When I was about six, I was sent across the road to the chip shop to buy some chips. I remember feeling terribly lost and alone in the chip shop, surrounded by all these adults. We are told that Zacchaeus was a little man. He was rich and important, but he was tiny. We surmise that he was unpopular and lonely; tax collectors are never popular, but he was virtually a servant of the occupying military power Rome, so he was a traitor. His position gave him the right to exact as much money as he could – there were no legal maximums; as long as he paid enough to the authorities, he could keep the rest.
He wanted to see Jesus, but he was too short. He may not have wanted to be jostled by the crowd. Therefore he does something childlike and undignified – he climbs a tree. This will give him a good view, and perhaps allow him to remain anonymous.
But Jesus stops the procession, looks up and fixes his gaze on him. Come down, Zacchaeus! Quickly! I must come and stay at your house.
As Zacchaeus is such a renegade and all round bad person, this caused outrage amongst so-called respectable people. And it is why we are looking at this story together on a day when churches all over the land are inviting people ‘Back to Church’. The strap line comeasyouare is inspired by the attitude of Jesus as we find him in this story.
Jesus does not insist that Zacchaeus be different or reform himself. There are no conditions. True, after his encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus is different. From a life apparently centred on material things and the gaining of money, he changes radically when he determines to give away half of his possessions. The penalty for theft in the Old Testament was to repay double what was stolen (Ex. 22:4) – Zacchaeus promises to repay four times as much.
He has really changed. But it is before all this that Jesus says he will come to him. Again and again, Jesus breaks the norms, upsets the established order of things. He accepts us as we are, and loves us.
This is the message we all need to hear. You will find at the back of church some postcards. The drawing of this incident is by Sunhee Joo from Korea. No matter what culture we come from, irrespective of our class, education, wealth or background, we all need to know above all that God loves each of us, as we are, and Jesus came to include us in his love.
As a church community we are seeking to learn how to live in the spirit of acceptance that we see in Jesus. It is not automatic, and there are all sorts of pressures that can make any of us defensive and judgemental. Our heart’s desire, however, is to be Open for All, accepting all as Jesus did. This is especially important as somehow the church in general has gained the reputation of being inward looking and oppressive, instead of being the place where we can find life and hope in Jesus.
The fact that you are here suggests that you have done something, maybe started to climb into a tree, to try to see Jesus. May I encourage you to respond to his invitation of love? He would love to come, as it were, to stay with you and share your life. This is not just a life-enhancing feel-good factor, but will affect you deeply in every area of your being. You may find yourself being better as you get to know him.
Please take home a copy of this postcard if you wish. Stick it on your fridge door or have it on your desk. You may find it helpful to look closely at it. Who are you in the story? Are you Zacchaeus, up in the tree, hoping to remain inconspicuous? Do you sympathise with those who muttered because Jesus was lavishing attention on a self-confessed ‘sinner’? Where would you like to be in relation to Jesus?
If you want to pursue these questions, you might want to chat them over, perhaps with the person who brought you this morning, or catch me over coffee. You might want to come along to the launch of our Alpha course this Tuesday evening at Bonnys.
Jesus asks us all to come as we are. We are all accepted, all loved.
Questions
1. What is the most surprising thing about this story to you?
2. How do you respond to the suggested motives Zacchaeus might have for climbing the tree? Does this tell you anything about how you see yourself, and how you respond to Jesus?
3. What ways are we aware of that the church can be like the ‘muttering’ crowd? How should and could we be different?
4. The Son of Man came to seek that which was lost. How can we collectively do this today?
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Friday, 25 September 2009
20 September 2009 - Kim - John 4:21-24
‘The Divine Impulse to draw us to himself.’
Last week Bruce spoke about ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’. Literally, he set up his tent among us, he tabernacled himself among us. We are meant to understand that all that was promised and foretold in the Old Testament stories has now been fulfilled in Jesus. That we are pilgrim people, travelling with God, and he delights to make his home not just among us but actually within us as we believe in him. Our whole lives are centred on him. Today we are talking about ‘The Divine Impulse to draw us to himself’. An impulse to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
In our gospel reading we encounter Jesus at Jacob’s Well. Tired and thirsty he meets a local woman from Samaria and begins to gently expose her need of God’s forgiveness by asking her for a drink of water. A little defensive, she tries to engage Jesus in a debate about the best time, place and style for worship.
"Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-25)
Jesus reveals that questions over where we worship are not as important as how and why we worship. In Hebrews 12:28 the writer calls us to be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him. That is our objective this morning. To discover from these words of Jesus how to worship God in a way that will please him. We can observe from this passage that the kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:
God is pleased when our worship flows from being saved, when our worship is scriptural, when our worship is spiritual and God is pleased when our worship is sacrificial.
God is pleased when our worship flows from being saved
“You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22)
Worship is linked to salvation. This is the most profound truth we can learn about worship. Only those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour can truly offer worship that is pleasing to God. Remember at this point the Samaritan woman did not recognise Jesus as her Lord and Saviour so her worship was in ignorance. Perplexed by Jesus’ reply, “The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:25-26). Jesus reveals himself to her. Amazed at his answers she runs back to her village to tell everyone she has found the Messiah. The whole village returns and urges Jesus to stay with them. The village people worshipped no more in ignorance. It now sprang from thankfulness for who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Worship that pleases God springs from a heart that is saved and will lead others to salvation. We pray in Jesus name. We proclaim in Jesus name. And we do both when we praise in Jesus name and this pleases Him.
God is pleased when our worship is scripturally accurate
“true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23)
Worship that pleases God must be scripturally accurate not scripturally ignorant. Occasionally someone will say to me “I like to think of God as…” and then they go on to describe a god they have created in their own image that they worship. The bible has a word for this approach. It’s called idolatry. Worship must be based on the truth of scripture. Jesus acknowledged that there are two kinds of worshippers - true worshippers and by implication - false worshippers. “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
“To ‘worship in truth’ means to worship God as he is truly revealed in the Bible.” The best way to worship God, therefore, is to use scripture in worship. The Psalms, for example, are a divinely inspired hymnbook without the tunes. Indeed our study of the bible should not only feed our worship, it should also shape our view of what true worship is. Our faith is based on God’s progressive revelation of himself. That is what Jesus meant when he said “salvation is from the Jews”. The Jews were intended to be a light to the Gentiles. But Jesus also predicted to the Samaritan woman that the time had now come when it was no longer necessary to travel to Jerusalem and enter the Temple or offer sacrifices to worship God. Much of our thinking about worship, however, is still shaped by obsolete Old Testament concepts. Our churches are seen as holy places, with altars and priests. That is why it is so important that our understanding of worship focuses on the teaching of Jesus and practices of the New Testament. If Jesus is your Lord and Saviour, your body is now the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This means we can worship God anywhere. No place is more holy than any other. If we limit worship to what happens in this building, the minute you leave, you will leave your attitude of worship behind like a crumpled-up news sheet.
So if we are to please God, our understanding of worship must be shaped by the Bible and He is pleased when our worship is scripturally accurate.
God is pleased when our worship is spiritually authentic
“true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24)
“When Jesus said we must ‘worship in spirit’ he wasn’t referring to the Holy Spirit, but to your spirit.” Our innermost being. That is why only those who have been born again and made alive by the Spirit can worship in a way that pleases him. We are to worship with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind. “God wants all of us.” He doesn’t just want part of our life on Sundays. Jesus told us to give God, all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength. Rick Warren insists, “God is not interested in half-hearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of your time and money.” Spiritual worship therefore engages the whole person including our emotions. God gave us emotions so you could worship him with deep feeling - but those emotions must be genuine, not faked. God hates hypocrisy. He doesn’t want showmanship or pretence or phoniness in worship. He wants your honest real love. We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship him insincerely. How ironic then that worship seems to be the most divisive issue in many churches today. Christians often differ on the most appropriate or authentic way to express praise to God, but often these arguments usually just reflect personality and background differences.
The Bible describes many different ways to praise God. These include, confessing, singing, shouting, standing in honour, kneeling, dancing, making a joyful noise, testifying, playing musical instruments, and raising hands. What is the best style of worship? The best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents yours any my love for God, based on the background and personality God gave you and me. We don’t bring glory to God by trying to be someone God never intended us to be. God wants us to be ourselves. God is pleased when our worship is spiritually authentic.
God is pleased when our worship is sacrificial and practical
What the Samaritan woman did involved great sacrifice. Sacrifice to her pride, to her self-esteem, a risk to what ever reputation she still had. She went to the villagers and said "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Sacrificial and also practical. Indeed Jesus gently rebukes his disciples when they return and points to the Samaritan woman returning with her neighbours, praising her actions.
“Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” (John 4:35-36) God is pleased when our worship is sacrificial.
When I come through the door of the church on Sundays, I ask myself ‘what am I bringing as my contribution to the worship?’ I do this because I could very easily forget the real reason why I am here. Ok on one level I’m here to bore you with my sermon! But it would become ‘what I can get out of it’; But it isn’t about me it’s all about God.
We could go through the motions, sing the songs, say the prayers, listen half heartedly to the sermon but our heart is far from him. We become connoisseurs of worship instead of participants of it. We could forget that we are ALL the performers of worship and that God is the audience. We could forget that sacrifice, the giving of ourselves is central to biblical worship.
I wonder what would happen if one Sunday we came to church and found that there was no clergy, no choir, no organist, no sidesperson, no order of service. With all the comforts stripped away. What would we do? Turn around and go home? Or would we sit down say the Lord’s Prayer and then go home? And what would we do if that happened Sunday after Sunday? Spending the entire time in silence, I think that would be very painful, learning not to rely on the music. How long would it take before we would bring our prayers, our readings, our thanksgivings, our praises and our songs? How long would it take for the excitement to come back as we worshipped from the heart and we met with God?
Unlike the Old Testament days we don’t need to sacrifice sheep and goats today and certainly no sacrifice on our part can earn God’s forgiveness or our salvation; the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has done that for all time. Yet we ARE called to bring sacrifices in worship. We are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices - this is OUR spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1). We are called to offer our sacrifice of praise. Amen.
Questions:
How do you feel about be a participant in our worship and God being the audience?
What part/s of the service do you find helpful in your worship to God? (i.e. prayers, hymns, reading/s etc.)
