It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay at 8:00 on 18 September 2022

Introduction

This morning we're going to think a little about the Queen's reign and how her death has affected us. We will then move on to the writings of Jeremiah – our OT reading, and lastly to our Gospel reading from John.

QEII

During the last few days, I've been listening to and reading things that have been written about our late Queen.  Every one seems to agree that her life was dedicated to her duty and that she carried out that duty in an exemplary way.  Many times I have seen “well done good and faithful servant”, which I assume comes from Matthew 25:23.  It is well known that she had a strong Christian faith and that she was not shy of talking about it.  That was true to the extent that someone said of her that “The greatest evangelist of our generation has died”.  She didn't strike me as an evangelist, but it's clear that she made a connection with people, and that is certainly a first step.  There was an interview on the radio of various people who had met her. One man told of the conversation he had, and how she had been interested in what he was doing – that was one of her traits.  The conversation ended, and she was directed to the next place she had to be.  As she went, she turned back to him and said, “keep up the good work”.  That was completely unnecessary, she had already done her job, but that's the sort of person she was.

Her Reign

She reigned for nearly seventy years – that's a whole lifetime.  Psalm 90:10 says:

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away

It's also long enough that only a few of us will remember the former king, so the only head of state that we have known is Queen Elizabeth.  It's not surprising then that her death has come as quite a shock and has unsettled many.  Kier Starmer described her as our country's “stillest point, its greatest comfort”.  And now that comfort has gone.  It's happened at a difficult time politically, and her wisdom will undoubtedly be missed.  She was seen as a settling influence on a number of Prime Ministers, I'm led to believe.  We are worried about what will come next.

Succession

England has almost 1000 years experience of managing successions, this one is one of the most straight forward there has ever been, so we shouldn't have any worries there. But we might be concerned about the new King and how life will be under his influence. Things will be different. Despite his pledge to carry on his mother's legacy, he will have his own style and his own emphasis on different things.  He will not have years of experience to call on, either. So we may have some concerns there.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah lived at a very unsettled time in his nation's history.  He had been warning the powers that be for ages that they were going against God's ways, they did not listen.  Here's what one commentator wrote about the book of Lamentations.

“Written as a series of dirges, elegies, and laments following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Lamentations attempts to put into words the heartache and despair of the prophet Jeremiah, who had survived the siege of Jerusalem and subsequent captivity at the hands of Babylon. If Jeremiah’s first book (Jeremiah) was the prophetic warning anticipating the fall of Jerusalem; its sequel (Lamentations) was Jeremiah’s reflection upon it.”

Our Old Testament reading for today, is, apparently, one of the most hopeful passages in the whole book – such was the pain that Jeremiah felt.  His country, his people, are gone.  Everything about the way society was organised has changed.  His homeland is no longer his, but belongs to others, to the conquerors, the Babylonians.  In Chapter 29 of Jeremiah, he writes to the exiles, encouraging them to live in the new society in which they find themselves.   To establish families and to make a positive contribution to the Babylonian world.  He knows their exile won't last forever and is looking to future generations who will one day return.  

Alive – so loved

At the start of the exile, though, it is enough to be alive.  To be alive means that the Lord still loves His people.  They have not been consumed, they have not been annihilated.  The Lord's compassions are new every morning. He recalls how the promised land was established.  Each tribe was given a territory, 'a portion' of the new land that they were to occupy.  The portion they were given would support them and allow them to put down roots (real and metaphorical), to establish their families, to produce future generations.

Levites

One tribe, though, was not given any land.  The tribe of Levi – the Levites – were told the Lord would be their portion.  Their life would not be dedicated to agriculture, husbandry, or mining, their life would be dedicated to the Lord, and the Lord would provide for them.  He would do this by providing them with a share of the surpluses that the other tribes created.  It had worked very well, and no doubt by Jeremiah's time, it was the way the prophets were supported.  So Jeremiah, as he is reflecting on the disaster that has overtaken his people, knows that the Lord will look after him – although he may not have a clear idea of exactly how that would work.

Cast off

So he will wait for it to happen: “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”, he says.  He is waiting because he believes that the Israelites have been cast off by the Lord.  He cannot see how this disaster can be anything but the Lord letting go of them.  That view may be partly, at least, generated by his grief and his shock, but even in this emotional state he cannot help but know that the Lord still loves them. So, He could not have brought this disaster on them willingly.  The only thing to do is wait.  Waiting quietly does not mean sitting still and doing nothing. As we have already seen, Jeremiah wanted the Israelites to be a part of their new world.  If they wait quietly and patiently, one day the Lord will rescue them.

Same Message

Jesus's words, in our reading from John, echo the same message.  "I am the bread of life", is the equivalent of "the Lord is my portion".  Jesus is promising to sustain those who come to Him and believe in Him.  His promise goes further than the promises that Jeremiah understood and relied on.  Jesus promises that none of those who follow him can be lost, and that they will be raised up from death to eternal life on the last day.

