Sermon: Happy Christmas Everybody

Preached 24 December 2019 23:15 at Christ Church, Billericay

Purpose: How to give everyone a happy Christmas

Readings Isaiah 52v7-10; John 1v1-14

It’s Christmas

It’s Christmas, well that’s what we still hear Noddy Holder shouting when we turn on the radio. It’s God’s little joke that I have limited voice today, although I was never going to shout like Noddy.

The song paints a picture of everybody having fun, even gran joins in with the dancing and everyone being just a little over the top. There’s mention of the family being together and no doubt he was singing to young adults and children. But Christmas is not always like that, at the other extreme is Den Watts, in East Enders, handing his wife Angie the divorce papers on Christmas day. I hope your Christmas will be better than that, better than either of those pictures in fact.

Babies in Stables etc.

We’re used to the Christmas story of the Virgin Mary giving birth to a baby and having to stay outside because there’s no space for her in the Inn. We’re used to the story of Angels and Shepherds and the tough conditions they worked in. Even the lowest of the low go to worship the messiah, having received a message of peace and good will from God and the joy that brings.

Our Old Testament reading also tells us of the joy that comes from the message of peace.

We’re used to the story of wise men visiting the child and leaving significant gifts. The highest of the high go to worship the messiah. We may remember that they had to avoid Herod on the way back. We may also remember his murderous threats and the flight to Egypt to keep the baby safe.

The bible manages to top the story lines of East Enders any day, and the Bible stories are truth.

John’s Approach

Those are good stories but they are human stories told from a human point of view – that’s the sort of thing we engage easily with. John’s introduction that we have just heard takes a different approach. John already knows who the baby is and he is not going to introduce Jesus like that. John starts from the very beginning and echoes the book of Genesis.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ...” it says, but John tells us that before even that was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. And that Jesus was the agent of creation. So straight away we are told that Jesus is divine and is the creator.

The mission

Then we get straight into the mission. Jesus is life and that life is the light of men. John the baptist was sent to point people to the light, and he did, but even so the people did not recognise their creator.

To the few that did He gave the right to become children of God.

v14

In the last verse we read, John sums up this part of his introduction:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Grace

Grace is not a behaviour that we talk about a great deal today. So here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I work in I.T. Many years ago I was trying to fix a problem and went about it completely the wrong way. As a result the mainframe computer was down for about an hour in the middle of the day. I knew better, I just didn’t do it. I probably deserved to be disciplined, but all my manager said was “You know what you’ve done, right?” and that was it. I even got a pay rise at the end of the year. And that is grace. I was allowed to continue my work with out penalty when one was deserved, I was given what I really didn’t deserve.

God’s grace

God’s grace is much greater than that. We fail to live up to His standards all the time, and yet He still gives us good things – look around you, not just here but in the world outside this church too. He also took the trouble to wipe out our failings once and for all. That is why Jesus came and took on flesh, initially as a baby, but later as a man who was fully obedient to God, and died on the cross for us.

That is the real good news of Christmas, the saviour – Jesus, the light of humanity – has come.

Glory

His glory is his act of redemption, his death for our sins and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. That is the hope we have at Christmas, the hope that more of the world will be redeemed and that the world will become a better, more peaceful, more loving place.

Our Happy Christmas

So, when I wish you a happy Christmas (I’m going to stick with happy in preference to merry because I don’t want to imply that you should be consuming too much alcohol)

When I wish you a happy Christmas that is what I am hoping and wishing for – for all of you and for everyone that I say it to. A Christmas where even if you gran doesn’t enjoy the latest music she can be up and rock and rolling, perhaps on her own, but still having a good time.

Our Part

We can play our part in that. For me that is not becoming a DJ (I’d be terrible at it), my part is responding to every situation that occurs with grace and love – so imitating our saviour. I’m going to try that.

Happy Christmas Everybody

References:
http://ntwrightpage.com/2016/03/29/full-of-grace-and-truth/
https://www.gty.org/library/topical-series-library/245/the-best-of-christmas
http://www.stgeorgesunited.com/blog/2015/12/28/sermon-full-of-grace-and-truth-december-24th-2015
https://genius.com/Slade-merry-xmas-everybody-lyrics
https://www.family-times.net/illustration/Grace/
http://www.moreillustrations.com/Illustrations/grace%203.html

Sermon: John the Baptist

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay 15 Dec 2019 at 08:00

Title: John the Baptist

Reading Isaiah 35v1-10, Matthew 11v2-11

Greatest Ever OT Human?

Who is the greatest person in the Old Testament? Who would you pick: Abraham, because God made the original covenant with him;
Moses, because he lead the Israelites out of slavery;
Elijah, because he was the greatest prophet;

David, because he was the greatest King?

It’s JtB

The list goes on, there are any number of people to choose from. But Jesus chose John the Baptist, there it is in verse 11 “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist”. Why is that? What is it that is SO special about John?

JtB – the story so far

Let’s have a quick reminder of John’s life so far. John is Jesus’s cousin and he is a little older than Jesus. He was a prophet, calling Israel to repentance. He went out into the desert, he lived on locusts and honey, which he found locally, and he was a celebrity in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Many people went into the dessert to hear him preach and to be baptised, a symbol of their returning to God.

Expecting the Messiah

John expected a messiah. When questioned by the Pharisees in John chapter 1 he said “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

He was, of course, referring to Jesus. The apostle John goes on to say (verse 29-31)

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

Herod and John

King Herod was fascinated by John, and wanted to hear him preach, but the message Herod got was not one that he was prepared to hear. John criticized him for divorcing his wife and marrying Herodias, his cousin’s wife. So Herod put John in jail.

1 Year Later

Today’s reading is thought to be set about a year after that. John has been imprisoned in the fortress of Machaerus, East of Dead Sea. He is hearing what is going on in the world outside from his disciples.

Not what is expected

What John was hearing, though, is not what John was expecting to hear. Look at the OT reading.

(v4) “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

That’s what John was expecting. Along with the miracles, there should be some vengeance, some divine retribution, but none of that was happening – nor was there any sign that it might. So, perhaps it is not surprising that Johns was beginning to wonder if he had identified the wrong person as the Messiah.

You, or someone else?

His disciples come to Jesus and ask the question. The answer they get is “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”

John’s Status

You may think it is not much of an answer, and that it leaves more questions than it answers, but it should be good enough for John to know that he correctly identified the messiah.

