Characteristics of the Early Church, Acts 2:42-47 (Easter 4 Year A)

Acts 2:42-47

Patience, frustration, cynicism, sarcasm, disbelief, contemplation…….

All kinda rolled into one. By Paul Howard at Flickr. CC 2.0.

One of my less attractive attributes – and there are many – is that I can be quite cynical. As I pondered why I was like that, I came across the idea that a cynic is a failed idealist.

And I thought, yes: that’s me. The failed idealist.

One of the things I’ve been an idealist about over the years is the church. I’ve been grieved by the difference between the New Testament church, even with all its imperfections, and church as we experience it today.

I had some sympathy with the late Billy Graham when someone criticised him, saying, ‘Mr Graham, you are setting the church back fifty years.’

Graham replied, ‘If I have only set the church back fifty years then I have failed. I wanted to set it back two thousand years.’

Today’s passage from Acts is one of those accounts where we see some of the core values of the early church. This description shows what they focussed on in the immediate aftermath of Pentecost, when three thousand were added to the number of the first disciples when Peter preached.

I think it would be good for us to measure ourselves against this plumbline.

The initial summary statement in verse 42 –

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers

is filled out in verses 43 to 47.

We’re going to reflect on those four key things to which the earliest church was devoted – the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers – and see how well we reflect them.

The first characteristic of the early church is the apostles’ teaching:

The Apostles preaching the Gospel by Fr Lawrence Lew, OP on Flickr. CC 2.0.

The converts are both listening to the spoken teaching of the apostles and also watching them put it into practice: ‘many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles’, according to verse 43.

There is no true Christian church unless it stands in continuity with the apostles, to whom Jesus entrusted his teaching. How is that guaranteed? Anglicans do it through a succession of laying-on of hands down the centuries, vouchsafed by the continuation of bishops. Catholics do it by a similar method, but especially by seeing the Pope as the successor to the Apostle Peter.

But both methods are suspect. There have been enough bishops who clearly have not believed the historic faith down the centuries. And some Catholic traditions and teachings are also questionable.

We may not be much better. We are right to say that we need a succession in the apostles’ teaching, but we certainly let a lot of people – church leaders included – sit very loose to that (to put it as diplomatically as I think I can).

The New Testament is the collection of writings that are either from the apostles or from their circles of influence, and it is the basis for the content of Christian faith. Our call is to know that teaching and to live it out. That makes us apostolic.

Therefore, let us all ask ourselves: what are we doing to learn more about what the New Testament calls ‘the faith once delivered to the saints’? Do we not only attend to its reading and exposition on Sundays but also read it for ourselves (preferably every day)? Do we discuss it with others? Do we take on its teaching by saying, OK, that’s what it means, now what am I going to do about it?

I love the story of the grandchild who observed Grandma reading her Bible, and saying, ‘Nanny, why are you still reading the Bible? Haven’t you read it over and over again in your life?’

‘Yes,’ said Grandma, ‘I have. But I’m studying for my finals.’

The second characteristic of the early church is fellowship:

Careers at Abundant Life. Found at Abundant Life. CC 4.0.

They are devoted to ‘the fellowship’ and this has its outworking in verses 44 and 45:

44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

We have such a shallow understanding of fellowship. We think it’s drinking coffee together while we chat about the weather. Somebody once said that the kind of fellowship we witness in some churches is no more than what he called ‘billiard ball fellowship’: we just bump into one another once a week. The New Testament church shows us up.

For the word translated ‘fellowship’ means ‘in common.’ Who or what do we have in common? They had Jesus in common, and because of that they shared not only him but every aspect of their lives, possessions included.

Let’s not write this off lazily as some have, by saying this was an early experiment in communism that failed. The earliest church shared their experience of Jesus, and because of that they also shared life together at a very deep level.

I have seen some wonderful examples of this over the years. I think of when my grandmother (who lived with us) died. Our West Indian Christian friends from the Bible study group we hosted turned up on the doorstep. Some came in and relieved my mother of the housework. Others arrived, carrying a fully cooked meal for the whole family. They shared and gave so that we as a family had time and space to grieve. I will never forget that.

Or this incident from the first theological college I attended: there was a Singaporean student whose mother died back home while she was at the college. She couldn’t afford a plane ticket to fly home for the funeral and then come back to England for the rest of her course. But the student body, comprised of people with very limited incomes, rallied around. She was given the money for a return ticket.

If we share Jesus in common, what else do we share?

The third characteristic of the early church is the breaking of bread:

From needpix.com. Public Domain.

This too is mentioned in the summary statement in verse 42. It is expanded upon in part of verse 46:

they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts

Now some Christians hear those words ‘the breaking of bread’ and ‘they broke bread’ and think this is some kind of primitive communion service held in people’s homes without the need for formal leadership. It isn’t – any more than when the risen Jesus broke bread with the two who walked to Emmaus at their house was. It was an ordinary meal.

You could say this is an extension of what I have just said about the true meaning of fellowship. It is a marker of how life was shared together. Homes were open. There was no limitation to just the nuclear family of Mum, Dad, and the kids, like there is in our society. Your family was not just biological. Your family was the family of God.

It’s quite a challenge to the concept that an Englishman’s home is his castle, and that we get in, shut the door, pull up the drawbridge, and shut out the rest of the world. The church family, according to the example of the early believers, has more of an ‘open door’ philosophy. Open to the family of God. Open to those in need.

When I was single, I was glad to know others who would open their home to me, so that I didn’t have to spend every mealtime alone. I think too of the Christian couple I know who applied to have an extension on their home. It wasn’t so that they could live in more comfort. They did it, because they wanted to become foster parents. Over the years, I believe they fostered somewhere between thirty and fifty children, many of whom came from traumatic backgrounds. As a result of their caring witness, some even found faith and joined the church.

What might it mean for us to eat our food ‘with glad and generous hearts’?

The fourth characteristic of the early church is the prayers:

Free hands praying in church image, public domain people. Found at Religion Unplugged. CC 1.0.

This is mentioned at the end of verse 42 and is amplified in the rest of verse 46 and the first half of verse 47:

46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

Prayer and praise? Am I just stating the obvious here? Am I about to tell a collection of grandparents how to suck eggs?

I hope not. But here’s the thing. When the Holy Spirit is at work, prayer and praise moves from duty to desire to delight. It is no longer what we have to do, but what we want to do. The work of the Spirit is to reveal Jesus, and as we see more of who Jesus is and what Jesus is like, then our capacity for worship will inevitably increase.

I am not suggesting we should spend so much time in church that we ignore the needs of the world. If I thought that, I wouldn’t have shared the last point about our open homes.

And nor am I saying that duty on its own is necessarily bad. Sometimes we get through a difficult period or a dry spell by attending to the need for duty in coming to worship. We cultivate virtuous habits that help us.

But what does concern me is a lackadaisical attitude to worship that I sometimes see in church members. I’ll come to worship provided there’s no better attraction available to me. I won’t come to worship today, because it’s raining. I’ll come to worship, because I want to get something rather than give something.

A true church is committed to praise and prayer as a priority. I think of the Ugandan Anglican priest I knew at my first college who would walk up to twenty miles, carrying all his vestments and everything he needed. Over the years, he had developed a stoop from the weight of all he had carried, and while you might reasonably ask whether it was sensible in the African climate for clergy to wear the same attire that they do in the UK, that deformity also spoke of one who was committed to leading God’s people in praise and prayer.

I wonder what cost we were glad to pay to come to worship today.

Conclusion

Here’s the whole of verse 47:

praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

They wouldn’t always enjoy the goodwill of the people. But they did generally grow in number. We have much to learn from them about continuing in the apostolic faith, holding our lives in common because we have Jesus in common, having open homes, and being committed to worship.

Michael Frost in 2017 at Wikimedia Commons. CC 4.0.

I want to close with a pattern of life suggested by the Australian missiologist Michael Frost. I do not live up to all these ideals, but I think he captures the spirit of the early church in a mnemonic for the Christian life called BELLS:

Bless —I will bless three people this week — at least one of whom is not a member of our church.

Eat — I will eat with three people this week — at least one of whom is not a member of our church.

Listen — I will spend at least one period of the week listening for the Spirit’s voice.

Learn — I will spend at least one period of the week learning Christ.

Sent — I will journal throughout the week all the ways I alerted others to the universal reign of God through Christ.[1]

How about we ring some bells?

[1] See Michael Frost, Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People.

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Following the Risen Jesus in Everyday Life (John 21:1-25)

John 21:1-25

Brooklyn Museum – The Second Miraculous Draught of Fishes – James Tissot. Public Domain.