Rely on

It's the promise that we all rely on, it's the promise that our late queen relied on, and that, so many have relied on through the ages.  With her and all the saints we wait quietly because as Jeremiah said "It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Amen.

 

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cnJP_jSXA4

At Pensioners Praise, Caring for Creation.

Reading Romans 8:18-24a

Connected

I think it was James Burke who first made me realise that everything is connected. Do you remember his TV series Connections – where he showed us how one development is connected to the next and so on until we get where we are today. While that was primarily about science, engineering and mass production, the idea that everything is connected was the most valuable lesson to me.

It’s not just our discoveries and inventions that are connected. Each of the environmental systems we know about – the water cycle, the carbon cycle, and all the others are also connected and depend in some way on each other to support the environment we live in. Those things feed into the weather systems, which are supported and sometimes generated by the ocean and it’s currents.

Oceans

The ocean currents are affected by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun, which cause the tides. The constant movement of the oceans caused by the tides provides unique environments on the coast which support different types of life and provide food for birds and other animals.

I could go on, but I hope, by now, that you’re getting the picture. Literally everything we do has some effect on our environment. Climate scientists will tell you that they can even see the Roman Empire in the climate record.

So what we do, or don’t do makes a difference even if that difference is very small.

5 Marks of Mission

As a Christian and an Anglican, I have a particular calling, as do each of you. That calling is defined as the 5 Marks of Mission. Here are all five.

1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers

3. To respond to human need by loving service

4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation

5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth

It’s the last one that we are looking at today. I hope you can see that all these are connected too.

Integrity of Creation

If we are to safeguard the integrity of creation, we will have to challenge violence and pursue peace. War, and any other sort of violence against the person is hugely wasteful of resources. Just watch any reality program about ambulances or police and you will see how much time and effort goes into dealing with drunken fights. War is much more wasteful, England was partially deforested to build ships to defeat the Spanish. If we look at Ukraine, we see modern buildings destroyed, all of which will have to be re-built when the war is over.

Unjust Structures - environmental racism

We will have to transform unjust structures to allow areas that need to remain wild to be untouched by greedy humans. Have you heard the term ‘environmental racism’. It means that those in particular environments are discriminated against and that rich countries and corporations, by their actions, keep it that way.

Jeremiah 2:7 says:

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.

As things go wrong we will need to respond to human need, recently we have heard that about a third of the population of Pakistan have been adversely affected by flooding – the rains made worse by global warming. They will need support to recover, and that effort will put more CO₂ in the atmosphere and cause other pollution, making things worse.

Proclaiming the Kingdom

We might have most effect though by proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and teaching, baptising and nurturing new believers. That way, we give the Holy Spirit that chance to change hearts and minds, so we have more people trying harder to sustain and renew the life of the earth.

Bible Verses

Of course, the 5 marks of mission were not simply dreamt up by some old archbishop, they have been carefully put together looking at the whole Bible.

So, let's take a look at the verses we read today, and see where that takes us.

Intro to Bible verses

Paul has been saying that we are co-heirs with Christ, if we share in his sufferings. Now, at the start of our reading he says that our current sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. It is not our glory that will be revealed, as though we are somehow equal with God, but it is God’s glory in Christ Jesus, that will be revealed in us through the Holy Spirit.

Creation Waits

The whole of creation waits for this, indeed it can’t wait, but it has to. It’s that sense of excitement that we all know when a great event in our lives is about to occur – like getting married perhaps. For creation, that great event is the glory of God being revealed in the children of God.

Creation needs that because it is under a curse. The curse is the result of Adam eating the fruit. Here’s Genesis 3:17b-19:

“Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful toil you will eat food from it

all the days of your life.

¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return.”

Amazing Idea

I find this whole idea truly amazing. How did a people come to believe that their ancestors messed up and as a result the whole of creation is cursed? Human beings are so good at deflecting blame, but somehow God’s powerful revelation got through to them enough for them to write it down – and so to share the guilt, to inherit the guilt. It’s our actions as fallen humans that cause the problem, not some random god who we’ve upset, who then punishes us.

Superior place of Humanity

That’s because we are not just another animal in the animal kingdom. God placed Adam just 'a little lower than the angels' as Psalm 8 tells, and He gave us responsibility for all of creation. Genesis 1:26-28 says humans are to rule over creation. Although we are created, the rest of creation is ours – it’s all for us.

So, because of Adam’s sin, and the sin of his descendants, right to the present generation, creation – all of it - is in bondage to decay.

Liberation

Look around you – everything decays. Nothing we make lasts more than a few years, few of the living things we see around us last for more than 100 years, and even the hills are eroded over thousands of years. If the scientists are right, even the earth itself will be gone in a few billion years, and the universe is headed for heat death, where even atoms will no longer exist.

But this is not how it should be. Creation is waiting for liberation from its bondage to decay.

Groaning

Paul says that creation is groaning – we’ve certainly seen some examples of that this year. Droughts in Europe, while in Pakistan one third of the population is devastated by flooding. I don’t know if you’ve tried to pray about all of this – if you have, I suspect your prayers are reduced to groans and sighs, it’s just too big for us. Sure, we can pray for the individual issues, those on our minds at a particular time, but it’s impossible to keep a complete list. Anyway, what to say beyond ‘make it stop’, which doesn’t sound very useful.

