He’s got a section where he discusses the human person.
(13:42 – 13:58)
And Watkin explained that in the Bible, the inner parts of our humanity are distinguished but not separated. So there’s rationality, our thinking. There’s emotions, our feeling.
(13:59 – 14:07)
There’s desires, our longings. There’s the will, our deciding. And there’s our actions, our doing.
(14:09 – 17:12)
And Watkin says that in the modern era, people have become obsessed with not only these inner things, but also with the question, which of these is most important? Which of these controls the rest? And so you can go into Watterson’s, you’ll find a book over here that will tell you that if we can just get our thinking right, that will change our feelings and behaviors. And then a few books along, you find another book and someone’s, this guy’s now saying that book’s a load of rubbish, because actually, the key thing is how you feel. And if we can just feel the right sort of way, then that will drive the way that you think, and that will drive the way that you behave.
And then another prof comes along and he says, no, actually, you’re both wrong. You know, the core of everything is action. If we just do the right thing, then we’ll think the right way and we’ll feel the right feelings.
Now, interestingly, Watkins gives his own take on this. He writes, no single category, by which he means thinking, emotions, and actions, and so on, no single category controls all the others. To assume that it does is a particularly modern pathology.
Now, whether you agree with Watkins isn’t the point of the illustration. The point that came from that is that we can fall into the danger of reading the Bible through the lens of our own pathology. So, for instance, some of us are thinkers, right? That’s how we see ourselves.
That’s kind of how we think we’re wired. We’re thinkers. And there’s not a passage in the Bible that we could not turn into the most dense theological lecture if you gave us enough time.
You know, so we’re in a psalm, like, say, the Hallelujah Psalms at the end of the Psalter, and it’s a whole bunch of stuff about those joyful explosions of praise towards God, our King, and our Savior. But when we come to these psalms, we think them to death. And we are doing all sorts of deep study around, you know, what exactly is a lute? And how was the tambourine used at the various points of biblical redemption? Now, I’m being a bit facetious, but you see, it never occurs to us that actually the point of those psalms is that we would pick up a tambourine, which is actually an instrument that any of us can use, and that we would be exuberant, not just educated, in the way that we praise the Lord.
(17:15 – 18:07)
And there’s other lenses, isn’t there? There’s the opposite kind of problem. You know, people are reading their way through a dense part of Romans, and they’re in Romans 5 or somewhere like that, and it’s a whole bunch of theology about Adam. And they come away from their time with the Lord saying, I’m not really feeling any better.
And they don’t understand that part of the way God’s Word applies to us is not just to our feelings, but also to our thinking. And when we understand that, that God’s applying to the whole person, then we’re not trying to wrestle every text into a piece of theology or a piece of emotion or a to-do list. We’re not trying to vote on all sorts of applications that aren’t there.
(18:09 – 19:05)
So, be aware of yourself and aware of your tendencies and apply to the whole person. Let’s press on. Fifthly, don’t look for yourself in the text, but look for the application to yourself in the text.
Avoid the where’s Wally approach to Bible interpretation. We, by the way, are Wally. We’re Wally.
And in this approach, you read the Bible trying to find yourself somewhere in the passage. Subconsciously, we’re asking the question, am I Joseph here? Am I David in this one? Maybe this is one I’m not David. Maybe the one before I was David, maybe this one I’m not David.
(19:07 – 22:52)
You know, am I the disciples here or am I the Pharisees? Where am I in the text? Now, the trouble with that approach is, there’s a kind of really obvious one, we are not in the text. That’s the first thing. And even if we were somehow to find ourselves in the text, there would be a question around, well, which people in the text are we? You know, in the David and Goliath story, are we like David who boldly trusts the Lord and trusts in the promises of God and goes to face and conquer the enemy? Or actually, are we more like his cowardly brothers and the cowardly Israelites who were trembling and cowering while David went out alone, right? I mean, it’s at least as likely, maybe more so, that we actually should be sitting with them rather than with David.
Do you see the difficulty? Actually, the whole approach is wrong. We don’t need to find ourselves in the text. We simply need to make application from the text.
And as we said last week, that application will be supremely pointing us towards Jesus in some way. Since the Bible is supremely a book about Jesus, very often in the Old Testament, the application to us will be in some form, here is the gospel in wonderful foreshadow, rejoice in it, rest in it, and respond to it with fresh thankfulness, faith, and obedience. This is good news.
And yet, there is a little caveat to that. Sixthly, sometimes there is an example to follow or avoid. Sometimes there is an example to follow or avoid.
Have any of you heard of character study preaching? It used to be pretty popular. It basically was, let’s study the life of Moses or someone like that. And let’s learn lessons from his life.
So, you learn about the life of Moses, his call, his obedience, his mess ups, and his high points. And you would learn a bunch of lessons from his life to your life. Now, the appeal of that approach was that it felt immediately relevant.
The problem with that approach is that it tended to focus the attention on ourselves, not on God. That’s kind of inevitable, isn’t it? When you make the focus Moses, then by definition, you’re not focusing so much on the God of Moses. And so, from about 50 years ago, in lots of Christian circles, people started to see this, and they moved away from character studies.
And the pendulum swung from a man-focused reading of the Bible to a much more God-focused reading. And people said that God is the hero of the Bible, which is correct. But they also sometimes said the Bible is about God and it’s not about you.
(22:54 – 23:15)
And that following biblical examples is always wrong. Now, I’m a fully signed up member of the God-centered movement, whatever that means. But like anything else, pendulums can swing too far.
(23:17 – 23:26)
We must always be God-centered. It’s not a case of being less God-centered. But that doesn’t mean the Bible has nothing to say about humanity.
(23:28 – 23:54)
Humanity and the church are a pretty big theme throughout the Bible. And as 2 Timothy 3 made clear, the Bible didn’t only bring salvation to us, it also teaches and trains us to live a life of righteousness and service. And one of the ways the Bible does this, not the only one, is through the use of example.
(23:56 – 24:29)
So, ordinary, fallen men and women are cited in the New Testament as examples of faith, obedience, generosity, patience, and prayer, as well as a host of other things that they example. And there’s also negative examples as well. The wilderness generation in the book of Hebrews is set up before us as a bad example of those who do not trust in the promises of God.
(24:30 – 25:02)
And they serve as a warning for us from turning away from our confidence in Christ. So, while we shouldn’t find ourselves in narrative texts, while we shoot them in a Christ-centered, grace-centered way, we can also use them appropriately where they seem to be a legitimate example to us. Back to our off-quoted example of David and Goliath for just a moment.
(25:04 – 25:59)
David is a type of Christ. He is our champion who defeats the enemy that we could never defeat. But it might also be reasonable to see him as an example of trusting in the promises and power of God and acting upon that confidence.
And it might also be appropriate to see the cowardly Israelites and his cowardly family as examples to avoid. I don’t think we have to choose between seeing the gospel in that text and seeing some good and bad examples of faith. Well, we can think this through more together.
Seventhly, we’re almost done. The Bible often gives us general applications. We need wisdom to work out the specifics.
(26:02 – 26:31)
Now, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes the Bible is absolutely as specific as you need. For example, you should not murder, one of the commandments.
I mean, that’s specific enough, isn’t it? It doesn’t need to describe what kinds of murder you can’t commit. All of them are forbidden. But very often, the Bible gives you a principle of application that to some extent is general, and you need to then work it out with some wisdom.
(26:33 – 27:07)
An example here would be the command for parents to discipline their children in a way, and Scripture makes this clear, part of that disciplinary process is in a way that includes at times a painful element of consequence to it. Hebrews, no discipline is pleasant at the time. But precisely how that plays out is not so clearly specified.
(27:08 – 28:25)
Even the rod in Proverbs is not something that the law commanded. It was at that time a way of bringing a sense of consequence to wrong behavior. But it’s not like even in the Proverbs, there’s any specific guidance about, well, what are the situations where the rod is required, or how many strokes are needed in every situation? The application given is general, and we need to work out with wisdom what that looks like for us.
Now, it’s not a free-for-all. Christian parents must follow the principle in some way, or they will suffer the terrible fruit of ignoring the Bible’s wisdom. But the absolute specifics are not nailed down, and this might look different from family to family, and certainly it’s going to look different in 21st century Scotland, isn’t it? So, I suppose that’s an encouragement and a caution that we must know that the general application is not quite the same thing sometimes as our specific interpretation of it or our way of putting it into practice.
(28:27 – 28:41)
Let’s not restrict where God allows some freedom. Well, you’ve been very patient on a warm evening. Yes, I have eight points, and I didn’t tell you up front.
(28:42 – 29:08)
Final thought, very briefly. Application is a spiritual work, not a mechanical process. Application, at the end of the day, is about the living God coming through His Word into contact with our lives and changing them radically and dramatically.
(29:09 – 29:38)
And therefore, it doesn’t come down to formulas. It comes down to God and our response to God. Stuart Oliot, the English preacher, once said this insightful thing, unconverted men and women don’t like to hear application, nor do unspiritual believers.
(29:39 – 30:51)
You get the point he’s making. None of this has any value if we don’t want to hear from God. If we’re quite happy with how we are and with where we are.
To put it another way, a hard and deceitful heart will nullify even the best principles of biblical study. This is a spiritual work. It calls for our repentance, our humility, and our faith just as much as any principles of handling Scripture.
A person of holy humility will surely make a better attempt to handle God’s Word than someone who is not in that same posture. And so, the encouragement is not for us to go away with simply a set of principles, but perhaps most of all, with a different sort of attitude to the Word of God itself. Let me just pray briefly.
(30:53 – 31:19)
Father, thank you for all we have learned and gained from this series. Keep us from dull minds and hard hearts. In the words of the hymn we sang, take your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in your likeness.
Amen.
The post Handle With Care Part 6 Application appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Zach Watt concludes this series on 1st Timothy with Paul’s final commands for Timothy and the church. See transcript below.
(0:00 – 0:45)
Well, let me add my welcome to you all this morning to, if you have a Bible with you or perhaps one in front of you, turn please to the end of this letter that we’ve been looking at over the last few months in page 1194, and we’re in chapter 6. Let me read from verse 17. It’s on the screen too. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
(0:47 – 2:44)
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. In this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.
Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. Grace be with you all. So, we’ve come to the end of this letter, and Timothy has been instructed by the Apostle Paul on what to focus on as he builds this church family in Ephesus.
And as we’ve seen, Timothy is being shown designs, or we’ve called it blueprints, necessary for the spread of this gospel, this good news about Jesus and salvation in Him, in and through their godly attitudes and behaviours that these things actually were significant, what they believed and how they lived. And over the weeks, we’ve noted Paul’s emphasis on various things like safeguarding the truth that’s been laid down against false teachers and false teaching. It’s covered God-centred worship rather than the things that would occupy men and women as being important in church, and that every member who belonged to the church family should pay attention to their own spiritual growth and vitality, that actually it’s important that everyone takes up responsibilities towards one another, including those who are in need and those who are in leadership.