What do you find unhelpful?
Is there something you would like to see included? Or happen more often?
Last week Bruce spoke about ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’. Literally, he set up his tent among us, he tabernacled himself among us. We are meant to understand that all that was promised and foretold in the Old Testament stories has now been fulfilled in Jesus. That we are pilgrim people, travelling with God, and he delights to make his home not just among us but actually within us as we believe in him. Our whole lives are centred on him. Today we are talking about ‘The Divine Impulse to draw us to himself’. An impulse to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
In our gospel reading we encounter Jesus at Jacob’s Well. Tired and thirsty he meets a local woman from Samaria and begins to gently expose her need of God’s forgiveness by asking her for a drink of water. A little defensive, she tries to engage Jesus in a debate about the best time, place and style for worship.
"Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-25)
Jesus reveals that questions over where we worship are not as important as how and why we worship. In Hebrews 12:28 the writer calls us to be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him. That is our objective this morning. To discover from these words of Jesus how to worship God in a way that will please him. We can observe from this passage that the kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:
God is pleased when our worship flows from being saved, when our worship is scriptural, when our worship is spiritual and God is pleased when our worship is sacrificial.
God is pleased when our worship flows from being saved
“You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22)
Worship is linked to salvation. This is the most profound truth we can learn about worship. Only those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour can truly offer worship that is pleasing to God. Remember at this point the Samaritan woman did not recognise Jesus as her Lord and Saviour so her worship was in ignorance. Perplexed by Jesus’ reply, “The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:25-26). Jesus reveals himself to her. Amazed at his answers she runs back to her village to tell everyone she has found the Messiah. The whole village returns and urges Jesus to stay with them. The village people worshipped no more in ignorance. It now sprang from thankfulness for who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Worship that pleases God springs from a heart that is saved and will lead others to salvation. We pray in Jesus name. We proclaim in Jesus name. And we do both when we praise in Jesus name and this pleases Him.
God is pleased when our worship is scripturally accurate
“true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23)
Worship that pleases God must be scripturally accurate not scripturally ignorant. Occasionally someone will say to me “I like to think of God as…” and then they go on to describe a god they have created in their own image that they worship. The bible has a word for this approach. It’s called idolatry. Worship must be based on the truth of scripture. Jesus acknowledged that there are two kinds of worshippers - true worshippers and by implication - false worshippers. “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
“To ‘worship in truth’ means to worship God as he is truly revealed in the Bible.” The best way to worship God, therefore, is to use scripture in worship. The Psalms, for example, are a divinely inspired hymnbook without the tunes. Indeed our study of the bible should not only feed our worship, it should also shape our view of what true worship is. Our faith is based on God’s progressive revelation of himself. That is what Jesus meant when he said “salvation is from the Jews”. The Jews were intended to be a light to the Gentiles. But Jesus also predicted to the Samaritan woman that the time had now come when it was no longer necessary to travel to Jerusalem and enter the Temple or offer sacrifices to worship God. Much of our thinking about worship, however, is still shaped by obsolete Old Testament concepts. Our churches are seen as holy places, with altars and priests. That is why it is so important that our understanding of worship focuses on the teaching of Jesus and practices of the New Testament. If Jesus is your Lord and Saviour, your body is now the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This means we can worship God anywhere. No place is more holy than any other. If we limit worship to what happens in this building, the minute you leave, you will leave your attitude of worship behind like a crumpled-up news sheet.
So if we are to please God, our understanding of worship must be shaped by the Bible and He is pleased when our worship is scripturally accurate.
God is pleased when our worship is spiritually authentic
“true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24)
“When Jesus said we must ‘worship in spirit’ he wasn’t referring to the Holy Spirit, but to your spirit.” Our innermost being. That is why only those who have been born again and made alive by the Spirit can worship in a way that pleases him. We are to worship with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind. “God wants all of us.” He doesn’t just want part of our life on Sundays. Jesus told us to give God, all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength. Rick Warren insists, “God is not interested in half-hearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of your time and money.” Spiritual worship therefore engages the whole person including our emotions. God gave us emotions so you could worship him with deep feeling - but those emotions must be genuine, not faked. God hates hypocrisy. He doesn’t want showmanship or pretence or phoniness in worship. He wants your honest real love. We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship him insincerely. How ironic then that worship seems to be the most divisive issue in many churches today. Christians often differ on the most appropriate or authentic way to express praise to God, but often these arguments usually just reflect personality and background differences.
The Bible describes many different ways to praise God. These include, confessing, singing, shouting, standing in honour, kneeling, dancing, making a joyful noise, testifying, playing musical instruments, and raising hands. What is the best style of worship? The best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents yours any my love for God, based on the background and personality God gave you and me. We don’t bring glory to God by trying to be someone God never intended us to be. God wants us to be ourselves. God is pleased when our worship is spiritually authentic.
God is pleased when our worship is sacrificial and practical
What the Samaritan woman did involved great sacrifice. Sacrifice to her pride, to her self-esteem, a risk to what ever reputation she still had. She went to the villagers and said "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Sacrificial and also practical. Indeed Jesus gently rebukes his disciples when they return and points to the Samaritan woman returning with her neighbours, praising her actions.
“Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” (John 4:35-36) God is pleased when our worship is sacrificial.
When I come through the door of the church on Sundays, I ask myself ‘what am I bringing as my contribution to the worship?’ I do this because I could very easily forget the real reason why I am here. Ok on one level I’m here to bore you with my sermon! But it would become ‘what I can get out of it’; But it isn’t about me it’s all about God.
We could go through the motions, sing the songs, say the prayers, listen half heartedly to the sermon but our heart is far from him. We become connoisseurs of worship instead of participants of it. We could forget that we are ALL the performers of worship and that God is the audience. We could forget that sacrifice, the giving of ourselves is central to biblical worship.
I wonder what would happen if one Sunday we came to church and found that there was no clergy, no choir, no organist, no sidesperson, no order of service. With all the comforts stripped away. What would we do? Turn around and go home? Or would we sit down say the Lord’s Prayer and then go home? And what would we do if that happened Sunday after Sunday? Spending the entire time in silence, I think that would be very painful, learning not to rely on the music. How long would it take before we would bring our prayers, our readings, our thanksgivings, our praises and our songs? How long would it take for the excitement to come back as we worshipped from the heart and we met with God?
Unlike the Old Testament days we don’t need to sacrifice sheep and goats today and certainly no sacrifice on our part can earn God’s forgiveness or our salvation; the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has done that for all time. Yet we ARE called to bring sacrifices in worship. We are called to offer our bodies as living sacrifices - this is OUR spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1). We are called to offer our sacrifice of praise. Amen.
Questions:
How do you feel about be a participant in our worship and God being the audience?
What part/s of the service do you find helpful in your worship to God? (i.e. prayers, hymns, reading/s etc.)
What do you find unhelpful?
Is there something you would like to see included? Or happen more often?
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Sunday 13 September 2009 Exodus 25:1-9, John 1:1-14, Bruce
In the book of Genesis we read that in the Garden of Eden God looks to walk in the cool of the day with the man and woman, to dwell them, to share his life with them.
In the Book of Revelation we hear of a new Heaven and a new Earth, and that “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them”.
Back in Genesis 12, we read that God promises to Abraham three things: that he will have descendants or “seed”, that he will give them a land to live in, and that he will share with them a relationship of blessing.
By the time we get to the book of Exodus, we find the Hebrews as slaves in Egypt. Their survival is under threat, they are far from the land promised to them, and they are definitely not experiencing blessings.
The first third of the book tells of the struggle to be free. The plagues, the Passover, the Red Sea, the walk out into the wilderness. The middle third tells of arrival at Sinai and the giving of the Law: God has rescued them when they are far from perfect, and the work begins to transform them into a people who are capable of having a relationship with God; however, this culminates in the disastrous episode of the Golden Calf.
One of the reasons that the people sin by asking for the Golden Calf is that they are fed up because Moses has been up on the mountain with God for so long – forty days. He has been receiving the Law (the Ten Commandments plus associated regulations). He has also been receiving detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. This is a glorified tent – a worship complex where offerings could be made to wash away sin and to express thanksgiving and praise. The offerings were to be made by the Levites and priests on behalf of the people.
After walking past the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Laver (where priests could ritually wash), you entered the Holy Place. Here were a lampstand which was always lit, a table with special bread to be offered before God, and an Incense Altar, and curtain, leading to the Most Holy Place – the Holy of Holies. This inner sanctum could only be entered by the High Priest, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement, when he offered the blood of a solemn sacrifice for the sins of the people. In the Most Holy Place was a special box, the Ark of the Covenant, covered in gold on the inside and the outside. It contained the stone tablets of the Law, a sample of the special bread that God had provided miraculously for the people, and Aaron’s Rod that had budded. The lid was a solid piece of gold, with two cherubim or angels moulded onto it – the Mercy Seat, where God himself would allow his glory, his Shekina, to be seen.
And the point of all this?
First, Moses is told that what he is to construct is a copy, a blueprint, of what is in heaven. So when we offer up prayer and praise to God, it is as if we were throwing incense on an altar, offering bread, lighting lamps. The difference is that instead of earthly priests, Jesus is now our great High Priest, and the one great sacrifice on the cross has replaced all the others, and we are forgiven.
Second, the Tabernacle was portable. When the presence of God moved on, the priests would pack up the Tabernacle and carry it, moving in obedience to the way that God led them. Then the people would pack up their camp and the whole nation would move through the wilderness, on their way to the land promised to them. Although the Tabernacle was a blueprint of heaven, and the pattern was later reproduced in the groundplan and furnishing of the temples in Jerusalem, the people were never to forget that they were the pilgrim people of God. We should never be wedded too firmly to any particular way of being or doing church, God may want to move us on. And we should have confidence that where he leads us, he will be with us.
Third, God wanted to ensure his people were blessed by making his dwelling among them. People say that the God the Old Testament is fierce, remote, judgmental, and hard to know. But this was never his intention. Rather, God has always described himself as Father. He looks for a relationship of love and trust. The problem was the people, who were determined to go their own way. The Tabernacle was the way that a holy God could live in the midst of a sinful people.