Sonship

Like creation,

we, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”.

Redemption will come, either when Jesus returns, or we are taken from this world. That is the hope that we have – and this passage is meant to be about hope.

Hope

Our hope is not that we can solve all the problems that we have caused, but that God has saved us.

So, while we should be concerned and actively doing whatever we can – reduce, reuse, recycle, but mainly reduce, we should not be worried and fearful. Remember what Jesus says in Matthew 6:34 “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Paul reminded the Romans, and us at the start of the reading that “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Peter says a similar thing:

1 Peter 1:6-9 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Frugal

So, let us be careful, frugal even with the things of this world, and generous to those who have nothing. But also let us celebrate the promises of God, and the hope that the resurrection of Jesus gives us.

Review: In the beginning GOD?

ISBN:0 901015 03 2

In the beginning GOD? by David A. Wilkinson

In the Beginning God?: Modern Cosmology and Biblical Creation Today - The Origin of the Universe According to Science and the Bible by David A. Wilkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In his pamphlet style booklet, David covers a good amount of ground for the size of the book. His outlines of the science sound a little dated now - it was published in 1991. As a Christian and a (very) amateur scientist, I found it interesting and helpful. Redshift is explained in a simple way, which is one of the key factors in understanding an expanding universe. His look at the structure of Genesis diagram, quoted from "Genesis Today, E. Lucas" was also useful, and added to my thinking a little.

I have only rated this 4* because of its age, I'm sure there are more up-to-date booklets available now.

View all my reviews

Summer Series 2022 - 3: Wisdom & Wonder

Preached 7 August 2022 at Christ Church, Billericay

Title: Wisdom and Wonder (Summer Series: Jesus our Jubilee)

Reading: 1 Kings 3v5-14; James 3v13,17; James 1v5

All a dream

“So it was all a dream”. Don’t you just hate it when a story that you’re enjoying uses this device to get out of a hole it had dug for itself! Perhaps the most famous of these, if you’re a certain age, is [play theme] Dallas. Bobby Ewing was never run over, the whole of that series was a dream.

This type of plot twist is a terrible way to tell a story. But the twist we have today, is that the dream comes before the story, and to a considerable extent tells us what is going to happen. That sort of twist can only come in real life – because we know the truth is stranger than fiction.

Dreams

Solomon's dream is not an unusual event in the Bible, there are plenty of occasions where God speaks to people through dreams. Perhaps the most well known ones, are in Matthew chapters one and two. Here God speaks to Joseph about Mary, and urges him to take Mary, who is now expecting the baby Jesus, as his wife. Then in chapter two, the Magi are warned not to return to Herod in a dream. So God has protected his Messiah, and ensured that He can grow up to become the man that we read about in the NT using dreams.

Dream?

I wonder if anyone here has ever heard from God in a dream? I don’t remember ever having such a dream, but it may still be possible because Joel promises that ‘old men will dream dreams’.

Young Solomon

Solomon is not an old man at this point. In verse 7 he says that he is only a little child. This seems to be a figurative description of his ability to rule, rather than referring to his physical age.

Cleverer people than me have done the arithmetic. They have worked out when he could have been born. He was one of David and Bathsheba’s children, but not the first, because we know that he died. So calculating from the time David stole Bathsheba, and murdered Uriah the Hittite, until David’s death, gives us a possible oldest age of 24, with the most likely age being about 20.

Beginnings of Wisdom

Solomon, has been brought up in the ways of the Lord. He knows he has many things to do – there is a temple to build, and the people have to be stopped from worshipping other Gods. (1 Kings 3:2) says “The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places”, so before the dream, the things that he knew he needed to do may have been weighing on his mind. But his upbringing meant that he knew where to turn. So when God comes to him in the dream, he is perhaps more receptive than he would otherwise have been. Solomon already has the beginnings of wisdom. Although he, too, was guilty of making offerings in the high places.

The Dream

At Gibeon, the king celebrates his succession to the throne with an enormous celebration. It starts with a thousand burnt offerings. Gibeon is, at that time, the most important religious city. It is therefore an appropriate place for God to speak to Solomon.

What would you ask for?

God starts with, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

We know from our reading how Solomon responded, and we will look at that in more detail in a minute, but first, let's ask ourselves how we would respond.

What would you ask God for?

What is your greatest desire for yourself, or for others?

That is our activity later, so we can start thinking about it now.

The response

Notice that Solomon does not simply blurt out his wants, he starts by showing God his understanding, because what he will ask for comes out of the understanding that he has already gained. Lets look at verses 6-8:

Verse 6

You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

Firstly, he acknowledges his roots. He is where he is because of God’s great kindness (we might call it grace now) to his father, because of who his father was. David was described as “a man after my own heart”, by God (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22) because he was the person who would do God's will. God’s kindness continues because David’s son has succeeded him on the throne.

