Marriage / Divorce

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay, on 3 October 2021 @10:00am

​Intro Joke

Have you heard the story of the man who goes to see his doctor, concerned about his wife? He says that he feels she may be going deaf, she no longer answers him when he calls to her. So the doctor suggested that he finds out just how deaf she is by calling to her then taking a step forwards and calling again, and repeating this until she can hear.
When the man returned home, his wife was in the kitchen with her back to him, preparing lunch. So he stood by the kitchen door and called “Darling, what’s for lunch?”… no response. Then he stepped forward and said, “Darling, what’s for lunch?”… again no response. So he stepped forwards and was almost on top of her and said “Darling, what’s for lunch?”… She turned round and said to him:
…“for the third time”….

(https://parishsermons.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/)

​Reason

So, what has that got to do with Jesus’s teaching on marriage? Well this passage can easily be understood in the wrong way, and we need to be careful not to look at it with any pre-conceptions, and especially not from a 21^st century point of view – or it will be us playing the deaf husband.

​Scene setting

First of all, let's understand the background to the exchange with the Pharisees. Why did they choose this place to test Jesus on the subject of divorce?

To answer that question, we need verse 1:

“Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.”

Jesus has travelled to the ‘wrong’ side of the river, he is in an area known as Perea, which means “on the other side”. This is John the Baptist country. John 1:28, talking about Christ’s baptism, says:

“This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

John, as you may remember, lost his head for criticizing Herod Antipas for his marriage to Herodias. Herod was her second husband, to marry him she had divorced his half brother. That seems to be the way the Roman Empire worked. It was not good enough for John. So he was jailed, and eventually beheaded.

​Pharisees

It was good enough, though, for the Pharisees. It made an ideal backdrop to try to get Jesus discredited, or perhaps even beheaded. So they come up with a question to try to trap Him into saying something that will get Him into trouble with the Romans. Then there won’t be all that bother with trying to justify a death penalty, as happened later.

​The question

So, Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

If Jesus says yes, he contradicts John and his ministry is discredited. If Jesus says no, he will immediately be in trouble with the Romans. Job Done.

The problem with asking Jesus a yes/no question is that you never get yes or no as the answer. The Pharisees seem a little slow at learning this lesson, perhaps they're not used to being questioned.

Jesus asks, “What did Moses command?”

It was the common belief in the first century that Moses was the author of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, etc. The Pharisees may not be good at setting questions, but they’re alright at evasive answers.

“Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

Their answer is based on Deuteronomy 24:1

If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,

There seems to have been quite a different understanding of what exactly ‘displeasing’ meant amongst various Jewish groups. Some were very strict and would only allow infidelity, while others seems to think that if she prepared a poor meal, she could simply be got rid of.

​Certificate

The certificate of divorce had to be written on ‘paper’ that would last and with ink that wouldn’t fade. It was there to protect the divorced woman so that she could potentially remarry.

​Women’s rights

In early Judaism, including in the first century, women had no rights, they were considered as property. As such, a man could not commit adultery against his wife. The offence would be against who ever owned the other woman.

So the certificate provided a basic protection and allowed divorced women to have some role in their society. It was needed because of the hardness of hearts (the sin!) of the people at the time and was not what God had originally intended.

​God’s intent

God’s original intent, as Jesus reminds the Pharisees, was that “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

​The answer

The Pharisees have their answer, it is not ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but “I refer you to your own scriptures, what do they tell you?” followed by Jesus quoting the scripture for them just in case they have forgotten (which, of course, they haven’t!). It’s an excellent way to deal with tricky questions, but you do have to know scripture really well.

​Disciples

That all seems quite straight forward to me, probably because I’m thinking in the 21^st century, but it has set off something for the disciples. I’d love to know what they asked, but perhaps it doesn’t matter. In Matthew’s telling of the story, in chapter 19, the disciples and Jesus recognize that this is difficult teaching. Jesus’s response to the unknown question appears to us to be a difficult teaching in our 21st century world. In the 1^st century, though, it was mind-blowing. To get the sense of it, you must remember what I’ve already said about the lack of rights for women in 1^st century Israel.

“Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

Jesus, here, gives the woman the same rights and responsibilities as the man. He emphasises that a man commits adultery against his wife, that a woman commits adultery against her husband was already a given. It is closer to the Roman way than the Jewish way.

​Like a child

Then we have the last four verses, which are worthy of a sermon in their own right. I’m not going to look at these except to point out that here again we see Jesus giving ‘rights’, if I can call them that, to the marginalised. Children were not valued in the 1^st century as they are today in the 21^st century.

​Today

Getting back to marriage... Today, our understanding of the relative rights of men and women has come a long way, and so has our understanding of marriage and divorce. God’s approach to us has not changed, though. It is still His ideal that when we marry it is for life. There is also still the recognition that we live in a fallen, sinful world, and that as a result people make mistakes and things go wrong. The apostle Paul also has some helpful things to say in 1 Corinthians 7. The chapter requires careful reading because Paul mixes his own opinions with commands from God. Read it later if you get the chance.

​Paul’s commands

Paul would ban divorce altogether (verses 10 & 11):

A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

I must stress these are Paul’s commands, not the Lord’s. There are clearly circumstances where Paul’s command would not be a sensible approach. As an unmarried man, he may have lacked insight into how marriages work and particularly how they go wrong.

He also suggests that you should only marry to avoid immorality (in verse 2). This seems to go against God’s ideals we looked at in Genesis, and is probably because Paul was expecting Jesus to return in his lifetime.