Jesus realises though that the crowd around Him might not understand what has been said, and might not understand John’s status, so He starts the process of confirming that John is indeed the one calling in the desert – and more.

A reed

Many of crowd that followed Jesus, will also have been out into the desert to see John, so He asks them, “What did you go to see?” “A reed swayed in the wind?” “Someone who can’t make up their mind? Someone whose beliefs are changed by the circumstances around them? - That would not be John, he may have misunderstood, but he is not a doubter.

Fine Clothes

Not a reed then, so what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, fine clothes are for people in King's palaces. Jesus is having a dig at Herod for putting John in prison. You won’t find those people in the desert preaching repentance.

A prophet, a messenger

So, what did you go out to see? A prophet then, Yes, most definitely a prophet. There had not been a prophet in Israel for four hundred years before John and he was also prophesied.

Malachi 3:1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

John is that prophet, that messenger who makes the people ready for Jesus, but it is not that specifically that makes John Jesus’ choice for the greatest OT person.

What is a prophet?

To answer the question “Why is John, Jesus’ choice?” we have to understand the nature of a prophet. A prophet is a person who speaks God’s truth to others. Jesus is God’s truth, He said so himself. John 14:6, has Jesus saying one of the best known of His quotes: “I am the way the truth and the life”

OT Prophet

Prophets is the OT spoke about Jesus, but they did it vaguely, in our OT reading this morning Isaiah simply says “Your God will come”. Malachi says “the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple”. There is nothing really specific – a little where, but no when or who.

JtB

John the baptist, on the other hand was able to say “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”. He gave his hearers a very specific where, when and who. He also describes Jesus’ mission – and provided some of the what.

This is what makes John the Baptist the greatest Old Testament character, because he speaks about God’s truth (that’s Jesus) more clearly, more precisely than any of the others.

The least in the kingdom of heaven

The least in the kingdom of heaven (that’s us) are greater than John because we can speak God’s truth in a whole lot more detail. We know who Jesus was as a person on earth, we know who He is as we are all connected to Him by the Holy Spirit, and we know how He takes away the sin of the world. We know that He died so that we can be put right with God, and we know that he rose from the dead as proof of who he is. We have the where, when, who, what and how. So when we speak God’s truth, we can give a clear, if not quite a perfect picture to our hearers.

As His followers or disciples, that is our purpose – to speak the truth of God to other people. You might know that better as talking to people about Jesus.

What a privilege it is to be greater than the prophets!

Amen

Perseverance during the End Times

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay 17 November 2019 @ 8:00 Holy Communion

Planet is Burning

Fifty years ago, when I was at school, we were taught that the Earth was due another Ice Age any time in the next 100,000 years or so. How would humanity survive as the ice sheets once again covered Britain? Would we all have to migrate south and live in southern Europe or northern Africa? At least it wouldn’t affect my generation, even when the process started it would take thousands of years get this far south.

How different it is today. Over the last fifty years we have detected that the Earth has changed from getting very slowly colder, to getting very quickly hotter. Wild fires in various places, and other fires deliberately set to clear forest mean that the quote I heard on the radio “the planet is on fire” really sound like the truth.

Malachi

Then I read the Malachi reading. In the day of the Lord “All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire”

In a fire, stubble burns in seconds and is gone.

The arrogant and the evil doers I can easily see as those who have encouraged us to get where we are, who have put profit ahead of care for the environment. We all must take some responsibility though, because we have not been determined to do things the right way, but have gone along with the ease and convenience that the modern world provides.

Verse 2

Using that interpretation, though, meant that the first part of verse 2 that was read bothered me a little. “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings”

It sounds like we should be somehow exempt from the effects that we are suffering. That can’t be the case, if the planet burns we all suffer.

Luke

So let’s turn to Luke to see if the gospel reading can help us understand what is going on.

The Temple

The Temple was an incredible building intended to show off the glory of God. It was the centre of the Jewish world, not just an important building. The disciple remarking about its beauty was quite a natural thing to do. So when Jesus says that a time will come when the temple will just be rubble you can imagine their reaction.

St Pauls

To help us get a sense of the shock Jesus’ statement must have caused, think about St Paul’s in WWII. The cathedral suffered some damage, but became a symbol of our nation standing against all that the German air force could through at it. There were teams of people dedicated to removing incendiary devices from it’s roof, and put out any fires that occurred before serious damage could be caused. If it had been destroyed, there’s a chance that morale would have plummeted and the war lost.

Temple Destroyed

The temple was more, much more, important than that. We know that it was finally destroyed in 70AD, but for now the disciples want to know when it will happen.

Jesus doesn’t give them a date, or tell them that a cosmic event will mark its end, instead he gives them some indicators, and with them some instructions on the attitude they should have.

Many claim to be Jesus

There will be many who claim that they are Jesus returned. They will say that the final end is near, they are wrong. Jesus’ coming will be obvious to all, Jesus has already told the disciples this in Luke 17:30-31:

“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.

Everyone will know.

Wars, Revolutions, Natural Disasters

Wars and revolutions will also occur. These don’t imply that the end is coming either, they are simply events that must happen before the end can come. Natural disasters, earthquakes, famines, epidemics, and cosmic events are also in the same category. They are things that must happen.

What happens next

Before any of this, though, a worse fate will befall you Jesus tells His disciples. “they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.”

Don’t worry, though, because this gives you a chance to tell your story, don’t lose any sleep preparing it, because I will give you words and wisdom at the right time.

Family & friends & everyone

Even family and friends cannot be counted upon in those times, and everyone will hate you because you follow me. Some of you will even be put to death.

But ..

But not a hair on your head will perish and by standing firm you will gain life. So, this life that Jesus is referring to is clearly eternal life, and that must be what Malachi is getting at when he says ““But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings”.

The future

While the teaching here seems to be specifically for the period between the resurrection and the destruction of the Temple, especially because the following verse talks about armies surrounding Jerusalem, we know that we are still living in the same times as the disciples were being warned about.

The Teaching

The teaching in this passages offers us 4 points as we try to remain faithful to God during difficult times:

v18 Watch out for false leaders, do not follow them.

Vv9-11 Do not be frightened by the events that you know have to happen in the end times.