Verse 7

“Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.

Next, he recognises his limited abilities – he does not know how to rule, he has hardly had any practice.

Verse 8

Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.

Finally, he acknowledges God’s chosen people, and the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham that they would be a great people who would be too numerous to count. (Gen 15:5)

The request

All of these form the basis for the request that is to follow – a discerning heart and wisdom to rule. He wants to know, to be able to distinguish right from wrong.

God’s response

God is pleased with Solomon’s request, had he asked for the death of his enemies, for wealth and a long life, they would no doubt have been granted. But, Solomon asked for something better, and his request was granted. He was also given wealth and honour. Conditionally, he was promised a long life – all he has to do is “walk in God’s ways and obey His statutes and commands” for the rest of his life. (Easier said than done, of course.)

The Golden age

Solomon built the temple, he was fabulously rich and Israel with him. His reign marked a golden age (both literally and figuratively). You can read of his wisdom in the next chapter.

Wisdom for us

None of us will ever have to rule a kingdom, and even the Queen does not have the power that Solomon had. She, too, was aware of the need for wisdom. I like her quote that Catherine gave us last week.

At the start of her reign, “She was in her salad days – green and hard” or something like that.

Her wisdom has served us well, but for her, like us, the verses in James that we read are probably more useful.

James 1v5

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Like Solomon, when we lack wisdom, we should ask God. We don’t have to wait for God to approach us in a dream. You realise what that means, we have easier access to God than even Solomon.

James 3 verses 13, 17

Just like Solomon, though, the wisdom we get is the wisdom to do the will of God.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

So when we ask for heaven's wisdom, as I’m sure we do from time to time, James has provided us with a checklist, to ensure that we have been listening to the heavenly wisdom correctly.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

If what we hear doesn’t meet these criteria, it’s not from God.

 

On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldWF4cwCsDI 

Thomas: Doubts and Evidence

 Preached 3 July 2022 @ Christ Church 10am

Introduction

There are only a couple of stories in the Gospel of John that mention Thomas. He’s included in the lists of disciples in each of the gospels and Acts, but only John gives him a voice.

So I thought it would be helpful to look at these stories and try to get some idea of what sort of person Thomas was. That might help us to understand why he doubted the resurrection. Then we will take a look at this morning's bible verses and see what they meant for Thomas and what they might mean for us.

Tradition

According to traditional accounts of the Saint Thomas Christians of India, the Apostle Thomas landed in Muziris near Kochi on the Kerala coast (south-western India) in AD 52 and was martyred in Mylapore, near Madras (now Chennai) in AD 72. A journey north-easterly across Tamil Nadu covering something like 700 km (435 miles). He founded the ancient Indian Christian Churches on the way. A missionary journey to rival the apostle Paul.

John 11

His first specific mention is in John 11. Jesus tells his disciples he wants to go back to Judea. The disciples are not at all in favour of this and respond:

Jn 11:8 “But Rabbi, a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”

Jesus tells them, in a round about way, that Lazarus is dead, they don’t get it, so he tells them directly. They would have all known that Lazarus was one of Jesus’ closest friends, and it is Thomas who responds:

John 11:16. “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Now, as Catherine was saying last week, it's difficult to know what he really meant without the tone of the voice and the body language, but I can’t help but feel that this a rather downbeat response.

Despite that, it also shows that Thomas has a certain commitment to Jesus that perhaps the others didn’t at this point. Later, Peter will profess openly that he will follow Jesus and never leave him. Then at the last minute Peter, in fear for his life, fails to live up to his promise. Like, Peter and the other disciples, Thomas will also abandon Jesus. But for now, Thomas, perhaps grudgingly, or perhaps with a degree of resignation, will actually follow Him.

Knowingly following someone, however much you love and respect them, into a dangerous situation, shows a certain strength of character.

John 14

We next hear of Thomas in Chapter 14. Jesus is comforting His disciples, having just predicted Peter’s denial.

Jn 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

One thing I like about Thomas, is that he is not afraid to ask the obvious question. I’ll bet that all the other disciples were thinking the same thing. And they were all waiting for someone to ask the question. That someone was Thomas. We should all be very glad that he did, because Jesus’s response is one of the most well known of His sayings.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Without Thomas being willing to speak up, we would not have this quote, which means so much to so many.

John 20 + 21

Then comes our reading this morning, and shortly afterwards Thomas is mentioned at the start of chapter 21 where the disciples decide to go back to their fishing boats and resume their old careers.

Where was Thomas?

Our reading started with “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.”

Which prompts two questions:

“Why not?” and “Where was he?”.

We cannot answer the latter question, but we can speculate a little about why. The disciples have watched as the man they thought was their Messiah, who would save them and restore Israel, was arrested, given a very unfair trial and put to death.

They were in fear for their lives, believing the authorities would come after them too, and they would suffer the same fate. They have been in hiding and being very careful. They think it is all over, and in a few verses time we will read that they are going back to their old jobs.