Last week, I got to preach on one of my favourite Bible passages, the second half of John 20. Today, I have disregarded the Lectionary, which would have taken us to the Emmaus Road story, which was the Bible reading at our wedding, to follow John 20 with – er – John 21, which is also significant for me. It was hearing a Local Preacher speak on this passage in 1985 that began my journey to theological study and eventually ordained ministry.

But today, I don’t want to speak about ordination. I want us to look at how the risen Jesus transforms everyday life.

Firstly, the risen Jesus transforms work:

Aerial view of computer laptop on wooden table photography hobby concept from rawpixel.com at pxhere.com. Public Domain.

The disciples have met the risen Lord. He has promised them the Holy Spirit. But they haven’t been transformed yet. They haven’t begun the mission Jesus has described for them. Simon Peter is hanging around, twiddling his thumbs.

‘I am going fishing,’ he says, and the six friends with him join him. Back to the day job. Back to something familiar. Back to something he knows all about.

But for all the knowledge and experience of fishing among those assembled on the boat, the expedition is a failure. They have gone out to fish at night, which was generally the most fruitful time, but they have caught nothing.

Until a knowing voice from the shore calls out: ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ How did he know from that distance?

‘No.’

‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ How could he tell from that distance? He couldn’t see a shoal swimming under the water from there.

But lo and behold. A hundred and fifty-three fish. Many scholars have tried to find symbolic significance in that number, but really it’s just an eyewitness account that testifies to the abundance in contrast to the prior lack. On this occasion, Jesus doesn’t draw a spiritual parallel, such as when he had talked about ‘fishing for people.’ He simply blesses the work of fishermen.

Jesus loves to bless our work. In creation, the human race was made stewards of all God had made. If you look closely, you can see that in so many professions.

It’s not just the obvious work of ministers. Nor is it some of the other professions we have lauded, like medicine and teaching – although we are grateful for them. Do you remember the slogan popularised by Christa McAuliffe, the teacher chosen as a space shuttle astronaut, but who sadly died in the Challenger disaster in 1986? ‘I touch the future. I teach.’

But think also of how engineers steward the resources of the earth. Think of those who in many ways engage in creative management of the world’s assets. Consider someone who daily enables people to communicate through electronic means. Think of a hairdresser whose clients leave her feeling better about themselves. Are these not things Jesus wants to bless?

Whether you are still in paid work, or like the majority of this congregation well into retirement, can you consider inviting the risen Jesus into those daily activities? How might that make a difference to you?

Secondly, the risen Jesus transforms our daily needs:

Our daily needs 3 at Wikimedia Commons. CC 4.0.

There is one detail in this story that has puzzled me for a long time. Simon Peter and the gang have struggled to catch any fish, but when they get to shore with a bulging net, there is Jesus, with breakfast ready for them. Including fish! Where did Jesus get his fish?

No scholar has been able to explain this. Was it miraculous? Did he buy them from another fisherman?

Whatever the explanation, Jesus knows his friends are coming off a physically demanding night shift. They will be ravenous. The kippers are ready. (I’m sure he would have made kedgeree if he’d been in Haslemere.)

It’s a minor detail, but it shows Jesus caring for ordinary, everyday needs. Sometimes, we don’t like to bother him with the small things. Surely he’s too busy upholding the universe? But he cares.

My late father and aunt grew up as children in the Depression of the 1930s. Their father was out of work for five years. This was before all the provisions of the Welfare State that we know. Their mother would skip meals herself and be on her knees in the kitchen, praying for God to provide. Food parcels and other items the family needed would appear on the doorstep in the nick of time.

Do not leave Jesus out of the smaller, regular features of life. Does that mean you can pray for a parking space? Well, yes, but with certain provisos! For one, just be sure you’re not just using him to get you off the hook. For another, leave him enough time to organise an answer to your prayer. And also, don’t let it distract you from also praying about the weightier matters of life, like justice and poverty. He cares.

Is there something niggling at you right now? Do you keep thinking, this is trivial? It may be something you can deal with by handing it over to Jesus. He cares about our daily lives and needs.

Thirdly, the risen Jesus transforms our wounds:

Emotional Effects of Robbery: Understanding the Impact – Bryan Fagan Law Office CC 4.0.

Let’s go that central conversation after breakfast between Jesus and Simon Peter. We assume – rightly, I think – that the three times Jesus asks Simon whether he loves him are to mirror and replace the three denials he made in the high priest’s courtyard. Not only that, each exchange finishes with the calling to feed Jesus’ sheep.

This is all the more confirmed when you notice one other details. It happens around a charcoal fire, the one Jesus had used to cook the fish and the bread. There is only one other place in the New Testament where a charcoal fire is mentioned, and it is when Simon Peter warms his hands in – the high priest’s courtyard.

Everything in this little episode is about Jesus taking Simon Peter back to those painful denials and healing them. I believe Jesus cares about the wounds we carry from the past. He does not want emotional damage to determine how we live today.

Let me tell you a story. The details I am about to share have been public for many years. I am not breaking any confidences.

I once had an elderly church member who had been an only child. Her father had adored his little girl, but her mother had wanted a boy. Tragically, her father had died young, leaving her to be raised by the mother who did not want her.

One day, we talked about this, and I suggested we pray together. I asked her in the silence to invite the Holy Spirit to show her an incident from her past. In her mind’s eye, she saw a time when she was a child, baking a cake in the kitchen. Her mother came in, told her she would never be any good at this, and snatched everything away from her.

Next, I suggested she should ask the Holy Spirit to show her what Jesus was doing there. Now she saw Jesus come into the kitchen. He gently eased her mother out of the way. Then he spoke to her. ‘You and me, Joan, let’s make this cake together.’

From that time on, she was healed of those parental wounds. For now – although those past events obviously didn’t change – she knew how Jesus regarded her.

I would hazard that many of us are living with old wounds. What if we too invited the risen Jesus to show us where he was when we were hurt? Might we too find his restoring love and live more healthily as a result?

Fourthly and finally, the risen Jesus cares about our future:

Blue gift box. Free public domain CC0 photo at rawpixel.com.

The final part of the story is the other conversation Jesus and Simon Peter have, where Simon is jealous that the ‘Beloved Disciple’ may have a future vastly different from his, which will end in his own execution. Jesus has told him he will end up being led somewhere he does not want to go, and you may know of the legend that Simon Peter asked to be crucified upside-down, because he was not even worthy of being crucified in the same way as Jesus, unbearably cruel as that was.

Comparison is the thief of joy, goes the saying. How many of us have wasted energy and maybe even years of our lives wanting to be someone else? I have wanted to be more outgoing. I have wanted to be musical – and not least when churches have torn themselves apart in ‘worship wars.’

But it’s all fruitless. We can only find fulfilment when we embrace the gifts and callings Jesus has for us. And when we each discover the place God has allotted us in the Body of Christ, then we can play our part healthily in the divine purpose.

A few months ago, Ray Goddess led the circuit staff in the Network course from Willow Creek Church in the USA. It helps people discern their spiritual gifts, but not only their gifts: how these match with their personalities and their passions. It didn’t reveal to me any gifts I didn’t know I had, but it did show me that I was undervaluing one of my gifts, and I need to work that out.

We have just run the course at Lindford church. While we are still processing the results, it has nevertheless been exciting for some people to be confirmed in where God is leading them, and others to be genuinely surprised by what this has opened up for them.

And so, I wonder whether you are settled in your heart and mind about the future God is calling you to. The world has lots of self-centred ways that claim to offer you fulfilment in life, but the one that brings true peace and satisfaction is in knowing what God has given you and has spoken to you. Whatever it is, it is not something where he leaves you on your own to work it out. It is always framed with those words of the risen Jesus to Simon Peter: ‘Follow me.’ He will be there, with us, and going ahead of us.

Conclusion

Indeed, perhaps ‘Follow me’ is the message for all of us in every aspect of what we have considered today. The risen Jesus says to us ‘Follow me’ into the world of daily work and let me transform it. He says, ‘Follow me’ and you will find me providing for you in your daily needs. ‘Follow me,’ he says again, and your old wounds will no longer hold you back. ‘Follow me,’ and you can be liberated to follow the calling he has for you without worrying about others.

Where are you hearing Jesus say, ‘Follow me’?

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That You May Believe: John 20:19-31 (Easter 2, ‘Low Sunday’)

John 20:19-31

The Risen Lord appears to St Thomas & the apostles by Fr Lawrence Lew, OP. CC 2.0.

