Sunday, December 28, 2008

Titus 1

The Knowledge of the hope of eternal life results in godliness.

Well good morning everyone, a few people will be away on holidays for the next couple of weeks, so for the next three weeks we are going to look at the book of Titus. 3 weeks and 3 chapters in the book, coincidence, not in the Anglican church my friend…

Titus is a great book, but it’s a brief book, a brief book that is shot throughout with a message of hope, the hope of eternal life. This hope of eternal life shapes our life now and results in godliness. Or a more common refrain to look for throughout the book is the link between ‘Knowledge and Godliness’.

NOW a few years ago, I was having dinner with a couple of mates from uni just before heading off to a parramatta eels NRL game, where they were playing St George Illawarra. All of us sitting around the table were Parramatta supporters, except for one guy who was an ardent - and quite vocal St George supporter.

And this fella had been talking up the saints and what they were going to do to Parra in a pretty big - and quite frankly - annoying way. So one of my mates who was currently living a life of bachelor fiscal ease, said, ‘ok Big mouth $200 on the game’. To which the married with 3 small children saints supporter, went as pale as the white on his jumper, while trying not to cough up his chicken snizzel. Thankfully for him sanity prevailed, and he decided he let the team do the talking, which was a wise option, because they got beaten badly, but not half as badly as he would have been by his wife if he took the bet.

But my Parra supporting friend who wanted to make the bet, he had a good point didn’t he, if you really believed the message you were saying, you back it up even if it was going to cost you.

In his letter to Titus, Paul introduces himself as being a slave to Jesus Christ. And why? Well Paul is a slave to Christ because of his hope of eternal life.
And this is the theological truth that he wants the readers of Titus to understand, not just to understand it, but to actually draw comfort from it, and not just draw comfort from it but to life in a right way in response.

In the introduction to this letter, We see Paul’s first idea from the passage today that.

1. Paul is a trustworthy messenger of the truth
1:1 Paul, a servant of God
The word translated in the NIV has a wider meaning than just servant, it can also mean slave as is picked up in the footnotes by other translations like the RSV. A slave picks up the idea, that Paul lives for his masters purposes single mindedly and at great personal cost.

Now it is no small thing to claim to be a slave of God. Paul often seems to make some pretty big claims to me when he writes, and this claim was made in front of his peers, people who know him and his lifestyle. They probably could fairly ask the question, ‘who is this guy to talk like this’. But Paul is no ordinary guy, as his teaching and lifestyle testify, he is a slave of God. A slave who has borne a high physical cost to do his masters work.

2 Corinthians 11:23-31 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. .. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying

NOW The worst thing I’ve had to endure in my mission work is wearing a daggy Christian T-Shirt in a caravan park on Beach mission. Hardly fearing for my life is it.

I think you can see why the term slave rather than servant better fits Paul’s undertakings on God’s behalf. IF you’re a servant you wouldn’t make it past the prison sentence, much less the floggings before you hand in your resignation. In contrast, a slave no longer lives for his own purposes but his masters, he can’t leave his masters service and just find a new master – he has to see it through.

And in an important link to Paul’s teaching in Titus, he can say in V31, that it’s not just other people but God himself who knows Paul is not lying. Truth and true testimony are going to be a key issue for Paul in his dealings with Titus and the Cretans. And Paul in an amazing move can make his claim to be true before God, no small feat.

1:1 and an apostle of Jesus Christ
An apostle is an appointed messenger, one who has been chosen to both represent Jesus Christ and one whom belongs to Jesus Christ. Paul stamps his apostolic authority on the message he is about to send to Titus. Paul is both the Slave of God and the apostle of Jesus Christ. And this is a position Paul has been appointed to for a purpose. And this purpose is:
1:1 for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth
that leads to godliness--

This is summary of the very heart of Paul’s missionary work, His sharing of the true knowledge of God, is for the elect - in order that it may result in their godliness.
The expression ‘that leads’ seems to indicate a movement toward rather than a completed godliness as such. It means the Knowledge of God leads to growth in godliness in this life.

It seems there is a circular relationship between knowledge and godliness in the book of Titus. Knowledge of the truth about God, leads to godliness; and people who are shown to be godly demonstrate that they have a true knowledge of God. There is a circular relationship between knowledge and godliness and it is seen in the reverse also. In contrast those who don’t have a true knowledge of God, they show their lack of knowledge in ungodly living as we see from:

V16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

NOW, Our Christian life is not anti-intellectual, but neither is it purely intellectual. Our Christian life is shaped and strengthened by our knowledge of God. Our knowledge of God is personal. We are not botanists looking at a tree, but a people relating with our heavenly father.

If things are a bit tough at the moment and our godliness has stagnated, or maybe even gone south, then the cure that helps to reverse the trend is knowledge, a personal and true knowledge of God, a knowledge that results in godliness. And that’s why things like mid week Bible study and the Bible overview course I am running next year are so key to our growth as Christians. These are key to our practical godliness.

Which brings us to the second idea we see from Paul in the passage today

2. The hope of eternal life results in godliness

2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life,
which God, (who does not lie), promised before the beginning of time,
3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light
through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,

Paul here picks up the famous triplet of faith, hope and love, and changes it in verse 2 to faith, hope and knowledge. Knowledge and Love go hand in hand, how can they not? You cannot truly love someone, you do not actually know properly – you may think you do – but that is the stuff of teenage infatuation.

Knowledge is essential to true love. But it must be accompanied by faith and hope. Our faith and hope are in a person, a person we love, and a person we can trust. God himself.