(2:45 – 3:15)
And as we started chapter 6, Colin helped us a couple of weeks ago to see an example of what we understood to see was a bookend. We’ve been learning in our evening series, Handle with Care, it’s one of these literary devices used to help us understand what’s being said. And so Colin showed us that in chapter 6, Paul is coming to the conclusion of some things that he started at the beginning around false teachers and what we’re to love.
(3:17 – 3:54)
And he says, actually, we are to avoid false teachers and we’re not to love money. But another way to view chapter 6 is through another literary device called a sandwich. And David Wiley was helping us with these things a couple of weeks ago in the evening.
Again, let me reiterate, if you’ve not seen this material, if you’ve not seen online the YouTube or the sermons, then please do access that stuff. It’s really helpful for us as we understand God’s Word together. So, chapter 6, like a sandwich, begins with cautions about our attitudes towards those we give of our time to at work.
(3:55 – 4:40)
It then warns against an attitude of loving money and all the dangers that it can bring rather than pursuing a godly contentment with what we have. And in a sense, that’s the first half, the bread, the first part of the bread of this sandwich. And then last week, Andy Hunter, one of our elders here, talked to us about the meat or the cheese or whatever you put in the middle of your sandwich.
And it’s a positive message. It was a positive challenge to live a godly life and nurture a Christlike character. And we were urged to seriously and purposefully work out our salvation and life with God Himself in the here and now.
(4:41 – 7:06)
We were to make good the confession of salvation, which is to do God’s work, but not just do God’s work, but do it in His way. So, with kindness and gentleness and love and so on, and it’s a positive commitment to follow Jesus and take hold of this eternal life by faith in the here and now, living under God’s rule, because God’s the ultimate authority of the Christian’s life. And as Andy pointed out, it’s a great honour, and it glorifies God.
And that’s the meat to the middle of the sandwich if you like. It’s the high point of this chapter. But Paul reminds us that we are living in a reality of a sinful world, and we have sinful hearts.
And Satan too is on the prowl, seeking to oppose and condemn the church. We live in an environment that’s opposed to God and His kingdom. We are tempted in many and various ways from within and from without.
And so, there’s a final set of warnings, the second half of the bread in this sandwich. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, as we’ve gone through 1 Timothy, the strength of language that Paul used time and time again. Across the whole letter, Paul commands, urges, the whole church should avoid certain things.
In fact, it’s not should, it’s they must and do certain things. And so, we come to final commands. But who are these final commands for? It’s for those who are rich.
In the first half of our sandwich, the first part of our sandwich, the focus was on those who wanted to gain money. Now it’s on those who already have it. And who are these rich? Well, remember Ephesus is a wealthy city in the empire of Rome, and it’s likely some of the converts to Christianity would have already been wealthy.
But Paul is not telling them to get rid of their wealth. His attention is on how they view themselves and their wealth. So, attitudes and behaviour with regards to wealth is in play here.
(7:08 – 8:09)
But before we switch off and think this is not really for me, I’m not wealthy, we need to stop and consider, don’t we? I suppose there’s always someone else we can point to who is richer than ourselves. But I think we need to take an honest look around ourselves and recognize the relative and comparative wealth to the global community, the global church. Wealth is about what we possess.
It includes our houses, our gardens, their contents, the clothes in our wardrobes, the stuff in our cellars, our garages, our eaves, cars, tech like phones, laptops, TVs, it’s the money in your bank. It includes our pensions, the promise of money to come, whether it’s personal or public sector or pensions that are due when we reach a certain age. It includes the wages we earn as we work.
(8:11 – 8:45)
Paul’s earlier command was to not love money, but to be content with what we have, to pay for what we need. He talked of paying for food and clothing and shelter as we are able. In the previous chapter, in chapter 5, Paul wrote about other obligations regarding money.
He writes about the need to provide for those we’re responsible for. So, we are prudent and we save for these situations. But also in chapter 5, we were to pay for the workers and ministries of the church.
(8:46 – 9:09)
So, we’re to give to the church. And elsewhere in Scripture, we know Jesus, for example, commands that we give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, so we pay our taxes. But what Paul is warning about here, is our attitude and behaviour regarding how we spend our money, what we do with the wealth that we accumulate.
(9:12 – 10:33)
And as we look at this, we remember Paul is not against having or making money, but he’s drawing attention to the warning, a warning really that wealth is significant, for what we do with it is a window into our hearts. What we do with our wealth is a responsibility we are to be careful about. So, the first command is to not be arrogant.
Now, I know we may think, who are you to speak to me about finances? Or this is my money. I’ve earned it. I’ve worked really hard to get this.
I’ll spend my money how I want. Thank you very much. These are the real temptations of our hearts that we can have towards the money and wealth that we accumulate.
You see, in our culture, we are encouraged to feel confident in what we have, our abilities, our capabilities, our strengths, and to be that little bit better than others. A significant influence on the wealth that we accumulate is our work. And a significant influence on our work is our education.
(10:35 – 10:45)
And as we succeed in education and in the workplace, we are rewarded financially with wages. That’s a good principle. You should get paid for what you work.
(10:47 – 11:47)
And other influences on wealth that gets handed onto from within our families. But Paul is warning about the attitude that we may have with the money that we gather. You see, arrogance is an attitude based on what we possess and have accomplished.
And the danger is here that we can look down on others. It’s a belief in one’s superiority. It’s an attitude based on factors like intelligence, or educational attainment, or where you live, or where you were brought up.
And Paul is particularly concerned about the attitude of arrogance as it is related to having money and wealth. Whether it’s being gained through our work or handed down through inheritance. And the danger is that accumulating wealth can deceive people into thinking that their success is all down to their efforts and their abilities.
(11:50 – 12:56)
That’s the way of the world. Financial success leads to an overconfidence in oneself. It breeds a lack of humility and teachability.
It can blind people to their faults. It can isolate them from what is constructive criticism. Because rich ears can become deaf ears, and rich eyes can become blind eyes.
But also, arrogance with wealth can create barriers. They are erected through things like the conversations we can have around money and wealth, and what is on display with money and wealth. And that can be among families, as families would gauge themselves one among another.
But it also can be among church communities too. Differences in finances, like race or age, can challenge unity. And attitudes and behaviours with wealth affect those we are in community with.
(12:57 – 13:18)
And so, as Christians, we are to be mindful of the danger of creating barriers with wealth. The other danger Paul draws attention to is that money deceives the Christian to believe and trust that wealth brings security. So, the next command is not to put hope in wealth, for it is uncertain.
(13:19 – 14:52)
It’s important to work hard and use the abilities that we have been given. Yet Christians are to be alert to the danger of building up and relying on material possessions for themselves. Wealth doesn’t last.
The temptation is that the accumulation of material possessions becomes something of a security blanket. And so, we rely on wealth as a protection from things that can go wrong, or insulation from things that are hard, that are affecting us in our situations and circumstances. And wealth can become a fix for our fears and our anxieties.
Jesus speaks into this issue. He speaks about money much more than we realize in Scripture. And He speaks into this issue when He gives the parable of the prosperous farmer, building and investing for comfort and security, yet it could not save him from death.
Or Jesus teaching people not to store up treasure on earth where rust and moths can get to it. Instead, the command is for Christians to put their hope in God. God is the one in whom we are to place our trust, our confidence, not in material possessions but in God Himself.
God is our Savior. Paul’s been teaching Timothy to teach the Ephesians that all throughout this letter. He is our Savior.
(14:53 – 15:33)
To have salvation in Christ is to have great riches, even if we’re materially poor. The wisdom of Christ is far more valuable than treasure or gold. Other apostles would write about this.
Take John the Apostle, for example. His language, look at the love of God has lavished upon you, you who are His children. Paul writes to the Ephesian church in another letter, and he tells them again and again of the riches of God’s grace poured out on them and of the inheritance provided to them in Christ.
(15:34 – 15:53)
And in a sense, Paul is reminding Timothy and us the truths of who God is are to steer our attitude and behaviour regarding wealth. We put our hope in God because He is our Creator. He’s the one who’s richly provided for our enjoyment in this material world.
(15:54 – 16:16)
And as we’ve seen earlier in this letter, Paul is not commanding Christians to replace living in a material world with some sort of self-denying asceticism. In chapter 4, he warned against that. Rather, Paul commanded the church to be thankful with what you have and enjoy all the material blessings in a way that honours God.
(16:19 – 17:30)
But I don’t think that’s the danger for us in this culture. Here’s the danger. We can believe God has not given us enough for our enjoyment, so we use wealth and spend it on ourselves.
The danger is when good gifts become our focus rather than the giver. And we worship created things, not the Creator. And what Paul is warning about is that wealth doesn’t satisfy.
Yes, we can have lots of things, and we’re able to purchase lots of experiences for our pleasures, but they’re not ultimately satisfying. And the truth of Scripture that Paul is really wanting to get to Timothy to teach this church in Ephesus is that only God Himself is inexhaustibly sufficient for the desires of our hearts and to meet all our longings. He can truly satisfy us with Himself and in the good and wise use of all the good things He has given for us to enjoy, for we live as material bodies in a material world.
(17:32 – 18:50)
But putting our hope in material selves and the material world, it’s like it puts a grey filter, a grayscale filter on our eyes. It distorts our relationship from our God, for we’re tempted to believe falsely that knowing God and enjoying God is just not quite enough. And it distorts our view of God and the good things He has given us for our enjoyment, that we need and must have more, and more, better, and better.
And so, demands for good things, they turn into demands, and they, in turn, turn into entitlements, and they, in turn, turn into expectations for more. And rather than open hands, they become closed over all what God has given us. See, Christians are to be alert to the danger of growing in apathy and a dissatisfaction of God and who He is and what He’s given and continues to give for our good, because other things come and fill the void, like selfishness and entitlement and greed.
(18:51 – 21:14)
And that hole cannot truly be filled, no matter what we attempt to pour into it. It’s an appetite what advertisers feed off. We want bigger and better, things become a must-have, a must-see.
The promise is the same, you need this, you must get to this, you must go and see this in order to be really happy. But it’s not truly satisfying, because amusement or an experience cannot truly replace a life-giving fellowship and enjoyment of God and His good gifts. So, no amount of TV, Netflix series, or no amount of food, or no amount of clothes, or holidays, or possessions actually deliver.
Rather, we put our confidence in God who has richly provided for all our needs and enjoyment. So, instead, Paul commands them to do good, to be rich in deeds and be generous and willing to share. Do good is expanded with these words, that phrase, be rich in good words.
And the words that Paul is using here in the Greek apparently really speak of a thoughtfulness and a diligence, an active pursuit. The command is really about working hard at using the resources you have for the good of others. It’s about making a continuous effort in being abundant towards others.