Vv12-16 Do not worry about your defence when you are taken to court, Jesus will provide you with the words to say and the wisdom to deliver them. You will be a witness for Christ

vv17-19 When everyone turns against you, and hates you, stand firm in your beliefs, and by doing so you WILL gain Eternal Life

Our Experience

We don’t see much persecution in this country, but we are starting to see the beginnings of it, so far it is mainly inconvenience – people losing job, being de-selected as candidates in the general election. It is getting slowly more serious, but that is to be expected in the current times – the end times.

As we wait for His return, we must be prepared for this and worse, if we expect it, and persevere we too will gain Life.

Amen

An Encounter with a Book

Preached at Christ church, Billericay on 27 October 2019 @ 10am (Bible Sunday)

Reading: Psalm 119v129-136, 2 Timothy 3v14-17

I used to read a book in preference to a news paper on the train to work. It’s easier to manage and more entertaining, but you do have to be a bit careful if the book is very funny. Laughing out loud just outside Barking is not a good move. I kept up with the news and current affairs by listening to the radio.

Books I’ve read

I’ve read quite a lot of books, I suppose. For example, the entire Sherlock Holmes series and The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, many of Agatha Christie’s Poirot books, Terry Pratchet’s Disk World series, and lots of science fiction – from Jules Verne to Isaac Asimov, and all the James Bond books. I also enjoy reading books in the cottages we visit on holiday, it was on one of those occasions that I read Pride and Prejudice and on another I discovered Dr. Thorndyke by R. Austin Freeman. Dr Thorndyde is a Victorian detective and what we would now call a forensic scientist. There’s lots more besides those, and I’m not going to spend the morning listing books.

Encounter with a book

Every book that I have read, has had some effect on me, but reading Sherlock Holmes has not turned me into a great detective, although I’m sure the children would have got away with a lot more if those stories hadn’t encouraged me to look closely at the evidence. And reading the Poirot stories has not turned me into a Belgian.

Stories

Stories, even fictional ones, have an effect on our thinking and therefore on the way we live our lives. We are fortunate to live in a culture where so much literature is so easily available and where we have been given the skills to interact with it.

Reference Books

Of course, I’ve also spent a lot of time reading reference books. I remember many Saturday mornings in the local library with my head in various encyclopedias madly scribbling notes for some homework assignment. That was some very reluctant reading, but it has served me well. Later, at work, before the internet there was always a library of reference books that I had to know my way around, and dip in and out of as was required. It you couldn’t figure it out from the book, you couldn’t figure it out.

Bible

There is one book that I encountered that had a role in changing my life though – its not really a book, but a collection of books – the Bible. In many ways it is the strangest book I have ever engaged with. We say that it has all the answers, that it tells us how God wants us to live, and it does. But you can’t go to the index and look up Sin, then reference all the entries to find out what you’re not supposed to do. And yet that is how we use it a lot of the time. I remember sitting in the Coach and Horses discussing all sorts of things and Jim flicking through his Bible like some great encyclopedia, and finding and reading short passages. Even they needed explanation! It was far from straight forward.

Bible’s story

The Bible’s books tell the story of God’s people through three important events. The first is their rescue from slavery in Egypt and their arrival in the promised land. The second is their exile from the promised land at the hands of the Babylonians and the promise of a saviour. The third is the arrival of the saviour – Jesus, and his death and resurrection.

Each of these events is recorded and reflected on as the people try to understand what is happening to them and how God is guiding them.

Exile

It was the exile that led to the creation of the books in the first place. The people were in fear that they would lose touch with their God in a foreign land so the memories from the oral tradition were finally recorded.

Nothing, absolutely nothing was left out. No attempt was made to gloss over their failings, they were happy to admit them and record them, from their wilful disobedience to their love of the Lord. Everything.

Over the period of a couple of centuries following the exile the word Torah changes from meaning ‘teachings’ to meaning ‘the writings’ⁱ, and the Jews have become the people of the book.

Ps 119

We get a small snippet of their love and desire for their God in the verse of Psalm 119 that was read today:

Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them.

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.

Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name.

Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.

Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may obey your precepts.

Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees.

Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.

Torah – God’s word.

The Torah, or Pentateuch are the words that the psalmist is referring to. These words carry a power which is far greater than the simple text, because these words are the words of God.

2 Tim

In our new testament reading the holy Scriptures that Paul refers to is much more similar to our Old Testament. Paul says that the scriptures make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus. All Scripture, he says (and we would now include his letters and the rest of the New Testament in all Scripture), is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Rebuking

Teaching is fairly obvious, I think, but perhaps rebuking is less so. When did you last receive a rebuke from Scripture? It simply means that something you read made you realise that you had sinned – gone against God’s word, and that you need to repent. An old meaning of rebuke is something that makes you turn back. Repentance would set you back on the right path.

God-breathed

Paul says that Scripture is God-breathed. It is God’s words, not man’s. That doesn’t mean that it was dictated by God as some would have us believed, the process is more sophisticated than that. 2 Peter 1:21 gives us a clue: “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Inspired

You may be thinking we should use the word ‘Inspired’ rather that God-breathed, although that is the literal translation. Tom Wright in his commentary say there is a problem with our understanding of the word ‘Inspired’. Sometimes it simply means exceptional, as in ‘an inspired performance’. Sometimes it implies some sort of spiritual force took over, for example when we talk about inspired poetry. This just takes us back to the dictation approach that I mentioned earlier. The authors of Scripture were not “God’s typewriter”. Sometimes ‘it’s inspired’ means that it fits my theology perfectly, and therefore I can claim something for my theology that is not Biblical.

God-breathed, on the other hand, does not imply any of these things, it only implies that the message comes from God.

Correcting and training

Correcting and training in righteousness are also, I think, quite obvious. After my many discussions in the pub, I eventually became a follower of Jesus. From that point on I have often needed my world view corrected by the Bible.

Effect of reading Scripture

In 2011 Christianity Today reported on a study of the effect of reading scriptureⁱⁱ. Here’s a very quick summary:

• Those who read scripture more often are more likely to:
• say it is important to actively seek social and economic justice
• say it is important to consume fewer goods
• see less of a conflict between science and religion
• dis-approve of same-sex marriages

That helps me to understand Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Read more

The implication is that we should read our bibles more often and for longer. There are several ways to do this, there are plenty of Bible reading plans available, some in paper form and some available electronically, and you will need a good Bible, of course.

Which Bible

Premier Christian Radio had a Facebook poll recently that asked whether it is important which version of the Bible you read. I don’t remember the figures for the result, except that I was in the minority, in that I think it is very important.