God promises, and then is shown to be trustworthy. God’s message is true. A message that was brought forward at the appropriate time. This is clearly speaking of the incarnation, the life, the miracles, the death and then the resurrection of Jesus. A message of God the Saviour, that has now been entrusted to Paul, the trustworthy slave of God and Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It seems to me that Christian people today, can feel a little embarrassed about the hope of eternal life. It’s a little quaint, a little simplistic for our complex world. Some Christian groups seem to highlight, even to the point of distortion, the benefits of Christianity for the hear and now.

And certainly there are great comforts of the Christian faith for here and now, (as well as great costs as we’ve seen from Paul’s example).
But these benefits of the here and now are nothing compared to the sure hope of eternal life. And while we don’t want to focus so much on the next life, we ignore what’s happening under our noses, - it seems our generation is in no real danger of that!
We are quite capable of knowing, how to be engrossed in our own lives!

God has given us a great gift of a sure hope of eternal life and nothing else in this life is a sure footing to stand on.

[illus] in the calendar year of 2007, Kath and I had three funerals to attend, one for an 18 month old boy, one for a 5 year old girl and one for a 33 year old man. At some point we have to challenge ourselves and other people we care about, to answer the question; is there anymore to life than what we see right in front of us? Because if there is, (and nearly everyone will at least say they hope there is) If there is anymore to life than this, the end has to shape how we live now.
Hope of eternal life shapes life now

YOU SEE Atheism works well for most Australians when they’re down the pub with their mates, with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
BUT make no mistake - atheism; is cruelly exposed as a hollow philosophy, and cold comfort to anyone, at the funeral of a 5 year old girl.

Jesus is the good shepherd; who has dealt with sin, and defeated death in being raised from the dead, for you and me. We have an sure and certain hope of eternal life.

And Hope shapes life.
faith and knowledge rest on the hope of eternal life;
and the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth
they lead to godliness--


The third idea we see from Paul in his passage today is

3. Titus is a Trustworthy recipient

4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
1:4 Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was
that you might straighten out what was left unfinished
and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

V5 is a linking piece from the introduction to highlight the purpose Paul’s writing to Titus, But Why is appointing elders such a big deal?
Because whoever is at the top usually sets the tone!

[STORY] Now when I worked for a consulting firm, we had three different bosses over the 7 years I was with the company.

The first was something of a miser, both financially and with praise for the work of the staff. It is safe to say he wasn’t overly popular with the staff, he was however quite good in the technical aspects of his job, so he was more feared than admired.
And this reflected on the mood of the staff, they worked hard, they stayed out of his way and overall while we enjoyed the challenge of work, everyone, and I mean everyone, all earnestly joined in the lotto syndicate for each Monday night, just hoping to find a way out.

The second Boss, was the total opposite, an extremely generous and interactive fellow. Who ensured we all got pay rises to make up for the misers reign. We even got a whole bunch of new office furniture, small things I know, but when you have a desk in the middle of a building from where you can’t even see the sun, new office furniture makes a difference. He was a nice guy, but he also lost money with this approach hand over fist.

So the pendulum swung again and we got our third boss, one who was beyond a miser, one who had spreadsheets for everything, probably had one for the amount of paper clip usage as well. This guy was not only a miser, he was just plain rude with people. So rather than wait to for the Lotto ship to come in, the staff jumped from this ship like it was named Titanic. And I was one of them!

The Boss in a business has an amazing capacity to shape the culture and attitudes of the business and the employees. You see the same thing in families as well don’t you? You see these families that spiral through generation of problems, because what their parents did shapes them, and then they shape their children and so on.

And we see the same kind of influence in churches don’t we? All of us have stories both good and bad about what happens when different leadership comes to a church. But more than any business it matters because these leaders are to carry out God’s work amongst his people as V7 tells us. When they mess up – in action or teaching - they don’t just ruin some business – they give God’s reputation a black eye.

Being a truthful messenger is important to God, because it affects the welfare of his people. Just as God has chosen Paul, to be entrusted with a truthful message, now Paul wants Titus to ensure in the Christian Church in Crete;

The fourth idea we get from Paul in today’s passage is

4. This message is for trustworthy people

You see God sends Paul, Paul sends Titus, Titus appoints leaders and the leaders are to stand against the false teachers we meet later in the letter. This gospel message is for a trustworthy people. These people are God’s representatives.
6 An elder must be blameless,
the husband of but one wife,
a man whose children believe
and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
7 Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work,
he must be blameless—
not overbearing, not quick-tempered,
not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
8 Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good,
who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught,
so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Christian Leaders are to handle the truth of God’s word and be blameless, without accusation before other people.

[Appl]It’s a great list to have open in front of you when you pray for the leaders of our church isn’t it? And especially when you pray for the new leader of the parish that God has already in mind?

But Actually, these things are to be common to all Christians and it’s a great list to have open when you pray for yourselves.

It is not hard to conceive of the terrible impact upon the church and the work of the gospel if the leader of a Church were any of those things.

Paul tells us this message is for a trustworthy people.

And why should the leader be like this, Paul goes on to explain
10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers,
especially those of the circumcision group.

We don’t learn a whole lot about the circumcision party,
[Illus] It seems to me to be the most unlikely party platform to ensure votes from the public for mind. But apparently these people have some success as they pop up regularly as something of a thorn in the side for Paul’s teaching and the work of the Gospel as you can read about in Galatians Ch 2:

You see the problem for Titus becomes as he heads for the Church at Crete, is our final point for today:

5. How do you solve a problem like false testimony?

Nobody likes someone else to say things about them that are untrue, do they? Sydney as City loves to sue others for defamation. We’re affronted when someone speaks falsely or with lack of knowledge about us. So Why would God who has gone to such great lengths to make himself known through the life of his son and the testimony of faithful apostles, why would God not also be just as affronted when someone speaks falsely of him?