After the incident of the golden calf, there is judgment and restitution and the last part of the book describes how the Tabernacle is constructed, how the priests are ordained and the worship begun. And God turns up. His presence in the Most Holy Place is so great, so bright, that neither Moses nor any of the people can enter the tent. God is truly living among his people.
Of course, there are many more stories to be told of the waywardness of God’s people, as they eventually enter the land, establish a kingdom, and after many years are conquered and taken into captivity. Throughout these centuries there is the refrain: “Is God among us?” “Are we his people?”
The answer comes in the Word made flesh, Jesus. He came to his own, and his own would not receive him, but to as many as received him, he gave the right to become children of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Literally, he set up his tent among us, he tabernacled himself among us. We are meant to understand that all that was promised and foretold in the Old Testament stories has now been fulfilled in Jesus. “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Instead of the Shekina, hidden behind a curtain in the opulent but mysterious Most Holy Place, Jesus has come to each one of us, to bring blessing and the light of his presence in our hearts.
This is the message for one who is to be baptised. We are pilgrim people, travelling with God, and he delights to make his home not just among us but actually within us as we believe in him. Our whole lives are centred on him. We use the pictorial language of sacrifice and priesthood to describe how we need to be forgiven and how God in Jesus has given us forgiveness and a new life in him. The challenge is to join the ranks of those who are seeking to allow this reality to break into their lives today, and every day.
Questions for Discussion
1. Why was it a problem for God to be in close contact with the people, and what did he do about it?
2. What relevance does all this have for the life of Christians and the church today?
3. “We have seen his glory – full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Some have spoken of God’s grace as his kindness and mercy, and his truth as his judgment on sin; what does this mean to you?
4. What one thing will you take from this topic to help you live in the next week?
In the Book of Revelation we hear of a new Heaven and a new Earth, and that “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them”.
Back in Genesis 12, we read that God promises to Abraham three things: that he will have descendants or “seed”, that he will give them a land to live in, and that he will share with them a relationship of blessing.
By the time we get to the book of Exodus, we find the Hebrews as slaves in Egypt. Their survival is under threat, they are far from the land promised to them, and they are definitely not experiencing blessings.
The first third of the book tells of the struggle to be free. The plagues, the Passover, the Red Sea, the walk out into the wilderness. The middle third tells of arrival at Sinai and the giving of the Law: God has rescued them when they are far from perfect, and the work begins to transform them into a people who are capable of having a relationship with God; however, this culminates in the disastrous episode of the Golden Calf.
One of the reasons that the people sin by asking for the Golden Calf is that they are fed up because Moses has been up on the mountain with God for so long – forty days. He has been receiving the Law (the Ten Commandments plus associated regulations). He has also been receiving detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. This is a glorified tent – a worship complex where offerings could be made to wash away sin and to express thanksgiving and praise. The offerings were to be made by the Levites and priests on behalf of the people.
After walking past the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Laver (where priests could ritually wash), you entered the Holy Place. Here were a lampstand which was always lit, a table with special bread to be offered before God, and an Incense Altar, and curtain, leading to the Most Holy Place – the Holy of Holies. This inner sanctum could only be entered by the High Priest, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement, when he offered the blood of a solemn sacrifice for the sins of the people. In the Most Holy Place was a special box, the Ark of the Covenant, covered in gold on the inside and the outside. It contained the stone tablets of the Law, a sample of the special bread that God had provided miraculously for the people, and Aaron’s Rod that had budded. The lid was a solid piece of gold, with two cherubim or angels moulded onto it – the Mercy Seat, where God himself would allow his glory, his Shekina, to be seen.
And the point of all this?
First, Moses is told that what he is to construct is a copy, a blueprint, of what is in heaven. So when we offer up prayer and praise to God, it is as if we were throwing incense on an altar, offering bread, lighting lamps. The difference is that instead of earthly priests, Jesus is now our great High Priest, and the one great sacrifice on the cross has replaced all the others, and we are forgiven.
Second, the Tabernacle was portable. When the presence of God moved on, the priests would pack up the Tabernacle and carry it, moving in obedience to the way that God led them. Then the people would pack up their camp and the whole nation would move through the wilderness, on their way to the land promised to them. Although the Tabernacle was a blueprint of heaven, and the pattern was later reproduced in the groundplan and furnishing of the temples in Jerusalem, the people were never to forget that they were the pilgrim people of God. We should never be wedded too firmly to any particular way of being or doing church, God may want to move us on. And we should have confidence that where he leads us, he will be with us.
Third, God wanted to ensure his people were blessed by making his dwelling among them. People say that the God the Old Testament is fierce, remote, judgmental, and hard to know. But this was never his intention. Rather, God has always described himself as Father. He looks for a relationship of love and trust. The problem was the people, who were determined to go their own way. The Tabernacle was the way that a holy God could live in the midst of a sinful people.
After the incident of the golden calf, there is judgment and restitution and the last part of the book describes how the Tabernacle is constructed, how the priests are ordained and the worship begun. And God turns up. His presence in the Most Holy Place is so great, so bright, that neither Moses nor any of the people can enter the tent. God is truly living among his people.
Of course, there are many more stories to be told of the waywardness of God’s people, as they eventually enter the land, establish a kingdom, and after many years are conquered and taken into captivity. Throughout these centuries there is the refrain: “Is God among us?” “Are we his people?”
The answer comes in the Word made flesh, Jesus. He came to his own, and his own would not receive him, but to as many as received him, he gave the right to become children of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Literally, he set up his tent among us, he tabernacled himself among us. We are meant to understand that all that was promised and foretold in the Old Testament stories has now been fulfilled in Jesus. “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Instead of the Shekina, hidden behind a curtain in the opulent but mysterious Most Holy Place, Jesus has come to each one of us, to bring blessing and the light of his presence in our hearts.
This is the message for one who is to be baptised. We are pilgrim people, travelling with God, and he delights to make his home not just among us but actually within us as we believe in him. Our whole lives are centred on him. We use the pictorial language of sacrifice and priesthood to describe how we need to be forgiven and how God in Jesus has given us forgiveness and a new life in him. The challenge is to join the ranks of those who are seeking to allow this reality to break into their lives today, and every day.
Questions for Discussion
1. Why was it a problem for God to be in close contact with the people, and what did he do about it?
2. What relevance does all this have for the life of Christians and the church today?
3. “We have seen his glory – full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Some have spoken of God’s grace as his kindness and mercy, and his truth as his judgment on sin; what does this mean to you?
4. What one thing will you take from this topic to help you live in the next week?
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Sunday 6 September 2009 Camp Talk by Kim
We are all made of Stardust BUT whose side are we on?
Readings: John 3:16 and Revelation 8:6-9:2
Equipment: A candle, matches and a saucer.
Who is a science-friction or Star Trek addict? Who has travelled to the stars in their imagination? Did you know that we all came from the stars; that everyone of us is made of stardust? Would you like to see some stardust?
Action: Light a candle and hold a saucer over the flame. Show the black deposit on the saucer.
What is this?..... Carbon. Holding the saucer over the flame prevented all the carbon from burning and formed a tin layer on the saucer. This is stardust!
When a star comes near the end of its lifecycle, it throws out carbon, one of the essential building blocks of the universe. When God made man of the ‘dust of the earth’, he used the same material that made the stars, and planets, and everything that we see in the starry night sky!
That is amazing to think about. Even more amazing is to think that the Bible says we shall still be alive long after our own sun has grown into a red giant, consumed the earth, and died itself. This is the promise that Jesus made in one of the best-loved verses in the bible.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
‘Eternal Life.’ That does not mean just existing forever like a speck of stardust, it means the real you outlasting the stars in a life beyond our imagination. That is better than any sci-fi story ever written!
BUT the question is who side are we on?
Who has seen a shooting star? Who has witness the Northern Lights?
Pieces of rock from space hit the earth every day. As they enter the atmosphere they burn up, creating the brief flash of a shooting star. Some are large enough for bits to land on earth. About once every 1,000 years a rock nearly 100 metres (300 feet) in diameter strikes our planet, big enough to cause a tidal wave if it lands in the sea.
But what would happen if a really large meteor was on collision course with the earth?
Actually, it is not a matter of if but when. The last time it happened was maybe less than 4,000 years ago, around 2350 BC, a mere eye-blink in cosmic time. At that time there seems to have been a great environmental catastrophe, and civilisations collapsed. Mud-brick buildings in northern Syria appear to have been destroyed by what is described as a ‘blast from the sky’.
THE K-T EVENT
So could it happen again? The bad news is, yes, it could. The good news is that a collision with a massive asteroid, over 1km across, is more rare, happening only once in a million years. But an asteroid that size could create a global catastrophe, wiping out many species of plants and animals.
Is that what killed the dinosaurs? Around 65 million years ago they disappeared, together with about 70% of all species then living on earth. This is known as the K-T event (the Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction event). Could it have been caused by an asteroid or comet hitting the earth? In 1990 came evidence that it was. A 65 million-year-old crater, 180 Kilometres (112 miles) wide, was discovered under layers of sediment in the Yucatan Peninsula region of Mexico.
It would have taken an asteroid ten kilometres (6.5 miles) wide to make this crater – big enough to cause massive global disruption.
The last book in the bible, the book of Revelation, describes some great environmental catastrophes, including what sounds like a description of the earth being struck, perhaps by a chain of comet pieces like those that spectacularly hit Jupiter in 1994.
Read Revelation 8:6-9:2
Revelation 8:6-9:2 (New International Version)
The Trumpets
Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!" The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.
It is a pretty terrifying picture. Christians have different ideas about what it means. Some think it is a prediction of what will actually happen in the future. Some think it is using coded picture language to describe the persecution suffered by Christians in the Roman Empire.
Great War
But everyone agrees in general what the book of Revelation is about: there is a great war going on between the powers of good and evil. In the end, God will deal once and for all with evil. But each person must decide for themselves, which side they are on. Many people would prefer not to think about that decision. They bury themselves in their work, or fill their lives with TV and music and entertainment so that they don’t have to think. But just doing nothing allows the evil around us to grow.
For each one of us personally, it makes no difference whether we are hit by a twelve-mile-wide asteroid or a number 1 bus! One thing is for sure: we will each meet our own personal end sometime within the next 100 years (some sooner than others!).