Now, I don’t much care which version you read, so long as it’s one that you can understand easily. I didn’t like the trend a few years ago to return to the Authorised Version. The language is far too out of date, and while it is undoubtedly beautifully put together, it is too difficult for day-to-day use 400 years on. So pick a recent(ish) modern translation, or something that is close to it, so that you can understand easily what you read. That’s the most important thing, then you will have no excuse for not obeying it’s commands.

Home Groups

We can, and should read the Bible in private and in Public. I spent 3 years reading from cover to cover on the train many years ago. We should also read in small groups, where we can study it a little more deeply. At Christ Church, we call these Home Groups. I’ve been in a Home Group for most of my time here and in that time we’ve covered many books, including Revelation, and recently we’ve just finished Isaiah. Both of those were quite challenging, quite though provoking and well worth the effort.

Conclusion

So as I wrap up this Bible Sunday sermon, I will tell you that the most influential book of all time, has also been the most influential book I have encountered so far.

If you’d like to know more, I’d love to hear from you.

Let me leave you with two Bible verses:

Isaiah 40:8

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.

Romans 15:4

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

i https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/when-was-the-hebrew-bible-written/

ii https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2011/july/effects-of-reading-scripture.html

References
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/when-was-the-hebrew-bible-written/
https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2011/july/effects-of-reading-scripture.html
https://www.openbible.info/topics/itself
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/origins-written-bible/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/canon

Living by faith

Preached at Christ church, Billericay on 6 October 2019 @10am

1. Reading Hab 1:1-4;2:1-4, Lk 17:5-10

   1. Introduction

“The righteous will live by faith.” it says in Romans 1:17, echoing the last verse of the reading from Habakkuk. So what does it mean “to live by faith”?

2. Live by faith 1

When I was young and a young Christian, this was one of those phases that I think none of us understood well enough. “It means that you listen to God and do as he tells you.” was one view. Yes, it does!

When I wake in the morning I listen to God, when He tells me to get up, I get up. When He tells me to get dressed I listen to him to see how He would like me dressed that day.

I end up dressed in jeans and smart jacket, without a shirt and only one sock.

So, that’s clearly not what it means, because we are not capable of listening to God that closely, neither I suspect is He that interested in how I dress.

3. Live by faith 2

I have also heard this phrase used as a reason not to buy insurance. In those cases it is usually coupled with the verse that says that God knows your needs. It is never coupled with the verses that talk about being responsible and looking after your family.

So, that’s clearly not what it means either.

4. Habakkuk

Let’s take a look at Habakkuk as see where the phrase came from, to try to see what it means.

We know absolutely nothing of Habakkuk beyond these words and dating the writing independently of it’s content is very difficult. What Habakkuk tells us is that the leadership in Judea is failing. There is no justice, the rule of law is breaking down. Violence and intimidation are used so that the leaders can do as they please. The first section ends with “The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”

You may see some parallels to our times there, but I’m not going down that route today.

5. Complaint & God’s first answer

Habakkuk has made his complaint to God. We skipped God’s first answer, so here it is in typical Pete abbreviated form.

God says: “I have a cure for that, the Babylonians are coming”. Imagine having a similar complain in the 1930’s and God’s answer is “I have a cure for that the Nazi’s are coming”.

Understandably Habakkuk is a little outraged and complains that the cure is much worse than the disease.

1. God’s second Answer

Then we get the start of God’s second answer. The first and most import part is that it is to be written down and preserved. It is not for now, but for a future time, Habakkuk must wait for it.

Then, still talking about the Babylonians, God goes on to give His prophecy, but not before the statement that the righteous man will live by his faith. That’s where we stop, if you want to find out more read the book later, it is only 4 chapters.

6. Faith vs Faithfulness

I started by mentioning Romans 1:17, here’s the full verse

“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Paul also references the same verse in Galatians 3:11:

“Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

In both those verses the word translated faith, is more often translated faithfulness. Its definition is “Faith, faithfulness, belief, trust, with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow”

Let’s not get too hung up on the details of translation, but rather concentrate on the ideas that the words carry.

“Faith, faithfulness, belief, trust, with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow”

7. “Increase our faith”

So what are the apostles talking about when they say to Jesus, “Increase our faith”?

They are responding to a difficult command that Jesus has given them. Look at verse 3 of Luke Chapter 17:

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

We heard yesterday of a remarkable case of forgiveness.

1. Brandt Jean

Amber Guyger a Texan policewoman was convicted of the murder of Botham Jean, who she shot, thinking he was an intruder. She was in the wrong apartment – one floor too high.

Brandt Jean, his brother gave her a hug in the courtroom and told her of his forgiveness. She was clearly sorry for her actions.

Brant is a remarkable young man.

Jesus told his apostles that they should forgive, and if the person is repentant forgive them again and again, on the same day. No limits were put on the actions that require forgiveness.

2. Mulberry Trees!

The apostles response: “Increase our faith”. I can understand that response, but Jesus’ comes back at them with a very strange answer.

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

Why would Jesus suggest that they may want to transplant a 35 foot tree into the sea? He then goes on to tell them a story of a servant. If you had a servant who has been out ploughing and looking after sheep would you say to him, ‘come sit and eat’, or would you say to him ‘prepare my supper and wait on me’.

When the servant did as he was told, would you then thank him?

The answers to Jesus’ questions are obvious. The servant is expected to do his job, to wait on his master and not to expect any thanks.

But what about the mulberry tree. I think that is hyperbole, as in ‘first remove the plank from your own eye...’ (Luke 6:42). Moving a mulberry tree, like that is incredibly difficult and entirely pointless. Jesus isn’t asking them to do miracles that look like magic, he’s simply asking them to obey the commands that He is giving them and not to expect any thanks.

8. Nature of a servant

That is the nature of a servant. A servant does not question his master, he trusts that what his master asks him to do is the right thing, and then he gets on and does it.

Let’s go back to that definition of the word translated faith:

Remember:

“Faith, faithfulness, belief, trust, with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow”.

If we have belief, but no actions follow, can we truly count ourselves as the Lord’s servants, or are we simply conning ourselves.

Perhaps Jesus could have responded to the apostles request to have their faith increased with the simple instruction “Increase your obedience”, although I doubt it would have got the right response it is effectively what Jesus is saying. It’s a valid response too, because obedience works. It will increase our faith.