SO Paul instructs Titus that:
11 They must be silenced,
because they are ruining whole households
by teaching things they ought not to teach—
and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

The false teachers it seems are to be silenced. Because false teaching ruins households, it ruins the ones under their care. It results, as we learn in Titus, in ungodliness.

True Testimony again
12 Even one of their own prophets has said,
"Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons."
13 This testimony is true.

[STORY] Now this is the kind of guy you want at your dinner party, I’d love to hear his opinion on Canterbury Bankstown or St George supporters! But then again I might not like to hear what he has to say about Australians in general, or then again what he has to say about people from MT Riv/Glenbrook – I’m not too sure I want to know what he would come out with about Mt Riv/Glenbrook Anglicans – the mind boggles, so we’ll quietly move on and get back to the safer ground of what he thought of the Cretans.

Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons and this testimony is true – So what is Titus to do? How do you solve a problem like false testimony among Christian brothers and sisters?

Therefore, REBUKE them sharply,
so that they will be sound in the faith
14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths
or to the commands of those who reject the truth.

Who is the them? Well I think it is probably the Cretan Christians rather than the false teachers. The Cretan Christians are to be rebuked back to sound faith, but it seems the false teachers are something of a lost cause. As Paul explains;

15 To the pure, all things are pure,
but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.
In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
16 They claim to know God,
but by their actions they deny him.
They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Strong words aren’t they!
How do you solve a problem like false testimony
Silence the false teachers and

2:1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

The importance of teaching is Something We’ll talk a little more about next week.

Titus is an extremely practically focused book, a good thing for our age that seems to lament the perceived dryness of much theology, Titus as martin Luther has said, ‘..is composed in such a masterly manner, that it contains all that is needful for Christian knowledge and life.’

This book is challenging us to take a good hard look at ourselves, do you see what others see about you in your actions? Is your hope of eternal life and knowledge of God resulting in godliness? Godliness as a trustworthy witness of the gospel in word, behaviour and relationships?

A difficult task – so why don’t I pray for God’s empowering Spirit to indwell and change us. Let’s pray;

Luke 2 - Christmas Day Talk

Luke 2:21-35 -- "my eyes have seen the Lord's salvation"

Big idea: Gods promised salvation (Jesus) has appeared as a light to the whole world.
Introduction to the talk;
Have you ever wondered how some people come up with the names of their children?
I mean some kids names are just plain odd aren't they?
And you just can't help but think, the Internet has a lot to answer for in this department!

And even more strange than the names that people come with for the children, is the spelling they come up with that their children. As if the burden of some names wasn't going to be enough, they make life nigh on impossible for the little people by making the names incredibly hard to spell. It's like they used predictive text on their mobile phone to come up with the spelling of the child's name.

On that rationale, why not just call the first kid ‘a’, it’s easy to dial and spell.

“‘A’ stop talking back to your mother, I don't care what your brother ‘D.’ did.”
I realise this approach has limitations for a proper blue Mountains family, as it means you would probably have to limit yourself to 26 children per family.

But I can't help thinking, that really it’s because people have become so overwhelmed with the responsibility is to name children, that they have just reacted by become a bit flippant about it.

Names are really important for people, because they make a statement about the person, almost whether they like it or not.

For example; I'm quite certain that no one here has named one of their daughters Jezebel. So you can see Names count don't they?

I used to work with a lovely bloke, whose name was jihad Hussein!
Now that's a name that immediately get your attention.
What you reckoned chances are of jihad getting home to Australia from holidays overseas, and not being picked out in immigration and customs line?

Pretty slim I think!

Names can be pretty important in a person's life, and in today's passage from Luke, we are focusing on the scene where Jesus formerly receives his name.

Introduction to the passage
The section of the passage we are focusing on to day goes from versus 25-35, and it sits with in a wider scene in the Gospel, which is set on the eighth day of Jesus life. The eighth day is an important day in the life of a Jewish son, because it is the day when they are ceremonially presented to God and given their name.

So this entire scene that goes from versus 21-40 is set on the eighth day of Jesus life, and what’s obvious to the reader is that the whole scene is quite miraculous, and yet at the same time as plain and is humble as any of the ceremonies could be.

In this section we meet the character Simeon who tells us the miraculous prophecies in regard to Jesus, but in totally contrast, at the same time everything in this scene could not be more plain and humble if it tried.

Jesus parents offering was as small as can be offered, and yet it seems it was as big as they were able to offer.
Simeon who oversees the process is no High-priest, or Pharisee or the like. There are no great crowds to greet Jesus, merely a few faithful and devout oldies, like the 8 AM communion service at the Anglican retirement villages.

In many ways everything about this whole scene is so plain, and humble, you could easily miss it! And it seems that is what most of Jerusalem did. The city of God's people, who should have been awake and alert, waiting for the coming of their Messiah, their king, they missed it!

Jerusalem, missed the coming of Jesus and his dedication to God, which I'm sure you like me think -- that can't be good right?

Throughout this scene, Luke invites us to see Jesus -- the eight-day-old baby boy -- through the eyes of Simeon, the faithful servant of God.

1.Christ the fault less (verse 21-24)
NIV Luke 2:21
On the eighth day,
when it was time to circumcise him,
he was named Jesus,
the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.
22 When the time of
their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed,
Joseph and Mary
took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord,
"Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"),
24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping
with what is said in the Law of the Lord:
"a pair of doves or two young pigeons."