If a big asteroid is headed in our direction, we won’t be able to duck it and we can’t duck the big question either: WHOSE SIDE ARE WE ON?
Questions:
1. “I believe in God the Father …” What do you think the two readings quoted tell us about the nature of God?
2. If you were asked by a neighbour or friend to sum up the message of the sermon, what would you say?
Readings: John 3:16 and Revelation 8:6-9:2
Equipment: A candle, matches and a saucer.
Who is a science-friction or Star Trek addict? Who has travelled to the stars in their imagination? Did you know that we all came from the stars; that everyone of us is made of stardust? Would you like to see some stardust?
Action: Light a candle and hold a saucer over the flame. Show the black deposit on the saucer.
What is this?..... Carbon. Holding the saucer over the flame prevented all the carbon from burning and formed a tin layer on the saucer. This is stardust!
When a star comes near the end of its lifecycle, it throws out carbon, one of the essential building blocks of the universe. When God made man of the ‘dust of the earth’, he used the same material that made the stars, and planets, and everything that we see in the starry night sky!
That is amazing to think about. Even more amazing is to think that the Bible says we shall still be alive long after our own sun has grown into a red giant, consumed the earth, and died itself. This is the promise that Jesus made in one of the best-loved verses in the bible.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
‘Eternal Life.’ That does not mean just existing forever like a speck of stardust, it means the real you outlasting the stars in a life beyond our imagination. That is better than any sci-fi story ever written!
BUT the question is who side are we on?
Who has seen a shooting star? Who has witness the Northern Lights?
Pieces of rock from space hit the earth every day. As they enter the atmosphere they burn up, creating the brief flash of a shooting star. Some are large enough for bits to land on earth. About once every 1,000 years a rock nearly 100 metres (300 feet) in diameter strikes our planet, big enough to cause a tidal wave if it lands in the sea.
But what would happen if a really large meteor was on collision course with the earth?
Actually, it is not a matter of if but when. The last time it happened was maybe less than 4,000 years ago, around 2350 BC, a mere eye-blink in cosmic time. At that time there seems to have been a great environmental catastrophe, and civilisations collapsed. Mud-brick buildings in northern Syria appear to have been destroyed by what is described as a ‘blast from the sky’.
THE K-T EVENT
So could it happen again? The bad news is, yes, it could. The good news is that a collision with a massive asteroid, over 1km across, is more rare, happening only once in a million years. But an asteroid that size could create a global catastrophe, wiping out many species of plants and animals.
Is that what killed the dinosaurs? Around 65 million years ago they disappeared, together with about 70% of all species then living on earth. This is known as the K-T event (the Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction event). Could it have been caused by an asteroid or comet hitting the earth? In 1990 came evidence that it was. A 65 million-year-old crater, 180 Kilometres (112 miles) wide, was discovered under layers of sediment in the Yucatan Peninsula region of Mexico.
It would have taken an asteroid ten kilometres (6.5 miles) wide to make this crater – big enough to cause massive global disruption.
The last book in the bible, the book of Revelation, describes some great environmental catastrophes, including what sounds like a description of the earth being struck, perhaps by a chain of comet pieces like those that spectacularly hit Jupiter in 1994.
Read Revelation 8:6-9:2
Revelation 8:6-9:2 (New International Version)
The Trumpets
Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!" The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.
It is a pretty terrifying picture. Christians have different ideas about what it means. Some think it is a prediction of what will actually happen in the future. Some think it is using coded picture language to describe the persecution suffered by Christians in the Roman Empire.
Great War
But everyone agrees in general what the book of Revelation is about: there is a great war going on between the powers of good and evil. In the end, God will deal once and for all with evil. But each person must decide for themselves, which side they are on. Many people would prefer not to think about that decision. They bury themselves in their work, or fill their lives with TV and music and entertainment so that they don’t have to think. But just doing nothing allows the evil around us to grow.
For each one of us personally, it makes no difference whether we are hit by a twelve-mile-wide asteroid or a number 1 bus! One thing is for sure: we will each meet our own personal end sometime within the next 100 years (some sooner than others!).
If a big asteroid is headed in our direction, we won’t be able to duck it and we can’t duck the big question either: WHOSE SIDE ARE WE ON?
Questions:
1. “I believe in God the Father …” What do you think the two readings quoted tell us about the nature of God?
2. If you were asked by a neighbour or friend to sum up the message of the sermon, what would you say?
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Sunday 30 August 2009 Mark 7: 1-7,14-15,21-23, Kim
In Mark chapter 7 we find the senior clerics arrive from Jerusalem to check out Jesus orthodoxy. What on the surface seems a quibble about etiquette actually had more to do with the fundamental question "What kind of worship does God want from us?" On offer then, as now, are two, mutually exclusive alternatives. The passage itself speaks of breaking the traditions of the elders, rebuking the hypocritical Pharisees, correcting the misguided crowds and instructing the confused disciples.
The first thing Jesus does is criticise the Pharisees for confusing people with their hypocritical traditions. The word ‘hypocrisy’ describes an actor. It describes someone whose life is a performance, a show, a sham. Jesus doesn't even bother to answer their criticisms. Instead he quotes,
“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ (Mark 7:6-7)
Jesus questions their motive: hypocritical. Jesus criticises their worship: vain and Jesus condemns their tradition: human rules
We need to remember that the people of his day really thought the Pharisees were holy people – to be revered and respected, to be obeyed and feared. But Jesus thought different. The argument wasn't just about whether the disciples should have washed their hands before dinner. If you have children you'll know the scenario. "Have you washed your hands? Let me have a look at your hands....." That is not what the Pharisees were upset about.
The disciples had not followed the Rabbinic rituals. There were nine different occasions specified when the hands had to be ritually washed before and after meals along with prayers and blessings. Water had to be poured on each hand three times for most purposes using a cup, and alternating the hands between each occurrence. Further more there were additional instructions concerning the washing of the hands before bread and before vegetables were eaten before the main meal. According to the Babylonian Talmud, washing before meals is so important that neglecting it risks divine punishment in the form of sudden destruction or poverty.
And the ritual washing of the hands was just the beginning. Mark tells us, “And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles” (Mark 7:4). Jesus challenged these cherished traditions. Remember, Jesus wasn't criticising the liberals who denied the Scriptures, but the conservatives who claimed to honour it but added to it. Churches can be just as bound by traditions that are just as confusing, and intimidating. In some churches I have visited, I can be made to feel uncomfortable because I don't bow towards the altar before taking my seat, or cross myself before taking communion. In other churches I've felt equally uncomfortable, surrounded by everyone raising their hands in praise all the time, and shouting out Hallelujah. I come away feeling inferior, less spiritual. Other people can seem so much more devoted. But devoted to what? Which is more important? Lip service or Heart worship?
If you don't feel it is right to do something at a Church then don't. And don't worry what other people think. Discuss it. Don’t keep it bottled up. Don't allow yourself to be intimidated. Other people may only be doing it because they think it’s the right thing to do. You don't have to play religious games to be right with God. "And what does the LORD require of us? "To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God." (Micah 6:8) Why was Jesus so critical of these religious leaders?
Not because they were sinners, but that they liked to give the impression they weren't. You know how easy it is to give the impression of praying deeply, or worshipping in song but be miles away with other things on our mind. I may be able to fool you into thinking I'm better than I really am, but I can't fool God. I don't know what’s going on in your heart, nor you mine, but God knows, He sees. So don't try to hide behind religious rituals. An emphasis on human traditions invariably fuels controversy.
Heretical traditions contradict Scripture. Not only had they confused people, they had contradicted the Bible. Confusion over what did or did not constitute God’s will, led inevitably to the contradiction of the Scriptures. Jesus was always very careful to distinguish between the Word of God and human traditions. Between what God requires and what people have added. Jesus gives an example from the popular interpretation of the 6th Commandment. The Lord had said in Exodus 20, "Honour your parents", but the Pharisees had looked for ways round it. The Pharisees added an exclusion clause. To avoid having to care for elderly parents, you could make a will, giving all your wealth to God when you died, so no one else could have it while you were alive. Neat really isn't it. Today we call it tax avoidance. The Lord still calls it tax evasion.
The word "hold onto" here means to have a "powerful grip on something". Jesus was saying that the Pharisees had abandoned the Scriptures in order to retain a powerful grip on people through their rules and regulations. We, too hang onto things. How about bitterness, resentment, anger? How good are we at letting go? Not surprisingly Jesus didn’t go down to well. They went as far as bringing in the specialists all the way from Jerusalem to condemn Jesus.
Sadly, the history of the Church from the very beginning has been largely the history of religious intolerance directed against the faithful who preferred martyrdom to idolatry, a relationship with Jesus to the religion of do’s and don’ts.
Hypocritical traditions are inevitably exposed by the gospel. Jesus said “Don’t you see that nothing that enters you from the outside can defile you? For it doesn’t go into your heart but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: “What comes out of you is what defiles you. For from within, out of your hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile you.”
Confused over human traditions, the Pharisees had contradicted the Scriptures. Consequently they were now closed to divine revelation. Even the disciples were in serious danger of being deceived. "Why are you so dull too?" Jesus asks. The Pharisees had reduced morality down to a kind of arithmetic. Wash your hands in a certain way, eat specific food prepared, cooked and served in a particular way and you will be holy. They had accumulated a great number of petty rules and regulations about how to stay pure. They could be defiled by food, defiled by places, defiled by contact with certain people. This is what Jesus found so offensive. They assumed that they could stay holy if they did certain things and avoided other things. But keeping to a list of do's and don'ts didn't go deep enough. Why? Because rules are powerless to change the heart. All Jesus had to do was a little open heart surgery on them, to show what they were really like inside beneath their religious skin.
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters you from the outside can defile you? He went on: “What comes out of you is what defiles you.” (Mark 7:18, 20)
Evil is not external its internal, it comes from within the heart. That’s why we don't need more rules, we need release. Observing a list of taboos won't deal with our guilt. Only Jesus can.
We see the disciples liberated, casually disregarding the petty traditions of the elders. Free to enjoy God's creation, free to enjoy Him. They were liberated from being people-pleasers, from hypocrisy, from doing religious things to please people, they could be themselves. That liberation is ours too. Liberated in a living relationship with Him. This is the heart of the Christian faith, not a religious system, but a living relationship in simplicity and sincerity. In Spirit and in truth. Christianity isn't a religion it’s a relationship. That’s because it centres on a person not a moral system.