It’s a regular task, not some sporadic one-off magnanimous gift, but an ongoing obligation of using what we have and considering how best we steward our resources for the betterment of others. And so, giving of our resources is something that we do seriously and with focused attention. It’s not just about money either.
He broadens it now. It’s about what we have, the use of our time, our homes, our energy, our abilities, capabilities. They’re all included in the good deeds.
And the idea of being generous and willing to share is that it brings a sense of joy and enthusiasm. Rather than the closed-handed fist of what I have and what I need to keep, it’s an open-handed attitude. It’s the opposite of being selfish.
(21:15 – 21:26)
It’s the opposite of being reluctant to give away. It’s the opposite of being mean-spirited. It’s the opposite of spending resources to gain for ourselves, and our selfish desires.
(21:26 – 22:22)
And it’s not a, hey, look at me either, but it’s something in which the Christians can actually take joy in because we’re building up God’s kingdom. Do you notice the phrase that we use on all our giving slides week by week? We give for growth, growth of God’s kingdom, wherever that may be, here locally or abroad. And so, we take joy in that because we see God’s kingdom expanding.
And Scripture tells us God loves a cheerful giver. And Paul says this generosity results in great gain for the Christian’s future eternal life and this life here on earth. That’s what he says.
Firstly, verse 19, Paul says, because you do this, you’re in effect laying up treasure as a firm foundation for the coming age. The Christian is to build up real wealth that will last for eternity. That’s what Jesus taught too.
(22:22 – 22:54)
We refer to some of the verses. Let me expand on them. He says, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The biblical reality is that gaining the treasures of heaven has nothing to do with the riches of earth. And God is concerned that we build on foundations that will last into eternity.
(22:56 – 24:04)
Paul writes about this elsewhere too in the letter to the Corinthian church. He says, each one should build, that is their life, their ministry, what they go about living, they should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hair, straw, their work will be shown for what it is. Because the day of judgment will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.
The only riches that survive and truly last eternally are those things that belong to the kingdom of God. It’s why Jesus went on to say in that passage I read just before says, seek first God and his kingdom and all these other things will be added to you. But secondly, it’s so that the Christian takes hold of the life that is truly life.
(24:05 – 25:43)
We can be deceived to think true life is based on our enjoyment and our pleasures and comfort and ease and money that protects from the shocks of life and insurance against things that are going wrong. And yes, we’re to work hard and be diligent and be prudent so that we can look after those we’re responsible for and enjoy God’s good material gifts. But it’s not to become our sole focus.
It’s not the means to the end. It’s not the purpose and goal of life. It’s not to be what dominates our living so that we are anxious and fearful, overwhelmed and stressed by financial matters.
Jesus warned his followers about this too when he said, lives will become unfruitful, lacking true prosperity when we’re overcome by worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for things other than God and his kingdom. You see the blueprint, the design for a truly fruitful life is a godly life which is characterized by a desire for honouring God and loving others that seeks to be godly whether rich or poor. Here’s the thing.
It’s when we’re motivated by God and his gospel of Jesus that we can give so much of what we have away. It’s only when Christians believe they are spiritually rich that they can stop looking at money and wealth as a source of security and satisfaction. And by doing that, we have the life that truly is life.
(25:47 – 26:16)
And so, Paul comes to a final command, a final set of warnings. Because we live in a world that is opposed to God and his kingdom, and that includes our sinful selves and how we oppose God’s rule and truth. We are to fight the good fight of faith, remember? That’s the high point, the meat in the message of this chapter which is against lies and deceptions that are from within and without.
(26:18 – 26:49)
And so, Paul commands Timothy this one last time of where he needs to find the truth and so avoid a final catastrophe, a total departure from the faith. For that’s what’s at stake here. Paul’s already warned of loving money such that it leads to a wandering from the faith, a straying away in verse 10, which leads to piercings and many griefs.
(26:50 – 27:08)
But now the stakes are higher. Now the money is accumulating, and maybe the faith and trust is getting stronger and bigger in that, rather than in God himself. And so, the danger now is departing the faith altogether.
(27:11 – 27:28)
Straying from the path is dangerous enough, but what is held here is the danger of choosing to get off the path entirely. And so guarding is an active task, not a passive one. It’s a duty to preserve, declare, and keep living out what is true.
(27:28 – 27:51)
That’s for church leaders on behalf of a church family like Greenview, but it’s also for each and every one of the church, that belongs to a church like Greenview here too. So, we are responsible too, and we’re to be actively engaged in these things. And love of money and having wealth contempt and distract from the such.
(27:52 – 28:10)
It leads to a wandering and a straying, but more dangerously can lead to a complete rejection and departure from the truth. And whilst Paul does not explicitly talk of eternal death, that’s what is in view. That’s what Jesus warned, as He spoke of it.
(28:12 – 29:06)
The alternative to what is true life to eternal life with God is eternal death and separation from God. And so, says Paul, avoid the ideas and teachings and the culture and the ways of life that are godless. Jesus warned us that where our treasure is, that’s where our heart is, and we can’t serve both God and money.
And as we consider all these things and all the various truths that have been laid upon us through the letter of Timothy, I love the final words that Paul gives. Paul told Timothy what he and the church needed, and it was to live under grace. It’s by God’s grace the believer will see victory and over false teaching and growing godliness.
(29:08 – 29:50)
And we’re called and obligated to learn and grow and see godliness and wisdom increase in our own lives. We’re to be disciplined and we’re to work hard, be self-controlled, train ourselves, sacrifice ourselves to serve others, to be rich in good works, to share willingly and be generous. And we do that by God’s grace.
We’re to guard the truths of the gospel that lead to true life, and we’re to avoid the false ways that lead to the way of destruction. And we do that also by God’s grace. So may the grace of God our Father be with us all and in the days ahead.
Amen.
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This evening, Colin Adams continues the series on Handling the Word of God wisely. In previous weeks we have looked at: taking it in ‘Context’, ‘Observing’ the format of the text, and making sure of its ‘Meaning’. These are all important but this evening colin shows that the whole of the Bible, both the old and the new testament are Christ centred. The Old, looks forward, for meaning, to Christ’s coming. The New, heralds the good news His arrival and tells of His victory over sin and death to redeem us.
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This morning, Andy Hunter looks at the second last passage in our series on 1st Timothy. In this, Paul is urging Timothy to remember his conversion from a sinner facing judgement to a child of God when he trusted Jesus to save him. He urges him to live up to his new status. Not to give in to the opposition he will meet. To remember that the victory is assured because it is God’s victory but how Timothy fights the battle is important. To keep going and ‘play to the whistle’.
The post Play to the Whistle – 1 Timothy Ch6v11to16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, David Wylie continued the ‘Handle with Care’ series with advice on how to make sure that we read the true meaning out of the text, and avoid reading our own meaning into it.
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This morning, Colin Adams looks at Paul’s instructions for developing the right attitude towards work and money.
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This evening, David Wylie uses the words of Psalm 119 v 18, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law”, as an introduction to his message. In it, he encourages us to see that, the way it is told helps to understand the Bible’s meaning. He shows how the various genres, structures and the language used, act as pointers to aid understanding.
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This Morning, Michael Healey looks at Paul’s instructions to Timothy about elders: their support, their selection, their protection and, if necessary, their correction.
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This Evening, Colin Adams continues the series on reading the Bible with care to gain correct understanding. Today, he shows the importance of context for meaning. The immediate context is very important. To ensure full understanding, wider rings of context are necessary.
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This morning Andy Hunter looks at the care we should have for one another in our church family. We should treat each one with respect in every way. In the passage, Paul then focuses in on the care for widows. In our culture, that is not the concern that it was in their time. However, the principles remain the same in present day Christian care for the needy.
The post A Blueprint for – Christian Care – Be Careful! – 1 Timothy Ch5v1-16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Alan McKnight starts a new series on correctly handling God’s word in the bible. In this introductory sermon Alan looks at Paul’s instruction to Timothy to be a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Paul speaks of the false teachers who were using words negatively. They were twisting their meaning to be more culturally acceptable, to gain approval of their hearers. In so doing, they lied and led their hearers into sin.
Then, he urged Timothy to resist that. He is to tell the truth, however unpalatable. He is to warn the believers to turn away from the harmful false teaching. Thus, he will gain God’s approval.
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This morning, Jonathan Hannay looks at Thomas’s reaction to the resurrection. He wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to the other disciples in the upper room. He refused to accept the accounts of the various encounters different witnesses had with Jesus. Then, a week later, Jesus appeared once more in the upper room. This time Thomas was there. Jesus spoke directly to him. He showed him his wounds and Thomas was completely convinced. He realises who Jesus is and calls Him “My Lord and my God”.
The post Following On From Jesus’ Resurrection – John Ch20v19to31 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams looks at three reasons why we can believe in the resurrection. First, the empty tomb, for which Jesus’ enemies could find no convincing explanation. Then, the folded grave cloths. These, and the expensive ointment on them, are what a grave robber would want to take. For them the body would have no value. And, had the disciples stolen the body, they wouldn’t have wasted time taking the grave cloths off and folding them neatly. They would have fled with their burden before they were caught. Finally, the large number of witnesses of the risen Christ who were so convinced that they wouldn’t go back on their witness, even in the face of death.
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This Evening, Colin Adams concludes our series on the book of Ezra. Up till now, the theme of the book has been rebuilding. Rebuilding the temple, rebuilding their worship and rebuilding their nation. Now, in apparent contrast Ezra supervises the breaking of more than 100 marriages. Can this be right?
Divorce is wrong, but Colin concludes that these divorces were right. These marriages were with women from idol worshiping neighbouring nations. It was such forbidden marriages which had caused Israel to sin. It was that which had resulted in the exile. If it wasn’t stopped it would cancel all the rebuilding. This ruthless action was hard but good.
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This Morning, John Mowat continues our series on Paul’s first letter to Timothy. In it Paul first urges Timothy to use his gift of preaching and teaching. To give the Ephesian church good teaching, to counteract the false teaching that was troubling them.
Then he urges Timothy to set a good example of godly living. This will reinforce his teaching.
The post The Importance of Good Teaching and Godly Living – 1 Timothy Ch4v11to16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Evening, Zach Watt looks at Ezra Chapter nine. In this, Ezra is made aware of the fact that many of the returned exiles had broken God’s law against intermarriage with surrounding pagans. This included some of the priests and Levites. Ezra confesses their rebellion and pleads for God’s mercy.
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This morning, Colin Adams looks at Paul’s advice to Timothy. First, Paul warns Timothy about the traitors he must oppose. They had abandoned the gospel and were preaching lies. Then Paul counsels Timothy about how to become a good and faithful servant of God.
The post The Traitors and the Faithful – 1 Timothy Ch4v1to10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Colin Adams quotes a note made by William Carey, a pioneer missionary to India. He said “I feel it is good to commit my soul, my body and my all into the hands of God. Then the world appears little the promises seem great and God an all-sufficient portion.”.