It’s entirely reasonable to believe that Thomas was hit harder by these events than the other disciples, and had excluded himself from their company for large amounts of time. He maybe contemplating leaving the group.

We have seen the Lord + response

So when he meets up with them again, and they tell him “We have seen the Lord”, he begins to think that they are either delusional, or suffering for a severe case of wishful thinking.

His answer “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” is just a very long handed way of saying “I want proof”. Which sounds entirely reasonable to me. Dead men don’t walk and talk.

Jesus appears

So, a week later when Jesus appears while they are in a locked room, Thomas is given his chance. Jesus says “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

It sounds to me a little harsh – is Thomas really supposed to believe the others, while they are deep in their grief, after all the mind plays strange tricks on people in those situations. I can remember a few instances of thinking I’d seen dad, in the weeks immediately after he died. I even started to get frustrated that so many people apparently looked like him!

Lazarus

But it is different for Thomas, however down he was feeling. Firstly, he has had years of teaching about how Jesus’s life was to end – had he heard nothing? Did none of it go in?

Secondly, he had been there, as we have already seen, when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb.

There is enough teaching and enough evidence for Thomas not to be doubting what the others are telling him.

Belief in the Resurrection

Just a short aside for a minute. Belief in the resurrection is critical if we are to be called Christians. A few weeks ago, when I was discussing the Trinity with you, I said that the Trinity was the distinctive belief for Christianity – and it is.

There are lots of mythological religions that include the belief that their god has been resurrected. One such god is mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 8, where Ezekiel is shown the detestable things that the Israelites are up to. Women are mourning for the god Tammuz. The exact beliefs about Tammuz vary with time and place, by now it appears that he spent half his time in our world (the summer) and half his time in the netherworld (winter). So he was mourned each year and resurrected 6 months later.

So far as I can find, no-one ever believed that Tammuz was a real man. While resurrection is not a distinctive idea, having a real man resurrected seems to be.

It is God’s proof that Jesus didn’t die a failure, without it, as St Paul says, we are still in our sins.

There is plenty of evidence in the gospels, and some in Paul’s letters. All the arguments for how a mistake might have occurred are covered. The best evidence today, though, is the very obvious change in the disciples once they truly believed that Jesus had risen.

Thomas

So, getting back on topic, it is critical to the mission that Jesus has given His disciples that they are clear that the resurrection is real.

So Thomas is given the chance. Jesus effectively says “Go on, examine the evidence, everything you need to believe is here”

Faith – from the presence

But evidence is not what Thomas needs, he clearly already has enough of that in the teaching he has received, in the things he has already seen and in the trust he has in the other disciples.

What Thomas needs is to SEE Jesus. We have a phrase “seeing is believing”, maybe it comes from this passage, but if it doesn’t it so easily could. Now he has seen the risen Lord, there is only one response possible, “My Lord and my God”. Thomas’s doubting is over. He is restored and ready for his mission, just as Peter was.

Grand Masters

There are a lot of art works of this scene, it fascinated the grand masters. Most of them, using their artistic licence I suppose, got it wrong. The recognition is instant, Thomas makes no attempt to examine Jesus’s wounds.

Important quote

It is Thomas’s interaction with Jesus that again give us an important quote: “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”.

Is this perhaps a prophecy for Thomas’s ministry, for all the people in India who would become convinced of the truth that Jesus died for our sins and rose again.

It applies as much to us as is does to them, of course.

Evidence?

How many of you, I wonder, looked at the evidence for the resurrection when you were considering the Christian faith. I know I did.

We have seen, though, that evidence alone is not what it takes to make people believe. Just think of the vaccination debate, the evidence for the use of vaccines is strong, and the risks are low, but people often make up their minds based on the opinions of their friends (qualified or not).

I wonder how many of you were swayed by the evidence alone, and gave your life to Christ solely on that basis. I’m sure there are a few in the world, but I expect there are many more who watch the example of their already Christian friends, and try to see Jesus in them. I know I did. And those friends, like Thomas, were keen to tell me about Jesus, the basis of their faith and their life.

As Romans 10:14 says, “14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

That’s a sermon for another day, but a lifetime for Thomas, once he had put his doubts behind him.

Amen.

 

Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/HN5vyz9Vg5A

Growing up & something about the Trinity for Trinity Sunday

Preached 12 June 2022 at Christ Church, Billericay

Readings: John 16:12-16

How bad can it be?

When Jesus says to the disciples “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” my immediate thought is ‘How bad can it be?’

Farewell discourse

Our Gospel reading this morning is a very small part of Jesus’ Farewell discourse that covers John chapters 13-17. Chapter 16 is, at least partly, and expansion on chapter 14. So Jesus is repeating himself and expanding his message. He repeats himself because the disciples are a bit slow and don’t get it first time. It’s also very difficult for them to accept, that He is going to die, let alone be resurrected.

What Jesus has said

Let’s look at what Jesus has already said to them. I’m not going to look at the whole discourse, that would take too long, let’s just go back to verse 2 of the chapter:

Jn 16:2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

You might have thought that that was as bad as it could get, but clearly there is more.