It doesn't mean leaving the Church of England. It does mean putting Jesus first, before everything, before everyone. It means coming to Him daily in our reading of His Word, and in prayer acknowledging our sin and need of His forgiveness, and empowering. How then can we be made clean before God?
First, recognise that an emphasis on human traditions invariably fuels controversy. Second, that heretical traditions inherently contradict Scripture. Third, that hypocritical traditions are inevitably exposed by the gospel. What then is true worship? Let me leave you with an answer from Archbishop William Temple,
"To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God."
Amen.
The first thing Jesus does is criticise the Pharisees for confusing people with their hypocritical traditions. The word ‘hypocrisy’ describes an actor. It describes someone whose life is a performance, a show, a sham. Jesus doesn't even bother to answer their criticisms. Instead he quotes,
“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ (Mark 7:6-7)
Jesus questions their motive: hypocritical. Jesus criticises their worship: vain and Jesus condemns their tradition: human rules
We need to remember that the people of his day really thought the Pharisees were holy people – to be revered and respected, to be obeyed and feared. But Jesus thought different. The argument wasn't just about whether the disciples should have washed their hands before dinner. If you have children you'll know the scenario. "Have you washed your hands? Let me have a look at your hands....." That is not what the Pharisees were upset about.
The disciples had not followed the Rabbinic rituals. There were nine different occasions specified when the hands had to be ritually washed before and after meals along with prayers and blessings. Water had to be poured on each hand three times for most purposes using a cup, and alternating the hands between each occurrence. Further more there were additional instructions concerning the washing of the hands before bread and before vegetables were eaten before the main meal. According to the Babylonian Talmud, washing before meals is so important that neglecting it risks divine punishment in the form of sudden destruction or poverty.
And the ritual washing of the hands was just the beginning. Mark tells us, “And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles” (Mark 7:4). Jesus challenged these cherished traditions. Remember, Jesus wasn't criticising the liberals who denied the Scriptures, but the conservatives who claimed to honour it but added to it. Churches can be just as bound by traditions that are just as confusing, and intimidating. In some churches I have visited, I can be made to feel uncomfortable because I don't bow towards the altar before taking my seat, or cross myself before taking communion. In other churches I've felt equally uncomfortable, surrounded by everyone raising their hands in praise all the time, and shouting out Hallelujah. I come away feeling inferior, less spiritual. Other people can seem so much more devoted. But devoted to what? Which is more important? Lip service or Heart worship?
If you don't feel it is right to do something at a Church then don't. And don't worry what other people think. Discuss it. Don’t keep it bottled up. Don't allow yourself to be intimidated. Other people may only be doing it because they think it’s the right thing to do. You don't have to play religious games to be right with God. "And what does the LORD require of us? "To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God." (Micah 6:8) Why was Jesus so critical of these religious leaders?
Not because they were sinners, but that they liked to give the impression they weren't. You know how easy it is to give the impression of praying deeply, or worshipping in song but be miles away with other things on our mind. I may be able to fool you into thinking I'm better than I really am, but I can't fool God. I don't know what’s going on in your heart, nor you mine, but God knows, He sees. So don't try to hide behind religious rituals. An emphasis on human traditions invariably fuels controversy.
Heretical traditions contradict Scripture. Not only had they confused people, they had contradicted the Bible. Confusion over what did or did not constitute God’s will, led inevitably to the contradiction of the Scriptures. Jesus was always very careful to distinguish between the Word of God and human traditions. Between what God requires and what people have added. Jesus gives an example from the popular interpretation of the 6th Commandment. The Lord had said in Exodus 20, "Honour your parents", but the Pharisees had looked for ways round it. The Pharisees added an exclusion clause. To avoid having to care for elderly parents, you could make a will, giving all your wealth to God when you died, so no one else could have it while you were alive. Neat really isn't it. Today we call it tax avoidance. The Lord still calls it tax evasion.
The word "hold onto" here means to have a "powerful grip on something". Jesus was saying that the Pharisees had abandoned the Scriptures in order to retain a powerful grip on people through their rules and regulations. We, too hang onto things. How about bitterness, resentment, anger? How good are we at letting go? Not surprisingly Jesus didn’t go down to well. They went as far as bringing in the specialists all the way from Jerusalem to condemn Jesus.
Sadly, the history of the Church from the very beginning has been largely the history of religious intolerance directed against the faithful who preferred martyrdom to idolatry, a relationship with Jesus to the religion of do’s and don’ts.
Hypocritical traditions are inevitably exposed by the gospel. Jesus said “Don’t you see that nothing that enters you from the outside can defile you? For it doesn’t go into your heart but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: “What comes out of you is what defiles you. For from within, out of your hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile you.”
Confused over human traditions, the Pharisees had contradicted the Scriptures. Consequently they were now closed to divine revelation. Even the disciples were in serious danger of being deceived. "Why are you so dull too?" Jesus asks. The Pharisees had reduced morality down to a kind of arithmetic. Wash your hands in a certain way, eat specific food prepared, cooked and served in a particular way and you will be holy. They had accumulated a great number of petty rules and regulations about how to stay pure. They could be defiled by food, defiled by places, defiled by contact with certain people. This is what Jesus found so offensive. They assumed that they could stay holy if they did certain things and avoided other things. But keeping to a list of do's and don'ts didn't go deep enough. Why? Because rules are powerless to change the heart. All Jesus had to do was a little open heart surgery on them, to show what they were really like inside beneath their religious skin.
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters you from the outside can defile you? He went on: “What comes out of you is what defiles you.” (Mark 7:18, 20)
Evil is not external its internal, it comes from within the heart. That’s why we don't need more rules, we need release. Observing a list of taboos won't deal with our guilt. Only Jesus can.
We see the disciples liberated, casually disregarding the petty traditions of the elders. Free to enjoy God's creation, free to enjoy Him. They were liberated from being people-pleasers, from hypocrisy, from doing religious things to please people, they could be themselves. That liberation is ours too. Liberated in a living relationship with Him. This is the heart of the Christian faith, not a religious system, but a living relationship in simplicity and sincerity. In Spirit and in truth. Christianity isn't a religion it’s a relationship. That’s because it centres on a person not a moral system.
It doesn't mean leaving the Church of England. It does mean putting Jesus first, before everything, before everyone. It means coming to Him daily in our reading of His Word, and in prayer acknowledging our sin and need of His forgiveness, and empowering. How then can we be made clean before God?
First, recognise that an emphasis on human traditions invariably fuels controversy. Second, that heretical traditions inherently contradict Scripture. Third, that hypocritical traditions are inevitably exposed by the gospel. What then is true worship? Let me leave you with an answer from Archbishop William Temple,
"To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God."
Amen.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Sunday 23 August 2009 Ephesians 6:10-20 Bruce
In the Letter to the Ephesians Paul has revealed to us all that God has done. God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus, raised us from spiritual death to a new life, and brought us into unity with all other Christians as we are in unity with Christ. We are called to reflect this true unity in a new enhanced way of living, full of good and respectful relationships. It sounds like heaven on earth.
And yet reality seems so different. Life is tough.
Does the faith work? We believe the right things, act the right way, and yet life seems to be a struggle. Why is this?
We need to understand that to follow Christ involves struggle. This is not a popular message.
For too many, the spiritual life is primarily an exercise in feeling better. By a combination of ethical choices, clean living, good friends, joining in with some hymns and prayers, we are seeking a quiet life, where we gradually improve, and gently become nicer to know and may hope to earn acceptance by God. Some people like to use the language of choice: I have chosen this style of worship and belief because it fits in with my values and aspirations.
The truth as revealed in the bible is rather different. Paul in Ephesians has revealed that we are beyond hope of improvement, “dead in our sins” (Eph. 2:1). God has picked us up out of the dirt, washed us off, and brought us into his family. He has used the same might, power and strength that brought Jesus back from the dead to make us alive in Christ.
Now in the passage before us, we are reminded that the same devil whose clutches we escaped in chapter two is still at work in the world and we must face him. Note the subtle shift in tone. In the first part of the letter the focus is on what God has already done in and for us. Here we are encouraged to be strong in the Lord, literally to ‘strengthen ourselves in him’. The power, the ability is all his, but we are to deliberately associate ourselves with and take advantage of the might, power and strength that brought Jesus back from the dead, that has given us new life, and now will enable us to live as Christ’s servants and soldiers.
Now note the two opposite extremes that we as Christians can go to. The one is to greatly exaggerate and over-emphasise the power of the devil; to see demonic influences everywhere and as responsible for the most trivial things. This echoes the ancient worldview, that heaven and earth are connected; this view is still held by many in the world today. It tends to be ridiculed in the west, viewed as simplistic and naïve.
There is an opposite and more dangerous view, however, that all this talk of the devil is made up and over the top. While there is obviously evil in the world, it can be characterised as psychological or sociological. There are material and scientific explanations for most things. In the church, this has led unconsciously to a world view that sees the material and the spiritual as being separate and unconnected. You can be spiritual, prayerful, serene, whatever takes your fancy, but do not expect it to have any impact on the ‘real world’ of ‘stuff’, where we all have to live. Thus Christians can live effectively as atheists who happen to go to church. (Story about two boys ..) This views leads ultimately to the ‘God Delusion’ view, which acknowledges that this world is full of struggle, but sees only random chaos, in the way that a squirrel caught in an artillery barrage may have no understanding of the two opposing forces at war.
The explanation that most obviously fits evidence, however unpalatable, is that life is a struggle. The bible has told a story from Genesis to Revelation, that we are part of a greater struggle between good and evil, God and the devil. It has not been explained to us how or why this might be; we must deal with it. The difference is that we are not involved in a struggle against flesh and blood, but against ‘the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’
How many of us thought that heaven is white clouds, tranquillity, cream cheese? Actually, God in his heaven has always been interested in justice and peace here on earth. Our guaranteed home is in heaven, but that therefore means that we are mandated to take part in the struggle here on earth. But how?
We are to put on the armour that God supplies. The battle is his, but our response of faith means that we will strengthen ourselves in him, and be part of the army.