Now as we read through that section of text, everything going on there is about Jesus and his family fulfilling the requirements and obligation as of a member of the family of Israel towards God in regard to their firstborn son. This presentation of Jesus to God at the temple in Jerusalem, a place where God's name resided, was an act of worship by members of God's family in a way that conformed to the requirements of the written code of the Law of Moses.

Whether it was the presentation of doves as a sacrifice, or acknowledging the time of purification after childbirth, or even Circumcision itself, (as a sign of being part of the covenant family of God found in the promises to Abraham), everything was done to demonstrate that Jesus is faithful Israel, Jesus is God's true son.

Now at one level the whole thing is a little odd isn't it?
Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to present him to God.
I'm pretty confident God knew who he was, given Jesus is the eternal son of God, who God told Mary and Joseph to name Jesus.

It's a weird situation isn't it?
‘God this is your son’ – ‘I know who we is joseph!’

But most poignantly, is the Jesus name, the name God gave him. Names are incredibly important part as ancient cultures, particularly within the Jewish culture. In the book of the old Testament prophet Hosea, God instructs the prophet to name his child Lo-ami, a name which literally means ‘not my people’. The child's name was integral to the prophetic message the prophet was to bring to the people of Israel, from God.

In the same way Jesus name is a profound declaration from God about his message through his son. Jesus name means ‘Salvation’, or even the ‘Lord's salvation’.
When God's names his son Salvation, it's pretty clear he doesn't want him to grow up to be a plumber!

Everything that happened on that eighth day, especially Jesus naming, was not for God's benefit, but our benefit, that we may know for sure, that before God, Christ is faultless. Christ was faultless in order to be our Saviour.

And as the scene moves on, we meet;

2.Simeon the faithful
25 Now there was a man
in Jerusalem called Simeon,
who was righteous and devout.
He was waiting for the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 Moved by the Spirit,
he went into the temple courts.
When the parents brought in the child Jesus
to do for him what the custom of the Law required,


Almost from left field we're introduced to this man called Simeon. He is simply and plainly introduced as ‘a man’, not a priest from the temple, much less high priest, not a Pharisees nor a Sadducee. It seems in regards to other men, he has no office, no regal designation.

But in the starkest contrast, this plain man, is given a great designation by the Lord himself. Simeon is the Lord's faithful servant.

The Lord designates Simeon, as ‘righteous and devout’. Simeon has a good standing before the Lord, and is in faithful and obedient fellowship with God.

And Simeon's obedience is expressed in him watch-fully waiting for the fulfilment of God's promise to his people Israel, that God would redeem his people.

And most importantly God had given Simeon the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has had three main impacts in Simeon's life; firstly, Simeon had been given a gift of a prophetic vision.
God had show on Simeon that he had a specific role within God's plan of salvation. Simeon was to see the one who would redeem and save Israel before he died.

Secondly, Simeon received the Holy Spirit, and he was obedient to its leading, he obeyed its call, and headed to the temple to meet Jesus and his parents.

And thirdly, God gave Simeon the Holy Spirit, and it enabled him to have the eyes of faith. Which we will look at the moment. The Holy Spirit enabled Simeon to be a true worshipper of the holy God, by recognizing the fulfilment of God's promise, when it came to him, and allowing him to trust in the provision of God through his promised Messiah - Jesus – God’s Salvation.

Simeon is a contrast in the story, to the bulk of the Jewish nation at his time, because Simeon is a faithful servant that was at work for his master the Lord, like the parables that Jesus was to tell later in his life, Simeon was at work when his master arrived, in contrast the city of Jerusalem was asleep.

Simeon the faithful, is not just our eyes into the story about Jesus and his eighth day, but he is also an example to us. He is an example as to how we should respond to Jesus, and the promises of God. Simeon, waited patiently and expectantly for the Christ, and then he witnessed faithfully to the Christ.

Simeon had the eyes of faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to see an eight-day old and realise, this was God's salvation.
In case you can't remember eight-day-old babies do not do much!
In fact blinking is a major achievement from an 8 day old baby, and yet Simeon the faithful servant of God, saw this boy and recognized him as a the fulfillment of God's promise to the nation of Israel of salvation, but particularly a fulfilment of the promised to Simeon, that he would see it with his own eyes.

[Admittedly, when he asked to name the boy's name, and the parents replied Yeshua, or ‘salvation’ which we translate Jesus, it would have been a pretty clear indicator.] But Simeon understood it for what it really was by the eyes of faith.

Simeon the faithful is an example to us, we to witness faithfully to the Christ, and wait expectantly for the Christ. If Simeon could witness to the Christ having only seen the promise of an eight day old baby, how much more confidently should we witness to the Christ, knowing of the one who grew up to die on the cross to pay the penalty of sin, and then was resurrected from the dead, in order to proclaim his lordship over the whole world. If Simeon could be faithful, with the promise he had received, how much more so should we.

Faithful servants of God, witness while they wait.

Well if the witness of Simeon the faithful, is a challenge, what are we to make of his two prophetic announcements about the baby Jesus.

3.Christ the fault line

Simeon goes on to announce to blessing, or prophetic announcements about Jesus, Jesus will be the dividing line of all humanity, the fault line upon which people will stand or fall.

A. Christ the fault line is the light of salvation
28 Simeon took him in his arms
and praised God,
saying:

29 "Sovereign Lord,
as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which
you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

33 The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him

This section here, is the heart of the whole scene. It's the heart of everything going on here, that God has fulfilled his promises, his promises to Israel of salvation, and his promise to Simeon that he would see it first-hand.
Christ is the light of God we read in verse 32, the light that reveals the true God, the light that reveals the true God's salvation, Christ reveals himself as both God and Saviour. He is the light of revelation to the Gentiles, the whole world, that was predicted back in the old Testament book of Isaiah some 600 years before, and it would be to the glory of the people of Israel, because Jesus is the true Israel, God's faithful son. Jesus fulfilled what the nation of Israel promised in outline.