Colin shows that that is precisely what we see in Ezra chapter eight. A man, Ezra, and a people, the exiles of Judah, did just that as they made this dangerous journey back to the land of Israel. They committed themselves to God and found Him faithful.
The post Total Commitment – Ezra Ch8v1to36 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams looks at three verses in which Paul explains to Timothy why he is writing, rather than waiting until he is free to come. He wants the church to know how to behave as part of the household of God.
The privilege of being part of God’s household does come with some obligations. We are not saved by godly conduct, but we are saved for godly conduct in the world. This is why Paul wrote this letter on the theme of the gospel that produces godliness among God’s own.
The post A blueprint for … the gospel of the godly – 1 Timothy Ch3v14to16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Rorie Watson continues the series on the book of Ezra. Up till now, the story has been telling of the rebuilding of the temple. Now, sixty years after the end of chapter six, The prophet Ezra enters the scene. His credentials as a priest are proven by his descent from Aaron, the first High Priest. More than that, God gives him favour with King Artaxerxes to grant him permission to return to Jerusalem with a large company of other priests. Indeed, the king sponsored the return and the Temple worship there. From now on, the scene shifts to the rebuilding of the nation to be a people of God.
The post The Raising of the Teacher – Ezra Ch7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams introduces an interlude before the final three verses of 1 Timothy Ch3. In the earlier verses Paul has given instructions for Elders and Deacons. In the final three verses he turns to the whole church. Today Colin explains that the church is not a building, to which you go. It is an assembly of people with whom you meet. Then, he looks at what it means to be a member of the universal and the local church.
The post A Blueprint for Church Members – 1 Timothy appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Evening, Andy Hunter looks at the change that God made in the heart of the Persian King Darius and the effect it had on the building of the temple. He responded to the enquiry from his governors overseeing Judea. He ordered a search to be made for King Cyrus’s decree. Against all odds it was found, not in the library archives of Babylon, but in the citadel of Ecbatana. He read it and issued his own decree authorising the building. More than that, he ordered the payment of both the building and the running costs. So, the temple building was completed and opened with feasts and rejoicing.
The post Favour & Feasts – Ezra Ch 6 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams spreads the net wider to find what the rest of the New Testament tells us about Deacons. This is remarkably little. 1st Timothy gives us a clear picture of who can be a Deacon. The only direct information on what they are expected to do comes in their title which means servant. Colin then explores what that might mean today.
The post A Blueprint for Deacons 2 – Across the New Testament appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams continues the Blueprint series. This is the first of two planned sermons on a blueprint for deacons. Colin points out that in the first three chapters of 1st Timothy, Paul shows how the gospel produces godliness in the church. Chapter 1v1 to 2v7 focus on what the gospel is. Chapter2v8 to the end of chapter three, focus on the godliness it produces in men, women, and the leadership.
The requirements Paul lists for a deacon are a description of a mature Christian. Every Christian’s aim should be to develop that maturity.
The post A Blueprint for Deacons – 1 Timothy Ch3v8to13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Evening, Colin Adams Continues the Rebuild series in Ezra. In this chapter, the Lord sends two prophets to stir up the Jews to resume the building of the temple. The Persian governor of the area investigates their authorisation for this building. Like those who stopped it the first time, he writes to the king about it. Unlike them, he is impressed by what he is told and reports their account truthfully and favourably. He only requests confirmation that Cyrus did indeed issue the decree. Meantime he allows the work to go on.
The post Reviving the Work – Ezra Ch5 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Craig Dyer continues the Blueprint series in 1 Timothy. This passage gives Paul’s instruction for the selection of Elders. Craig points out that this is not an exalted status, from which women and most men are excluded. It is a humble and heavy service to the church for which those men already doing the work and showing the best fit are chosen. Of the requirements listed by Paul, most are character. Only teaching and management are capabilities. All the characteristics should be the aim of all believers, but they are required of Elders.
The post A Blueprint for Elders – 1 Timothy Ch3v1–7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Paul McLoughlan continues the series on Ezra. Last week the returned exiles were rejoicing with the completion of the foundations for the new temple. This week the opposition starts and brings the building to a halt for very many years. But in his perfect time, God overturns the opposition, and the work is done.
The post Opposition – Ezra Ch4 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams continues the series on 1st Timothy, with the verses 8 to 15 of chapter two. In them, Paul gives instructions about worship. Paul echoes the requirement David gave in Psalm 24 “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart”. Both men and women must demonstrate rectitude in business and godliness in the home. God must come first in their lives, there must be no competing idol.
The post Worship – 1 Timothy Ch2v8to15 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Vic Walker continues the series on Ezra. Those returning from exile have now got settled into homes. They have gathered materials, and are ready to start work on building the temple anew. It is interesting where they start—by building the altar. This comes first so that they can purify themselves for the work and worship God, who has brought them so far. They then build the foundation of the new building with great celebration.
The post First Things First – Ezra Ch3 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams continues the series on 1st Timothy, with the first seven verses of chapter two. In them, Paul urges Timothy and the church in Ephesus to pray for all people. The motivation for this is God’s desire for all to be saved and Christ’s death as a ransom for all. Those are both all inclusive. But, there is only one God, and only one mediator: the one who is fully God and fully man—Christ Jesus.
The post The Globe Church – 1 Timothy Ch2v1to7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Evening, Colin Adams looks at the list of families, some large some small, who set out on the long walk back to Jerusalem. It was almost 1,000 miles. It was a dangerous journey as bandits along the way would want to steal the temple treasures they carried. But God had moved their hearts to want to go, to rebuild the temple. That was what made them leave their homes and businesses and move one foot after the other for those long weary miles.
The post Moving Hearts Moving Feet – Ezra Ch2 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Evening, Vic walker concludes the series on the book of Lamentations. Jeremiah looks at the horrors of the state they are in. He acknowledges that it is their fault. Excluding God from their life isn’t neutral. It results in something horrible. Goodness, love, joy, and celebration are replaced by evil, pain, suffering and mourning. Jeremiah concludes by asking if God cares. Yes, he does, and he has provided the solution in his Son.
The post Does God Care? – Lamentations 5 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning Colin Adams looks at Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony. In this honest account he tells how he had to learn the hard way that God rules. He thought he was the greatest, but he learned that he only ruled because God allowed it.
The post Heaven Rules – Daniel Ch4 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning Colin Adams looks at the record of God’s supremacy in Daniel chapter 3. This is the account of three young men, Shadrach; Meshach; and Abednego, willing to face the fiery furnace rather than bow down to an idol. But God was there with them in the furnace and rescued them. The point of this chapter, still true today, is made by the pagan King Nebuchadnezzar. It is that the God of the Bible rescues, and the people who […]
The post Through the Flames – Daniel Ch3 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Rorie Watson follows the writer’s search for a rescuer from God’s righteous wrath. The search looks to all the human sources of support that might possibly give aid, but none of them are able. Finally, he turns to the only one capable to rescue, God himself.
The post The only one who offers refuge from God’s wrath. – Lamentations Ch4 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this Morning’s passage Colin Adams looks at Nebuchadnezzar’s search for the meaning of his dream. It was so strange that it troubled him, and he turned to his top of the tree experts. None could pass his validity check of demanding to be told what he had dreamed. But Daniel turned to God, the only one who knew both the dream and its meaning. Only God could reveal this mystery, and He did so through Daniel.
The post Revealer of Mysteries – Daniel Ch2 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, John Mackinnon continues the series on the book of Lamentations.
The post Lamentations Chapter 3 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning Colin Adams starts a new series in the book of Daniel. In this first chapter Daniel first reveals, in his historical introduction, that he knew that Nebucadnezzar’s conquest of Judea was not a defeat of God but faithful judgement by God. Then he recounts how, in the light of this knowledge, he and three companions resolved not to eat the food Nebucadnezzar assigned to them. In this way they refused to compromise on a point they considered to be important to God.
The post Resolved – Daniel Ch1 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, John MacKinnon continues his study in the book of Lamentations and what we can learn from it about God. Judah and its capital were in ruins, having been defeated by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Jerusalem had fallen as the result of a long siege, with its attendant horrors. The writer correctly attributes this terrible situation to God’s wrath. But it is not irrational wrath. It is God’s faithful, loving, promised, judgement on their sinful rebellion against […]
The post God’s Loving Righteous Judgement – Lamentations 2 appeared first on Greenview Church.
For this morning’s text, Nicky Mackison choses an assessment of Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men of valour. At first sight, this man’s actions appear to have no relevance in today’s situation. But Benaiah was fighting for his king against powerful enemies seeking to defeat and destroy his country. Nick uses this as a reminder that, as Christians, we are called to fight for our king, Jesus, against the Devil, a powerful enemy seeking to destroy the kingdom of God.
The post Battling Like Benaiah – 2 Samuel Ch23v1to23 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, John Mackinnon introduces a new series on the book of Lamentations. This book was written after the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586bc lamenting the loss of national identity, but with a vision of hope remembering God’s blessings in the past. This is a carefully structured set of five sad songs. The first four are acrostic with the 22 verses started by the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The fifth isn’t acrostic, but it still has […]
The post Introduction and First Song – Lamentations Ch1 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage Paul takes the pen into his own hand to give a final summary highlighting the vital message of his letter to the Galatians. Andy Hunter draws out the details of Paul’s argument. Those seeking to add circumcision to the gospel are doing it solely for their own ends: to make their group seem special, and to avoid persecution from their Jewish compatriots for associating with uncircumcised gentiles. Paul shows that circumcision is just one item in […]
The post A New Creation – Galatians Ch6v11to18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Morning Ernie Bayton highlights the fact that every coin has two sides. Paul has been stressing what we should believe, but he now turns to how we should behave in light of what we believe. He has listed our privileges, and freedom, but he now turns to our responsibilities, which are the other side of the coin. In today’s passage he explores our responsibility: to our fellow believers, to our Lord, and to everybody. Ernie summarises it with a […]
The post Embracing our Responsibilities – Galatians Ch6v1to10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Continuing in the Pure Gospel series in Galatians, Chapter 5v1-15 “Freedom”
The post Freedom – Galatians Ch5v1to15 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s passage Craig Dyer looks at Paul’s illustration of the contrast between human striving under the law and God’s gracious promise in Christ. Those under the law are like Ishmael born into slavery by a slave, in a vain human attempt to help God out of a problem. Those entering God’s family through his promised Son Jesus, are like Isaac born free by Abraham’s impossibly old wife Sarah. That, demonstrably miraculous, birth was in fulfilment of God’s promise.
The post Losing my Religion – Galatians Ch4v21to31 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s passage Michael Healy considers Paul’s distress over the Galatians. They started so well, but now they have been led astray and turned against him. Michael looks at how, in love, Paul seeks to win them back to the pure gospel.