Paul wrote this from prison, and many a Sunday school class has been captivated by the story of Paul, chained to his desk and looking up at his Roman guard, taking inspiration from what he saw. Consider also that Paul will have known the scriptures:
Isaiah 11:5 (New International Version)
5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Isaiah 59:17 (New International Version)
17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
Isaiah 52:7 (New International Version)
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Isaiah 49:2 (New International Version)
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
So consider a Roman soldier, wearing a tunic, something like a nightie coming down to his knees. He will have worn a belt of truth or faithfulness, to stop things flapping around in the battle. There needs to be integrity to the way that we live.
He has buckled on a breastplate of righteousness. For those of us who are waiting until we feel that we good enough to merit God’s love – stop waiting. God chooses to view us as righteous if we trust in his Son. It is something he gives us, just a Roman commander would have equipped his troops.
On his feet were sturdy, hobnailed sandals. They have been waxed and worn in, carefully prepared to carry a soldier over hundreds of miles and enable him to fight at the end. The difference is that instead of carrying the owner to warfare and killing, these boots are a readiness to carry the gospel of peace. Just as Paul knew chunks of Isaiah off by heart, so we can delight in the scriptures, become familiar with them, so that they will give us life and so we can share them appropriately with those who are seeking life.
The shield was covered in leather, and often soaked in water, so that flaming arrows were literally doused. It was large and covered the whole body. The technique was to link your shield with those on either side, forming a wall. We do not have to do this alone. In fact we are designed to function better, as people and as Christians, in relationship with others. That is why membership of an Encounter Group or something similar is so important. Soldiers who survived on the battlefield were not in the habit of wandering off to do their own thing.
The soldier wore on his head a ‘helmet of salvation’. Again, rejoice that you do not have to save yourself. And when doubts come, God gives you a helmet to protect you.
He is also equipped with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. When tempted, Jesus was able to say ‘It is written …’ , taking God’s word and applying it to his present situation. This is something we all can and must do. And it can be a delight. Read the bible alone or in groups, with the help of books, websites, or local experts. Above all, pray for God’s help to understand and interpret it, and put it into practice in our lives.
Lastly, our weapon is prayer. We pray in the Spirit on all occasions, making all kinds of prayers and requests. We include prayers in our services, but the encouragement is to always have a line open, to be aware of God’s gracious presence with us at all times.
I have spoken to ex-servicemen. Many have told me of the monotony of service life. Many never see action, but everything is geared to preparing for that day, so that if and when it comes, they will be ready. When that day comes, Paul says, we want to be ready to stand. I pray that you are having a quiet, ordered, peaceful life and that everything is going well. We should be aware that to each one of us will come that day. It may be a redundancy letter or a worrying diagnosis from the doctor, or a relationship break up. For this church, it is the challenge to be truly open for all, to pay our way, and to be renewed, so that we will be effective servants of God here 50 or 100 years from now. The battle is raging now, and we must do our part. Every prayer that you say, every scripture that you read, every kind word that you speak or kind act that you bless another with, is an offensive act that is our part in answering the prayer ‘thy kingdom come’.
Remember, the battle is the Lord’s. The armour is the Lord’s. The victory is the Lord’s. Let us praise him and serve him together.
Questions for Discussion
1. Which of metaphorical items of armour seem most helpful and relevant to us, and why?
2. In what ways do we see the spiritual struggle as actual and not metaphorical? What examples can we give from our own lives?
3. How can members of the church help each other to wear the belt of truth? What place do ‘accountability partners’ or ‘soul friends’ have in this?
And yet reality seems so different. Life is tough.
Does the faith work? We believe the right things, act the right way, and yet life seems to be a struggle. Why is this?
We need to understand that to follow Christ involves struggle. This is not a popular message.
For too many, the spiritual life is primarily an exercise in feeling better. By a combination of ethical choices, clean living, good friends, joining in with some hymns and prayers, we are seeking a quiet life, where we gradually improve, and gently become nicer to know and may hope to earn acceptance by God. Some people like to use the language of choice: I have chosen this style of worship and belief because it fits in with my values and aspirations.
The truth as revealed in the bible is rather different. Paul in Ephesians has revealed that we are beyond hope of improvement, “dead in our sins” (Eph. 2:1). God has picked us up out of the dirt, washed us off, and brought us into his family. He has used the same might, power and strength that brought Jesus back from the dead to make us alive in Christ.
Now in the passage before us, we are reminded that the same devil whose clutches we escaped in chapter two is still at work in the world and we must face him. Note the subtle shift in tone. In the first part of the letter the focus is on what God has already done in and for us. Here we are encouraged to be strong in the Lord, literally to ‘strengthen ourselves in him’. The power, the ability is all his, but we are to deliberately associate ourselves with and take advantage of the might, power and strength that brought Jesus back from the dead, that has given us new life, and now will enable us to live as Christ’s servants and soldiers.
Now note the two opposite extremes that we as Christians can go to. The one is to greatly exaggerate and over-emphasise the power of the devil; to see demonic influences everywhere and as responsible for the most trivial things. This echoes the ancient worldview, that heaven and earth are connected; this view is still held by many in the world today. It tends to be ridiculed in the west, viewed as simplistic and naïve.
There is an opposite and more dangerous view, however, that all this talk of the devil is made up and over the top. While there is obviously evil in the world, it can be characterised as psychological or sociological. There are material and scientific explanations for most things. In the church, this has led unconsciously to a world view that sees the material and the spiritual as being separate and unconnected. You can be spiritual, prayerful, serene, whatever takes your fancy, but do not expect it to have any impact on the ‘real world’ of ‘stuff’, where we all have to live. Thus Christians can live effectively as atheists who happen to go to church. (Story about two boys ..) This views leads ultimately to the ‘God Delusion’ view, which acknowledges that this world is full of struggle, but sees only random chaos, in the way that a squirrel caught in an artillery barrage may have no understanding of the two opposing forces at war.
The explanation that most obviously fits evidence, however unpalatable, is that life is a struggle. The bible has told a story from Genesis to Revelation, that we are part of a greater struggle between good and evil, God and the devil. It has not been explained to us how or why this might be; we must deal with it. The difference is that we are not involved in a struggle against flesh and blood, but against ‘the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’
How many of us thought that heaven is white clouds, tranquillity, cream cheese? Actually, God in his heaven has always been interested in justice and peace here on earth. Our guaranteed home is in heaven, but that therefore means that we are mandated to take part in the struggle here on earth. But how?
We are to put on the armour that God supplies. The battle is his, but our response of faith means that we will strengthen ourselves in him, and be part of the army.
Paul wrote this from prison, and many a Sunday school class has been captivated by the story of Paul, chained to his desk and looking up at his Roman guard, taking inspiration from what he saw. Consider also that Paul will have known the scriptures:
Isaiah 11:5 (New International Version)
5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
Isaiah 59:17 (New International Version)
17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
Isaiah 52:7 (New International Version)
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Isaiah 49:2 (New International Version)
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
So consider a Roman soldier, wearing a tunic, something like a nightie coming down to his knees. He will have worn a belt of truth or faithfulness, to stop things flapping around in the battle. There needs to be integrity to the way that we live.
He has buckled on a breastplate of righteousness. For those of us who are waiting until we feel that we good enough to merit God’s love – stop waiting. God chooses to view us as righteous if we trust in his Son. It is something he gives us, just a Roman commander would have equipped his troops.
On his feet were sturdy, hobnailed sandals. They have been waxed and worn in, carefully prepared to carry a soldier over hundreds of miles and enable him to fight at the end. The difference is that instead of carrying the owner to warfare and killing, these boots are a readiness to carry the gospel of peace. Just as Paul knew chunks of Isaiah off by heart, so we can delight in the scriptures, become familiar with them, so that they will give us life and so we can share them appropriately with those who are seeking life.
The shield was covered in leather, and often soaked in water, so that flaming arrows were literally doused. It was large and covered the whole body. The technique was to link your shield with those on either side, forming a wall. We do not have to do this alone. In fact we are designed to function better, as people and as Christians, in relationship with others. That is why membership of an Encounter Group or something similar is so important. Soldiers who survived on the battlefield were not in the habit of wandering off to do their own thing.
The soldier wore on his head a ‘helmet of salvation’. Again, rejoice that you do not have to save yourself. And when doubts come, God gives you a helmet to protect you.
He is also equipped with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. When tempted, Jesus was able to say ‘It is written …’ , taking God’s word and applying it to his present situation. This is something we all can and must do. And it can be a delight. Read the bible alone or in groups, with the help of books, websites, or local experts. Above all, pray for God’s help to understand and interpret it, and put it into practice in our lives.
Lastly, our weapon is prayer. We pray in the Spirit on all occasions, making all kinds of prayers and requests. We include prayers in our services, but the encouragement is to always have a line open, to be aware of God’s gracious presence with us at all times.
I have spoken to ex-servicemen. Many have told me of the monotony of service life. Many never see action, but everything is geared to preparing for that day, so that if and when it comes, they will be ready. When that day comes, Paul says, we want to be ready to stand. I pray that you are having a quiet, ordered, peaceful life and that everything is going well. We should be aware that to each one of us will come that day. It may be a redundancy letter or a worrying diagnosis from the doctor, or a relationship break up. For this church, it is the challenge to be truly open for all, to pay our way, and to be renewed, so that we will be effective servants of God here 50 or 100 years from now. The battle is raging now, and we must do our part. Every prayer that you say, every scripture that you read, every kind word that you speak or kind act that you bless another with, is an offensive act that is our part in answering the prayer ‘thy kingdom come’.
Remember, the battle is the Lord’s. The armour is the Lord’s. The victory is the Lord’s. Let us praise him and serve him together.
Questions for Discussion
1. Which of metaphorical items of armour seem most helpful and relevant to us, and why?
2. In what ways do we see the spiritual struggle as actual and not metaphorical? What examples can we give from our own lives?
3. How can members of the church help each other to wear the belt of truth? What place do ‘accountability partners’ or ‘soul friends’ have in this?
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Sermon notes and questions: 16th August John 6: 51- 8 Caroline Blake
Bread substitutes or the real thing?
I was browsing various websites recently, researching the subject of bread,
and came across one with the appealing title of Endless Agony .Com. (!)
It turned out to be a dieters’ website so the title is probably very appropriate!