Now if you like me, you would have read the first part of these verses, where Simeon blesses God praises God, and then says the Lord can dismiss his servant, and think to yourself, is that it for him, does he die now?

Well in truth the Bible doesn't tell us, Simeon disappears from the story as quickly as he appeared in the first place! But one can safely assume, that Simeon was okay with whatever the Lord did with him after that. The Lord had provided his salvation in Christ, and the Lord had used him to help proclaim it to the world. And for Simeon he was please to be a faithful servant who had done all the Lord had called him to do.
Like the heroes of Hebrews chapter 11 we looked at a couple of weeks ago, Simeon received by faith all that God had promised, and he was pleased with that.

But Simeon had a second placing, prophetic announcement to make and he did it in versus 34 and 35.

B. Christ the fault line brings judgment on sinful humanity
34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother:

"This child is destined to cause
the falling and rising of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Everybody who is over the age of two, knows that they have done things wrong, things wrong against others, things wrong against themselves, and most importantly things wrong against God. Two-year-olds on the other hand have no shame, but that is a story for another day I suspect.
All of us know that our lives have not been perfect, and a significant proportion of the problem has been our choice -- the Bible calls this sin. The Bible also tells us that this is a symptom of us choosing to ignore God as the Lord of our lives.

The solution that throws light on to the brokenness of our lives, especially the brokenness of our relationship with God, that sin causes, is Jesus. God’s promised salvation. God sent Jesus, his salvation to deal with the problem of our Sin. Christ the light of revelation to the Gentiles, was born into the world and lived the perfect life, and then died upon across, a cruel thief’s death, an undeserved death, an innocent man's death, and he did it to take pay the penalty of yours and my sin. This is the incident that was to pierce the heart of Mary's own soul that Simeon predicted in V35. Christ's gift of our salvation, and Salvation for the whole world, was extremely costly to him.

Simeon's witness to us today from the pages of Luke’s gospel is,
"have your eyes seen the salvation of the Lord?".
Do you know with confidence where you stand in regard to God?
Do you know personally his salvation called Jesus and what he did for you?

The Bible tells is plainly that Jesus is one of two things for all humanity;
-- our salvation, or
-- our condemnation.

The Bible tells us, that when we stand before the Lord at the end of our life, his question of us will not so much be, ‘what good did you do?’, but ‘did you receive my son?’.
Did you accept the Christmas gift that I sent of my son, Jesus the salvation of the world?
Did you receive my son?

Did you accept the gift of Christmas, Jesus? Or like a little kid, did you spend your time playing with the box gift came in - of the life God gave you?
A life he gave you in the first place to serve and honour him?

Simeon is the faithful servant of the Lord, who knew what God had given him in Jesus, and for him there was no more important thing in life.
Can you confidently say the same?

Can you this Christmas, say with Simeon?

‘My eyes have seen the Lord’s salvation, and his name is Jesus.’

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Hebrews - Talk 9

The family likeness -- endure instruction, discipline and hardship so you may produce the fruit of holiness and reached the heavenly goal.

Introduction
Quite a few years ago I was in a soccer team, or a football to if you like, with a coach who was quite frankly obsessive. This coach had played in very high level teams in his day, and his expectations were a little higher than what we were used to. In fact preseason training started in January, in the sweltering heat of summer, and we didn't touch a football for the first eight weeks of training.

In fact we ran for two hours every training session, and we didn't drop below half speed at any stage during the two hours. And we had three of these sessions per week. So I have to admit, at the time I didn't like the bloke very much, spending six hours a week running around an oval didn't seem like a very productive use the time to me. And while previously a number of the guys stood up for him, but even they lost the last shred of goodwill towards this guy, when he turned up to training one day, with a trailer on the back of his car.

And the trailer contained a full load of bricks. So we all got two bricks, one for each hand, and then as usual we ran to two hours nonstop, with a brick in each hand!

By the time the first game of the season came around, some three months later, everybody wanted to kill him. But then our attitudes changed as we started the season, and we could quite clearly run faster and for longer than any other team in the competition.

So there was method in his madness, even though it was very unpleasant at the time. In fact one of my lasting memories of that time, was a mate of mine turning up to training straight after work, and stepping out of his car, while finishing a bowl of cereal. Now to say that training was extreme - really was an understatement, it was physically exhausting. So what possessed my mate to try and eat cereal just before we started running is beyond me. And as you may have guessed the cereal decided to leave his body a little sooner than he had anticipated and not by the means that the good Lord had originally intended.

Nothing about this experience was enjoyable at the time, but it had to be said there were great benefits from the hardship much later in the year.

Hardship is never pleasant at the time, but we often see fruit from hardship.

Now as I find myself approaching Christmas, I also find myself having to prepare to answer the question, from well intended people, ‘so Andrew, how was your first year of Ministry?’

‘How do you answer that?’

How do you assess a year, where obviously plenty of things have gone wrong really?

How do you try to piece it together as a Christian person?

There is no question it has been a hard year, so how do I rightly understand, assess and process, all that has come my way this year?

Well this passage of Hebrews is instruction about what we are to do when it feels like the wheels have fallen off life!