The Disciple’s training

Over about the last three years, the disciples have been in training. Unlike Catherine and Sue, who knew exactly what they were training for, the disciples do not really understand what is coming. They are simply following Jesus because they have recognised him as the long awaited Messiah.

Going Away

Now He is going away. They have received teaching about His death and resurrection for most of the three years they have been with Him, and now is nearly the time. So Jesus is moving them on to the next steps.

Jn 16:7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
⁹ in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
¹⁰ in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
¹¹ and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

… and then we get to today’s reading.

Which starts with verse 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”

Linked verses

That verse is linked in my Bible to these two verses:

Mk 4:33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.

and

1Co 3:2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

These two verses tell us that Jesus has taught them as much as they can understand now, and that they are still very young in their faith. They are not yet ready for the difficulties to come, but they will be very soon.

Revolution

They are about to start a revolution, they just don’t know it yet. Once a revolution starts, there is no way of knowing where it will go and how it will end – unless you are God, of course. If they are to be “The people who turned the world upside down” (Acts 17 AV) they will have to stop relying on the physical Jesus stood in front of them, and start relying more directly on the Father who sent him, the God He personifies.

The Holy Spirit

That’s why Jesus now goes on to talk again about the Holy Spirit. He assures them that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, will only tell them what He hears from the Father and the Son. That He will bring Glory to the Son by the things of God that He reveals. Everything that He reveals already belongs to the Son, Jesus.

Trinity: Intro

Now we will take a brief look at the Trinity, the doctrine that this Sunday is named after. I’ll return to these verses later.

Trinity – a question

Ian Paul, the writer of the Psephizo blog and a professor, among other things was asked the question right at the start of his ordination training: “What is the central distinguishing feature of Christian faith?” I wonder what your answer would be?

He was surprised by the answer, which was supplied by the theologian Karl Barth said

“The doctrine of the Trinity is what basically distinguishes the Christian doctrine of God as Christian…in contrast to all other possible doctrines of God (cited in Holmes p 4).¹

Today is Trinity Sunday, and I frankly, would have expected different readings. The New Testament reading gets us to a good, if short, description of the interaction between the three persons of the trinity, but the psalm is not helpful.

Where did it come from?

The word trinity is not mentioned in the Bible. So where did it come from? If we look at the history of the Christian church for a while, we will see that it was something that was arrived at quite slowly. Many scholars looking into the scriptures and trying to understand them for hundreds of years got us to the council of Nicea in AD 325. This was convened by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, to get arguments about the, now established, faith sorted out across the Empire. The initial agreement sorted out the Arian controversy and only agreed that God the Father and God the son are of the same essence, the same substance. Arius believed that God, the son, did not always exist.

2^nd Council of Nicea

It took another council, again at Nicea in 381 add to add the Holy Spirit to the God Head, and the definition of the Trinity as we know it was established. It is still the only thing that holds the Protestants, Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches together with a common belief.

Creed

This is a part of what was agreed. For Jesus

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;

and for the Holy Spirit

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

Councils

There were, of course, many other councils for other theological disagreements.

If you think that these great councils were civilised affairs, that forgave the losers, you could not be more wrong. At least one ended in a mass brawl. After the first council of Nicea, Arius was banished from the Empire. They make the discussions at General Synod look very civilised indeed.

Trinity

I’m getting side tracked, what we should be looking at is the case for the trinity and where the ideas came from.

Old Testament

In Genesis chapter one, we find the first clue:

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.” ²⁷ So God created man in his own image,

Did you spot the change from plural to singular?

Let us make man in our image

So God created man in his own image

Is this the first clue, or is God just using the royal ‘we’? Maybe that’s only an English concept.

New Testament

There are, of course, better clues in the New Testament. There are frequent passages where Jesus equates himself with God, “I and the Father are one” in John 10, it was enough for the Jewish authorities to understand that He was claiming to be God. They were about to stone him. When he asked them why, their answer is “We are stoning you for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” (John 10:33)

Then there are passages like our reading today, which tells us that the Holy Spirit gets everything from God the Father.

Other Examples

At the end of 2 Corinthians, Paul blesses his community by invoking “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit” (2 Cor. 13:13), and at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus commissions his disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18).

So the idea of the trinity goes back to the gospel writers and Paul, it is not a later invention.

Doctrine for what

The doctrine was developed to provide a common language among all Christians across the empire. To ensure that all are being taught the same thing. It provides us with a way of discussing the nature of God, and to some extent understanding that nature.

De-construction

There have been many attempts to explain it. All of them lead ultimately to some form of heresy.

Cloud

Have you ever looked up in the sky and seen a cloud that reminds you of something. I have a new camera, and have been taking pictures of all sorts of things, including clouds, but even the picture doesn’t remind me of the thing that the cloud reminded me of. And a cloud is definitely not the real thing, if you were up there with it, you would just be in fog.

It’s all a matter of perspective. We only see God from one point of view.

So before I take us all into the fog, here are two of the attempts to explain the Trinity.