The post I am perplexed about you! – Galatians Ch4v12to20 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, David Wylie reminds us that, in earlier passages of this letter, Paul explains that our salvation comes by faith not by works, and through a promise not through law. In todays passage he declares the outcome of these facts. Those who become Christians by faith in God’s promise, cease to be slaves and become God’s children. Therefore, they must live as children and heirs, not as slaves.
The post Children not Slaves – Galatians Ch3v26toCh4v11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening Scott Kirkland concludes the series on ‘Living with the end in mind’, which is based on Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonian church. Paul has heard that there are some members there who are idling, completely ignoring what Paul taught them by word and example about working honestly for their own support and not being a burden on others. Paul commands them to work for what they eat, and charges the church to discipline them, warning them gently […]
The post Won’t Work? Then Don’t Eat – 2 Thessalonians Ch3v6to18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Zach Watt looks at Paul’s request, to the Thessalonian church, for their prayers. He wanted prayer that in spite of the opposition he was facing. His preaching would bear fruit. In turn, he assures them that God was faithful to answer their prayers. So that, in spite of opposition, both he and they could persevere in living in God’s love.
The post Living and Praying Through Opposition – 2 Thessalonians Ch3v1to5 appeared first on Greenview Church.
On this Sunday School Prize-giving morning, Craig Morris, with some help from the children, looks at our penny drop moments, when some truth suddenly clicks. He looks in particular at Peter’s response to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say I am?”. That very important question is one that we all must answer. Who do I think Jesus is?
The post Penny Drop Moments – Who do You say I am? – Matthew Ch16v13to17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Andy Hunter looks at Paul’s thankfulness for the first fruits of his preaching the Gospel in Thessalonica. He reassures them that God loves them. He encourages them to stand firm in God’s strength, although they are suffering persecution.
The post Thanks for Converts Loved by God – 2 Thessalonians Ch2v13to17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage, John Mowat looks at two gifts from God. First, the promise given to Abraham of a coming saviour, through whom all nations can be saved—Christ. A promise which God will never fail to keep. Then, the law, given 430 years later, to Moses. A law which no one could keep except for—Christ.
The post The Promise and the Law – Galatians Ch3v14to25 appeared first on Greenview Church.
The post They say it’s all done. It isn’t yet! – 2 Thessalonians Ch2v1to12 appeared first on Greenview Church.
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In this morning’s passage, Peter had yielded to peer pressure and was acting in a way that he knew was wrong. Andy Macdonald looks at how Paul takes Peter to task. From this he raises three questions we all need to consider.
- Are you a hypocrite?
- Are you Justified?
- Are you Living in Christ?
The post Justified by Faith Alone – Galatians Ch2v11to21 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Evening Peter Fullerton starts a new, ‘Living with the End in Mind’, series. This looks at Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica. This fledgling church us growing in spite of serious opposition. In today’s passage, Paul encourages them, telling them that these trials are temporary. The glories of their destiny in heaven are eternal.
The post Temporary Trials – 2 Thessalonians Ch1v1to12 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Morning Andy Hunter continues the series on the letter to the Galatians. In this passage, Paul states that he met the leading apostles in Jerusalem. They confirmed that the gospel he preaches is the same as Christ taught them. There is no difference between them.
The post No Difference – Galatians Ch2v1to10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Tonight, in our Evening Service, Nathan Owens concludes ‘The Peoples Playlist’. This is a selection of 15 Psalms chosen by members of the Greenview Church family, as part of our 150 years celebrations.
This final Psalm tells of the glories of Zion, God’s dwelling place, and the glory of the God of Zion.
The post Glorious things of thee are spoken – Psalm 48 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning David Wylie follows Paul’s plea to the Galatians to stay true to the Gospel. False teachers were saying that Paul had got it wrong. In this morning’s passage, Paul presents his credentials to prove that, like the other apostles, he had been taught the Gospel directly by Christ. Because of that, anything that wasn’t in the Gospel that he taught them wasn’t Gospel truth.
The post Paul’s CV – Galatians Ch1v11to24 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening Nigel Kenny looks at the 14th of the fifteen Psalms, which were chosen by church members to celebrate the 150 years of the life of Greenview Church.
Psalm 133 talks of how pleasant it is when God’s people, from all their different backgrounds, meet in peace in the worship of God. It goes on to speak of the resulting refreshing blessing from God.
The post Church: Heaven on Earth? – Psalm 133 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Morning, Andy Hunter starts a new series, called ‘Pure Gospel’, on Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. They were being misled by false teachers offering a ‘new improved gospel’. Paul warns them in no uncertain terms that there is only one Gospel. Any divergence from that is a lie meriting God’s curse.
The post No other Gospel – Galatians Ch1v1to10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Stevie Gamble looks at Psalm 145. This is the 13th of the 15 psalms chosen by church members to celebrate the 150 years of the life of this church. The psalm declares itself to be a psalm of Praise—praising God.
Stevie mentions the two texts, which have been displayed at the front of the main hall since the church moved here in 1932. They proclaim that God is Light and God is Love, which are two of the features for which God is to be praised.
Stevie then looks at five other attributes for which the psalm gives praise to God. They are that God is: God, great, good, gracious, and glorious.
The post A Psalm of Praise, Psalm 145 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today Colin Adams asks, “What are your dreams? What are you looking forward to?”. He then shows that in today’s passage Isaiah points forward to a bigger dream. He describes the new heavens and earth that God promises to make. They will so far exceed the present creation that this one will be forgettable. They will be a place of endless joy, life, security, and peace.
The post Dream a Bigger Dream – Isaiah Ch65v17to25 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Colin Adam looks at the 12th of the 15 Psalms chosen by church members to celebrate the 150 years since the church began in 1873.
The post The Lord is … whom shall I fear? – Psalm 27 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Craig Dyer recalls how when he was young and tired with adult chatter he would be told “Just you wait!”, an indication that something much better would be coming. He points out that, in today’s passage, Paul does the same thing. The Thessalonians were worried that some of them were dying, and Christ had not yet returned. Paul reassures them that, although their bodies had died, their souls hadn’t. When Christ returned, they would rise again and, with those who were still alive, would rise to be with their Lord for ever. Jesus died and rose again from death and so God would bring with Jesus all who had fallen asleep in Him. So, “Just you wait!”
The post Just You Wait! – 1 Thessalonians Ch4v13to18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Tonight, in our Evening Service, Vic Walker continues with The Peoples Playlist, a selection of Psalms chosen by members of the Greenview Church family, as part of our 150 years celebrations.
The post Psalm 71 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today, Colin Adams concludes our Real Church—Serving in Love series, looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 16. In this chapter filled with practical details, Paul gives two overarching commands, which summarise the whole letter. They are to: be on guard, stand firm, be courageous, and be strong. But they are also to do everything in Love.
The post How do Loving Christians Operate? – 1 Corinthians 16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today is Easter Sunday! We celebrate that the Lord Jesus has risen! And, with Colin Adams, we continue with our Real Church—Serving in Love series, looking at 1 Corinthians 15, considering more about the truth of the resurrection from the dead.
The post Easter – How are the dead raised? – 1 Corinthians Ch15v35to58 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning Colin Adams follows Paul’s analysis of the statement that there is no resurrection. He looks at the implications if that were true.
But then, Paul summarises the whole of chapter 15 thus far with the glorious statement, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”. He then looks at the implications since that is true.
Finally, in verse 34 Paul issues the call to the Corinthians to, “Come back to your senses”.
The post Does it Matter if there’s no Resurrection? – 1 Corinthians Ch15v12to34 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In tonight’s Psalm Asaph tells his people important truths to pass on through the generations. Alan Wallace highlights the fact that we have important Gospel truths which have been given to us. We likewise have the responsibility to teach them to the next generation.
The post Tell the Next Generation – Psalm 78v1-8 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning is a service dedicated to youth. Apart from the chairman and the speaker, all those taking part are young folk from the church. So, Ashley Gardiner, a speaker the young folk know well, looks at Ecclesiastes chapter 12. This passage opens with the words “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth”. Later in the chapter, the Teacher declares that “Everything is meaningless!”. Ashley points out that a better translation of the original word translated as “meaningless” would be “fleeting”. This life is so short that it is important to get in tune with our Creator in our youth. He is the only one who knows life’s meaning and can show how to live it to the full. Beyond that, He is the only one who can give us access to the joys of eternal life beyond.
The post A Good Time to Die? – Ecclesiastes Ch12 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Craig Dyer Follows David’s thoughts in Psalm 16. In verse 7 David appears to be having sleepless thoughts in the night. Verse one suggests that his initial thoughts were fearful as he asks God to keep him safe. His statement of relief in verse 10 that God will save him from burial and decay suggest that his fears included the likelihood of death. However, he has put his trust in Jehovah, the name by which God revealed himself to Israel. As he reviews all that God has done for him, his confidence increases. In verse 8 he declares that, with God at his right hand, he will not be shaken. In light of that, he finishes the Psalm with rejoicing.
The post Thoughts in the Night and Thoughts in the Light – Psalm 16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams points out that this morning’s passage is setting up a base from which to correct another Corinthian error introduced in verse 12. However, taken as a stand alone document, it is an extremely compelling summary of the gospel. Within it, Paul declares:
- The Gospel’s life changing and death reversing facts vv1-8.
- The Gospel’s comprehensive grace. God’s grace to Paul v10 and God’s empowering grace with Paul.
- The Gospel’s complete unity—Whether it is I or they, this is what we preach.
The post Does it Matter what Gospel we Believe? – 1 Corinthians Ch15v1to11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, David Church looks at Psalm 84. This is not one of the official ‘Songs of Ascent’ but it has a strong feeling of pilgrimage. The psalmist is yearning to be in the House of the Lord, to be near Him, to worship Him. He would rather be there for a single day than a thousand elsewhere. But he longs to remain for ever, even if only as a doorkeeper.
But what about us? Do we long to be near the Lord, to worship Him? Yes, but we don’t need to go to a unique building in a specified city. Jesus Christ is our tabernacle. We can worship Him wherever we may live. Let us draw near.
The post The Homesick Christian – Psalm 84 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams reminds us that Paul isn’t giving us a blueprint for services. There are big gaps, things missing which appear elsewhere. No, Paul is acting as a trouble shooter, correcting things the Corinthians had wrong. Paul’s own summary of this week’s passage is that, everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. Order isn’t a killjoy. Instead, order is the way of love, because:
- Order builds up others.
- Order reflects who God is.
- Order is life giving.
- Order brings peace.
The post Does Worship Need to be Orderly? – 1 Corinthians Ch14v26to40 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this, the 3rd of the Serving in Love series, Zach and Colin look at the many ways in which members can serve in Greenview.