​Our approach

Our approach as believers should be primarily to support married couples in ways that help them develop and closen their relationship with each other and with God. And not to do anything that would push them apart, or one of them towards someone else. Just like we do in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, we should be looking to safeguard marriages – many of the same measures can usefully be applied. They are, after all, very vulnerable in today’s society, where the value of marriage seems to have been eroded.

​Things go wrong

When things do go wrong, as they inevitably will in our sinful world, our role should be to support the victim (they may both consider themselves victims!) and do our best to help with the healing process, whether that takes place apart or together.

The church has too often condemned and excluded rather than been a positive influence for a godly life.

​Re-marriage (C of E)

The Church of England (our bit of the church) has, over many years, considered divorce and re-marriage, and now permits re-marriage if the minister is willing. But there must be careful examination of both of the partners motives, understanding of marriage, and previous history. It’s a difficult job for a minister to undertake, and it is not a requirement that they do it if their conscience would not permit it.

​Helping to sin

That’s because re-marriage presents us with a theological problem – are we helping people to sin? Clearly we should not be doing that.

​Forgiveness

But Jesus forgives us our mistakes and gives us second chances by the grace of God, because Jesus paid the price on the cross. God, who has much higher standards than

we can even imagine, and loves us to the point of His own death to redeem us does not deny us another go at whatever it is we are trying to do. How can we then deny to others the possibility of a long term loving relationship that God intended in marriage?

Each of us must make up our own minds before God.

Amen.

Our faithlessness, His faith

Preached at St. Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead on  19 September 2021

​Abram

At this point, Abram has not been renamed Abraham by God, that doesn't happen until chapter 17. All we know about him at this stage is that he has two brothers and a wife. He has travelled from Ur of the Chaldeans to Haran with his father’s family, and they have settled there. His wife Sarai cannot have children. His name means ‘exulted father’, so I imagine he is not best pleased with his life so far.

God has spoken to him and told him to leave his country, his people, his family and move to somewhere that God will show him. As an incentive to move, God also makes a covenant with Abram.

Gen 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Quite a promise to a childless man whose name means ‘exulted father’.

​The journey starts

So Abram leaves, and his nephew Lot goes with him, so do all the workers he has acquired during his time in Haran. They go to Canaan, which is where his father Terah had originally intended to go. There, God promised to give the land to Abram’s descendants. He builds an altar to the Lord, which seems to be his habit whenever he stops for a while. From there, his travels continue toward the Negev. His journey has taken him roughly south-west, arriving south of the Dead Sea.

Tests are coming

So far, things have been going well with Abram in his new venture with God. He is following God’s direction, and worshipping regularly, but testing times will come, as they always do.

​Famine – the 1^sttest

At the start of our reading today, we see the first test of Abram’s faith in God. There is a famine in the land. At this stage, we don’t know if this is God’s final destination, or whether we are still on the journey. Our text says the famine is severe – that means there are people starving to death. Although most of us have never experienced famine, I expect we’ve all seen pictures of people that just look like skin and bone, and children with swollen stomachs because there is simple not enough food. People are dying, maybe some of Abram’s people have died. Abram has dragged his people across miles and miles and brought them to the Negev for what – to simply starve to death. What is he to do?

​Find Food

Under pressure to find food, he decides to go to Egypt. There’s no mention of building an altar, there’s no command from God recorded, so Abram has now abandoned his faith, and taken the expedient action. He’s reverted to the world’s way of doing things, and it’s going to get him into trouble.

​Excuses

I’m surprised how many commentaries and preachers make excuses for Abram at this point, mostly saying that it’s a temporary move and implying that it’s his only choice.

I would have hoped that he would at least have sought God’s counsel. What would I have done? What would you have done? It’s impossible to say unless we’ve been in a similar situation.

Danger in Egypt

Compared to the journey so far, Egypt isn’t very far, but on the way Abram is thinking about what will happen when he gets there. His main concern is for his own life. His wife has become a potential liability – her beauty is the problem. In those days, women were property, so kill the owner and steal the beautiful wife is a distinct possibility.

“Say you are my sister” he says to Sarai. That way, if they want you they won’t threaten me, instead they’ll try to buy you. Perhaps he thinks he can make any possible deal too expensive, so that no-one could afford his ‘sister’.

​Pharaoh

As with all human schemes, Abram does not have all the data he needs to make a proper decision, so his scheme is doomed to failure. When Pharaoh's official saw her, they were stunned by her beauty and told their king what they had found. Imagine it, one of the servants comes to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh, there’s a beautiful woman just arrived, much better looking than the most of the other women in your harem.” With that information, he has no choice really, not that he would have made any other choice. So Pharaoh takes Sarai for his Harem, and Abram gets “sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.” That’s probably the bride price, and it’s a very good deal.

Not only is food available in Egypt, but now Abram has a much larger flock with which to support his people.

​God is watching

But God is watching, and will not allow Pharaoh to cause Sarai to fall into sin. He inflicted serious disease on Pharaoh and all his household. The Hebrew word suggests a skin disease – a plague of boils, perhaps? It only affects Pharaoh and his household, but not Sarai. I can imagine that there was a bit of a rumpus and Sarai was probably interrogated to find out who or what she was. Then, of course, the truth will out, as it always does eventually.

Pharaoh is disgusted with what he finds out, and just wants her and her husband out of his sight. He very impolitely ejects them and makes sure his troops are not going to allow them to hang around. “Get them out of here before their God does something even more harmful.”

​Justice?

What has God done? He seems to have organised things in such a way that the lying, cheating Abram has profited from his evil scheme. Are those the actions of a God of justice? But God is simply in the business of doing as he promised when Abram was called (that’s at the start of chapter 12). For that he needs Abram and Sarai together, and for there to be no chance that she might give birth to a child whose father could be questionable.