Explanations

The three leaf clover is 1 piece of clover, but has three distinct leaves. Each leaf performs the same function, and already we are getting into trouble.

There are the 3 states of water, ice, liquid and steam, but it is the same substance. It’s all water, but each state has a very different effect on us, and already we are getting into trouble.

These explanations are best avoided, but they can provide some basic insights.

I’ll give the last word on the trinity for now to Augustine, who described it as “the Lover, the Beloved, and the love that flows between.”

Message from Today’s Reading

While the New Testament reading helps us with the Trinity, it’s real message is about the disciples faith maturing, and them growing up and leaving their dependence on the physical Jesus behind. Once they have the connection to God, through the Holy Spirit living in them, they will be able to bear all the hard things that Jesus is not as yet able to say to them.

Scripture is incomplete?

Incidentally, the fact that Jesus has more to say, does not mean that scripture is somehow incomplete. Jesus has plenty to say to the disciples, much of it is recorded in the book of Acts, but Jesus also speaks through the epistles and through the revelation.

To us

The spirit of truth came at Pentecost. We heard about that last week. He is still here. He is still guiding us into all truth. He is still only speaking what He hears. He is still bringing glory to Jesus through what He says. He is still telling us of things to come. We have never had the physical Jesus to have a conversation with, but we have Him as our example of how to live in an evil world, and we have the Holy Spirit as an intimate connection to Jesus and to God our Father. So we can experience a little of the love that flows between them and overflows upon and out of each of us.

Amen

1https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/the-trinity-and-john-16/

Redemption Sunday

Preached 1 May 2022 at Christ church, Billericay

Readings: Acts 9v1-20,John 21v1-19

Redemption Sunday

I was talking to my daughter, Liz and explaining the passages I was preparing to preach on this morning, and she said ‘Redemption Sunday’. It is from the point of view of the main protagonists in our readings this morning. Both Peter and Paul needed God’s forgiveness for the things they had done before they could move into the ministry they were being called into.

Foundation Sunday

You could also call it Foundation Sunday. Without the events reported in today’s readings, the birth of the church at Pentecost could not have taken place, and there would be no-one to take the message out from the Jews to the Roman world.

Peter then Paul

I’m going to look at each of these stories, to see what we can learn from them, I’ll start with Peter and then move on to Paul.

Peter – Background

You will remember, I hope, that on Good Friday, we heard the story of the arrest and trial of Jesus. Peter has quite a part in that, and shows us that he really hasn’t absorbed much of what Jesus has been trying to teach him over the preceding three years. First of all he cut off the High priest’s servant’s ear. That was bad enough. Then he broke a promise to Jesus.

Matthew 26 (v31) Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:

“ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

³³Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

³⁵But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”

It’s a promise that we all implicitly make when we give our lives to Jesus and accept him as Lord and saviour.

Peter Tested

For Peter, the test of his promise came all too soon. After the arrest he was frightened, and when asked if he was with Jesus, he denied it. He was asked three times during that evening, and each time his own safety came first, so he denied knowing Jesus.

Our Test

We, too, will face that test at some point. There will be a situation where we will be asked in some way, “Are you with Jesus?” If we give the truthful answer, there will be negative consequences, perhaps not as severe as being arrested and put to death. Maybe just some awkward embarrassment, or perhaps they will make fun of you. You might lose a job or a job opportunity, or you might lose friends. We have to decide very quickly at that point which way we are going to respond.

Too much for Peter

The waiting around had got too much for Peter. He is a man of action, and quite impetuous. So he decides to go fishing – back to his old job. Fishing is a nighttime activity. Peter is joined by the other disciples. They spend a night working hard in the boat, but catch nothing.

It’s the Lord

Morning comes, then someone on the shore asks about their catch. They’re not sure who it is. He says, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” They do, one last try won’t hurt, then they can get some rest. But, it works, and they get a very good catch. Maybe John remembers that something like this has happened before, whatever it was, something triggers the recognition of Jesus on the shore, and as soon as John says “It’s the Lord”, Peter is on his way over the side of the boat, swimming to the shore.

Jesus provides breakfast

Jesus already has a fire going, and asks them to bring some of the 153 fish. He invites them to breakfast. Then in v12 it says, ‘None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.’ Jesus, now with a resurrection body, must have looked subtly different in some way – just enough for them to be uncertain.

Jesus Reinstates Peter

Even Peter must have known that he couldn’t just get away with denying Jesus. He must have known that at some point there would be a reckoning. He must have known that he can’t live up to Jesus’ promise to him having denied Jesus. Remember what Jesus had said:

“you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;” (Matt. 16:18).

Here comes the reckoning. I like to imagine that Jesus took Peter a little way away from the group before this conversation started.

Jesus asks “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

It’s an ambiguous question, does He mean the boats and the fishing life or the people?

“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

It’s an incomplete answer too, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

“Feed my lambs”, Jesus says.

One denial down, and a partial re-instatement has happened.

Jesus repeats the question and Peter repeats his answer, but this time Jesus’s response takes Peter a step further. “Take care of my sheep.”