9. The Lords Commands

I started with two examples of faith I had heard as a young Christian. The reason that neither of them work is that they both ignore the standing orders of the servant of Christ.

These are clearly recorded in the Bible, I’m not going to give an extensive list this morning, but here are a few:

10. Luke 5:33-35 – Fasting

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

11. Luke 6:29 – turn the other cheek

If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.

12. Luke 9:24,25 – give up my life

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

13. Luke 12:16-21 – generosity to God

He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

14. Luke 14:12-14 – do good without the possibility of payback

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

15. Finally

If we are to live by faith, or live faithfully, we must believe the Lords commands and obey them. We must recognise that we are His servants in all that we do and like Habakkuk we must wait patiently for His timing. And like the apostles, our obedience will increase our faith.

AMEN.

The important things in life

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay on 15 September 2019 @ 8am

1. Reading Deuteronomy 8v7-18;Luke12v16-30

   1. The Land

The Lord your God has put you in a good land – a land with streams and pools of water, a land where water is piped into every house, a land with wheat and oats, and endless supplies of fresh produce on the high street, a land where work is readily available and well paid, a land where food is not scarce and you will lack nothing.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees.

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your bank balance and pension pot grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God.

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”. But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.

2. Consequences

If you didn’t recognise the last verse, that’s because it wasn’t part of the reading. We must always remember that there are consequences to our actions, or our inactions.

1. Bible is Clear

The Bible is very clear about the important thing in our lives, and we find similar ideas in the New Testament reading as well.

3. A certain Rich Man

A certain rich man has completely forgotten about God, his only concern is to ensure that his excellent crops are not wasted, so that he can still get the profit from them.

4. Butter mountain – Food waste

A few years ago I would have been talking about the butter mountain and the wine lake, both of which resulted from abundant production, and were caused by greed, just like the rich man’s barn extensions.

Today I would talk about food waste, in particular irregularly shaped vegetable that are deemed unsaleable. Everything has its price, so this again has its root in greed. (Pardon the pun!)

5. No Profit for the Rich Man

The rich man will not get his excess profit because his life is about to come to an end. Grains and barns, gold and silver, investments and pension plans do not follow us into the next life - “you can’t take it with you”. So someone else will get it, and who can tell whether they will put it to good use or not.

6. Audley End

We recently visited Audley End, the history of the house shows that one generation does not necessarily have the same abilities and preferences as the next. There is a long history of development and neglect.

7. Rich towards God

In verse 21 we see why the rich man will not benefit from his plans – because he is not rich towards God. In Exodus 23:19 the Israelites are told “Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.”

Proverbs 3:9-10:
Honour the Lord with your wealth.
Give him the first share of all your crops.
Then your storerooms will be so full they can’t hold everything. Your huge jars will spill over with fresh wine.

This is a way of acknowledging that the harvest belongs to the Lord, it is part of His provision for us. A bumper harvest ought to equal and even greater offering than usual, because we still only need the same amount as we have always needed.

8. Our ‘Harvest’

These days we don’t really have a harvest – sure we see the crops being cut in the fields, but at a personal level the only harvest I see is the tomatoes, beans, beetroot, potatoes and, this year, two cucumbers, that I grow in the garden. If I had to survive on that I would have starved long ago.

1. My ‘harvest’

My ‘harvest’ arrives in my bank account each month and it is from there that I have the opportunity to remember the Lord and all that He has done for me. There’s a savings campaign on the TV at the moment which highlights the fact that it is easier to save if you do it on payday. Well that’s true of showing our thankfulness to the Lord for all of his amazing provision for us too. Take it out on payday and pay it to where ever it has to go. OR Put it in the envelopes, or use a standing order or two.

9. Back to the rich man

If the rich man had done that, he might have survived long enough to enjoy a healthy retirement!

10. On the bread line

The hearers of Jesus’s story were mainly ordinary people. Verse 1 of the chapter says a crowd of many thousands had gathered. Most of them would have existed day-to-day, hand-to-mouth, the sort of people our politicians now call ‘the just about managing’. I’d imagine they thought the rich man got what he deserved. The last part of our gospel reading is aimed directly at them. Yes, it says he spoke to his disciples, but the crowd hadn’t dispersed, so they would have heard too, at least some of them.

11. Don’t Worry

Having recognised what God has done for us and given him the first fruits, we should then not worry too much about what is left. This might be seen as a bit of a sideswipe at the Pharisees who loved to dress up in fancy costumes [I’m in robes!], but it has a message to us too. Jesus is saying that what we wear and what we eat are not the be all and end all of life. While we are worrying about these things, life is happening, maybe passing us by.

12. Extending Life

We cannot add a single hour to our lives by worrying – indeed worrying is much more likely to shorten our life than extend it.

13. Pagans

The pagan world worries about these things – look at the world around us – fashion is out of control, cloths are thrown away after a single wearing. It really doesn’t matter if we are seen in the same dress or suit multiple times. When we visit restaurants, or when we are out shopping, we should not spend ages debating what we are to eat and drink. The phrase for worry here means more literally ‘be up in the air about’.

14. Kingdom of God

Instead our focus – the thing which draws our attention and our worrying should be the kingdom of God.

15. Ravens

Jesus picks on the ravens as an example – God looks after them – a bird considered unclean, even though they make no effort at all – they don’t sow or reap, they don’t store grain in barns, but God feeds them.

How much more valuable are you, a clean human being, than an unclean raven.

16. Lilies

The lilies – a bright, somewhat over the top bloom they are a very pretty flower, and some are very ornate. The designs are subtler and more attractive that the best that designer fashion has to offer. God did that!

God made us to, so why should we worry about what we look like.

17. Seek the Kingdom

If we go off the end of the reading a little we get Jesus’ alternative. Seek God’s kingdom and everything you have been worrying about will be given to you.

Be Watchful

Preached at St John the Divine, Billericay on 11 August 2019

1. Burglary

I wonder if you’ve ever been burgled? It happened to us a couple of years ago, while we were on holiday visiting our daughter in America. They broke the glass in the patio doors and searched through the bedrooms for the things they wanted – jewellery mainly. There wasn’t much top take, we don’t have a lot of those sorts of things and anyway the value isn’t in the gold and silver, but in the meaning those pieces hold. If I’d known when they were coming, I’d have booked the holiday for a different time. But that’s the point, isn’t it, I can’t know when they’re coming because they wouldn’t come while they knew we were about.