Abram will pay for what he has done in different ways later. He will have to split his family because his flocks are too big! Wealth is not always a blessing!

​Testing Times

Abram is a prime example of how not to behave when following God becomes difficult. Clearly we should not abandon God and lie and cheat to get what we want. For Abram, the pattern of his relationship with God is now set. His responses will be similar in other crises that come his way.

Our responses do not have to be like that.

So here are 6 things that Abram didn’t do, that might help us avoid falling into that sin:

​1) With each test comes a temptation

Abram did not see the temptation – access to easy food, as a temptation, but as a logical next step. If we can recognise that when things get difficult there will be strong temptations, we may find it easier to resist. “Just say No” is a good slogan for these circumstances.

​2) Seek God’s wisdom

Abram did not seek God, he simply acted. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Testing times are there so that we learn to rely on God, not to turn away from Him and do the easiest thing. We have prayer, scripture, and the counsel of our fellow Christians to help us determine the correct course of action.

​3) Consider the consequences of sin

Abram did not consider the consequences of his sin, and some of those were unknowable anyway. This is always the case. Even though Abram became rich as a result, even that did go in his favour eventually. Proverbs 10:2 “Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.”

​4) Expect God’s amazing grace

Abram was in a mess, Sarai had been lost to Pharaoh, but God provided a way out of the situation. Abram certainly did not deserve this rescue, but God is God. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”

​5) Consider unbelievers

Pharaoh and his entire household suffered as a result of Abram's sin. The result was that Pharaoh uncovered Abram’s scheme – and then behaved in a proper and correct manner, putting Abram to shame. We are called to live differently and distinctively.

1 Peter 2:11-12 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

​6) Keep our eyes on Christ

Abram definitely was not focussed on God, had he been the story would have been different.

Hebrews 12:2–3 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

With Jesus as our example, we should be able to get through anything that the world throws at us.

Amen.

Stealing from the Future

Preached @ Christ Church, Billericay on 19 September 2021 @08:00am

Precious

What’s most precious to you?

[allow time]

I wonder what you thought of? Perhaps it was an object that holds special memories and connects you to someone now gone. Perhaps it was just a memory of a special time and place with special people. Perhaps it was a person. Your spouse, a close friend, or one of your children or grandchildren.

I would like to suggest that perhaps the most precious thing to us is our future. It’s not static like an object or a memory, and it’s something we have a reasonable amount of control over, unlike another person, who we can’t really control at all (or shouldn’t!).

​Star Trek

I’ve been watching Star Trek Voyager on Netflix – I’m a bit of a Trekkie. The other day, they had a story about a man who was planning to visit the 29^th century to steal their technology and bring it back to the current day.

Time travel is of course impossible for us, but that doesn’t stop the story being interesting.

Stealing from our futures

While I was reflecting on some aspects of the story and thinking about the future, I realised that we are all stealing from our own futures.

Think about it. We are using the earth’s resources at roughly twice the rate we should, so they are becoming depleted, and future generations will be in need because we have used what should rightfully be theirs.

Our Gospel reading speaks of the abundance that God provides, not just in harvest, but for our lives in general. But we, in our greed, continue to want more and more and manage to make even God’s abundance not enough.

With our way of life, we are wasteful of what we have. We burn fuel for energy to make our lives easier and put the waste products into the atmosphere, damaging the whole environment. Already we can see the effects, our weather is changing, making the environment more hostile. It will be worse for our children and grandchildren.

Scientists have known that we are changing the climate since the 1970s, but their warnings fell on deaf ears. Do you know that if you look at the record of our climate carefully you can even see the effects the Roman Empire had - nothing like the effect we’re having now, but it is there.

No wonder that Paul says creation is groaning. It has suffered the onslaught of mankind’s greed for centuries.

​Cursed is the ground because of you

Worse than that even, it was Mankind’s actions that put it under a curse in the first place.

After the incident with the fruit tree in the centre of Eden, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.” (Gen 3:17-18)

Our harvests too are much better than Adam, Abraham and co. could even dream of, but the overuse of fertilizer poisons streams and rivers and causes even more groaning.

Creation tied to man

You may think that mankind is dependant of the creation that God placed them in, but the Bible suggests that it’s more complicated than that. God gave us creation to look after, to rule over:

Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

​Bondage and Decay

So creation has been subjected to bondage and decay, not by it’s own choice, but by God, because He gave it to Adam, and Adam because he failed to follow God’s very simple rules.

We, too, are in the same cycle of bondage and decay, we are born, grow, get old and die, as does everything in creation. The next generation must learn all that we know, and make their own decisions. – It seems such a waste of all that effort.

​Should be different

Creation seems to know things should be better. “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” The sons of God, Paul has already said in verse 14 are those who are led by the Holy Spirit.

​Creation waiting for us

Creation is waiting in eager expectation, for us to be revealed, so that it can join our freedom.

If you wonder what eager expectation looks like, The JB Philips version translates the verse as “The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.”

It’s a lovely image, it reminds me of Thomas, standing on the window ledge, his nose against the glass, straining to see Liz come home when he stayed with us the other night. He was not very patient though, and kept asking the question “Where’s Mummy?”, but his hope was never dimmed.

​Convert the world – save the planet

Perhaps the idea that creation will be freed when the children of God are revealed is where the idea comes from that suggests that ‘all we have to do’ is convert the world and all the environmental problems we have created will be overcome.