Now Jesus has made Peter the shepherd of the flock that he was always intended to be.

Third Question

The third question seems like a downgrade “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

In the first two the word translated ‘truly love’ means Gods love for His people, in the third the word translated ‘love’ is a more personal love – affection and high regard.

This third one touches a nerve with Peter, no doubt as it was intended. His response shows it “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

“Feed my sheep” Jesus says, and the restoration and redemption of Peter’s denial is complete. He is back in the role that was intended for him.

Reminder

It is immediately followed by a reminder that Peter will still have to face his fear that led to the denial in the first place. He will still have to die for his beliefs. It may be a long way off, but it is definitely there. Then there’s the final command “Follow me”, which applies to us as much as to Peter.

God’s Plan B?

God’s plan is back on track. We talk a lot about God’s plan for our lives. Sometimes when we fail we fear we have lost the path that we were following. We talk, dejectedly, about following God’s plan B. I believe from looking at this story that there is no plan B. Everything that Peter has done, and the way the Jesus redeemed his failure is all part of plan A. Peter will be stronger for overcoming his failure, than if he had never failed. If nothing else he will have learnt something about the real nature of forgiveness.

For us, when we fail, sometimes it is not possible to restart the same work, that doesn’t imply that we are on plan B, simply that we never understood plan A. The experience will, if we listen to the Holy Spirit guide us in the path we should be taking.

Paul and his mission

Let’s now take a look at Paul’s story or Saul as he was then. Saul is a very different person to Peter. He is highly intelligent, highly trained, perhaps the greatest thinker of his generation. He is very enthusiastic, very dedicated, even driven. He doesn’t know when to stop. He didn’t need to get papers from the chief priests to track down and arrest the followers of the Way in another country. ‘The Way’ was what the disciples of Jesus called themselves. He was determined to wipe out this new ‘sect of the Nazarene’ as he would have called it. These believers in Jesus are a dangerous heresy and must be eliminated. He’s researched their beliefs, he knows exactly where they are wrong and how to bring them to trial and get them executed. That was Saul’s plan. So he gets a few supporters together and heads to Damascus, where he knows there is a large Jewish community.

Near Damascus

Four or five days later they are nearly there, the journey has been boring, no doubt, but the prize awaits! Suddenly he is surrounded by bright light from heaven and hears a voice “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Saul has no idea, but recognises the power and authority of the voice, so responds “Who are you, Lord?”

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

That can’t be, Jesus is dead. Saul knows that the people he is after claim that Jesus is alive, but dead men don’t talk, do they?

Saul is led into Damascus by his colleagues, because he has been blinded by the light. Once there he has plenty of time – three days – to reflect on the experience and pray about it. He is not distracted by food, drink, or the ability to see, he is in his own dark world, with just his thoughts and the nudging of the Holy Spirit.

Ananias

We must give Ananias a mention even though we know nothing about him other than what’s recorded here. He was clearly a devout Christian, and spent a lot of time listening to the Holy Spirit. Wouldn’t it be lovely to hear from God as clearly as Ananias was able to, I bet that has taken years of practice.

He’s brave too. He walks into a situation, which, if he had misunderstood God’s message could easily have led to his death. Without his bravery and obedience, Paul would still be Saul, and the whole of Christian history would be different.

Saul recovers

After three days with no food or water Saul is weak. When Ananias lays hands on him, Saul is filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul’s priority then is to be baptized, which presumably was done by Ananias, as it does not appear there were any other believers present. A few days later, we read in verse 22 that Saul was getting “more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.”

Saul Redeemed

His murderous threats – his sin – has been redeemed by the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and he is on a new mission to bring the word of God to the Gentiles. Like so many that followed, Saul had set out to destroy Christianity, only to become one of it’s greatest proponents. Here are three others who tried the same thing (without the murderous threats)

Gilbert West (1703-1756)

Known as a poet, he set out to debunk the resurrection, instead he published ‘Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ’ (1747). On the fly-leaf he had the following printed: “Blame not before thou hast examined the truth.”

George Lyttelton (1709-1773)

Educated at Eton and Oxford, he set out to prove that Paul was not converted as the Bible states. Instead, he wrote ‘Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul (1747)’. In the introduction, he writes that the conversion of Saul is “a demonstration sufficient to prove Christianity to be a divine Revelation”

Albert Henry Ross (Frank Morison) (1881-1950)

Albert was a lawyer, journalist, novelist and sceptic. He is the author of “Who moved the stone”, which most of us have heard of, I’m sure.

Lessons of Saul

None of us, I hope, will go through an experience similar to Saul’s. His story, and those of the other three people I have just mentioned tells us that if we can get to just explain our faith, we can have an effect on people that we may never realise.

How many people had spoken to Saul, Gilbert, George, or Albert about their faith, before they started their investigations? They had to get the information from someone, before they decided to try to destroy Christendom.

I firmly believe that any inquiry into the faith, whatever the motive, can be enough for the inquirer to let Jesus into their lives. Then they too can have their ‘Redemption Sunday’ - their sins forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life.

Amen.