The post The where and when of serving appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage, Colin Adams shows how Paul corrects the Corinthian’s wrong valuation of Spiritual gifts. The Corinthians prized the ability to talk in a language that was foreign to most, if not all, of the other believers above all other gifts because of the kudos it gave them. Paul points out that was wrong on two counts. Firstly, because it was selfish and not loving. Secondly, because whatever message it contained couldn’t be understood, it did nothing to build up the church. Paul teaches them that the briefest of clear messages to build up the church was worth much more than an abundance of words in a foreign language.
The post Does Worship Need to be Accessible? – 1 Corinthians Ch14v1to25 appeared first on Greenview Church.
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This evening John Mowat looks at what Psalm 139 meant to David, who wrote the psalm, what we learn about Jesus, who prayed the Psalm, and what it says to us today. The Psalm breaks into four sections which address:
- How God knows you
- How God is with you
- How God created you and
- How God searches you
The post The God who knows and cares – Psalm 139 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s passage Colin Adams shows how Paul, before he talks about Spiritual gifts, corrects the Corinthians’ one-upmanship claims that one particular ‘gift’ is essential for true Spirituality.
Paul declares that the one measure of True Spirituality is when a person can say with conviction that Jesus is Lord. Lord of all creation, Lord of all people and Lord of my life. That is the greatest evidence that the Spirit of God is at work in them. No one Spiritual gift is given to all Christians but, if they cannot truly say that Jesus is their Lord, they are not Christians and the Spirit of God is not in them, however many ‘gifts’ they appear to have. All Christians are Spiritual because all Christians confess Jesus as Lord. What is important is not what differentiates us but what unites us.
Only then does Paul mention gifts. He introduces them with the vital fact that all the many gifts have one source. That source is the Triune God.
The post What About Spiritual Gifts? – 1 Corinthians Ch12v1–11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Morning Colin Adams looks at how Paul deals with the Corinthian’s abuse of the Lord’s Supper, and the lessons we can learn, under three headings:
Recognise the problem — Do you despise the Church of God by humiliating those who have nothing?
Remember the point — The point of the Lord’s Supper is the Lord himself. It is intended to help us remember Jesus’ death and all that it accomplished.
Reflect on your practice — the motivation and the implementation. Let’s not turn a delightful thing into a deadly thing. Above all, let’s remember that Jesus is the point.
The post How should we eat the Lord’s Supper? – 1 Corinthians Ch11v17to34 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Andy Hunter touches on this controversial passage.
The post What About Head Coverings? – 1 Corinthians Ch11v1–16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening’s passage is a Psalm of hard times. Vic Walker acknowledges that trust in God doesn’t guarantee an absence of problems. The problems may come, and our prayers may appear not to be answered. But, even in the midst of the pain and distress, as we remember God’s track record in care for his people, we gain comfort. Our situation may not have changed, but our viewpoint has. We cannot see God’s footprints, but we know he is going before us through the troubles.
The post Pain and Distress and Comfort in Remembrance – Psalm 77 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today’s passage is often referred to as the story of the prodigal, or lost, son. Colin Adams points out that this misses the point that there were two sons. The story is about their relationship to one another and, more importantly, to their father. Their story prompts two questions:
“Am I far off needing to come home?” and “Am I nearby needing to come in?”.
The post The Lost Sons – Luke Ch15v11to32 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Andy Hunter looks at Psalm 22 and discovers that it is:
- A Personal Psalm—we may all experience situations that leave us with feelings similar to those David recounts, but Jesus endured them all.
- A Poetic Psalm—David uses poetic language to describe his feelings and the effect they have on his faith. Like him we must take our feelings to God.
- A Prophetic Psalm—This psalm echoes the voice of one for whom none of this was hyperbole. He bore it all so that verse 22 would be our future too. He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters.
The post He Has Done It! – Psalm 22 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams looks at the two parables in today’s passage. He compares them under three main headings: their ‘Set-up’, their ‘Sequence’, and then ‘So What?’. The question in this final heading is answered by a call to: ‘Be Recovered’, ‘Be Repentant’ and ‘Be Rejoicing’.
The post Lost and Found – Luke Ch15v1to10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In the second sermon in the series on the Psalms, Craig Dyer looks at Psalm 19. In it he ponders on the conundrum of a resounding message given without words. A message given by: God’s Sky, God’s Sun, God’s Speech, and responded to by God’s Servant.
The post Speech Without Words – Psalm 19 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Starting this new series of 15 sermons on the Psalms, one per decade of this church’s existence, Colin Adams looks at Psalm 150. This is a Psalm calling for praise. In it, Colin finds the answer to four questions: “Whom, Where, Why, and How are we to praise?
The post Let Everything that has Breath Praise the Lord – Psalm 150 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s passage, Nigel Kenny traces the great difference the coming of Christ brought — from darkness to light.
The post For to us a child is born, to us a son is given – Isaiah Ch9v1–7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Andy Hunter takes a look at the purpose and meaning that the story of Christmas brings from John’s Gospel chapter 1 v1-14
The post “Christmas, life, the universe and everything” (John 1v1-14) appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Nigel Kenny looks at the close of Jude’s letter. In this, Jude reminds us of the ever-present danger facing us of being tripped up by the temptations of the world. This has been the main theme of the rest of his letter. In contrast, he heralds the ever-present joy that we can share with God if we are His. And all this is due to God’s ever-present grace that saves us and keeps us. The final verse is Jude’s response from an ever-thankful heart.
The post The God who keeps you from stumbling – Jude v24to25 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Rorie Watson starts a short series on a Christmas theme. In today’s passage he discovers three responses that Mary and Elizabeth between them make to the coming King:
- The response of Faith
- The response of Humility
- The response of Praise
What is our response?
The post Responses to the coming King – Luke Ch1v26to56 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage Andy Macdonald discovers that Jude wants to emphasize that the Christian life is a battle. Having done so he exhorts his hearers to build themselves up for the battle. A battle to withstand the enemy. A battle to rescue those in danger of being overwhelmed.
The post “Keep yourselves in the love of God” – Jude v7–23 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this final passage, Colin Adams discovers the kind of love we need:
- A powerful love
- A protective love that will never let you go
- A perpetual love that not even death can was away.
The post “All you need is love?” – Song of Songs Ch8v5to14 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Tonight in our Evening Service, we start our ‘Contend’ series in Jude.
The post Contending for the Faith – Jude v1–16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage, Colin Adams finds a recurring word “Beautiful”. He discovers that the word repetitions herald three forms of beauty, both in the marriage described in the song and in the marriage of Christ and His church.
- Beautiful Grace
- Beautiful Physicality
- Beautiful Fruitfulness
The post Beautiful — Song of Songs Ch 6v4to8v4 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Craig Dyer recalls a plea he heard a preacher express. It was for Biblically Balanced Christianity. That avoids the two dangerously harmful extremes of libertarianism and legalism. Craig then shows that that is what Paul is asking the Corinthians to follow in this evening’s passage.
The post Freedom and the Glory of God – 1 Corinthians Ch10v23to11v1 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage Colin shows how troubles can arise in marriages. The same can happen in our lives with Christ. In each case the troubles must be put right.
The post Marriage on the Rock – Song of Songs Ch5v2to6v3 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage Vic Walker follows Paul’s argument on the incompatibility between the Lord’s Supper and idol feasts. In the first, we are participating in the body and the blood of Christ. We are enacting our union with Christ and worshiping Him. In the Jewish worship the people ate the sacrifices, which had been offered to God. In doing so, they participated in their union with God as they worshipped Him. In the same way, those eating food offered […]
The post Idol feasts and the Lord’s Supper – 1 Corinthians 10v14to22 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Jon Gemmell looks at three psalms which talk about troubles of different kinds: Psalm 129 Bad things done to usPsalm 130 Bad things done by usPsalm 131 Bad things which just happen And in each case the psalmist finds the answer in the same God. He is the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is also the all-powerful one. He can bring support, forgiveness, and comfort.
The post Where can hope be found on dark days – Psalms 129to131 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening Nicky Mackison looks back to the various reasons Paul puts forward for not insisting on rights your superior knowledge says you have. So far, most of them stress consideration for others. Tonight’s passage raises another personal reason. If you think you’re strong, watch out for falls! He points out all the hidden dangers that can lead to disaster. But, at the same time he brings reassurance that we are not on our own. If we follow Him, God […]
The post Warning and Encouragement – 1 Corinthians Ch10v1–13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning’s passage lands physically in the middle of the Song of Songs. Its theme, as Colin Adams explains, is also central to the Song. Thus far we have been following the springing and growth of love and courtship. Now we reach the wedding itself, the pivotal centre point of the Song. Through it, we see that to which it points forward: the ‘Marriage Supper of the Lamb’, the wedding of Christ with his church.
The post The Wedding – Song of Songs Ch3v6to5v1 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This is our special Church Weekend together. It is extra special, since lockdown prevented our previous planned one in 2020. As we enjoy our time together as a church family, Andy Hunter looks at a model church we can aspire to follow. Paul, with Silas and Timothy, writes giving thanks to God for the exemplary church in Thessalonica. It wasn’t perfect, as Paul points out later, but it was a church that was passionate about Jesus and about making Jesus […]
The post The Model Church – 1.Thessalonians Ch1 appeared first on Greenview Church.
John Mowat follows Paul’s argument to the Christians in Corinth. Paul takes considerable pains to demonstrate the right of those preaching the Gospel to be paid. Then, he proves that he fully qualifies to have that right. Having done so, he explains why he refuses to demand that right. He rejects his right in order to make the free Gospel freely available to all. In view of this example, he urges the Corinthian believers not to insist on their own […]
The post All things to all people – 1 Corinthians Ch9v13to27 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams continues to trace the developing love story in this Song of Songs. In today’s passage the love grows towards the proposal. All is wonderful, but then the girl has fears of loss in the night. However, she searches until she finds her love once more. Colin then follows the imagery to Christ and His bride, the church.
The post Love in the springtime, fears in the night – Song of Songs Ch2v8to3v5 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Rorie Watson discovers how Paul deals with his rights. First of all, he proves that he is a genuine Apostle. From this he establishes his rights to material support from the Corinthians. Why then, has he consistently laid aside his rights in his dealings with them? Because he doesn’t want anything to hinder his reaching people for Christ. This is a principal worth copying. The spread of the Gospel and the benefit of others is a […]
The post Laying Aside our Rights – 1 Corinthians Ch9v1to12 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today, Colin Adams starts a new series, ‘Love Divine’, on the Song of Songs. Today’s passage describes the desire of human love growing and developing as it moves towards marriage. But it is more than that. It points towards something greater to pursue. That is our desire for Christ and our knowledge that He desires us, despite all our insecurities. That’s a song that we can all enjoy. It is a love song, and the greatest song that has ever […]
The post ‘Desire’ – Song of Songs Ch1v1toCh2v7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage David Nixon reviews Paul’s answer to the Corinthians question about eating meat. In it he discovers three guiding principles for this and other problems. These, which apply today as much as then, are:
The post To Eat or Not To Eat – 1.Corinthians Ch8v1to13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this, the last sermon in this series on the book of Mark, Colin Adams ponders on the abrupt ending to the Gospel. It is brief, but Colin discovers three astounding features in it. These are:
The post He Has Risen! – Mark Ch16v1to8 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Colin Adams rounds off chapter 7 of this letter to the Corinthian Christians. This chapter is dealing with many tricky questions from Corinth. But Colin highlights that it isn’t a chapter of restrictive regulations. Instead, it is a declaration of freedoms. These include freedom for the unmarried, or those widowed, to remain single or to marry, and freedom to have sex within marriage. Paul gives pastoral advice but not commands. There are only two caveats: marriage […]
The post More Tricky Issues – 1 Corinthians Ch7v32to40 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage, Andy Hunter looks at Jesus’ death and burial. Mark devotes a third of this biography of Jesus to the events surrounding his death. John goes even further, devoting nearly half. Most biographies concentrate on the subject’s life. They make little or no mention of their death. But all four gospels have that as the major theme. Why? …
The post Dead and Buried – Mark Ch15v33to47 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, David Wylie looks at Paul’s considered advice to the Corinthian church facing a time of crisis. Within this he finds truths applicable to us in our different circumstances.