This is, of course, only a partial truth because we are also groaning inwardly as we await eagerly our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

When that happens, then there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and all the disasters that us human beings have brought on creation and each other will be over. Judgement will be complete, and we can get on with living with our Lord for Eternity – no more problems will be created.

Until then, those of us who recognise God’s rule have a hope to look forward to – the return of Jesus. We don’t know when that will happen, so we shouldn’t be using up the earths resources and generating pollution bumper harvests so that there is something left for our children and their children. So, we also still have the responsibility to look after creation to the best of our abilities. We’ve seen many ways to do this during our recent Summer Series, and Christ Church is working to become a more environmentally friendly church.

​Return – redemption

Our hope is in the return of the Lord Jesus and the redemption of our bodies, so that we no longer decay. We hope, because we do not have, and so we watch carefully for signs that the time is coming, I think back to Thomas, who had to wait for hours at the window, and eventually to go to bed before his Mum finally came home.

That may also be true for us, we may not see Jesus return and our lives redeemed before we have to face death, but we continue to hope – expectantly and patiently – perhaps on tiptoe looking for the signs that the end of our groaning is coming soon.

Hope – the long view

 Preached @ Christ Church, Billericay on Monday 2 August 2021

The World

Forget the pandemic, Covid-19 is just a blip in the race to annihilation. We have much bigger things to worry about. There’s climate change for a start. What we are doing to the climate with our excessive use of fossil fuels means we are in danger of turning our planet into Venus. In case you don’t know, Venus is way too hot for there to be liquid water – the average temperature is about 460 Celsius.

Tipping Points

We may have already passed some tipping points, with record temperatures in northern Russia, releasing trapped methane into the atmosphere.

IF we succeed in stabilising the climate, we will have to find somewhere for the millions of people whose homes will be flooded by the seven metre rise in sea levels.

If we overcome all of this we have the dangers of asteroids hitting us and possibly wiping us out like one did to the dinosaurs, or the planet mercury leaving it’s unstable orbit and throwing the solar system into chaos.

Further out, in a few billion years, the sun will have expanded enough to boil the earth, and make it uninhabitable for humans. Finally the universe itself will expand to the point where there are no atoms left, just photons, and they will be so far apart that they will never collide - it’s called the heat death of the universe, although the temperature is just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero.

Threats to existence

It seems there have always been threats to our existence.

I was born in the mid-1950s when the threats to our existence were perhaps more in our control – nuclear war was either chosen or not by a very few people – not that we trusted them.

The message that the world gives today is that there is no hope. In the short term we will probably destroy the environment and make the planet uninhabitable, in the longer term the sun will do it for us. Even if we escape this planet the universe will expand until life is impossible.

Some of these threats affect us directly, others just seem to make any future worse than the present, it seems we are surrounded by decay and the end will come too soon. These constant messages of doom and gloom do not help people, and are undoubtedly a contributing factor in the worsening mental health situation we are constantly hearing about.

Our End

Thinking about our own end just adds to the doom that we feel is approaching faster and faster the older we get.

Revelation – the last page

What a contrast to the Revelation reading we had today. Billy Graham had a saying “I've read the last page of the Bible, it's all going to turn out all right.” That’s more like it, that’s the sort of message we want and need to hear. Further on from our reading today, and definitely on the last page Jesus says:

Rev 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, a the Beginning and the End. ¹⁴ “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. ¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

We must remember that Revelation is written in code, so that the vision of the victory of Jesus over the authorities of the time was not easily understood. The believers had the code and could make sense of what was said, the authorities did not, and it seemed to them as religious mumbo-jumbo.

2000 years later, the believers – you and I, only have some of the code, and must make the best of what we have. One thing is clear though, that Jesus will return and that He will rescue us. Whatever the details of the image of the new Jerusalem means, there will be a community of worshippers there, with us among them.

Credible Claim?

This is all very well, but is it credible? The message of scientists has been worked out over hundreds of years with some of the best minds carefully measuring everything they can and trying to understand things that are well beyond you and I. So by contrast, does the message of the gospel have similar credibility.

We can easily rehearse some of the amazing truths of Christianity:

Truths

Jesus came to earth from heaven, to a failing sinful world, to re-instate a relationship with God that had not existed properly since before the fall. He achieved that by dying on a cross and three days later being resurrected. If we believe this, our relationship with God is being restored, and we have already been given eternal life. We know this because we have eyewitness accounts in documents that were written and copied to local churches as evidence of what happened.

Even without the documents, we would have to ask what happened to make twelve frightened men found the biggest religion in the world? They were cowering in fear of the authorities after Jesus’s death, how did they suddenly become so fearless? Paul tells us what happened, not just to them, but to thousands of early converts to the new faith.

(Romans 5:1-5) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Where does Hope come from?

Now, our hope comes directly from God, through the Holy Spirit. We have peace with our maker – perhaps we recognise for the first time that we are made and not just a random collection of molecules that happened by chance.

We are in grace, God is with us, not just at the end but all the time, to be sure we are able to finish the race (to use another of Paul’s metaphors). The Holy Spirit is there providing support, direction and purpose. He will ensure that we complete the race. I don’t usually like sporting illustrations, but as the Olympics are currently under way in Tokyo, I thought this might help.

The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field's most incredible moments.

Britain's Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-metre race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semifinals at Barcelona. He was running the race of his life and could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring.

Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic events:

As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. "It was animal instinct," he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him. It was Jim Redmond, Derek's father. "You don't have to do this," he told his weeping son. "Yes, I do," said Derek. "Well, then," said Jim, "we're going to finish this together." And they did. Fighting off security men, the son's head sometimes buried in his father's shoulder, they stayed in Derek's lane all the way to the end, as the crowd gaped, then rose and howled and wept. Derek didn't walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

That’s what our Father God is like, He will not let us fail, He will ensure we complete the course in this life and ultimately take our place in the New Jerusalem.