Our Bible reading today is one of my very favourite passages, quite possibly my Number One. I have preached on it often. There are so many wonderful themes: peace to replace fear; joy; the nature of the resurrection body; how the church’s mission is modelled on Jesus’ mission; faith, and how doubting Thomas has been given a raw deal; and so on.

Even my favourite sermon illustration story is based on this reading. So, if you have heard me talk about the missionaries to the Arctic translating the New Testament and what they took from the hunters’ dogs, I would have been preaching on this passage.

Looking on my computer, I have at least ten sermons on these verses. Had I wanted to repeat an old sermon today, I would have been spoilt for choice!

But the other day, I realised that there is one part of this account that I have never preached on. It jumped out on me on two occasions when I wasn’t even thinking about the sermon: once while I was running The Bible Course at Midhurst, and once when I was at Lindford, where they were showing a livestream from this year’s Spring Harvest.

What haven’t I preached on? Verses 30 and 31, which seem to sum up John’s Gospel before the author remembered later to add the story about the miraculous catch of fish and Jesus restoring Peter:

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The whole point of recounting all the stories about Jesus, especially his miraculous signs, is that we who hear them believe in Jesus. And I want to bring two things out of that this morning: firstly a challenge, and secondly, an encouragement.

Rafting whitewater challenge at PickPik. Public Domain.

A Challenge
In one of my previous churches, I had a member called Phil. He was married to Pat, and he was a jazz musician. He led his own band, and once a year brought his band to the church to play a fund-raising concert. It sold out every time.

Sadly, a little while after I left that church, Pat died. Phil asked me to return and conduct her funeral. It was a privilege. Pat had a love of history, and an enquiring mind. She would always have an interesting question to ask me after I had preached.

However, I learned that soon after the funeral, Phil resigned his membership of the church. He said he had only ever come to support Pat. He had never believed. He had sat in church most Sundays. He had come to the communion rail and received the elements. Yet for all his encounter with the Gospel, he had never responded for himself.

It is possible to come to church for years, to participate in church activities and worship, and still not believe in Jesus. So, when I read those words at the end of John 20 again:

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name

I wondered whether there might be anyone here in the same boat. If you have never made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, I want to invite, even urge, you today to do so.

As you will hear if you come to this week’s session of The Bible Course, the four Gospels in the New Testament, including John, have the hallmarks of historical reliability. They show signs of being eyewitness testimony. You may think the events are strange and unlikely, but they were recorded because the authors were astonished by what they witnessed.

And as for the Resurrection itself, the greatest miraculous sign of all, the evidence is extremely strong. There was an old objection that Jesus didn’t really died, he just swooned and then revived in the cool of the tomb. However, he would have been very weak, and how he would have moved the tombstone in such a state beggars belief. Moreover, Roman centurions had to ensure their prisoners were dead. We see the soldiers checking at the end of the crucifixion stories.

The authorities didn’t like the Jesus movement, and especially when they began preaching a few weeks later. If the body of Jesus was still around, they could have produced it and stopped those early believers in their tracks. They didn’t.

Nobody in that society would have concocted fictional stories where the main witnesses were women. They were not allowed to give evidence in court. You wouldn’t write stories where women were the principal witnesses unless it were true.

Then you must wonder why those first disciples gave the next forty years of their lives for something they knew to be a lie, if they had staged false evidence in favour of the Resurrection.

Crazy as it may sound, the best explanation is the biblical one. Jesus was raised bodily from the dead. It shows he is who he said he was, the Messiah, the Son of God. It shows that God says yes to everything he accomplished by his death on the Cross.

If there is anyone hearing this who has never made that final step of turning their lives over to Jesus, now would be a good time to do it. Perhaps you believe in God, you think God has provided all sorts of good things for which you are grateful, but you haven’t made that commitment to be a follower of Jesus.

Or maybe you see coming to church once a week as a kind of religious life insurance policy. You think this is a way of paying a weekly premium to ensure life after death. But Jesus is your Lord and Saviour. He is back from the dead to call for your wholehearted allegiance.

The Power of Positive Reinforcement in Fitness Instruction CC 4.0.

An Encouragement
Around the turn of the century, I went through a mini-crisis of faith. I can’t even recall all the details now, but I do remember that the substance was the disproving of some miraculous claims made by Christians I had trusted. I began to doubt my own judgment. If I’ve got this wrong, what else have I got wrong about life and faith?

Eventually, I reached a state of equilibrium. I concluded that yes, sometimes other Christians let you down. Some even make false claims. You can recognise that without losing your faith. Because Christian faith is faith in Jesus, not faith in human nature. Human nature will always fail.

However, to get to that point wasn’t a quick process. I had one thing that was my rock-solid foundation. I could not shake my belief in the Resurrection of Jesus. I outlined for you in the first point some of the reasons why I believe it is sound on historical grounds to believe that the Resurrection truly happened. It wasn’t made up. It wasn’t a parable to teach spiritual reality. Jesus’ body was raised.

If anyone asks me, why do I believe – and continue to believe – in Jesus, I will always answer: the Resurrection. And that leads me back to verse 31 again:

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

As some Bible translations will tell you in a footnote, the words ‘that you may believe’ may properly be translated, ‘that you may continue to believe.’ For those of you who like languages and grammar, the Greek present tense is a continuous tense. ‘Believe’ is not just about first-time belief: it is about continuing to believe.

And that’s where I offer a word of encouragement today. In the face of our doubts, our questions, our struggles, our failures, and the mess this whole world is in, the truth of the Resurrection gives us a hope we can depend upon.

If you think you are a hopeless sinner and cannot be forgiven, then the Resurrection of Jesus tells you that he has overcome sin. You can be forgiven, and you are forgiven. You can also have the power to begin living differently.

If you are afraid of death, then the Resurrection of Jesus shows us that when we place our lives in his hands there really is nothing to fear. We are safe with him, and our eternal future is glorious.

If you are feeling hopeless, that everything is pointless, and you are struggling to see the point of things, then know that the darkness of the pit at the bottom of the downward spiral cannot cope with the bright light of the empty tomb.

If you are struggling with deep questions about why there is so much evil in the world, then the Resurrection shows us that God overcomes the very worst. What could be more unjust than the execution of Jesus? But the wicked didn’t have the final word: God did. And so, the Resurrection puts those who perpetrate wickedness on notice. In eternity, they will not get away with it. For the Resurrection of Jesus is the promise that one day God will raise up everyone. And then, those who think they can hold onto power by mowing down thousands of their own citizens who protest will find that God is not on their side. Those who think that the way to get justice is to bomb their enemies, including innocent civilians, into submission, will have a shock coming. Those who think they can poison their critics and persecute their opponents will learn they are sorely and dangerously wrong. Those who hoard more money for themselves, especially at the expense of the poor, thinking it is the way to true happiness, will find a misery they could never have imagined. Those who think they can plunder the planet and destroy it for their own gain will be judged by God making a new creation just as he re-creates our bodies.

To be sure, for now we continue to live in the time between the Resurrection of Jesus and that general resurrection of the dead, and so the enemy of death will still take a toll on us. While we grapple with that, let our belief in the Resurrection fill us with hope as we live out the truth of peace with God, peace with ourselves, peace with others, and even peace with creation. We can love God and love others, knowing it’s worth it. We can care about justice, because we know it’s worth it. We can call people to follow Jesus, because we know it’s worth it.

Conclusion
Let’s go back to those words of verse 31 one last time:

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

What do they mean for you today? Is it time finally to come off the fence about Jesus and say you will be a whole-hearted follower of him?

Or is it time to see that the Resurrection is the antidote to the despair and discouragement that have been dragging you down?

It’s common to say ‘It ain’t over until the fat lady sings,’ but the real truth is, ‘It ain’t over until the dead are raised.’

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Easter Day: A Choice To Make At The Empty Tomb

Matthew 28:1-10

Image from Abundant Life Church. CC 4.0.

I’ve spent Holy Week this year offering reflections on some of the characters in the Gospel stories of Jesus’ passion and crucifixion. On Monday in the first of our three daily meditations, I explored Mary of Bethany with you. On Tuesday, we wrestled with the stories around Judas Iscariot, before thinking on Wednesday about Peter.

At the Maundy Thursday meal, we focussed on the Beloved Disciple, and I carried this over on Good Friday to my services where we looked at Simon of Cyrene.

For all of these, my inspiration was a book from 1999 called At The Cross by my own postgrad supervisor Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart.