People were sharing the ups and downs of their various diets but one that
caught my eye was a question about bread substitutes. The person said this :
”I started a diet a couple of weeks ago and its going pretty well but I eat too much bread. What can I eat that will fill me up and taste as good?” And I thought: Maybe I should refer her to John 6!
Her problem was that she needed to find bread substitutes but she knew they
would be nothing like as good as the real thing.
The Jews’ problem, when Jesus spoke to them about bread, was perhaps the
opposite. They were being offered the real thing but for various reasons, didn’t want it, or couldn’t cope with it. They were more interested in substitutes than the real, living bread of Jesus himself. And that’s certainly true for many people today.
What is real life?
What motivates us? What is real life all about? I think our gospel reading from John 6 asks these sort of questions. It makes uncomfortable reading. Real life, according to Jesus, can only be found in “eating his flesh and drinking his blood”. Even Christians, who are familiar with the account of the Last Supper, and take Holy Communion regularly, find it difficult to understand or express exactly what Jesus means.
No wonder, his listeners, first century Jews, were shocked by his words. First
he has performed the miracle of the Feeding of the 5000. When they want a repeat performance he reproves them for only being interested in physical, rather than spiritual food. When they start to make comparisons between Moses and Jesus, he goes much further and makes the ultimate shocking statement that he is the Bread of Life.
Understandably, they struggle to understand how he can make such claims
about himself, when many know him as “Jesus, the son of Joseph”. But what
follows becomes even more shocking. Not only is Jesus the Bread from
heaven, the living bread, but it is necessary feed on him to experience real
life, eternal life. “Unless you can eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you….my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink”.
No wonder they are horrified. We’re told that they argued about how he could
give his flesh to eat. Some probably thought he was talking about
cannibalism. Certainly it was an accusation that was brought against
Christians in the days of the early church, as they broke bread and shared
wine together, following Jesus’ example.
We’re told that following his words, his disciples complained that it was a hard
teaching and many turned back and left him. And it is a hard teaching. Even
today, when perhaps many of us have been Christians for a long time, when
we allow these words to really sink in, and wrestle with their implications, they
are tremendously challenging.
What is real life? What does it mean to feed on Jesus? Is it knowing about Jesus or knowing Jesus?
Charles Finney, the 19th century evangelist and preacher, said that faith in
Christ is not about saying or mentally affirming the Creed and key doctrines of
the Church, but its:
“the heart’s trust in the person of Christ. This act of trust unites our spirits to him in a union so close that we directly receive from him
a current of eternal life”.
“What are we to make of Jesus Christ?” asked C.S Lewis. ”There is no question of what we can make of Him. It is entirely a question of what He intends to make of us”
And a more up to date response to the question of Jesus is offered by Bear
Grylls, the TV adventurer. He says this:
“I always thought Christianity was about being very sensible, and acting all smart and religious. But the more I discovered about the person of Jesus Christ himself, the more I found a man who was as unreligious as you can imagine. It seemed that the very heart of the Christian faith, in truth, was neither about church or pulpits, sermons, latin verse or behaving! Its about a relationship with this Jesus who promised us life in abundance, joy within, peace without and freedom in our soul”.
Notice the common theme. Real life, eternal life is about a relationship with Jesus, a union between our spirits and his.
And notice all through this long discouse in John 6 how often the words “believe” and “life” are used. To enter into this union with Christ we need to believe and put out trust in him. He is the bread that will be given for the life of the world, pointing to his forthcoming sacrificial death. To enter into real life, eternal life, we need to accept his sacrificial death for ourselves, individually, and allow our spirits to be nourished by that living bread , that will never go stale and past its sell by date.
When we receive Holy Communion, we’re remembering Jesus’ words at the
Last Supper, and feeding on him spiritually. It is one of the ways by which we
participate in his life.
Do we know that life for ourselves?
Jesus’ word to us is that the bread he gives is the only food that will truly satisfy us, the only food that can give us real life. Life in all its fullness, as he says further on in John’s gospel. Are we feeding on him, allowing his life to flow through us, or are we looking for substitutes instead to bring us fulfilment?
There’s a hungry world out there!
There’s a world out there that’s desperately hungry, and there are many kinds
of substitutes for the food Jesus offers. Money, power, sex, status,
consumerism, the list is endless. They may bring temporary satisfaction but
they don’t fulfil people at the deepest level. Surrey teenagers are apparently
more depressed and stressed than anywhere else in the country, according to
the local Star courier newspaper, despite it being one of the most affluent
parts of the country. More and more children are being diagnosed with
depression and mental health problems. Something’s surely going very wrong
with our society.
Are we offering that living bread to others?
Yet, we, you and I, the church, have that living bread, and each one of us is
called to make a difference in our messed up society. Who are the people
we meet every day, families, friends, neighbours, people in our workplace, at
the school gate? In our leisure activities? Do we take time to build up real
relationships with them, going beyond the superficial? Are we aware, as we
get to know them, that Jesus loves them and longs to come into their lives?
That he sees the pain, the emptiness, the loneliness in people’s lives and
wants to use us to make a difference?
About a month ago, on July 19th, some of you may have seen an event on the
national news called “The Big Lunch”. It was organized by the Eden Project in
Cornwall. Their vision was this:
“Imagine a summer’s day on which millions of us , throughout the UK ,sit down to have lunch with our neighbours in the middle of our streets, around our tower blocks and on every patch of common ground….This will be a day to break bread with our neighbours, to put a smile on Britain’s face”.
Interesting, isn’t it, the use of religious language there, “breaking bread with
our neighbours”.. If you saw this on the news you may remember the scenes
of street parties round the country, people setting up tables in their streets and
sharing lunch together. People interviewed were very positive about it, It had
given them a chance to get to know their neighbours and people who live
down their street whom they never speak to normally, or had never met
before. When I saw this on TV my first thought was “Brilliant. This has got to
be a church organized event!”. But when I looked it up on the website I
discovered it was the vision of two men from the Eden Project, supported by a long list of other well known organizations, but sadly no mention of the church.
They called it a “Celebration of life”. Its purpose was to cheer people up, bring
them together, across all divides, classes and cultural differences, recognising
that many people are lonely and have no sense of community. And I thought:
”That could be Christianity. Isn’t that what the church should be doing?”
Christianity is a celebration of life. The life that Jesus brings to each one of us
and that should be overflowing into our communities. The New Testament is
full of pictures and stories of the kingdom of God being like a feast or banquet,
to which all are invited. The Eden Project ,with the “Big Lunch”., seemed to be
far closer to that picture than many people’s perception of the church.
But of course, its not the real thing. We have far more to offer. The “Big
Lunch” was just a one day event. Hopefully some friendships were started
that day, people may continue to chat to their neighbours and feel more part
of a community, and that’s great. But its unlikely that it was a life changing
event for most people. They ate their lunch, had a good time and went home.
Their lives will probably go on just the same. But they missed out on what will
truly feed them, truly bring love, companionship and the best relationship of all
into their lives. That living bread, that you and I have, if we’ve given our lives to Christ.
What may be stopping us from sharing our bread?
Maybe we feel our bread’s gone stale. We’ve lost our first love. Its not the
bread that’s gone stale because the presence of Jesus is still within us but
maybe we’ve stopped feeding on him, allowing him to nourish us. Perhaps
we’re too busy, too stressed, struggling with illness or difficult circumstances. We all go though those times. But we need to find space somewhere to come back to Jesus and open ourselves again to his life and presence. His bread is always there to nourish, restore us and strengthen us.
Have we unintentionally hoarded our bread? Its easy to become part of a
Christian ghetto where we only go to church meetings or events, and socialise
with other Christians. We become comfortable with our church life.
And then we wonder why so many people don’t come to church or recognise
that precious gift that is being offered to them in Christ? Yet they’re searching
for meaning and purpose in so many different ways.
How can we share that living bread?
How are we, the church, going to help people to find that living bread? Do we
wait for them to come to church or do we go out to them? Not necessarily in
big evangelistic missions but just by getting alongside people, building up
relationships, being people of integrity who are willing to get our hands dirty,
getting involved in the mess and pain of people’s lives. Isn’t that what Jesus
did? Its only as we gain people’s trust that they will be receptive to us sharing our faith.
Several years ago I got to know one of the mums at the school gate as we
waited to pick up our children. She had recently moved to Camberley from
Yorkshire and didn’t know anyone. I invited her round for a cup of tea and we
began to meet up fairly regularly over a period of several years . We got to
know each other well over this time. She knew I was a Christian, and went to
church. As a girl, she’d had links with church through her school and had some familiarity with Christianity but didn’t appear interested in coming to church, although she knew several people from the church through a book group she joined.
Sadly, her marriage broke up a few months ago but she was overwhelmed by
the support and friendship she was shown through members of the church.
She’s been coming regularly to church and got involved with helping to run
our Parent and Toddler Group. She’s also found the confidence to start
building a fresh life for herself and has enrolled to go to university as a mature
student. She says that she feels she’s started on a new journey and that it
was the friendship and support of the church that’s made all the difference.
What astounded me more than anything was her words that she didn’t know
that Christianity was like that! How sad that she’s had to get to her stage of
life, with a huge crisis, before she could discover that! But it also shows how
each of us can play a part, in simple ways such as befriending others, offering
that living bread we have, to make a difference in people’s lives.
Summary
So, what is real life to you? Do you know the reality of Jesus, the living bread,
in your own life? Are you allowing him to feed and nourish you, making space
for him in your everyday life? Do you have a heart to share that bread with
those around you? The New Testament reading this morning from Eph. 5
urges Christians to: “be very careful how they live, not as unwise but as wise – making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil”. Our world is at times a very dark place but its shot through with glimpses of God’s grace.
May we be those who make the most of the opportunities we have to be
channels of God’s grace and offer that living bread to a hungry world.
Questions:
1. Were there any points in the sermon or aspects of the passage that have given you any fresh insights?
2. How can we continue to “feed on Jesus” in our everyday lives?
3. How can we help other people find that “living bread” for themselves?
4. If people are filling their lives with substitutes for the “real, living bread”, why is church so often the last place they go to? Is this a problem or an opportunity for the church?
I was browsing various websites recently, researching the subject of bread,
and came across one with the appealing title of Endless Agony .Com. (!)