​Ultimate hope

Our hope is founded on our belief in Jesus’s resurrection. The evidence for it is there in the pages of the Bible, the history of the early church, and our personal relationship with God.

Our universe may end in almost nothingness, but there is a new heaven and a new earth, and that’s where we will be, with our God living with us.

Amen

God’s new Family

Preached: 18 July 2021 at St. John's, Billericay

Reading: Acts 2:42-47

​In Jerusalem

There was quite a buzz in Jerusalem in those days. A group was meeting every day at the eastern edge of the outer court of the temple, a place known as Solomon’s Colonade. They would talk and pray together, and every day there seemed to be more of them.

Anyone who went into the temple – and that was just about everyone - would easily spot them when they were together in there increasingly large huddle. Not only were there numbers increasing but there was something different about them.

The leaders

Their leaders were twelve young men. Their teachings were different, they talked about a prophet who had recently been put to death. Everything they said centred around His teachings. Some of those who were with them had known the prophet and followed Him a little, but now what they were seeing and what they were involved in was moving to another level. Occasionally they would heal people, just as the prophet had, and news of this spread around fast. So more people came to see what was happening.

Miracles & Sustenance

It wasn’t just the miracles though, all those who met together each day seemed happy, and eager to meet up. Their poor were taken care of – they had cloths and enough food to live - none of them was in need like so many others around Jerusalem at that time.

Awe

All-in-all the group was a bit frightening in some ways, they seemed to have a power and a love of life that most did not possess.

Casual Observer

What the casual observer might have missed was they way the group conducted itself outside the temple. They shared everything they had, not claiming their goods and possessions as their own. This alone would have help support those who had nothing, but even more than that they would also sell possessions to support those in need.

Luke’s Introduction

These few verses are Luke’s introduction to how the church of Christ operated in the first days after Pentecost.

​No Group Name

They didn’t have a name for themselves at this stage. They are simply described as ‘those who are being saved’ (v47). It’s not until we start to hear about Saul in chapter 9 that Luke tells us they were called ‘followers of the Way’. This name is used throughout Acts. The name ‘Christians’ does not appear until Acts 11.

Anyway, not having a name for the group does not means that they are invisible to the authorities. In the next chapter or two we start to see that the way they lived has consequences, and although it found favour with the people, it did not find favour with the temple leadership – who tried in particular to stop the preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus that Peter and John were doing.

This introduction does not describe some sort of short lived golden age for the church, rather it set out the principals for how the church should operate. Theologians call these principals the four marks of the church.

I’m going to look at each of these now, so we can see how we measure up against them.

​Four marks of the church

The four marks of the church in this passage are:

• the apostles teaching

• the common life of the believers

• the breaking of bread

• the prayers

The apostles teaching

The believers – ‘those who were being saved’, could listen to the stories of Jesus, and all he did and what happened to Him - his crucifixion and resurrection from the apostles, all of whom were first hand witnesses. They would also have the benefit of the interpretations that Jesus provided. The apostles were simply following Jesus’s command in Mt 28:20 to “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you”.

These teachings were soon written down and passed from congregation to congregation, they eventually made up the Bible we have today.

Teaching, and what we now like to call ‘life long learning’ is vital to the church. Without it how do we know what the Lord requires of us? Without it we could easily accept the prevailing consensus of beliefs and lose the truths passed down to us from Jesus, via the apostles.

Understood for the age

The recorded teachings of the apostles are now nearly 2000 years old. Over that time the use of language has changed, the way society understands things has changed. One small example of this is the word ‘Men’. That word could once be used to describe the whole human race, but that usage had changed in my life time, so that now, if we don’t want to exclude women a different word is required, such as people. So our scripture translations have to be up to date, so that those who read it do not misunderstand what they are hearing.

How do we hear the Apostles Teaching

How often do we hear the Apostles teaching? Perhaps that’s the wrong question. Our engagements with scripture come in various forms. There is the weekly sermon. OK for sparking ideas may be, but it doesn’t allow much real interaction, so probably not high on the list when it comes to teaching value.

There’s small group studies, that usually take place in peoples homes. These provide a better opportunity to properly engage with scripture but it is very dependant on the material that is being used. In my experience there are some very good study guides, and also some pretty poor ones.

Then there’s the daily readings and reflections, again in my experience there are some very good ones and some not so good ones.

So we have the opportunities, but do we have the desire? The new believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching – that means it was something they were not prepared to miss. How often do we give up an opportunity to learn from scripture? Where does bible study and application of learning fit in our priorities?

The common life of the believers

“All the believers were together and had everything in common”

What does this really mean, and how do we interpret it in a society that is packed with very personal possessions?

My first reaction to this verse was “that sounds like communism”. It does, but in the political system the common life is forced on the people and as a result people generally respond badly, specially when they see others benefit more than they are themselves. This is not communism, because here the Holy Spirit inspires the common life. The common life occurs because each person sees the others as more important than themselves, so is not prepared to see their brothers and sisters in need and will do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Land

In Acts we hear of people selling land to support the needy. In the Jewish system land was part of the birth right, and was owned and passed down through the generations, so the sale of land is a significant sacrifice.

Collections

In the Paul's letters and later in Acts we read of one congregation having a collection for another that is suffering or in need. (2 Corinthians 8, Acts 20) So the common life spreads beyond the immediate group of believers.