Today, I want to continue with some characters in the story, but Bauckham and Hart’s book doesn’t extend to the Resurrection, so with a little help from Craig Keener’s commentary on Matthew, I offer you the challenge of the Good News as seen in the characters around the empty tomb. We’re going to consider the women, the angel, and the soldiers.

Firstly, the women:

Two Marys at Christ’s tomb by Vincent Vörös. From RawPixel. Public Domain. Original public domain image from Web umenia.

The women are about the customary business of women after a death. It was usual to bring spices to a tomb, but men could only tend to the bodies of dead men, whereas women could care for both dead women and dead men. When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary visit the tomb, this is nothing out of the ordinary.

But their routine is exploded by what they find. They were not expecting to find the tombstone rolled away. More likely, they were preparing to ask permission of the soldiers to attend to Jesus’ body. They certainly weren’t anticipating a conversation with an angel.

Angels have a habit of interrupting the normal and transforming it. Ask Mary, the mother of Jesus. Ask a certain group of shepherds. Ask Abraham, and numerous others.

How are the women transformed? They become the first witnesses to the Resurrection. Not only do they see the evidence of the empty tomb, but they also meet the risen Jesus.

And moreover, they receive a commission to take the news to the disciples. Yes, those male disciples that Jesus had taught and trained over the three years, but who had failed him at the end. The women hadn’t, and the angel calls them to do something that later Paul would say was a qualification for apostleship: see the risen Jesus and be a witness to his Resurrection.

Who would expect that in a culture where women could not give evidence? It’s just one of those details you would never include if you were making up the story. People considered insignificant and of lesser value in their society – women – were given an apostolic call. That’s a long way from the traditional and expected habits that had brought them to the tomb that morning. They didn’t have this on their agenda that day.

Therefore, I want to ask you whether you are open to the risen Lord bursting in on the normal routines of your life and transforming them. Does Jesus have a call for you? Never mind the conventions of our society. Don’t sit there thinking I’m dyslexic, I’m neurodiverse, I’m too young, I’m too old, I’m the wrong skin colour, I don’t have the right education, I lack confidence, I’ve got secret shame, I’m disabled, or anything else you care to add. The things that are barriers for the world are not barriers for the risen Lord. If God by his Spirit can raise Jesus from the dead, then it is no trouble at all for him to jump over the hurdles our world puts in the way of people doing something significant.

It was in the Easter season in 1985 when God interrupted me, through a sermon by a Local Preacher on Low Sunday where in John 21 Jesus says to Peter, ‘Feed my sheep,’ that my journey to ministry began. It took me a long time to unravel what that interruption that morning meant, but it was a resurrection moment for me. I thought I was just doing my usual duties as a church steward that morning, but the risen Lord had other ideas.

What about you this Easter?

Secondly, the angel:

Angel turning stone at Christ’s tomb. Found at Easy-Peasy AI. CC 4.0.

While I was training for the ministry at Manchester, one of the northern students was very keen on wrestling. He organised outings to watch wrestling bouts. I never could understand it, because to me, having been a child when my grandmother, who lived with us, stayed glued to World of Sport on a Saturday afternoon to see Mick McManus, Jackie Pallo, Giant Haystacks and others, the appeal of wrestling was for old ladies. Why my friend Peter should persist in inviting me to something so camp, I could not understand. I never felt it belonged in the arena of sport, it was more like pantomime.

And of course, despite my aversion to it, I cannot erase from my memory the notion of ‘two submissions or a knockout’ to win, and how, when one wrestler had gained a submission from his opponent, he would often sit on him in triumph.

Well, here, on Easter morning, an angel sits not on the guards who have been so shaken by his arrival but on the stone he has rolled back. It’s not the soldiers who have been conquered so much as death itself. Not two submissions, just a knockout.

Easter Day is the supreme day of triumph. As the angel sits on the tombstone, we know that everything the New Testament claims for Christ’s work on the Cross is true and is vindicated. So –

  • Jesus has died in our place and our sins are forgiven;
  • Jesus has conquered what the Bible calls ‘the principalities and powers’ and all the forces of evil;
  • Jesus has fulfilled all that Adam and then Israel failed to do, by turning sinful human flesh back into obedience to the Father, right through to death;
  • Jesus has shown that the route to eternal life is not by violence, but by the way of the Cross.

Next time an inner voice condemns you for your sins, go and look at the angel sitting on the tombstone. Next time evil does its worst, cast your eyes at the angel on the tombstone and know that time has been served on evil. Next time you fail, look at that angel sitting in triumph know that Jesus has united you with him, and that’s who the Father sees when he looks at you. Next time you are troubled by world leaders who think they can bomb their way to freedom or cut down thousands of their own population to hold onto power, observe once more the angel who put his feet up on top of the tombstone and know that those ways will not last into eternity.

It was Friday, but Sunday has come.

Thirdly, the soldiers:

Easy-Peasy AI. CC 4.0.

The soldiers are the first to witness the awesome divine power of the Resurrection, as they encounter the angel, but as they shake and become like dead men their hearts are exposed. They are not on the side of life, but the side of death. Their job has been to promote and protect death. Now, they cannot hear the words of grace that the angel has for the women. Fancy witnessing the power of God and staying with the forces of death.

If you have any doubts about what I am saying and think I am just being fanciful, remember what happens after this. In verses 11 to 15, which we didn’t read, the soldiers are perfectly happy to collude with the authorities in the lie that the body of Jesus has been stolen. They are not on the side of life or truth, but of death and falsehood.

What a warning this is to us all. The saving power of God has come up close. The Good News has been enacted in front of them. But still, they choose death. Still, they choose to embrace a lie. Moreover, they allow themselves to be bribed with a large sum of money in order to go along with the fiction that the chief priests want.

This is surely a sobering reminder to us not to miss the grace of God when it comes calling. Now is the day of salvation. Now, life in all its fulness opens up before us. Now, the door of true freedom has been unlocked before our eyes. Why would we prefer the realms of untruth, monetary greed, and the decay of death?

But some people do. They are more entranced by the shrunken, shrivelled republic of sin than by the beautiful kingdom of love, joy, and peace. For it means putting aside a lifestyle where ‘me, me, me’ is at the centre, and where we can justify staying as we are on the grounds of what others have done to us, despite the fact that the death and resurrection of the king offers the prospect of those old wounds being healed through forgiving love.

The biggest mistake any of us could make on Easter Day is to be like the soldiers. The life-giving power of God in the Resurrection has come close. Through it, God bids us to walk with Jesus in newness of life, exchanging the dirty rags of our weaselly self-centredness for the clean robes of a disciple who puts Jesus first.

But the more we ignore that call, the more we put it off, the more we delay saying ‘yes’ to Jesus, the more is the risk that one day that life-transforming power will stop calling. For God will realise we are not serious about him. He will confirm us in our own decision to harden our hearts. He will leave us in our selfishness and greed, shaking like dead men.

Easter Day is a day to witness that angel sitting triumphantly on the tombstone, to respond like the women who, though afraid, allowed the angel’s interruption to give their lives new direction, and ran away with joy to tell the good news, and to let dead soldiers bury their own dead.

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Palm Sunday: The Conflict Begins, Matthew 21:12-17

Palms by Fr Lawrence Lew, OP on Flickr. CC 2.0.

This is not a full sermon this week. I am participating in an act of worship led by some church members. I have been asked to give the final reflection that leads the congregation from Palm Sunday into Holy Week.

Matthew 21:12-17

A former minister of mine who influenced me greatly came to us after he had got in trouble in his previous circuit. It was said that he had divided a church. Because of that, he was given an official telling-off by Methodism. After all, you can’t have people dividing churches, can you?

Or can you?

I don’t think ‘unity at all costs’ survives scrutiny by the ministry of Jesus. The moment we get past the joy and celebration of the Palm Sunday procession, Jesus’ ministry provokes conflict.

Would we give Jesus a welcome? The Palm Sunday procession suggests we would, but these stories question that. Would we turn on Jesus? The joyful mood is turning dark.

Let’s briefly examine the two conflicts in these verses.

Firstly, the turning of the tables:

1610 Cecco del Caravaggio Christ expulses moneychangers anagoria at picryl.com. Public Domain.

What is the charge Jesus levels at all those who are buying and selling in the Temple?

“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
    but you are making it a den of robbers.’

‘A house of prayer (for all peoples)’ is from Isaiah 56; the ‘den of robbers’ from Jeremiah 7. He stands in the great tradition of the prophets in announcing this conviction of evil.