Introduction to the passage;
This passage is all action, so if you can't find something to do after the sermon, you clearly weren't paying attention, because the preachers to the Hebrews gives us lots of commands;

- In V3 he commands us to consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart
- V5 he tells us do not make light of the Lord's discipline and he tells us to not lose heart when the Lord rebukes us
- V7 he commands is to endure hardship as discipline because God is treating us as Son's
- Verse 12 he commands you to strengthen your feeble arms and week knees and make level the path for your feet
- V14 he commands us to make every effort to live at peace with all men and to be holy
- In v15 he commands us to see to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up
- V25 he commands us to see to it that you do not refuse him who speaks

And at the conclusion of the chapter he gives this exhortation, and encouragement;
- V28; he exhorts us let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe

This passage is jammed full of action and calls for a response from people who find themselves in hardship, trial and persecution.



So in our first section today which goes from versus 1-13, we get our first point;

1.strengthen yourselves and endure the Lords discipline (verse 1-13)

12 Therefore,
Strengthen** your feeble arms and weak knees.
13 "Make** level paths for your feet,"
so that the lame may not be disabled,
but rather healed

5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

"My son, do not make light** of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose heart** when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines
those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

7 Endure** hardship as discipline;
God is treating you as sons.
For what son is not disciplined by his father?

The Hebrew believers who are the recipient of this letter, a suffering persecution from both family and the government for following and proclaiming Jesus as the Christ.

And you can imagine them thinking to themselves, ‘we are doing the right thing in following God, why are we suffering for it?’

You can imagine their friends and family saying to them, ‘Does your God, Jesus Christ really care, if he did how could you suffer like this?’

‘If your God is really is the God of all creation, why are you suffering, unless you have done something to displease him? Surely God only blesses and never curses those whom he loves, and those who love him?’

And I suspect many of us today can feel the weight of the accusation, why does it seem so difficult at times to live the Christian life, how can persecution or sickness or hardship or trial be part of God's plan?

And The image which the preacher uses in versus 12 and 13, of weak arms and weak knees, betrays his picture of a group of people who are profoundly discouraged from the cause of Christ, you can imagine them thinking, is this really worth all the hassle, maybe I'll just let it slide a little.

But the preacher commands them to strengthen themselves and to endure it.

Which is easy to say but, ‘how do you strengthen your selves so you can endure it?’ Well there are two ways, firstly they are to consider Christ, and secondly they are to consider God their father.

So firstly they are to consider Christ, and there are two reasons to consider Christ. Firstly Christ is the means of their salvation, and secondly, Christ is the example to follow.

Again we look to those famous verses of chapter 12 and that summarise the intent of the preacher throughout the book of Hebrews,

Versus 1-3
Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him
endured the cross,
scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider** him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

So Christ is the means of our salvation, he died the death on the cross that we could not. Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith, from start to finish, from Alpha to Omega, he has done everything to ensure our salvation by faith.

But not only is he the means of that faith, he is the example par excellence of that faith. He took the path that was laid out from him, the difficult and dreadful path to the cross, he endured the cross and scorned its shame, and he did it to save you and me, by faith.

So we are to be strengthened by focusing on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith, who is both the means of our salvation and our example.

And secondly, we are to be strengthened by considering God our father.

And there are three things to consider about God our father;

Firstly our God is holy. Throughout the passage we are reminded that God his first and foremost HOLY. God who we call father, is a consuming fire who spoke to his people in such a way that his words alone terrified them. God is a holy God, to which no un-holiness can approach, without being destroyed.

The family we have joined by faith in Christ, has a family likeness, which is Holiness. God is holy and his children must be HOLY.

Secondly God is sovereign. The God who created the heaven and the earth, and Mankind himself, is the sovereign God who will recreate these things by his sovereign will, and his effective word, all at his good time.

God is a sovereign God, and as we see from V3 that even the efforts and desires of sinful men cannot thwart the sovereignty of God in his good purposes. Sinful men put the Christ to death, and yet God would triumph in his plans to save men and bring glory to Chris as the Lord of the universe, despite the best efforts of sinful men and the devil himself.

So God is sovereign.

And the third point to consider about our father which is an encouragement to us, to strengthen us, is really a logical outworking of the first two points, (so God is holy, and his sovereign), leads to our third point about God our father, that he desires holy children.

The preacher encourages to hearers to endure the hardship, because ultimately God is using this hardship to train them, and to instruct them, so that they may be holy, that we may share in Christ's Holiness V10 and that it would produce a harvest of righteousness and peace, by those who have been trained by it.

The preacher makes an appeal, and says by analogy, that all fathers discipline their children, this is obvious to everyone, and mostly they do it for their children's good, or at least they try to even if they get it wrong. So how much more should God who is holy, discipline his own children, for their own good. The preacher appeals to us that only God the father can discipline his children truly fairly, so if we submitted to our own earthly fathers and it was far our own good, how much more should we submit ourselves to the discipline of quite a father who loves us and does it for our good, in this he treats us as real sons and daughters.

And then he goes on to state the bleeding obvious -- that no discipline is pleasant at the time! Like he needed someone to explain that to you!

So be strengthened, by considering Christ, and by considering God our father.

Now In the midst of a hardship, people often ask the question why?
Why is this happening?
Where is God, when this is going on?

I think the Bible, does offer us genuine comfort in situations when we find ourselves asking the question why? But it seems to me the Bible gives us confidence about a situation in a general sense, in that we can trust in God's goodness and sovereignty even though we may not understand the particular incidents we find in front of us. In the particulars of the situation it is often hard to answer the question why in any detail.

But the passage before us today, challenges us, that the mature Christian response in times of difficulty and hardship, trial and persecution, is to push beyond question ‘why’ (as legitimate and important as that question his) and to ask the question - what?