Today

In our world we need certain personal possessions to function in modern society. But these gadgets should not define us, and should still be available to support those in need.

Questions

How many of our possessions are exclusively ours? How many are available to others in need?

The breaking of bread

It is difficult to tell whether the ‘the breaking of bread’ refers to simply a common meal, or whether it refers to a specific Eucharistic celebration. The phrase seems to be used interchangeably.

Either way the fellowship of believers seems to be based around eating together.

A service of Holy Communion, where we share bread and wine together (when we are allowed to) can seem as though the only person we are really communing with is our Lord. That’s partly caused by the structure of the service and the need to maintain good order. It’s at refreshments afterwards – perhaps a bring and share meal – that we commune with the others who are attending the service.

This, of course, is a falsely split view, because God is as present in the first as he is in the second, as are all the people.

Questions

How often do we join together for meals with other believers? How often do we celebrate Holy communion? What opportunities are we missing?

The prayers

The prayers during their meetings in the temple courts and in their houses, may have been traditional Jewish prayers that were said regularly in the temple or by Jewish families, or they may have been prayers created for the occasion, or just prayers that were required at that time. In the context of these verses they are always prayers said together with the believers. There is no record here of individual private prayer, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen of course.

Questions

How often do we meet for prayer? How well attended are our prayer meetings? How can we improve the attendance at prayer meetings?

Conclusion

The Holy Spirit has created a new type of family, the family of believers. The family consists entirely of adopted children, those who are being saved. The believers in the family are called to be closer than a biological family, and to support each other in ways that biological families rarely do. Everything that is possessed by a member of the family belongs to the family, and yet, we see from this passage that the individual owner still has control over their possessions. In that respect the family that God has created is not like the so-called families of any number of sects that have developed over the years. When you join the family of those who are being saved you do not have to hand over the deeds to your land, or your car keys or you mobile phone pin code.

Yet the Holy Spirit obliges you to use them for the good of the whole family.

The common interests that bind this family together are the love of the apostles teaching, fellowship, particularly meals together, the breaking of bread – the celebration of Jesus’s death and resurrection, and time together talking to The Father – (prayer).

As we’ve looked at each of the four marks of the church, I’ve posed a question or two for your consideration. My final questions are “What have you heard today that can build up the life of the believers, we who are being saved?”

and

“How might that be applied?”

If we start to look more like the apostles and the believers with them we will soon find that the Lord will add to our number those who are being saved.

Amen

Jesus in trouble?

Preached: 6 June 2021 at Christ Church, Billericay

Reading: Mark 3:20-35 

 

 

Celebrity

Jesus is already a celebrity. Here he is having healed a man who was mute, if you read the similar passage in Luke. News of these events travels fast, and people are curious. More than that, in a time when medical science doesn’t exist and doctors can offer no cure for such ailments, miracles, are the only hope. It’s not

surprising then that Jesus has become well known really quickly.

 

Celebrity Pressures

Everyone wants something from him, so crowds gather in no time at all, and He can hardly move around to perform his ministry. There’s also the expectations to consider. “Is this the messiah?” they will be asking. After all, he’s doing and saying the things that the messiah would do and say. Normally, if you entered a house, the host would provide food and drink, but here there are so many people normal hospitality is impossible.

 

Family and Authorities

His family soon get wind of what is going on, as do the authorities.

 

Family

From the family’s point of view, this is not how it is supposed to go. Sons, particularly the eldest sons, are supposed to grow up and join the

family business. That’s how you honour your family, and become a good Jew. They are not supposed to abandon their home and start an itinerant preaching ministry.

 

Mary

Mary’s reaction is particularly interesting, after all she knows that Jesus’s birth was miraculous, and she knows where his interests lie. Remember, when he was twelve, the family had to stop its journey home and return to Jerusalem because Jesus was missing. They found him debating with the scholars in the temple, and He was surprised that they didn’t know where he was. Perhaps difficult teenagers are not such a recent invention, and she had just assumed that it was all a passing fad.

 

Genuine Concerns

What ever her beliefs about her son were, the news she hears convinces the family that Jesus is really in trouble and needs their care. They believe He is having some sort of mental breakdown, so they decide to go and get him

and take him home.

 

Walk of Witness

Sudden religious activity can have that effect on families. I remember when I told my mum I was going on a walk of witness on Good Friday, sometime back in the early 1980s, I was met with a very suspicious response – something along the lines of “Are you sure you haven’t joined a cult?” This is from someone who was considering becoming a missionary in her youth.

A walk of witness is nothing compared to what Jesus is doing.

 

Authorities

The authorities are also concerned about what Jesus is doing. Here is an unknown man going around, apparently healing people and picking up a large following. What is he teaching about God? Is what He is doing true to the faith? He certainly hasn’t been trained by them, that much they do know. How would we react if something like that were to occur now? Miraculous healings occur, and a large gathering of people going to hear someone teaching about Jesus. We’d want to

be sure that they were really from God, and really had the Holy Spirit, wouldn’t we. No doubt, the Archbishop would send some of his experts to review what is going on and report back. That is what the authorities in the temple in Jerusalem did, they dispatched some teachers of the law to go and take a look.

 

Authorities threatened

What they see is the chaos around Jesus and an unauthorised preacher. He’s not one of us, so he must belong to Beelzebub. So, “He is possessed by Beelzebub. By the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” Hopefully that will make the crowd disperse. Now he’s identified as the enemy, they can do whatever is needed to shut him down.