A den of robbers? The pilgrims coming to Jerusalem had to risk being attacked by bandits on the way. Criminals lurked in the hillsides next to the pilgrim roads. But if they had survived that and got to Jerusalem, they now face the real bandits, says Jesus – the people running the Temple. Their concern is less with it being a holy, spiritual, and welcoming place – a house of prayer – they are running the enterprise for their own benefit.

Let this be a warning to us before we end up taking that approach, too. Think back to our discussions about the finances of the church. When we know that our regular giving is not covering the assessment we must pay to the circuit and that we rely on hiring out the premises, we are in trouble. But there is another danger here, and that is concentrating so much on the finances that we become a religious business rather than a spiritual family. We can come up with all the fund-raising ideas we like, and we do of course have to be responsible stewards of the finance and the property, but unless we address the spiritual nature of the church family first, we will go in the same direction as the moneychangers in the Temple.

Let me put this on the agenda for this church, then: we can talk about increasing our membership, and we can talk about raising more income, but unless our top priority is to be a ‘house of prayer’, a spiritual community, we shall only be a church in name, not nature.

How many of us have taken up some of the spiritual disciplines we’ve been talking about during Lent? What are we doing together to grow in grace? Jesus says, this is important.

Secondly, the praise of the children:

Brooklyn Museum: He heals the lame (James Tissot) at picryl.com. Public Domain.

Jesus heals the blind and the lame, and the children praise him, saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ The chief priests and scribes hate this and say, ‘Do you hear what they are saying?’ (Verses 14-16a) How dare you accept this praise!

But Jesus says it’s right for him to do so, and quotes a verse where he equates the praise of the children to him with praise being given to God himself:

“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
    you have prepared praise for yourself” (Verse 16b, quoting Psalm 8:2 LXX)

If the authorities didn’t like Jesus already, then now they will hate him. He is accepting praise like he is God. Moreover, Jesus is implying that they have been shown up by children! The children have got their beliefs right, and the religious leaders haven’t!

Now that is provocative. This is not gentle Jesus, meek and mild. You’ve been shown up by the kids, he says, and that in a culture that thought little of the younger generations.

Imagine what the authorities are thinking. He is a blasphemer, and he expects us, with all our education, to take lessons from children!

Can you feel the tension rise? Soon, people will have to take a side. And events will take the darkest of turns.

We too shall need to choose a side. Even if that leads us into a dark place.

CC0 licensed photo by Nilo Velez from the WordPress Photo Directory.
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Circuit Lent Sermon Series 5: Corporate Disciplines, James 5:13-20

James 5:13-20

Rule Of Life. From rawpixel.com. Public Domain.

We come to the fifth and final sermon in our Circuit Lent Sermon Series. It began by asking what the purpose of Lent was and answered by saying it was about reorienting ourselves towards Jesus. It continued in the second week by examining our relationship with God, something I looked at in terms of friendship with Jesus.

But to grow and maintain that relationship requires we adopt virtuous habits – or ‘spiritual disciplines’ – that help us tune into God better. And so over the last two weeks the series has been about inward and outward disciplines. Those are often disciplines (or habits) that we practise on our own. In this final week, we look at habits we exercise together – corporate disciplines.

Today, we are going to explore four corporate disciplines that help us draw closer to God in Christ.

Firstly, guidance:

Road Sign at pxhere.com. Public Domain.

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. (Verse 13a)

Perhaps we think of guidance as an individual discipline, and it certainly is that as well. If we are serious about following Jesus, we shall want to know his direction for our own lives.

But it is also something we need to do together. Not only are our brother and sister Christians involved in discerning our individual guidance (as we shall see), we also need to seek guidance together for our life as the church. Is that not what this church did under my predecessor’s leadership when you went through the process that Methodism calls Our Church’s Future Story?

And just because this church did that a few years ago doesn’t mean we can now not worry about God’s continued guidance. We always need to be like ancient Israel in the wilderness, who followed God’s presence as seen in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It is a continuous process.

So what are helpful ways of discerning God’s guidance together? One author described it like this. He spoke of a harbour that was treacherous for boats to navigate safely, due to rocks. However, the harbour authorities had cleverly erected three lights. If the three lights were lined up as seen from a boat, then that boat was on the right course to make harbour safely.

He then suggested that Christian guidance is like that. For major decisions, we need three ‘lights’ to line up. They are the teaching of Scripture, the counsel of wise friends, and circumstances. It is the Enemy who wants us to rush our decisions. In contrast, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace, mercy, and love, and he is happy for us to test out things to be confident of his guidance.

An old acquaintance of mine used to say that any time she thought God was asking her to do something, she would reply ‘No.’ Why? Because she knew that if it truly were God, he would ask her again.

Let’s be serious about seeking God’s guidance together, but let’s also take the time to line up our harbour lights.

Secondly, worship:

Vibrant worship experience with raised hands by Caleb Oquendo at pexels.com. Public Domain.

Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. (Verse 13b)

God is always worthy of our songs of praise. (I shall say something separate but related about cheerfulness in the next point.) Whether we are cheerful or sad, we can know his faithfulness in his goodness in creation and his love for us in Jesus. We may have our doubts and our questions, but God continues to be faithful, even when we don’t understand him. We may only understand later, but as an act of faith we continue to praise and worship him.

Worship can also be individual, but it is powerful when we gather together and worship as a corporate body. We bring our differing gifts and use them to worship, because we share in common the truth that God has redeemed us in Christ and his saving death on the Cross.

Therefore, let worship be a commitment and a priority in our lives. Let us not make feeble excuses to avoid assembling together as the Body of Christ in worship. None of that ‘It’s raining so I won’t bother coming to church’ talk. That doesn’t honour God. How much is he worth? What about those in other countries who travel many miles over poor roads and possibly in dilapidated vehicles to come together as God’s people and praise his holy Name?

God is worthy of our worship. It is our sign of allegiance. I am fond of pointing out that the Greek word most commonly translated ‘worship’ in the New Testament is one which literally means, ‘To move towards and kiss.’ But this is not a romantic kiss. It is the kiss of allegiance. Think in our culture of a new Prime Minister or a new bishop being appointed. Each of them has to go and see the King and ‘kiss hands’ as a sign of loyalty to the monarch.

Worship is how we do that, and particularly at the sacraments. Remember that we get that word ‘sacrament’ from the Latin ‘sacramentum’, which was the oath of allegiance that a Roman soldier took to the emperor. At the sacrament this morning, we pledge again our allegiance to Christ. That is what worship is for us, and it is at its most powerful when we do so together.

Thirdly, celebration:

Aftermath of a festive celebration scene at freerangestock.com. Public Domain.

Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.

Those words again, but this time I want to major on the words ‘Are any cheerful?’ Just because we believe in the majesty and the holiness of God, we do not need to excise joy from our common life as the church.

And just because we rightly weep with those who weep, it does not mean we should not also rejoice with those who are rejoicing. And that is what celebration is about.

Is it not wonderful to hear how God is working in our lives? Is it not a cause of great joy to know that God has answered a prayer, that he has provided for a need, that someone has cause to know that he has come near to them?

But do we give opportunity for that? One of my past churches did, in a very specific way. They designated one Sunday a month as ‘Testimony Sunday’, and there was a part of that service on that day where anyone who had a testimony of God having been at work in their lives could come to the front and share that briefly with the congregation. We laughed, clapped, and sang together in response. It built up our sense that God was very much alive and active. Therefore, it built a heightened atmosphere of faith in the church.

Would it not be good to do something like that here? Maybe we too could do it in the morning service. At the very least, let me encourage you to write up accounts of what Jesus has done recently for you and send them in to be published in the church magazine. Perhaps that could be part of the appeal for articles every time we are putting together the next newsletter. Please tell the church family how God has blessed you lately.

Doing things like this encourages people. It lifts a sense of gloom and replaces it with light. It builds up the church. Don’t you think we’ve had enough discouragement in the church in recent years and decades? Don’t you think that God is still in the business of being God and of transforming lives for the better?

Then let us tell our stories. And therefore, let us celebrate together.

Fourthly and finally, confession:

Reconciliation, Coventry Cathedral at geograph.org.uk. © Copyright David Dixon and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. (Verse 16)

You might think that after all the talk of guidance, worship, and celebration, it’s a bit of a downer to conclude with confession. Dave, if you want joy in the church, why do you now end on a note of misery?

But actually, this is not about doom and gloom, even though we are sorrowful for our sins. Look at the context. This confession is in the context of seeking healing. And while I am not for one moment saying that all sickness is caused by sin, what I do see here is that confession removes barriers to blessing. Unconfessed sin gets in the way of God’s work. It is a blockage. We confess our sins at least in part so that God’s grace may flow with less hindrance among us. Living with unconfessed sin is a sure way to block the blessing of God in our lives, so let us confess as a way of removing the blockage.