It turned out to be a dieters’ website so the title is probably very appropriate!
People were sharing the ups and downs of their various diets but one that
caught my eye was a question about bread substitutes. The person said this :
”I started a diet a couple of weeks ago and its going pretty well but I eat too much bread. What can I eat that will fill me up and taste as good?” And I thought: Maybe I should refer her to John 6!
Her problem was that she needed to find bread substitutes but she knew they
would be nothing like as good as the real thing.
The Jews’ problem, when Jesus spoke to them about bread, was perhaps the
opposite. They were being offered the real thing but for various reasons, didn’t want it, or couldn’t cope with it. They were more interested in substitutes than the real, living bread of Jesus himself. And that’s certainly true for many people today.
What is real life?
What motivates us? What is real life all about? I think our gospel reading from John 6 asks these sort of questions. It makes uncomfortable reading. Real life, according to Jesus, can only be found in “eating his flesh and drinking his blood”. Even Christians, who are familiar with the account of the Last Supper, and take Holy Communion regularly, find it difficult to understand or express exactly what Jesus means.
No wonder, his listeners, first century Jews, were shocked by his words. First
he has performed the miracle of the Feeding of the 5000. When they want a repeat performance he reproves them for only being interested in physical, rather than spiritual food. When they start to make comparisons between Moses and Jesus, he goes much further and makes the ultimate shocking statement that he is the Bread of Life.
Understandably, they struggle to understand how he can make such claims
about himself, when many know him as “Jesus, the son of Joseph”. But what
follows becomes even more shocking. Not only is Jesus the Bread from
heaven, the living bread, but it is necessary feed on him to experience real
life, eternal life. “Unless you can eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you….my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink”.
No wonder they are horrified. We’re told that they argued about how he could
give his flesh to eat. Some probably thought he was talking about
cannibalism. Certainly it was an accusation that was brought against
Christians in the days of the early church, as they broke bread and shared
wine together, following Jesus’ example.
We’re told that following his words, his disciples complained that it was a hard
teaching and many turned back and left him. And it is a hard teaching. Even
today, when perhaps many of us have been Christians for a long time, when
we allow these words to really sink in, and wrestle with their implications, they
are tremendously challenging.
What is real life? What does it mean to feed on Jesus? Is it knowing about Jesus or knowing Jesus?
Charles Finney, the 19th century evangelist and preacher, said that faith in
Christ is not about saying or mentally affirming the Creed and key doctrines of
the Church, but its:
“the heart’s trust in the person of Christ. This act of trust unites our spirits to him in a union so close that we directly receive from him
a current of eternal life”.
“What are we to make of Jesus Christ?” asked C.S Lewis. ”There is no question of what we can make of Him. It is entirely a question of what He intends to make of us”
And a more up to date response to the question of Jesus is offered by Bear
Grylls, the TV adventurer. He says this:
“I always thought Christianity was about being very sensible, and acting all smart and religious. But the more I discovered about the person of Jesus Christ himself, the more I found a man who was as unreligious as you can imagine. It seemed that the very heart of the Christian faith, in truth, was neither about church or pulpits, sermons, latin verse or behaving! Its about a relationship with this Jesus who promised us life in abundance, joy within, peace without and freedom in our soul”.
Notice the common theme. Real life, eternal life is about a relationship with Jesus, a union between our spirits and his.
And notice all through this long discouse in John 6 how often the words “believe” and “life” are used. To enter into this union with Christ we need to believe and put out trust in him. He is the bread that will be given for the life of the world, pointing to his forthcoming sacrificial death. To enter into real life, eternal life, we need to accept his sacrificial death for ourselves, individually, and allow our spirits to be nourished by that living bread , that will never go stale and past its sell by date.
When we receive Holy Communion, we’re remembering Jesus’ words at the
Last Supper, and feeding on him spiritually. It is one of the ways by which we
participate in his life.
Do we know that life for ourselves?
Jesus’ word to us is that the bread he gives is the only food that will truly satisfy us, the only food that can give us real life. Life in all its fullness, as he says further on in John’s gospel. Are we feeding on him, allowing his life to flow through us, or are we looking for substitutes instead to bring us fulfilment?
There’s a hungry world out there!
There’s a world out there that’s desperately hungry, and there are many kinds
of substitutes for the food Jesus offers. Money, power, sex, status,
consumerism, the list is endless. They may bring temporary satisfaction but
they don’t fulfil people at the deepest level. Surrey teenagers are apparently
more depressed and stressed than anywhere else in the country, according to
the local Star courier newspaper, despite it being one of the most affluent
parts of the country. More and more children are being diagnosed with
depression and mental health problems. Something’s surely going very wrong
with our society.
Are we offering that living bread to others?
Yet, we, you and I, the church, have that living bread, and each one of us is
called to make a difference in our messed up society. Who are the people
we meet every day, families, friends, neighbours, people in our workplace, at
the school gate? In our leisure activities? Do we take time to build up real
relationships with them, going beyond the superficial? Are we aware, as we
get to know them, that Jesus loves them and longs to come into their lives?
That he sees the pain, the emptiness, the loneliness in people’s lives and
wants to use us to make a difference?
About a month ago, on July 19th, some of you may have seen an event on the
national news called “The Big Lunch”. It was organized by the Eden Project in
Cornwall. Their vision was this:
“Imagine a summer’s day on which millions of us , throughout the UK ,sit down to have lunch with our neighbours in the middle of our streets, around our tower blocks and on every patch of common ground….This will be a day to break bread with our neighbours, to put a smile on Britain’s face”.
Interesting, isn’t it, the use of religious language there, “breaking bread with
our neighbours”.. If you saw this on the news you may remember the scenes
of street parties round the country, people setting up tables in their streets and
sharing lunch together. People interviewed were very positive about it, It had
given them a chance to get to know their neighbours and people who live
down their street whom they never speak to normally, or had never met
before. When I saw this on TV my first thought was “Brilliant. This has got to
be a church organized event!”. But when I looked it up on the website I
discovered it was the vision of two men from the Eden Project, supported by a long list of other well known organizations, but sadly no mention of the church.
They called it a “Celebration of life”. Its purpose was to cheer people up, bring
them together, across all divides, classes and cultural differences, recognising
that many people are lonely and have no sense of community. And I thought:
”That could be Christianity. Isn’t that what the church should be doing?”
Christianity is a celebration of life. The life that Jesus brings to each one of us
and that should be overflowing into our communities. The New Testament is
full of pictures and stories of the kingdom of God being like a feast or banquet,
to which all are invited. The Eden Project ,with the “Big Lunch”., seemed to be
far closer to that picture than many people’s perception of the church.
But of course, its not the real thing. We have far more to offer. The “Big
Lunch” was just a one day event. Hopefully some friendships were started
that day, people may continue to chat to their neighbours and feel more part
of a community, and that’s great. But its unlikely that it was a life changing
event for most people. They ate their lunch, had a good time and went home.
Their lives will probably go on just the same. But they missed out on what will
truly feed them, truly bring love, companionship and the best relationship of all
into their lives. That living bread, that you and I have, if we’ve given our lives to Christ.
What may be stopping us from sharing our bread?
Maybe we feel our bread’s gone stale. We’ve lost our first love. Its not the
bread that’s gone stale because the presence of Jesus is still within us but
maybe we’ve stopped feeding on him, allowing him to nourish us. Perhaps
we’re too busy, too stressed, struggling with illness or difficult circumstances. We all go though those times. But we need to find space somewhere to come back to Jesus and open ourselves again to his life and presence. His bread is always there to nourish, restore us and strengthen us.
Have we unintentionally hoarded our bread? Its easy to become part of a
Christian ghetto where we only go to church meetings or events, and socialise
with other Christians. We become comfortable with our church life.
And then we wonder why so many people don’t come to church or recognise
that precious gift that is being offered to them in Christ? Yet they’re searching
for meaning and purpose in so many different ways.
How can we share that living bread?
How are we, the church, going to help people to find that living bread? Do we
wait for them to come to church or do we go out to them? Not necessarily in
big evangelistic missions but just by getting alongside people, building up
relationships, being people of integrity who are willing to get our hands dirty,
getting involved in the mess and pain of people’s lives. Isn’t that what Jesus
did? Its only as we gain people’s trust that they will be receptive to us sharing our faith.
Several years ago I got to know one of the mums at the school gate as we
waited to pick up our children. She had recently moved to Camberley from
Yorkshire and didn’t know anyone. I invited her round for a cup of tea and we
began to meet up fairly regularly over a period of several years . We got to
know each other well over this time. She knew I was a Christian, and went to
church. As a girl, she’d had links with church through her school and had some familiarity with Christianity but didn’t appear interested in coming to church, although she knew several people from the church through a book group she joined.
Sadly, her marriage broke up a few months ago but she was overwhelmed by
the support and friendship she was shown through members of the church.
She’s been coming regularly to church and got involved with helping to run
our Parent and Toddler Group. She’s also found the confidence to start
building a fresh life for herself and has enrolled to go to university as a mature
student. She says that she feels she’s started on a new journey and that it
was the friendship and support of the church that’s made all the difference.
What astounded me more than anything was her words that she didn’t know
that Christianity was like that! How sad that she’s had to get to her stage of
life, with a huge crisis, before she could discover that! But it also shows how
each of us can play a part, in simple ways such as befriending others, offering
that living bread we have, to make a difference in people’s lives.
Summary
So, what is real life to you? Do you know the reality of Jesus, the living bread,
in your own life? Are you allowing him to feed and nourish you, making space
for him in your everyday life? Do you have a heart to share that bread with
those around you? The New Testament reading this morning from Eph. 5
urges Christians to: “be very careful how they live, not as unwise but as wise – making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil”. Our world is at times a very dark place but its shot through with glimpses of God’s grace.
May we be those who make the most of the opportunities we have to be
channels of God’s grace and offer that living bread to a hungry world.
Questions:
1. Were there any points in the sermon or aspects of the passage that have given you any fresh insights?
2. How can we continue to “feed on Jesus” in our everyday lives?
3. How can we help other people find that “living bread” for themselves?
4. If people are filling their lives with substitutes for the “real, living bread”, why is church so often the last place they go to? Is this a problem or an opportunity for the church?
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