To ask the question what is God teaching me about discipleship through this hardship, how is God disciplining me as his child in this hardship, irrespective of how it comes to us, whether from our own hands, the fallen-ness of the creation, or the evil schemes of sinful men, the mature Christian asks the question, ‘what is God teaching me about discipleship, and holiness and through what I am facing’. ‘How does God want me to change, to be more holy, to produce the fruit of holiness, because of the hardship of the situation.’

Romans reminds us that God works for the good in all situations of those who love him, and our good, is our Holiness, not something as paltry as our material comfort.

Strengthen yourselves and endure the Lords discipline.


2.see to it no one misses the grace of God that must be shown in peace and holiness in the Fellowship (v14 17).

14 Make every effort** to live in peace with all men
and to be holy;
without holiness no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it** that no one misses the grace of God
and that no bitter root grows up
to cause trouble
and defile many.
16 See that no one is sexually immoral,
or is godless like Esau,
who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.
17 Afterward, as you know,
when he wanted to inherit this blessing,
he was rejected.
He could bring about no change of mind,
though he sought the blessing with tears.

So the preacher says see to it that no one misses the grace of God, that we may live lives of peace and holiness. The characteristics of peace and holiness, characteristics of the son and the father aren't they? God is calling us, to live like we have been made, we are to bear the family likeness.

Peace and holiness are required, because without Holiness no one will see the Lord. Holiness is a pre-requisite of meeting the Lord in his kingdom after this the life. To reach our goal, the goal for which Christ died, we must hold fast to the Holiness we have received by the grace of God.

So we are commanded, see to it that no one misses the grace of God, the grace that must express itself in peace and holiness. Holiness is the pre-requisite, but holiness is the gift of God by faith. The book of Hebrews reminds us through its warnings particularly in chapters six and 10, that the grace of God by faith is a gift that can be rejected and despised by people. So he warned us to not rejected the gift of God, the grace of God.

So how could we reject the grace of God?

Well throughout the book, the primary sin that has been the temptation to the Hebrew readers, is the temptation to sin by apostasy.
Apostasy is the conscious and public denial of Christ as Lord, and to deny Christ as Lord, is to deny Christ and all his benefits towards you. It is to be without a mediator, and the High-priest, before holy God. Holy God, who condemns or on righteousness. It is to fall into the hands of the living God, who is a consuming fire.

And our preacher pointed out to us two symptoms, that present themselves, when people are on the path to apostasy. And those two symptoms are both forms of godlessness, one is sexual immorality, and the second is the root of bitterness.

So firstly sexual immorality, throughout the old Testament, sexual immorality is very closely linked to Idolatry – or godlessness. Now this is particularly because of the expression of religious practice that was undertaken in the worship of many idols, but Israel herself was portrayed as an unfaithful wife. The link was that to engage in unfaithful behaviour physically, was a concrete expression of an unwillingness to submit to Yahweh's Lordship spiritually – to be godless.

And the preacher to the Hebrews want us to consider the warning of godlessness through the example of Esau. Esau treated the holy things of God, like they were common. He did not honour the birthright he had been given. Esau traded upon the grace of God, and the problem with that approach is that in our sinful craftiness, mankind doesn't perceive the train of God's grace leaving the station. Esau finally twigged that there was a problem, but long after he had the opportunity had gone to put things right through true repentance.

Esau’s Godlessness, is a warning to us all about the dangers of idolatry, and particularly a call to sexual purity. Do not treat the holy things of God, like they are Common, and do not presume and trade upon God's grace. These things lead down the path of apostasy, or godlessness.

Instead considered the heroes of the faith we talked about last week, and consider their outcome, "the world was not worthy of them", and by faith they received the promised inheritance. We are called to holiness.

Secondly, the root of bitterness.

It seems within the context of the letter, the stronger brothers and sisters who kept meeting together, we struggling to deal and relate with the weaker brothers and sisters who were in real danger of (or even the process of) falling way. It seems likely the ‘root of bitterness’ that rises up to cause trouble and defile many within Fellowship is the bitterness of pride and un-forgiveness.

All people will stand before God, by the grace of God, and that is why the preacher implores us and commands us to make sure no-one misses or forgets the grace of God. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and not by works so none of you can boast.

And let us not give up leading together as sum are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as we see the day approaching.
Brothers and sisters do not let the root of bitterness start to grow within your heart and so within this congregation, but remember the grace of God that we all share, and the grace of God demands from us a response of peace and holiness.

Christian maturity endures the discipline of the Lord, and by the grace of God, that results in us resisting sexual immorality, and resisting bitterness.

Christian maturity seeks to ensure that other believers do likewise, that the fellowship resists sexual immorality and the root of bitterness.

See to it no one misses the grace of God that must be shone in peace and holiness in the Fellowship.

3.make sure you remember who is speaking to you!

Verse 25

25 See to it** that you do not refuse him who speaks.
If they did not escape when they refused him
who warned them on earth,
how much less will we,
if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

This section of the letter uses a very common rhetorical technique that is employed throughout the new Testament and in particular by Paul, it is this expression of the light and heavy.

If the lighter thing was true, the revelation of God to Moses upon Sinai, for which the Israelite people were judged when they failed to obey it. How much more, the heavier thing, will the Hebrew hearers be judged because they have heard the final and full and complete revelation of God in his son Jesus Christ, if they are found to disobey it?

We are to hear the encouraging warning, of the immensity of God's judgement upon a person who would dare taste and see that the Lord is good, to see all the Christ has done and bared on their behalf, and turn their back and walk or away.

So we need to remember who is speaking to us.

4.let us be thankful and worship God with reverence and awe!