Here’s another thing, though: I’m listing confession as a corporate discipline. Isn’t that a bit alien for Protestant Christians?

No, not at all. For one thing, it’s by no means accidental that we include the confession of our sins and the assurance of our forgiveness in our corporate acts of worship. Not only will each of us individually have failed Jesus in the seven days since we previously met, we also sin together and therefore jointly need confession and forgiveness.

Moreover, there are biblical examples of God’s people confessing their sins together, not least when they as a body have gone seriously astray from their Lord.

But it is also helpful sometimes for an individual to confess to another Christian. I am not advocating Catholic-style confession, because I have serious reservations about what is prescribed in that form in response to confession. Nor do I think there is something priestly about ordination, because all Christians are priests before God: we all have access to him through Jesus Christ.

Yet it can be healing to say in confidence to someone we trust – and yes, this can be someone who is in a pastoral relationship with us – I have messed up badly, and I need to know the forgiveness of God. Without giving concrete examples that would betray confidentiality, I can assure you that as a minister I have had people come to me and confess the darkest of sins, some of which they have lived with for many decades. To let them know that they are forgiven is to see a burden fall from them and to release them into new freedom in Christ.

Now perhaps I hope you see why I say confession is not in the final analysis about doom and gloom: it leads to the joy of the Gospel.

Conclusion

And the joy of the Gospel is where all these spiritual disciplines lead us. Whether inward or outward, solo or corporate, the cultivation of virtuous habits that enable us to tune in more to Jesus can only lead us to the abundant life he came to bring.

So let us use these time-honoured practices of the church to set our minds on things above and let our lives be shaped by Jesus.

You know the old adage beloved of computer programmes, ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’ Let’s stop feeding our minds with garbage, feed them instead with the goodness of Jesus, and instead live ‘Goodness in, goodness out.’

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Lent Sermon Series 4: Outward Disciplines

Matthew 4:1-11

New readers start here: in our circuit sermon series so far, we have begun by asking what the point of Lent is, and answered that by saying that it is to do with reorienting ourselves towards Jesus.

In the second week, we took that further by asking what our relationship with God looks like.

Then last week, this week, and next week we’re looking at various spiritual disciplines that we can use to tune into Jesus and the will of God better. After all, since he draws us into a relationship of friendship, we shall be keen to know what he says and what he cares about.

Last week’s set teaching was on what we call ‘inward disciplines.’ This week we turn to what are classified as ‘outward disciplines.’ And to do that, we’re taking the familiar story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness that we usually read on the First Sunday in Lent, not the Fourth. But we’re not going to look at it in the conventional way, where perhaps we look at the meanings of the three temptations, or we highlight the way Jesus fasted and quoted Scripture. There was material about both of them in last week’s reflections, in any case.

This week, we are asked to think about four outward disciplines that help us focus on Jesus. There is no single Bible passage that refers to all four, but this one gets as close as any.

Firstly, submission.

Submission by ucumari photography. CC 2.0.

Jesus submitted to the Father’s will when he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness (verse 1). In fact, ‘led’ is altogether too weak a word. This is not on the same level as the inane ‘I feel led’ conversations of some Christians – you know, ‘I feel led to buy a Mars bar,’ and so on.

No: Jesus was ‘thrown out’ into the wilderness! The Father made his will known very strongly here – and Jesus submitted to it.

Not only that, Jesus submitted to human beings, not least in his trials and execution.

Here is an important Christian discipline: to submit to God and to one another. We submit to the will of God. We also submit to one another, for Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:21 to be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Now some of you may be listening to this nervously, knowing that there is a bad form of submission. There are terrible stories coming out of some churches where abused wives were told by pastors to go back home and submit to their abusive husbands. Those same churches never challenged the husbands, and in some cases covered up for them. Please do not hear me as approving of anything remotely like that. It is evil. It should be reported to the police.

So what is godly submission actually about? It is a discipline that is designed to counter the selfishness of ‘me first’, which is so contrary to the way of Jesus. Jesus gave up the glory of heaven and – as Paul says in Philippians 2 – made himself nothing, and took the form of a servant, becoming obedient even to death on a cross.

Let that be a challenge for Lent and for the whole of our Christian lives. How am I putting the will of God before my own will? How am I preferring others to me? This is what submission is about.

Secondly, solitude.

Public Domain image

Jesus goes to the wilderness alone. This is a solitary act of discerning the Father’s will and battling evil spiritual forces. It is something he would practise during his ministry when he took himself off on his own to pray.

There is much that the Bible teaches us about being together as the People of God: we are the Body of Christ and we all need each other. We worship together. We have fellowship and study the Bible together.

But we also need solitude. Every one of us needs those times when it is just ‘God and me.’ I need to relate to God myself. I need to know the voice of his love for me. I need to know what he is saying to me. I need to tell him what is on my mind and heart. Much as I need other people, I cannot rely on them to do the spiritual life for me.

This has all sorts of surprising benefits. Our willingness and ability to practise solitude with God contributes to the other side, where we relate to others. True solitude makes us better at fellowship! Being present with God enables us to be present with others. The great German Christian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that you cannot practise true fellowship unless you know how to practise solitude with God.

So this is not a call to go off and live in a remote place as a hermit. Nor is this a call to enter some kind of spiritual loneliness. The truth of Genesis 2 remains that God says it is not good for us to be alone. We need helpers.

Perhaps we don’t like the thought of solitude with God because we might feel spiritually exposed. But that is a good thing. Because solitude does not expose us before a vengeful, angry God who wants to fry us at the first opportunity.

No: we enter solitude with a God of mercy, grace, and love. And if in that relationship he highlights something uncomfortable in our lives, it is so that he can heal it and we can draw closer to him.

Let us ask ourselves how we set aside time to be in solitude with God.

Thirdly, simplicity.

Simplicity by Premier Photo. CC 2.0.

I think we can reasonably infer that – apart from the story we read where Jesus puts the devil in his place – he inevitably practises the spiritual discipline of simplicity. This is bare bones living. Just what Jesus needs, and no more.

We know that soon after this, Jesus will make simplicity of lifestyle a virtue for his disciples when he tells them not to store up treasures on earth but in heaven. Later in his ministry he will send his disciples out two by two to nearby villages ahead of his arrival, and he will instruct them not to take with them more than they need.

I can remember a big emphasis in the church when I was in my teens that promoted the slogan, ‘Live simply so that others can simply live.’ The trouble is, there is no set level below which we are living simply and above which we are living greedily. We each have to discern this prayerfully and thoughtfully.

You can even see different responses among the disciples of Jesus. On the one hand, think of the fishermen who left their nets and their family businesses to follow him. But also think of the wealthy women in Luke 8 who funded a lot of Jesus’ ministry, having stayed put.

Simplicity is not only about being able to give generously to others, it is also about being content. Look how stressed many people become because they are not content, and because they are sucked in by the advertisers and influencers. What kind of witness is it to show such people that you can have peace of mind without that strain and hassle?

Our television has had a particular fault for a while, and at the beginning of the year I suggested we look for a new one in the sales. We found a good model that would do everything we wanted at nearly £200 off the list price. However, Debbie then raised some questions and doubts about the wisdom of proceeding then and there. So we decided to be content with the current TV, despite the issue.

Where is Jesus calling us to practise the discipline of simplicity so that we have more to give or so that we can exhibit the peace of contentment?

Fourthly and finally, service.

Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org
A disgruntled gouty man ringing a bell for his servant who is just leaving the room. Etching. CC 4.0.

I said in the introduction that no single Bible passage covers all of the four outward disciplines, and this is the one I cannot really infer from the account of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. Although if I were pushed, I would say that it follows from the discipline of submission with which we began!

But we know that in any case Jesus had much to teach about this later. You have only to go on to Matthew 20, where two of the disciples, James and John, get their mother to speak to Jesus and ask that he grant them the privilege of sitting on his right and his left in his kingdom. Jesus uses that faux pas to teach that in his kingdom leaders do not lord it over others, but serve, just as he came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

If we want to become like Jesus, then we need to imitate him. In a sense, that’s what we’ve been talking about with all of these spiritual disciplines: do what Jesus did. As the saying goes, it isn’t rocket science.

And nowhere could it be plainer than in this discipline: service. Jesus served people when he healed them, when he gave his time to them, when he taught them. For Jesus, live was not gimme, gimme, gimme: it was, what can I give to others?