 

Response

Their statement, like so many political statements throughout the ages, defies logic. Jesus is quick to pick up on this. He knows why He has come, He’s well aware of His mission. A kingdom or a family divided against itself cannot stand. Civil war is not the way to advance a cause. So Jesus concludes that

Satan’s end has come. It’s a clever response. Jesus is saying that, even by their own flawed logic, He is still achieving His mission. Satan’s end is coming.

 

Strong Man

Jesus’s next words give a hint of His mission. The strong man has arrived and is reclaiming his possessions, robbed from Him by Satan. The healings and the exorcisms that people are seeing is a sign that the Kingdom of God has

arrived and Satan’s reign is coming to an end.

 

V28-30

When Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them.” He is addressing the surrounding crowd, teaching them what the Kingdom of God is like. The condemnation that follows “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” is

addressed to those who see the good He is doing – healing and releasing the possessed, and instantly attribute it to Satan, as the teachers of the law have. With their attitude and their outlook on life, they are never going to be able to see Jesus for who He is and ask for forgiveness anyway. Mark makes sure we understand this with the comment in v30, ‘He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”’

 

Family Arrives

After the ‘discussion’ with the teachers of the law, Jesus’s family arrive. The house is now so full they are not able to all go in, so someone is sent. “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” they tell Jesus. He is not impressed, instead He uses their visit as an opportunity to teach the crowd that is now sat in front of Him.

 

Spiritual Family

Part of Jesus’s mission is to build a spiritual family, that will look after each other as well as or better than a biological family. His spiritual family will be made up of those who do God’s will.

 

Breaking Traditions

This is groundbreaking stuff. Family in the first century was everything. Breaking free from family was dis-honourable and very much frowned upon. Yet here He is putting people together to make up a new type of family – those who do God’s will.

 

WWJD

This is one of the circumstances where asking "What Would Jesus Do?" Will not get us the best, or even the correct answer. Jesus is NOT trying to break up earthly families. Remember His birth was miraculous, so He’s really only a

half brother to His brothers. Jesus is here on a mission, by claiming to be the strong man, He is already giving clues to who He is. That question “Is this the Messiah?” will get louder and more urgent for the crowd that follows Him

around, and specially, His disciples.

 

A calling on our life

When we experience God’s call on our lives as a young person with few  attachments we can simply go – however great or small, that call is. As I did, despite my mum’s reservations, to attend the walk of witness. In this small thing

I obeyed the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Later in life, with a wife and children to support, any call – which must still be obeyed, cannot be seen as just for me and I cannot go without first understanding how that call affects those I owe responsibilities to. God will make provision for that. We just need to be sure that our lifestyle and our callings are within God's will, and that we continue to obey Him.

Then we will be members of that spiritual Family.

 

Eight things the Holy Spirit does

Preached: 23 May 2021 at St. Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead

Purpose:To understand how the Holy Spirit influences our lives.

Reading: Acts 1:1-11; John 15v26-27 & 16v4B-15

 

Pentecost

Today is Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the birth of the church.

Pentecost means 50th day, this is the seventh Sunday after Easter

Sunday, and the 50th day of Easter.

We didn’t hear that story today, so it’s worth a quick re-cap.

 

Re-Cap of Pentecost

The Apostles were all together in the upper room, scared to make any

sort of move at all for fear of the authorities, but knowing that

something very special had happened. Then the Holy Spirit arrived. “a

sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the

whole house” and “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that

separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with

the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled

them.”

It caused a commotion, as all the foreigners present heard their own

language and wondered what was happening. So Peter got up and told

them. As a result the church was born.

That day about 3000 were added to the church, and each of them was

baptised. All of them were Jews, so at this point, a new Jewish sect is

formed. As all those travellers returned home they took the Holy Spirit

with them and the good news – the gospel - of Jesus, His death and

resurrection were spread into Jewish communities across the Empire.

 

Readings

That’s what we are remembering today, but our readings are from an

earlier time, when the Holy Spirit is just a distant promise. So I thought

it would be a good idea to look at just what is promised with the coming

of the Holy Spirit.

 

Lost Jesus

In the reading we had from John, the disciples must have known that

something was afoot, because of the way Jesus was speaking to them.

In the Acts reading his death and resurrection have already occurred and

the disciples are in shock and barely understanding what is going on.

In both reading we get the sense of impending loss, but the promise of

better times ahead.

 

8 Things

So I have taken 8 things that are promised in these two passages, so

that we can get a feel for what living in the world with the Holy Spirit is

like.

 

1 Provides Instruction

The first is that the Holy Spirit provides instruction. We read in Acts

verse 1 that even Jesus gets his instructions from the Holy Spirit. Luke

says

“I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he

was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit

to the apostles he had chosen.”

Instructions can come in many forms. Another example of this is in Acts

8 where Philip is told to approach the chariot of the Ethiopian Eunuch.

The instructions are simple and clear “Go to that chariot and stay near”.

The Holy Spirit knew what was happening in the chariot, and when Philip

obeys he finds that it is easy to engage the Ethiopian in conversation,

which then results in his baptism.

Have you ever had a sudden sense that you should go and talk to

someone, or phone someone – that’s probably the Holy Spirit, and you

might have a profitable conversation – or you might just help set the

scene for someone else’s conversation later. If we are to play our part

it’s important to take notice of these promptings and not push them

aside.

2 Baptism (in the Spirit)

The second thing that is promised is baptism in or with the Holy Spirit.

This can be a controversial topic, with people claiming different

meanings but if you listen carefully to them you will find their views are

not really that far apart.