On that first evening after we had seen the state of the house I did not sleep very well, I was thinking about how I could have better protected the house. Here are some of my ideas:

• CCTV – no, it can be hacked, and then they will definitely know we are not there
• Put the valuable in a safe under the floor – our house is built on a concrete plinth and does not have traditional foundations.
• Put deadlocks on all the internal doors and find somewhere to hide the keys – because they’re too heavy to carry around
• Have a burglary alarm with strobe lights, so it’s hard to see what there is in the house
• Put shutters on the doors that drop into place and lock into the floor, trapping any burglar in the room.
• Electrify door handles.
• Have a vat of boiling oil at the top of the stairs, finely balanced, so that any vibration on the stairs tips it over.

OK, some of those are a bit extreme, and also quite illegal, but that’s where my mind goes when something like that happens.

2. Be ready

The point is to be ready – to be prepared. Had I been adequately prepared? I don’t know, maybe not. We are better prepared now, I can’t divulge which of the solutions I listed earlier we have adopted.

3. Servants

In both the short parables that we heard this morning Jesus is telling his disciples to be ready. Servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet might have had a long wait. Weddings would often last for days with long journeys to take to get there and back again. So they would have to be dressed and ready for service, with their lamps burning for maybe five whole days. Then look how the master responds. He then takes the role of the servant, and serves His servants.

4. Thief

First, Jesus has described himself as the master – a natural description perhaps, but now he has likened Himself to a thief. The contrast is there to underline His point. There are many things you need to be ready for. Especially the return of the Son of Man.

5. The return

The son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Even Jesus does not know the time of His return, we read in Mark 13:32:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

So the timing of the return cannot be known. Therefore, anyone who tells you that Jesus will return at a particular time is wrong, so is anyone who claims to be Jesus returned. In Luke 17:22-24, Jesus says to his disciples:

“The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or ‘Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.”

There are unmistakeable signs that accompany the second coming, but by then, if you are not ready, it is too late.

It’s like the four-minute warning – do you remember that? It was a warning system based on WWII sirens and radio and TV broadcasts, and was supposed to tell you that a nuclear war had started. A booklet called “Protect and Survive” was distributed that gave tips on how to survive. Most people thought the booklet was pointless as they expected to die anyway, if it ever happened. My point is that four minutes is not enough to achieve anything useful, if you hadn’t read the book and taken some action, there was no time now. That’s how it will be when Jesus returns.

6. Our Booklet

We, too, have a booklet (more a set of books really) that tells us how to survive either the second coming, or the coming judgement. The requirements are the same. Here are some of the things it says. This is what it means to be watchful:

7. Spiritual

In spiritual terms we need to check that our prayer life is regular and focussed. Throughout Luke’s gospel there are reports of Jesus withdrawing to pray. Any big decisions that we make should be covered with even more prayer. Jesus spent a whole night in prayer before he chose His disciples. Do we withdraw from the world to a place of solitude and spend time listening to our father in Heaven? Do we do it regularly and frequently?

We need to know the scriptures and to understand them as best we can. Do we spend time looking at the Bible and studying what it means? Do we spend time understanding how to use that information today?

We need to spend regular time worshipping God. Do we attend worship regularly? Is worship something we choose above other activities that occur at the same time? Is it our priority?

Do we spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ, offering our support in their times of need? Do we spend time developing our friendships? Do we spend time with those we live among, offering them our support and the consolation and hope of the gospel?

8. Physical

From a physical point of view what obstacles exist to our life in Christ. Is there any laziness, or any procrastination, that prevents us from being fully engaged? Are there any lustful desires, or physical sins that divert us from the Father and drag us back into the world. Have we identified people that we can talk to and be accountable to, who will help us overcome these deficiencies?

9. Christianity is a fight

Paul advised Timothy to “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

The Christian life is a fight against the onslaught of hell.

Paul ended his letter to the Ephesians with the following:

“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against the enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

10. To be watchful

To be watchful is to see the evils of the day – the evils within ourselves and the evils in the surrounding society. To be good servants is to understand what we can do and when we can do it within the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must always be prepared and ready to act, continually listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit within us.

The Christian life is a fight.  If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels.

Amen.

The Gospel of Luke

Preached at Pensioners Praise 5 August 2019

1. Introduction

Today’s book is the Gospel of Luke. I’ve often been asked what my favourite book of the Bible is, and my answer is mostly Luke. So before we look at this book in a little more detail, here are my reasons:

It has an introduction which clearly spells out why it was written, and how it was prepared. Luke says he has personally investigated everything and has written an orderly account, so that his reader(s) may know the certainty of the things they have been taught. It’s worth noting here that he say the account is orderly, and that does not imply chronological.

It doesn’t have any of those difficult passages that lead me to wonder whether the author is telling the truth. These are passages we rarely read in church such as Matthew 27:51-2: “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.”

and the final reason is that the gospel of Luke is a very good piece of story telling.

2. Structure

That leads me straight into the structure of the gospel. After the introduction, we start with the prophecies about John the Baptiser and his birth. The we cut to the scene with Mary and the prediction of Jesus’ birth. Then to the birth of John the Baptiser, the birth of Jesus, the presentation in the temple, the boy Jesus at the Temple, then back to John and the baptism of Jesus.

It moves on like a modern film as scene after scene Luke builds the story and we see the character and the nature of Jesus develop. Luke hasn’t missed the chance to set his themes along the way either. In Mary’s song and Zechariah’s song, the praise and glory that the gospel will continue to give God is present, and will be seen and developed later. In the announcement of Jesus’ birth to the Shepherds we see the concern for the poor and for ‘all the people’ – especially the excluded and dis-advantaged. Jesus’ ministry is to everyone, not just the select Jews, not just the Jews.

In the visit of the boy Jesus to the temple we have Jesus asking his mother “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (2:49) we see the special understanding that Jesus already has of His destiny - “I had to” - that little phrase says so much.

There’s one more chapter of scene setting as John prepares the way for Jesus’ public ministry, and Luke takes the time to record the Genealogy – just in case Jesus is ever on “Who do you think you are?”

There is one last test and He will be ready – he HAS to face the Devil in the desert. That in itself is a remarkable story.

Now, Luke’s readers know everything they need to know about Jesus. He is the son of God, He is the promised Messiah. It is witnessed by prophets in the temple (Simeon and Anna), it is documented in the Genealogy, He has been baptised, and he has faced and resisted the enemy.