Now while this attitude is still widely admired in our society, it is also true that it is perhaps more admired in the breach. So much of our language is about us wanting our rights and wanting what we deserve.

Jesus, though, shows us a different way to live. In fact, not simply different: it’s in an opposite spirit. Serve.

We might not like the word ‘servant.’ We think of people who had an inferior status, whether we are the generation that watched Upstairs, Downstairs, or the generation that watched Downton Abbey.

And it’s worse if we think of the word ‘slave.’ Not only do we have the terrible history of slavery in the world, we have recent examples of modern slavery, such as the appalling case in the news the other day of the woman who enslaved another woman for twenty-five years and treated her with unbearable cruelty.

We cannot control how others treat us. But Christianity is not about upping our social status anyway. And in any case, God will be pleased with us and will affirm us and reward us if we follow in the footsteps of Jesus by taking the decision to serve others. And as we do so, we shall become more like him.

Which is our goal. Isn’t it?

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Lent Sermon Series 3: Inward Disciplines

Sorry there was no sermon on Sunday: I had the week off. As a belated substitute, here are the outline study notes I wrote for our Circuit Lent Course for the third week.

Scripture

On study:

General Introduction

Watch this video clip from Father Ted:

Do you see Lent practices as useful disciplines or pointless self-punishment?

Fasting and Prayer

Read Isaiah 58:1-14 and Matthew 6:1-18. Why do you think people fast (apart from medical reasons)?

What is it linked with in Matthew 6:1-18?

How does it relate to our lifestyle in Isaiah 58:1-14?

Meditation

Read Psalm 1 and Psalm 143.

Watch this video and follow the discussion questions provided. (This forms an entire session on the ancient Christian meditation practice Lectio Divina.)

Study

Read Ezra 7:8-10 and 2 Timothy 2:14-15.

Study: it sounds like this is for academics! But all Christians can study the Bible, and it doesn’t have to be in an academic way. Experiment (with others?) with Ignatian Bible Study using the material on this webpage.  

You could also get hold of some Bible reading notes from Scripture Union and try them out. See what others think.

If you want to look deeper, borrow a Bible commentary from a preacher or minister. Use it to look at a well-known passage.

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Lent Sermon Series 2: Relationship with God, John 15:9-17

John 15:9-17

Group of friends enjoying a sunset together. From Freerange Stock, Public Domain.

Last week, in the first part of our Circuit Lent Sermon Series, we aimed to answer the question, ‘Why Lent?’ with the reply, ‘To reorient ourselves towards Jesus.’

Reorienting ourselves towards Jesus implies one of the most wonderful truths in the Christian faith: that we were made for a relationship with God through him. It is not something that every major religion claims. For our Muslim friends, the main claim of Islam is the call to submission to God. We believe in that (in a Christian form), but we believe more. Islam has ninety-nine names for God, but one of them is not ‘Father.’

But in Exodus 33:7-11 we heard the remarkable statement that Moses was described as a ‘friend of God.’ Astonishingly, Jesus ups the ante. He says to his disciples in verse 15 of our John reading,

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Disciples of Jesus are friends of Jesus. It seems almost too hard to believe, but that is what he says. Maybe we’ve been put off by those Christians who take this up in such a way that it sounds like they have a chummy and casual relationship with the Almighty. That’s not what I’m talking about. Friendship with the Triune God is inevitably different from ordinary friendships. But it is still friendship.

We’re going to look at it from two angles – Jesus’ side and our side.

Firstly, then, friendship from Jesus’ side:

Verse 9:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

God is love. Wikimedia Commons. CC 4.0.

‘As the Father has loved me.’ At the heart of God the Holy Trinity is love. That’s why John tells us in his First Epistle that ‘God is love.’ It is the most basic statement about the nature of God that we have. God is love. There is love between the Persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Love was there, which led to creation. God could not hold love within the Godhead, because that would be mutual self-indulgence. Mutual love looks beyond, to love others.

And the divine love was so deep and so rich that even when the pinnacle of creation, the human race made in God’s image, rejected that love, it could not stop. Such was God love that he continued to pursue humans in love, forming a people who would be his witnesses, and continually choosing and sending those who would speak for him, frequently at immense cost. Ultimately, he sent his only begotten Son, because God so loved the world. Or as Jesus put it in our reading in verse 13:

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

And so something else is true that John also said in his First Epistle – not only that God is love, but also that ‘We love, because God first loved us.’ God has consistently made the first move in love towards the human race.

Moreover, within the relationship he seeks to make with us through love, he speaks to us. We have it in what Jesus says in verse 15b:

Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Jesus has made known the Father’s will to his disciples. He has engaged in a ministry of teaching. We have the authoritative record of that teaching in the Gospels. Elsewhere in John’s Gospel in chapter 5 Jesus endorsed seeing what we call the Old Testament as pointing to him, so that we might find eternal life. And in chapter 14 he explained how the Holy Spirit would teach his followers all things and remind them of what he had said. It is not just the Gospels, then, but the whole of Scripture that we have for understanding what God says to us through Jesus. Our God speaks to his friends.

Yes, of course, there are some rather unbalanced friends who make some silly claims about God speaking to them. But the solution to misuse of this doctrine is not its disuse but its right and careful use. So we weigh carefully what Jesus is teaching us in the Scriptures. And if someone in the church family believes God is speaking to them in another more temporary way, then we weigh that carefully and prayerfully, too.

Is it not the most natural thing to accept that a friend would love us and would want to speak with us? Next week is my birthday, and usually on that day my Best Man phones me. We don’t speak as often as we might or we could these days, but I can be pretty sure that when he calls it will not be a short phone call. We shall each want to know what the other has been doing, and what our family members have been up to. We shall probably talk about everything from world politics to what music we’ve been listening to.

And is that not a small picture of God in Christ talking to us as his friends? He has the serious matter of his will and his ways to communicate with us, but he also takes interest in the small details of our lives. This is what a friend does. So yes, we can pray for the provision of a parking space, just so long as that isn’t the limit of our prayers!

Secondly, friendship from our side:

Verse 14:

You are my friends if you do what I command.

Image from Abundant Life. CC4.0.

If I’m honest, that doesn’t sound much like the friendship we experience in everyday life. It’s not normal in a friendship for one party to issue commands to the other. We think of friendships as mutual and equal in status. Doing what one friend commands doesn’t sound like that.

But this is not a conventional friendship. We have already at the beginning been surprised at the thought of the Author of the Universe wanting a friendship with us. Whatever it is, it cannot be the equal and mutual friendship that we are used to.

However, we can have friendships between parents and children. We can have friendships between someone who is in authority and another who is not. There may come a time in such relationships where the one with authority has to say to the other, ‘I need you to do this, please.’ Jesus gives us his commands with the voice of a loving friend, not that of a tyrant. And since in a relationship of friendship we shall want to please our friend, in this case we shall want to please Jesus by doing what he asks of us.

There is a verse in Ephesians where Paul enjoins us to ‘Find out what pleases the Lord’, and while that is sometimes simple and straightforward, at other times it is more of a challenge. The next three weeks of the sermon series will look at various spiritual disciplines we can use to tune in more clearly to what Jesus wants of us, and I don’t want to steal the thunder of other preachers you will hear on those subjects.

However, in the meantime, in this passage Jesus gives us one concrete action we can get on with to show we are serious about responding to his love and friendship by doing something that pleases him. It occurs in verse 12:

My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.

If we want to please Jesus out of friendship, we can love one another. It’s one of those easy to state but harder to practise commands of his. For just as we say about human families that you can choose your friends but not your family, the same is true of our spiritual family. In the church, Jesus puts us alongside people who are not all the same as us. We cross the generations, ethnic backgrounds, health conditions, social classes, educational achievements, finances, political convictions, and all sorts of other things that the world divides on. But Jesus is pleased when we cross those barriers and unite in love in his name, because that is his will and pleasure.

And as I said, it’s easy to state but more challenging to do. We are a varied lot as God’s people, and we don’t always fit together easily. As one book I read on the subject many years ago put it, it is like building with bananas.

But our world needs this witness. We are increasingly divided: just look at the world of politics, where people cannot disagree with one another civilly and instead label their opponents as demonic. Look at social media, where the algorithms keep on feeding you only the stuff they think you agree with, and thus force people into separate silos.

Perhaps it’s no accident that the one illustration Jesus gives us of obeying his commands out of friendship is this one. Love one another. Does it not remain one of the most important ways we can live out our friendship with Jesus? Has it not always been so? Because that friendship makes a practical difference in the world.