The post Contentment – 1 Corinthians Ch7v17to31 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this Morning’s passage, Colin Adams looks at Mark’s account of the crucifixion of Jesus. He highlights how Mark says little about the physical suffering inflicted on Jesus. Instead, he majors on the rejection and insults he bore from men: from the Roman forces, the Jewish religious leaders, and the ordinary passers-by. But what is our response to the King of kings and Lord of lords?
The post The Crucifixion — Mark Ch15v16to32 appeared first on Greenview Church.
On this Mission Sunday, Jim Armstrong gave an overview of Echoes International, and its 150-year history. He also looked at an example of a call to mission in Matthew Ch14v13to18.
The post Echoes International – Matthew Ch14v13to21 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this Evening’s passage Andy Hunter reviews the apostle Paul’s counsel to the Corinthian church about the problem of unbelieving spouses. This is a frequent problem with first generation Christians, where one spouse believes and the other doesn’t. Paul’s instructions to the very new church in Corinth, where there were many such cases, still apply today.
The post What About Unbelieving Spouses? – 1 Corinthians Ch7v12to16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s passage Colin Adams discovers two interlaced but contrasting themes:
The post Crucify Him! – Mark Ch15v1to15 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Andy Hunter reviews more counsel from the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. This is counsel for both the unmarried and the married. Both are good. There are pros and cons for each. The common theme is that purity must be preserved in either marital status.
The post Counsel to the Unmarried and Married – 1 Corinthians Ch7v8–11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage, Colin Adams finds two linked stories. “What drama! What dialogue! What emotion! All revolving around two men: Jesus, the focus of the trial, and Peter, the focus of the denial”.
The post The Son of God Disowned – Mark Ch14v53–72 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Craig Dyer looks at two lies that were causing problems in the Corinthian church: You should live without sex, even if you’re married. You can’t live without sex, even if you’re single. From the passage he finds the apostle Paul’s correction to both of those false ideas.
The post Sex, Lies, and Biblical Truth – 1 Corinthians Ch7v1to7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams unpacks today’s passage under three headings: The Shepherd predicts and the sheep object. The shepherd prays and the sheep sleep The shepherd is seized and the sheep scatter
The post The Faithful Son – Mark Ch14v27to52 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening’s passage recounts Paul’s warning to the Christians in Corinth about sexual immorality. Colin Adams explains the background of the problem. He highlights Paul’s correction to serious errors in their understanding of the value of their bodies and who they belonged to. These errors were based on the Corinthian culture around them. We live within a very similar culture today. Paul’s warnings are equally applicable now.
The post Sexual Immorality – 1 Corinthians Ch6v12-20 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today’s passage tells of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. Andy Macdonald explains why the crucifixion had to be on the Passover date, even though his enemies planned otherwise. It was because Jesus’ death fulfilled what the Passover foretold. Then Jesus took bread and wine, two elements at the end of the memorial Passover feast. From these He instituted a new memorial ceremony to remind us of His death for us.
The post The Last Supper – Mark Ch14v12to26 appeared first on Greenview Church.
From this evening’s passage, David Wylie looks at lawsuits and immorality in the church in Corinth. He concludes that the problem is not that there is a church in Corinth. The problem is that there is too much of Corinth in the church.
The post Lawsuits Among Believers? – 1 Corinthians Ch6v1to11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s passage, Colin Adams looks at a brilliant loving action within a dark setting of hate, plotting, and betrayal
The post Prepared for Burial – Mark Ch14v1to11 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s passage, Jesus’ disciples marvel at the magnificent temple buildings. Jesus replies that these will all be destroyed. In dismay they ask Him when that will happen. They also ask when the end of the world will come. Colin examines Jesus’ replies to the two questions They are different but with a warning, which applies to both: “Be ready! Watch!”.
The post Signs of the End – Mark Ch13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today, we look at the apostle Paul’s instructions to the Galatian believers about how they should obey the law of Christ. That is, to love one another. Paul Coxall looks at these instructions under four headings: Restoring a sinning believer, Bearing the load of other believers, Sharing with those who teach, and Persevering.
The post Fulfilling the law – Galatians Ch6v1to10 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Nathan Mackay speaks from Joshua 2
The post The Shittim spies who loved me – Joshua 2 appeared first on Greenview Church.
As part of our summer 2022 series, Jim Crooks teaches from Genesis ch50 on the goodness and love of God, even in the hard and difficult situations of life.
The post God meant it for good – Genesis 50v15-21 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today, Nicky Mackison looks at Psalm 127. He highlights the fact that this is the central psalm in the songs of ascent. These were psalms sung by worshippers as they climbed the hill to the Temple, to meet God. In the centre of this psalm is the statement that God grants sleep to those he loves. The assurance of God’s love drives out anxious fear. This permits peaceful and restful sleep.
The post The Rested Worshipper – Psalm 127 appeared first on Greenview Church.
During the summer 2022, we are hearing ‘standalone’ sermons from a variety of speakers. This week Nigel Kenny gets to the heart of true discipleship from Luke ch14.
The post True Discipleship: Priorities and resources – Luke 14v25-35 appeared first on Greenview Church.
John Mowat concludes our Prayerfully Dependent series looking at how we can better pray more effectively and encouragingly when we come to pray publicly with others in the church family
The post Corporate Prayer appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Evening, Zach Watt looks at the prayer needs behind the simple prayer list. He suggests That we should be praying for them also, not just for healing.
The post Praying beyond the sick list – 2 Corinthians Ch4v7to16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today is the Sunday School Prizegiving. Colin Adams speaks to the children and their parents from Jonah chapter two. He likens Jonah’s experience to a roller-coaster ride.
The post Up from the depths – Jonah 2 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Richard Gamble continues our series on prayer. This evening he looks, in Psalm 13, at David’s prayer in a time of deep trouble. By viewing it in two different ways he finds lessons we can learn to help in our hard places.
The post Praying in Hard Places – Psalm 13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams continues our series in Mark. In today’s passage, the Jewish leaders view Jesus’ actions as a challenge to them. They question Jesus’ authority, and lay traps to get rid of him. But Jesus shows a better way.
The post Who’s in Charge – Mark Ch11v26to12v17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning Graig Dyer looks at the account of Jesus triumphal entry to Jerusalem, the fruitless fig tree, and His cleansing of the Temple. From these he shows: Jesus’ demonstration of who he is, his absolute authority over nature and the Temple, and the importance of true faith.
The post The King Enters Jerusalem – Mark Ch11v1to25 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Colin Adams contrasts two different answers to the same question Jesus asks. One answer from glory seekers, and one from a man who wanted to see.
The post Seeing True Glory – Mark Ch10v32to52 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Zach Watt continues the Prayerfully Dependent series. This evening he looks at requests in prayer.
The post Request – Ephesians Ch6v18to20 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Vic Walker continues in the I will follow series. Today’s passage highlights the particular difficulties the rich have in entering the kingdom of God.
The post The Rich and the kingdom – Mark Ch10v17to31 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Following this evening’s service, John Mowat gives a tribute to the life of John Moir, whose funeral was on Friday.
The post Tribute to the life of John Moir appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening Andy Hunter continues our series on prayer, by looking at repentance in prayer using Psalm 32 in particular
The post Repent! appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today Colin Adams looks at two very different subjects: divorce and young children. But he brings out the underlying factor: the hard or humble state of the hearts of those involved.
The post Hard hearts, humble hearts – Mark 10v1to16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
John Mowat continues our series “Prayerfully Dependent” helping us to rejoice as we pray.
The post Rejoice! appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams continues our series ‘I will follow’
The post The servant of all – Mark 9v30-50 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening, Colin Adams looks at recalling Bible truths, or even quoting from the Bible in our prayers. He instances examples within the Bible and in more recent times.
The post Praying the Bible appeared first on Greenview Church.
This morning, Andy Macdonald explores what we can learn from two different scenarios. First, the mountain top experience of the transfiguration. Then, the problems of real life in the valley where faith is more difficult.
The post Glory through suffering – Mark 9v2to29 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Zach Watt introduces a new series this week. We take a break from the 1 Corinthians ‘Real Church series) and look at prayer – the heart and the how – how we can be prayerfully dependent.
The post Enjoying Your Prayer Life? appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today we have reached the midpoint of Mark. Colin Adams highlights that it is also a breakpoint in Jesus’ teaching of his disciples. Up till now he has been teaching them who he is. They have finally grasped that he is the promised Messiah. Now he switches to teaching what that implies. That the Messiah must be rejected and crucified then rise again from the dead.
The post The need for the cross appeared first on Greenview Church.
On this Easter Morning, Colin Adams looks at a life changing encounter between Jesus and Mary. He reviews the three stages in what happened. First, is the mourning stage, as Mary grieves for a dead Jesus. Then, the encountering stage, as Mary meets the living Jesus. Finally, the proclaiming stage, as Mary goes and tells of Jesus.
The post A life changing encounter with the living Lord – JohnCh20v11to18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage David Church considers Paul’s plea to the Corinthians. The Corinthian church had many problems. Paul had already had to chide them for a number, and there were more corrections to come. But Paul loves them, so now, he pleads with them to imitate him, as he imitates Christ. He knows that if they do so, that will set everything right.
The post Imitate Me – 1 Corinthians Ch4v14to21 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Greig Ferguson continues the ‘Real Church’ series. In today’s passage Paul declares his rejection of the world’s wisdom. He doesn’t seek personal aggrandisement. Instead, he is willing to be considered the scum of the earth to bring the good news of Christ to them.
The post The Scum of the Earth – 1 Corinthians Ch4v1to13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams continues the ‘I will Follow’ series. The three stories in today’s passage tell how Jesus ‘feeds’ not just the Jews, but the Gentiles also. In the first two, the ‘feeding’ is figurative. In the final one it is literal.