1. Who is this man? (1st Section)

The next part of the gospel looks at Jesus’ ministry. A series of stories that show the reactions of the crowds, the people, the Jewish leaders and especially the disciples as we see how the son of God goes about establishing himself in the community.

While He is doing this he is selecting His team – calling His disciples Luke calls it. He is also preaching in synagogues of Judea as he travels around. This is another of His “have to do’s”. Luke 4:43 “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God ... because that is why I was sent.”

Many of the healings Jesus did are not recorded in any detail, one example of a healing that is can be found in Chapter 5v12-16 where a man with leprosy is cured. This short story ends with “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Jesus was a man of prayer.

By now he has huge crowds coming to see Him, and being a natural preacher and teacher, he speaks to the crowds to teach them about the Kingdom of God.

His followers have been with him for a while, and it is time to select the apostles, so Jesus spends a night in prayer before selecting the 12. - Luke 6:12-16.

After that Luke records a lot of Jesus teaching in the Blessings and Woes

All this is to provide an answer to the question “Who is this man?”

The crowds that follow him have recognised him as a prophet sent from God, but it’s what the disciples think that really matters.

Jesus demonstrates that He is Lord of all. In 8:22 he calms the storm and His disciples are in awe “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

When they get to the other side of the lake, he heals the demon possessed man, then he raises Jairus’s daughter and he has previously healed the Centurion’s servant.

He has demonstrated that he is in control of

• Health (life and death)
• The demonic world
• The elements (wind and rain)

2. What happens next?

3. In Chapter 9:18-20 we reach a conclusion and a turning point.
4. Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
5. “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
6. Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
7. They’ve done it, they’ve seen it. Well, at least Peter has, and that’s important, because he’s their leader.

1. 2nd Section

8. Now the 2^nd section of the story begins. Jesus’s approach changes. He starts to teach His disciples that the Messiah must die. Sandwiched between two pieces of this teaching is the transfiguration – showing again the glory off God, in the death of the Messiah.
9. The teaching in general gets more practical and the disciples and the seventy two experience the power of God without Jesus by their side – and its not all good news, there are some things that they cannot do, but that is what teaching is all about - they still have a lot to learn.
10. Jesus’ teaching continues, as do his discussions with the Pharisees. Now though there are also warnings and passages where Jesus emphasises the difficulties that people will experience if they follow him. Then in Luke 18 we get the third prediction of His death and resurrection. They still don’t understand – even with three years in Jesus presence, even with all they have seen and done, perhaps especially with all they have seen and done – how could they possibly understand.
11. Half way through Chapter 19, there is the first sign that things are coming to a head, with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is the only time in Luke that Jesus is proclaimed as king, and it is a proclamation of the people, not the disciples and especially not Jesus himself. The next time He will be called a king is at His trial.

2. Parable of the Tenants

12. In the parable of the tenants Jesus teaches the people about his death, and the listening teachers of the law and chief priests have had enough. They know that the parable is spoken against them and that something must be done. The people, though, still love Him, so they will have to be careful how they act.
13. For me this is where the last section of Luke really starts. Jesus has clearly understood that the time is right and has spoken in a way that ensures His crucifixion will happen.

3. Crucifixion & Resurrection

The crucifixion narrative is clear and straight forward as we hear about the Roman rulers trying to dodge the hot potato that is Jesus, but the Jewish leaders now have the crowd under their control and Jesus is rejected in favour of a violent revolutionary.

We have the discussion of the two criminals hung beside him, and the witness of His death by the Roman centurion praising God and saying “Surely this was a righteous man.” Again showing Luke’s concern for the ‘ordinary people’ and those outside the Jewish world.

The resurrection is announced to the women – keeping up with the themes of Luke, and the men, who are supposed to be in charge do not understand it.

Jesus appears to them and eats with them, and this act seems to be what finally convinces them.

Luke ends with the ascension, and if you didn’t know that Luke’s second volume was Acts it would be a very disappointing ending – because it would leave me wanting to know what happened next.

4. Luke’s little extra details

One of the other reasons I love this gospel is because of all the little extra details that Luke puts in. I’ll just mention two:

5. Joanna

Did you ever wonder how the disciples managed to live, or did you think that all their food was miraculous. If you did, where did Judas get all his money from? There is no record anywhere of there being any sort of collection at a healing service. Luke tells us in 8:3 that “Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others ... were helping to support them out of their own means.” Joanna is also included in the resurrection story.

6. Herod

In 23:8 we hear that Herod had heard about Jesus and as please to see him, and was hoping to see Jesus perform a miracle, and a little further on “That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.”

7. Luke

Luke was a doctor in a time when medical science was all but non-existent, he was also one of Paul's companions in Acts, which makes him a committed Christian. His careful investigation and his good knowledge of Greek has led to a story that brings Jesus’s life alive for his reader(s).

8. Conclusion

In preparing for this I listened to the gospel of Luke in the car as it was read to me by the app on my phone. I heard the story in a different way. As I finish today I encourage you to read this Gospel, like a book, trying to ignore the headings that have been added, or listen to an audio recording. I hope you’ll get a much better feel for the whole story that way.

Powerful Stories of Jesus

Preached  23 June 2019

1. Introduction

Our reading this morning is part of a series of stories that demonstrate the power of Jesus. Jesus has just dis-associated himself with his mother and brothers, back in verse 21. Then we have the calming of the storm on the lake, which shows Jesus’ amazing power over the elements. After our story today we are told of his power to raise the dead – with the story of Jairus’ daughter.

2. On the other side – Golan Heights

Now, though we are going to see His power over the spiritual world. There are several things to note that may not be immediately obvious as we look through this passage.

As He crosses the sea of Galilee, Jesus moves from Jewish territory to gentile territory. This shows us very early on that His ministry is not only to the Jews, but to everyone.

The region of the Gerasenes is situated (we assume) on the north east edge of the lake. In an area now known as the Golan Heights. I say we assume, because it is difficult to be certain, but that is the only area where the landscape matches the description in the book). The land rises steeply from the edge of the lake, and is not heavily populated.

There can have only been one reason for crossing the lake – to have an encounter with this man and to free him from his demons. Jesus was not in the habit of going places just to see what was there.

3. Guarded and shackled.

The man has been possessed for a long time. He has lived among the tombs and has not worn cloths. Whether out of concern for him, or from fear of him, it is impossible to say, the town’s people have him guarded and shackled, but the demons give him incredible strength and he breaks free and goes into the desert. He apparently doesn’t like to be around people at all.