You have heard it said that in the early church the observation that pagans made of the first Christians was, ‘See how these Christians love one another.’ Do we not think that in our world a similar witness is needed? Jesus clearly thought it was important, because at the end of the reading in verse 17 he comes back and repeats it:

This is my command: love each other.

Conclusion

Let’s sum up: reorienting ourselves towards Jesus implies that we are being brought into a relationship with God. But more than a relationship, it’s a friendship, even if that sounds strange given our unequal status.

However, God who is in his very inner nature love, has reached out in love to the human race before we ever had a thought for him. In Jesus Christ, this comes to fullest expression in his calling his disciples friends.

Like any friendship, we desire to please our friend. With our status not being equal to that of Jesus, that will entail us obeying his commands.

And Jesus has a particularly important command for us to put into practice right away: love each other.

Other commands may not be as simple to discern as that one, but the next three weeks of this sermon series will introduce us to disciplines that help us listen to find out what pleases the Lord.

In the meantime, we have no excuse but to get on with that simple but challenging command which shows we are serious about our friendship with Jesus.

In the words of a song: we may never have this day again, so let us love like we could love. We may never pass this way again, so let us love like we could love.

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Lent Series 1: Reorienting Ourselves To Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-13)

Hebrews 12:1-13

Free image from needpix.com. Public Domain.

We begin our Circuit Lent Sermon Series on Lent not with the temptations of Jesus but with a simple question: why Lent?

Historically, not every Christian has observed Lent. The Lenten fast began as part of the spiritual training for new converts who were going to be baptised on Easter Day, before it became more widespread.

But even today, it is not universal in the Christian Church. Many Christian traditions, especially of the more low-church and informal variety, do not observe it all, and some do not even know what it is.

Even among those who do take Lent seriously, it is misunderstood. We think that giving up something will be good for our physical health, and so we avoid sugary and fatty foods. Or – like one friend of mine – we give up something like social media. But it’s not about us.

Others realise it’s about God, but they think it shows him as a hard taskmaster who expects us to make sacrifices to earn his approval. But when was Christianity ever about that? The Gospel says we cannot earn God’s love, but he comes to us in grace and mercy through Jesus, and we respond.

Lent is about our response to God. It is about reorienting our lives towards Jesus.

And that’s why I chose the passage from Hebrews. This is what the author is calling his readers to do. He doesn’t want them to give up on Jesus, because that is what they are considering. They are Christians of a Jewish background, who are thinking about giving up on Jesus and reverting to Judaism to avoid persecution. But the writer has been saying throughout the letter, don’t do that. Look how amazing and superior Jesus is.

In this passage, he gives us three things to do that help us put our focus back on Jesus, and we’ll consider them this morning. All of them rely on the metaphor of a race happening in an athletics stadium. It may be based on the ancient original Olympic Games.

Firstly, look at the crowd:

Olympics Athens 2004 at pxhere.com. Public Domain.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (verse 1a)

Who are this cloud of witnesses? They are the heroes of faith, down the centuries. Hebrews 11 has just given a long list of them, some of whom saw great victories, others of whom suffered their way to glory. Now, says the writer, these people are the spectators in the stadium cheering on those who are in the race of faith today.

This, I believe, is what we call in the Creed ‘the communion of saints.’ The faithful down the ages are watching us and rooting for us. While I am not convinced as my Catholic friends are that we can address them in a kind of prayer, I do rather think that if they are a cloud of witnesses watching us they are likely to be praying for us in Heaven.

Let us be encouraged by this. None of these heavenly spectators will boo us, they will only egg us on to victory.

And as we run for Jesus today, let us also be encouraged by the fact that the lives of these spiritual heroes are there as an example to us of how to set about our task. We can learn so much from the lives of the saints in the Bible, church history, and today. (And incidentally, when I say ‘saint’, I mean more than those formally recognised as such by the Vatican.)

If you have ever wondered why in the prayers of intercession we often give thanks for the lives of those who have died in Christ, now you know. They are our supporters’ club. Not only do they urge us to keep pressing on, we can look at how they lived the race of faith and learn from them.

Who has been a great example to you of how to live for Jesus? Was it someone in the pages of Scripture? Did you read about a spiritual giant in a book? Did a preacher tell amazing stories about someone who gave their all for Christ? Was it someone you knew personally in the church, whose life shaped yours? Maybe they even mentored you in some way.

Treasure these people. They are a gift of God to you. Rejoice that God has used them to point you in the direction of Jesus. Let them be an encouragement. And let them mould your life.

Secondly, put down your kit:

Hands On Starting Line by Boom Photography at pexels.com. Public Domain.

let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely (verse 1b)

If you have ever watched a track event in an athletics meet, you will have seen that the competitors have a small number of possessions that they bring with them onto the track, but which they leave in a box. These things may be useful to them, but they will be a hindrance to them in running the race.

And so here the writer tells us not only to lay aside our sins, which we would expect, but also to ‘lay aside every weight.’ There are things in our lives which may not of themselves be sins, but which will weigh us down and thus seriously slow us in the race of faith. They may be good things or neutral things. They may be items that are appropriate at other times but not now. They may well be good servants but bad masters, because we have allowed them to have too much importance in our lives. We may have focussed on them instead of Jesus.

What kind of things? Money, food, possessions, work, even relationships. All of these things are in principle good. They are even gifts of God. But when we get out of perspective about them, when we give them too much importance, when they fill our vision instead of Jesus, then they become the stuff that we need to lay aside – maybe permanently, maybe for a season.

This is one of the reasons that the Christian discipline of fasting is so helpful in reorienting ourselves towards Jesus. We need money, but Jesus is essential. We need food, but we need Jesus more. We live in a material world and so material goods are necessary, but they do not rank above Jesus. Work was invented by God, but we need him more. Relationships were one of God’s best ideas, but a mere human being cannot meet our most fundamental needs: only Christ can do that.

Therefore, we lay one or more of these aside, perhaps for a season or perhaps permanently. Not only does it help us focus on Jesus ourselves and remind us that he is Number One, our actions become an example to the world.

So for example, I do not personally believe that all Christians should be teetotal, but God will call some of his followers to do that so the world has a witness that you can live a fulfilled life without alcohol, because fulfilment comes in Christ. He will also call some Christians to a life of celibacy, to show our sex-saturated world that the idol of Eros can be dethroned, and there is a greater and truer God.

If there is something getting in the way of our devotion to Christ, even if it is not a bad thing in itself, then maybe that is what God wants us to give up this Lent, either temporarily or permanently.

Thirdly and finally, run with perseverance:

Women’s Marathon London 2012 Olympics at Wikimedia Commons. CC 2.0.

and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us (Verse 1c)

Let there be no doubt: the race of faith is a marathon, not a sprint. When we are younger, we throw ourselves into things with great enthusiasm and it’s wonderful, but we run the risk of burnout and failure because we think we are running the hundred metres. We need to pace ourselves and be ready for the fact that a key quality we shall need is endurance.

Marathon runners speak of a stage well into the race where they feel they can’t go on any further. They call it ‘hitting the wall.’ However, experience tells them that if they persevere through that phase, they will go on to the fulfilment of completing the race.

There will be those of us in our lives of faith who have hit a wall. Something will have happened that has left us thinking we can’t go on. For some, it is a crisis; for others, it is simply that we get worn down by things over a long period of time.

How, then, do we run with perseverance? How do we break through the wall? The writer to the Hebrews tells us:

looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Verse 2)

Jesus is waiting beyond the finish line for us. He too had to persevere. He hit the wall, and it was a terrible experience. It was the Cross. But Jesus knew that beyond the wall of the Cross was unutterable joy. The Resurrection. His Ascension.

We don’t just have the cloud of witnesses cheering us on. We have Jesus himself. He knows what it is to hit the deepest darkness in life, love, and faith. But he has hope for us. He was able to run his race with perseverance, because he knew what lay beyond it. His Father would vindicate him, and he would reign in glory.

We too have a vision of glory to keep us going. It’s not the end until we reach glory. Our destiny is to be with him, first of all in Heaven after death, and then in the New Creation after the resurrection of the dead, celebrating the banquet of God’s kingdom.

In the meantime, we shall have trials along the way. God may use them for good to discipline us as better runners, says the writer (verses 5-11).

But hold your head up. If you fall, get up again, because God in Christ forgives us. Take heart, take courage, get your focus back on Jesus and keep running.

Welcome to Lent.

Lent Crown of Thorns at needpix.com. Public Domain.

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