One episode of Baptism in the Holy Spirit is undoubtedly seen at

Pentecost itself, when the wind and the tongues of fire brought the

disciple out of their fear and made them bold enough to speak out in

languages they had no knowledge of. There are plenty of instances in

both the Old and New Testaments when the Spirit comes on someone

and they do or say something truly remarkable. It always leads people

towards God, not always 3000 at a time though.

The Spirit can do this any time that someone is open to allowing it to

happen. He will never descend on someone who is unwilling, or who has

decided they do not want that sort of experience.

When Paul speaks of Baptism in the spirit, in 1 Corinthians 12 as he is

talking about the Body of Christ he says:

“For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body … and we were all

given the one Spirit to drink.”

He is talking about the Spirit bringing us together in unity, so that we

can do and say things consistently.

Maybe you’ve heard it said that if you ask three people their opinion on

some topic, you’ll get four different views. That’s what Paul is saying the

Spirit can overcome. He has already said in the previous chapter:

“No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you

have God's approval.”

Next time we’re sitting in some church committee meeting, those of us

who do, we should remember that and ask for the Holy Spirit to speak to

us. - I’ll come back to this in point 7.

 

3 Provides Power

The third thing on my list is that the Holy Spirit provides power. This

doesn’t make us some sort of superhero – physically breaking through

walls to get where we want to go. It means that we have determination  

and are not easily put off our mission. It means that we can overcome

difficulties, and go on fighting for what we believe longer than would

normally be possible. We will know what to do and to say and when to

do it and say it. Just as Peter and John were not put off by the beating

they received for talking about Jesus in Acts 4.

Without this power we will not be effective, as the disciples were warned

in Luke 24:49 “stay in the city until you have been clothed with power

from on high”.

 

Example of the power

This is where miracles come from. I have personally witnessed a

miracle. Not a healing, although I have met at least 2 people who have

been healed, so let me tell you the story.

We were at New Wine – the summer conference and teaching week in

Somerset. Normally, because we were late to the evening meetings we

would be sitting at the far edge of the giant tent. On this night , though,

we were somewhere near the middle. A youth worker was invited on to

the stage to tell us about his project. He was a good speaker and told us

about the people and what they were trying to do for the young people.

He talked, very briefly, about some building work they wanted to do, and

moved back to talking about the people.

I spotted movement in the audience, one or two people were walking

towards the stage. Last time I’d seen this it was a medical emergency,

but I couldn’t see anything, so continues listening. Then more people

moved toward the stage and then back to their seats, and then more

people, and then a queue formed on both sides of the stage.

Finally, the penny dropped, they were putting money on the stage – not

pennies – notes.

The Holy Spirit, using the words of the speaker, had opened the wallets

of hundreds of people, because the Holy Spirit wanted that building to be

done – it served God’s purposes.

Eventually the leaders on the stage realised what was happening and

quickly organised buckets to collect up all the money. We heard the

following day that the total raised was a few hundred pounds more that

the cost that had been stated. The Holy Spirit also knows how building

projects go.

 

 

4 Witnesses

The Holy Spirit makes us witnesses. This is my fourth point. A witness

is someone who provides an accurate report of what they have seen and

heard, or what they have been involved in. The power we get will make

us good witnesses to all the things we have experienced in our lives with

Jesus. We just have to be prepared to give account of ourselves. As

Peter says in his first letter:

“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”

I am a witness to what happened in that tent. I was not prompted to

give money that night, but I have told this story before, and I’m sure I

will tell it again. So, no apologies for me if you’ve already heard it.

 

5 Counsellor

As we move to looking at the promises in John, now, my fifth thing that

the Holy Spirit does is to be a Counsellor.

The modern definition of a counsellor is “a person who has been trained

to do the job of listening to people who have problems or who want to

achieve something, and giving them advice”

Which is fair enough, the Holy Spirit knows each of us inside out, and

can and does whisper advice to us in difficult situations.

The Greek word had the meanings: “counsellor, intercessor, helper, one

who encourages and comforts”. So we should expect more than just

advice, we should expect encouragement to get on with the job and

perhaps even a little gentle prodding to be active.

I wonder how carefully that young man had thought about saying exactly

how much money he needed – and whether the Holy Spirit

encouraged him to put the numbers in his talk?

6 “Convict of Guilt”

In John 16:8 we have my sixth thing – “He will convict the world of

guilt”. There is no place to hide when the Holy Spirit is around. The

world’s guilt will be exposed for everyone to see. Those who do not

believe will not be able to hide the fact, and those who do the work of

the evil one will know that the prince of this world is condemned.

Openness should be a watchword for us, because anything we try to

hide, will be something that is classified as sin.

 

7 Truth

The other side of the coin is truth, that is my seventh point – the Holy

Spirit will guide us into truth – yes even the apostles needed guiding into

truth, it’s not just us.

If you can remember as far back as point 2 – where I was talking about

the Spirit bringing unity of purpose and asking for the Holy Spirit to

speak to us in church meetings – this is why. If we can listen carefully to

the Holy Spirit He will guide us into the truth of whatever we are

discussing, then maybe, just maybe, we will have the courage and the

power to drop our personal opinion, and take on His opinion.

 

8 Brings Glory to God

The Holy Spirit, in all that He does, brings Glory to God. This sums up

all the activity – all of it points to Jesus and His power of redemption.

That’s why Peter got up and spoke to the crowd at Pentecost, that’s why

Philip went over to the Ethiopians Chariot, that’s why Peter and John

continued to speak despite a beating, that’s why I was in the tent, in a

good place to see what was happening that night at new wine.

So that we can point people to Jesus. So that anyone who listens will be

convinced, or more convinced that as John says “God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall

not perish but have eternal life.”

Amen