4. What is a demon? / demon possession

We should take a look at exactly what a demon is, as there is no clear description in the Bible. There are some clues however, so as far as we can tell demons are fallen angels, that third of the angels that rebelled against God with Lucifer.

Isa 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

Rev 12:4 & 9 The Dragon’s tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Possession, by demons, appears to use the same mechanism to take over a person, as the Holy Spirit uses, it the same language as in the old testament. The Holy Spirit, of course, will not make you do something you don’t want to do, and will certainly not make you commit an evil act.

There is though, no record of possession by angels, so presumably it is forbidden.

One thing we can say for certain is that the demons know who Jesus is.

MK 1:23-24 Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

and they know why he is here too – to bring them to an end that they don’t want to face.

Here it is no different. The demons are expecting that Jesus is going to send them into the Abyss.

5. Abyss.

Abyss can mean abode of demons – which doesn’t tell us much, or the place of the dead, or bottomless pit, or simply deep place. It is rooted in the primaeval belief that the earth floated on a vast sea.

In biblical thought the Abyss is where Satan will be held for a thousand years:

Rev 20:1-4 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

In Matthew’s account of this incident, the demons are concerned that Jesus has come to consign them to the abyss before the appointed time.

6. Name

After the initial reaction of the demons, identifying Jesus and begging not to be tortured, Jesus asks the man his name. Actually, we don’t know whether Jesus was asking the demons, or the man, but the demons have such a hold over him, that only they can reply.

7. Legion

“Legion” they say, because there were many of them. A Roman Legion would have had 800 to 2000 men, which gives us some idea of how much trouble the man was in. Again they beg Jesus not to send them to their rightful place – the abyss, but to let them go into the herd of pigs.

8. Pigs

Quite why Jesus allowed this we do not know, perhaps it is because pigs are already considered to be unclean animals. Remember we are in gentile territory. Once in the pigs the demons cause the pigs to run down the hill into the lake and they are drowned.

9. What happened to the demons?

Does that mean that the demons ended up in the abyss anyway? We are not told, and commentators differ, so I am not prepared to speculate.

10. Pigs Owners

The people who are looking after the pigs rush off to tell the town’s people what has happened. They must be in some distress at that point because their livelihood has been taken away from them. The people of the town, who have lived with this man and tried to do something about him, but have been unable to, come out to see what has happened.

11. In his right mind

They find the man in his right mind and fully clothed. The story of what happened is told, probably over and over, because it would be quite remarkable to the people that the demon-possessed man had been cured.

12. Clothes

It is worth asking where he got his clothes from. One preacher suggests that Jesus shared His clothes with the man. It’s a lovely idea, but as with so many of these sorts of sermon ideas, I find that it detracts from Jesus’ power and his humanity. As I said earlier, there can only be one reason for Jesus to cross the lake – to have an encounter with the possessed man. That implies that Jesus knew something about him. If you or I were going to do that, we would plan properly and take some clothes with us – wouldn’t we? So, why wouldn’t Jesus do the same?

13. Jesus’ priorities

We should note here, that although Jesus has undoubtedly caused problems for the pig owners, He has the right priorities. People are more important than pigs.

14. Who is Jesus?

But it raised the question for the people “Who is this man and what is he capable of?” Maybe they had lived in fear of this man for years, then someone more powerful comes along and he is cured in an instant. It is not surprising then that they are frightened of Jesus and that they ask him to leave.

15. Jesus leaves

So Jesus prepares to leave. The man wants to come with him, but Jesus will not allow it. He has chosen His disciples, He has gathered a group of followers around them, and He can see that this man has another job to do. “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” He says to the man. After all the story that the Man has is powerful.

16. Forging Men

In our Forging Men meetings we often have speakers with powerful stories, and they can be a great inspiration to people – that is why we invite them.

17. Tell about Jesus

This man is no different. He will be witnessing to the power of the Jewish God in a pagan world.

Luke tells us “So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.” Jesus talks about what God has done, but the man talks about what Jesus has done. Although He wanted to be with Jesus, he was told to stay where he was and to tell his story to as many as would listen.

18. Our stories

This is a rare example in the New Testament of someone being told to stay where they are. For us this is a much more common experience, most of us here haven’t been called to a new ministry in far flung places. Some, who used to be here have been called to other places. And they have gone – and they have gone with our prayers and our blessings.

1. Minister here

We, though, are called to minster where we are and that means knowing our story and being prepared to tell it.

1 Peter 3:15-16 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

2. Our story is more relevant

Thankfully demon possession is rare, there are few reports of it outside the Gospels, so our story won’t be like that of the man we heard about today.

In many ways our story will be better. It is more relevant because it will be rooted in our time and our culture, so people can find common ground. All we have to tell is what has happened.

Where did we start from, and where has Jesus brought us? Something about the steps along the way. We shouldn’t stop our story after conversion, or licensing in my case, or any other significant event that you may have experienced, but should bring our stories as close to the current time as we can.

3. What I’ve said

I hope the things I have said this morning have made this story clearer, it seemed a very strange story when I first read it and I’m glad I had the chance to look at it in more detail. If you’ve got any questions about the passage I’d be happy to try to answer them.

4. Summary

The Healing of the Demon possessed man shows the power of Jesus over the spiritual realm. It show His power to transform Human lives.

Each one of us has seen some sort of transformation in our lives as our sins have been forgiven and the hope of eternal life offered. Our stories may not be as dramatic, but they nonetheless will speak to others.

5. Request

I’d like to ask you to do one thing this week. Perhaps in your prayer time, or perhaps in a few minutes at some other time. Revise your story, bring it up to date, and practice it. Practice it on one of the five people you have been praying for as part of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, if you get the chance, but if not, just practice it for yourself. So that we can all be ready and have an idea what to say when we get the opportunity.

Pray?

References:

www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/8_26-39.htm

Demons:
https://www.biblesprout.com/articles/hell/demons/
https://www.gotquestions.org/one-third-angels.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_angel

Legions:
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-size-of-the-roman-legions-120873
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_legion

Abyss - abode of demons, bottomless pit, place of the dead, deep place. Primative idea - earth floated on a vast mass of water.
Demon - possession by Holy Spirit or evil spirit. No records of possession by angels (so presumably it is forbidden.

Gerasenes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gergesa