The post Feed the World – Mark Ch7v24to8v13 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Andy Hunter shows that Paul goes on from the urgency of building up the church of God with good and lasting materials that will help it to grow, as we saw last week. Failure to do that is a serious waste of time and energy. But the church, composed of the people of God, is His dwelling place, His temple. Damaging and breaking apart the church is harming God’s temple and will receive His severe judgement.
The post God’s Temple – 1 Corinthians Ch3v16to23 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage, Colin Adams contrasts two diagnoses of the human problem. First, the Jewish religious authorities view, that it came from outside. Then Jesus declaration that it came from within, from the heart.
The post The Real Human Problem – Mark Ch7v1to23 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this evening’s passage, Nigel Kenny looks at Paul’s counsel to the Corinthians about the importance of care in building the church, so that it might grow well on the right foundations and with materials that will stand the test.
The post Wise Building – 1 Corinthians Ch3v10to15 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In this morning’s passage, Andrew Gemmil highlights all the intriguing little details recorded. A sea crossing, a desolate spot, multitudes fed, sitting on grass, still water, etc. point back to Exodus and to King David’s shepherd psalm: Psalm 23. All these teach us that Jesus is a greater saviour than Moses and a greater shepherd and king than King David.
The post Shepherd and Saviour – Mark Ch6v31to56 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In chapter two verse two, Paul writes, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” He does so because all of Christianity stands on that foundation. In today’s passage Andy Hunter highlights that that applies not just to doctrine, but to all of Christian living.
The post Who do you follow? – 1 Corinthians Ch3v1to9 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Jesus told a parable in chapter four about different soils. In chapter five, people trusting Jesus act out the good soil. Today, Colin Adams shows how, in chapter six, the reverse is true. Here, God’s message through his prophets is rejected. First, Jesus himself is rejected as the ‘Home-town prophet’. Then, Jesus sends out his disciples as ‘Travelling prophets’, with instructions on how to cope with rejection. Finally, John the Baptist suffers the ultimate rejection and becomes the ‘Dead prophet’.
The post Rejected King – Mark Ch6v1to30 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Paul has in various ways rejected the world’s wisdom, which was upsetting the Corinthian believers. But in today’s passage Colin shows that there was a wisdom that is true wisdom. This is the wisdom of God. This wisdom cannot be understood by those who reject Jesus Christ. But all those who accept Jesus are given the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. Because He is God he makes us understand this true wisdom.
The post God’s Wisdom Revealed – 1 Corinthians Ch2v6to16 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today, David Wylie looks at two different miracles. They highlight two different types of faith and two different relationships. But both demonstrate Jesus’ authority, whether over disease or death.
The post Authority over Death and Sickness – Mark Ch5v21to43 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Allan McKinnon looks at Paul’s pleading with the Corinthians. They have been enticed by popular orators with clever sounding rhetoric into the quagmire of empty, dangerous, and divisive teaching. Paul urges them to return to the solid ground of the good news in Christ. He is the only one with power to save and keep.
The post Jesus Christ and Him Crucified – 1 Corinthians Ch2v1to4 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams looks at the record of Jesus healing of the man in the land of the Gerasenes. This man was ruined by the forces of evil within him. No one could do anything with him. But Jesus had the power and authority to drive them out and to restore the man. Jesus then recommissioned him to go and tell his own people what God had done.
The post Authority over evil – Mark Ch5v1to20 appeared first on Greenview Church.
The post Boast in the Lord – 1 Corinthians Ch1v26-31 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Graeme Shanks looks at the three questions in today’s passage Don’t you care? Why are you so afraid? Who is this? From these he draws three conclusions: Let’s never believe in a cold-hearted Jesus. Let’s never settle for a small-scale Jesus. Let’s never miss out on a life-giving Jesus.
The post Authority Over Nature – Mark Ch4v35to41 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Andy Hunter looks at Jesus parables, which Mark records in today’s passage. First, before looking at the individual parables, he highlights Jesus repeated plea to his audience to listen. Then, he considers Jesus’ warning that hearing, and understanding isn’t enough. The message must be accepted and applied. Even His enemies understood. But, they deliberately turned a deaf ear, so lost out.
The post Kingdom Growth – Mark Ch4v1to34 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Andy Macdonald continues the ‘Real Church’ series on Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. The Corinthian society was very much like ours, full of social climbers and their followers. This pattern was entering the church, bringing divisions and quarrels. Paul urges them to abandon their divisions and strive for unity.
The post No Divisions – 1 Corinthians Ch1v10to17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams continues the ‘I Will Follow’ series on Mark’s account of Jesus’ good news. In today’s passage we see that Jesus was popular and was seen to be powerful. But Jesus didn’t come to gather a crowd, he came to build a church. He starts small choosing just 12 with whom to lay the foundations of the church. These men are not just leaders. They are the first members of the church, His new spiritual family. He invites us […]
The post A New Family – Mark Ch3v7to35 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In todays’ passage Colin Adams highlights the next demonstration of Jesus’ Kingship. Jesus explains that the old order is passing away and He is ushering in a new age. First, He declares the absurdity of fasting in His presence; then His absolute authority over the rules and regulations surrounding the Sabbath.
The post A New Age – Mark Ch2v18toCh3v6 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams continues the series on Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. This was a real church, with serious problems, not an idealised perfect church. However, Paul finds cause for thanksgiving in what Jesus has already done, and will eventually do, even for a church with such major faults.
The post Thanksgiving – 1 Corinthians Ch1v4to7 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Craig Dyer continues the series on Mark’s account of the good news of Jesus, the Messiah. In today’s passage, Mark records incidents which demonstrate Jesus’ power to cleanse: from leprosy, from paralysis, and from sin.
The post Power to Cleanse – Mark Ch1v40toCh2v17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This evening David introduces the church at Corinth, to which this letter was written. He describes the location, business, culture, and social norms of the city in which it existed. He then recounts the history of Paul planting the church there, and the subsequent problems which required this letter.
The post The Church of God in Corinth – 1 Corinthians Ch1v1to3 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today, Colin explains that In this episode of his account, Mark highlights the Authority and Priority of Jesus. He shows Jesus’ authority over: men, teaching, evil spirits, and disease. He also shows that although Jesus demonstrated his care for people’s physical health, his priority was their spiritual health.
The post Authority and Priority – Mark Ch1v16to39 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This week Colin Adams starts a new series on Mark’s account of the good news of Jesus Christ. The four gospels report on Jesus from different points of view. Mark concentrates on Jesus as King. In these first fifteen verses the King is announced by Mark, by John and by Heaven. Then his kingship is challenged, and the challenger defeated. Finally, Jesus Christ, the king, announces himself.
The post The King is here – Mark Ch1v1to15 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Today John Mackinnon contrasts those who refused to accept what Jesus said and those who heard his voice and believed. He then examines what hearing Jesus’ voice involves, and its eternal outcome.
The post Hearing Jesus’ Voice – John Ch10v27to28 appeared first on Greenview Church.
David Wylie interviews three young members of the church about their experiences during the past year.
The post Testimonies appeared first on Greenview Church.
Andy Hunter continues this series looking at the cast of the history of the first Christmas. Today he reviews Luke Ch1v26to38. This passage records the event which introduces us to Mary. In it Andy highlights that this event was: Surprising, Supernatural, Son centred, and Soul searching.
The post The Cast of Christmas – Mary appeared first on Greenview Church.
Andy Macdonald starts a new series, looking at the cast of the Christmas story. In this first episode, He looks at the first two characters: Zechariah and Elisabeth.
The post The Cast of Christmas – Zechariah appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams Investigates this final ‘credits’ section of Colossians. In it he highlights Paul’s commendation of those working with him. They are very different – Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female, young and old. But they are all working together in service for the Lord.
The post Servants – Colossians Ch4v7to18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
In today’s short passage Colin highlights the fact that Christ’s all sufficiency is integral to our prayers and evangelism. From it, he shows how Paul gives guidance in these two subjects.
- Prayer
- How we should pray
- In a Devoted way
- In a Watchful way
- In a Thankful way
- What to pray for
- For evangelism opportunities
- For clarity of communication
- How we should pray
- Evangelism
- Be wise in your actions with outsiders
- Make the most of opportunities
- Be ready to give gracious and truthful answers
The post Prayer & Evangelism – Colossians Ch4v2to6 appeared first on Greenview Church.
From today’s passage, Colin Adams highlights how Christ is all sufficient in our households. He shows the difference Christ makes in the ambit of marriage, parenting and work.
The post Households – Colossians Ch3v18-Ch4v1 appeared first on Greenview Church.
This Sunday lies between two remembrance dates – the fifth and eleventh of November. Colin Adams finds four things to remember in today’s passage. When these are put into practice, they help a church to be what it should be – a church of love. The four points are:
- Remember that you’re loved (v 12a)
- Remember what to wear (v 12b-14)
- Remember what rules the church (v 15-16)
- Remember the name (v 17)
The post Love– Colossians Ch3v12to17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
On this Sunday, we featured the Christians Against Poverty (CAP), an organisation dedicated to helping people to get out of, and stay out of, debt. After the reports, Colin Campbell, from CAP, spoke from 1 Kings Ch17 about how God cares for individuals. He also showed how, at first the widow thought about God as Elijah’s God but, by the end, knew God as her own as well.
The post CAP Sunday – 1 Kings Ch17 appeared first on Greenview Church.
David Wylie continues the “All Sufficient” series. This week he looks at our Identity in Christ.
The post Identity – Colossians Ch3v1to4 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams continues the “All Sufficient” series. This week he looks at our Freedom in Christ.
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Colin Adams continues this series on the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. In this passage, Colin discovers three things that God has done for us through Jesus. Through Him God has:
- Raised us from deadness
- Cancelled all our debt
- Triumphed over our enemies.
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In this passage, Vic Walker looks at the all-sufficiency of Christ under the title of Fullness. Within this he considers three aspects of fullness:
- Our filling out and growing as Christians.
- The emptiness of philosophy.
- The fullness that we can have in Christ.
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This week Colin Adams looks at the One who was the Creator and is the Sustainer of all things. He is the one who is Lord of all, but who told His disciples that he had not come to be served but to serve. We follow the One who was the suffering servant. He calls us: not to be kings on thrones, but to serve the King who is on the throne.
The post Labouring – Colossians Ch1v24to2v5 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Colin Adams reviews Paul’s magnificent statement about the supremacy of the Son. In this he brings out six aspects in which the Son of God is Supreme. He is:
- The Image
- The Inheritor
- The Creator
- The Sustainer
- The Head
- The New-life-giver
The post Supremacy – Colossians 1v15-18 appeared first on Greenview Church.
Why do Christians pray?…and what is it Christians ought to pray for…?
The post Growth – Colossians 1v9-14 appeared first on Greenview Church.