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29 for our "God is a consuming fire."

This passage reminds us, that God is a holy God, God is a faithful god, God is worthy of our worship.

The NIV translates to words as worship, the first word really means to honour, to praise, to give thanks, to declare his goodness, to give due reverence, to the one (the only one) who is worthy of worship. In its most literal sense, it means to bend at the waist. It's the reference you show a great King when you went to the throne room.

But the second word the NIV translates as worship, is the word that is used here and, and it means ‘to serve’. It means to serve in all of our life, every corner and action, the one true and living God.
let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
29 for our "God is a consuming fire."

And so it seems the preacher has told us, that the holy God has spoken and most purposefully in his son, who endured the path set before him, to bring us the uncomfortable comfort of the cross. And he did it so that we who have received his grace can endure, (being disciplined and instructed) by hardship, so as to produce the fruit of holiness and worship and serve God as we head towards our heavenly goal.

Now - Like I said that in the beginning this is a passage full of action, there is direct and clear application, so let me ask you, what will you do now that you have heard the holy God speak today?

What will you do now?
Well if it helps, let me tell you what I'm going to do now!
You know what I am going to do when hardship comes my way?
Well with the Lord's help -- endure!

And let me tell you five practical steps to help achieve that;

1.pray. In times of difficulty, trial, anxiety or doubt, I am going to challenge myself to pray. To pray to the holy and sovereign God, who desires my good which is my Holiness. When difficulty and hardship comes, the challenge is to pray, and to say to God, "Lord you have my attention, what is it you are trying to teach me.

2.focus on Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith.
Jesus is the means by which we are saved, but he is also our example, through how he bared up under hardship, but also how God's purposes were achieved through his unjust suffering. Jesus is the means and the example that ‘by faith’ our hardship may end in his glory.

To focus on Jesus, is to hear the story told of the Christ who died for us, most purposefully in the Bible itself, but also in talks, books, and song.

3.turn my back on worldly pleasures. The heroes of faith did not consider the world worthy of them. This means they did not give in to the temptation of temporary pleasure, because of their eternal goal.

Practically what this means from this passage? it means sexual purity -- plain and simple, a profound challenge to any Christian in this modern world. And it also means no root of bitterness -- do not be proud, and do not judge a Christian brother, remember the grace of God you have received and a share in common.

4.remember the goal -- the best is yet to come, and it has not been revealed yet, Heaven may be beyond our site, but it is not beyond our means by faith.

The declaration of independence of the United States o f America, stated
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’

The preacher to the Hebrews hold these truths to be revealed by their creator, that Christian people are endowed with certain benefits in Christ by faith, and among these are Grace, endurance and the pursuit of holiness.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Hebrews - Talk 8

The life of faith; faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, and expressed through perseverance in the face of death.

Introduction
In around the middle of February 2007, Kath and I found ourselves having a very odd conversation. We were standing in a beach house a Callala Beach on the South Coast, and were as I said having a very odd conversation. Now to set the context, we were having this conversation while holding a stick, and not a tree type stick, but a plastic stick, one of those ones that comes in the little packet from the chemist type stick, and not one of the ones that take you temperature either.

Now was an odd conversation, because both of us stood there in disbelief, because the stick said - negative! both of us were absolutely convinced the answer was positive. Which is a total reversal from most of the scenes of this ilk you see in the movies, but somehow which is knew the answer was positive.
Now it wasn't just some sort of blind faith on our behalf, that we just believed despite the evidence that was put before us, but it was because of other evidence we found more convincing than the stick itself.

Now my wife Kath is a fairly together kind of person, but in that last week she was exhibiting the clear and unmistakable signs, that I had seen previously in friends and family members, the unmistakable signs of - baby brain. I'm sure many of you know of this condition, where a perfectly sane woman adds a foetus, and mysteriously seems to temporarily lose 60 IQ points in the process.

Now many of you, will think that's not the most politically correct thing you've heard all week, and the rest of you (even previous sufferers of this condition) will be smiling and nodding your head in agreement.

And just a highlight this, Kath who is in fact a GP by training, stood in the chemist for a good five minutes trying to find the pregnancy kit in the first place.
When the pharmacist came over to offer a hand, she asked as she picked the test kit off-the-shelf from directly in front of Kath’s eyes, "do you think you really need it, dear?".

So on top of the categorical baby brain evidence, there were all sorts of hormonal indicators also -- but given this is a family show – we will just quietly move on!

So while we were convinced of things unseen, this stick seemed to say no! But confident in our perception of reality, Kath went and got another test kit. And after a second incidence of it staring her in the face on the shelf, and a pharmacist having to find it for her, Well this one (which will be no surprise to those of you doing the maths on Emma's age at this point) was positive.

Our reasoned belief about our unborn child prove to be true despite the appearance of contradictory evidence. Things seen do not always equally indicate the truth and reality of the situation, and sometimes your conviction about the truth, helps you to rightly assess all the physical evidence in front of you.
Today's passage in Hebrew, is about rightly assessing things seen, so we would understand the truth about things unseen. The passage today is about faith, faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, which is expressed through perseverance in the face of death. Faith is a conviction that leads to perseverance in the face of hardship.

In modern society, (and I mean that in a technical sense of the word), there is a pre-supposition that faith is a mystical leap into the dark, that faith is the direct opposite of reason. It is The belief that reasonable people are able to view the physical ‘seen world’ and not only interpret it correctly, but also to extrapolate from the seen to apparently explain the unseen perfectly.

Now even the most atheistic postmodernist is able to see through the arrogant facade of the modernists confidence in mankind's reason. How mankind can try and explain the unseen by the seen;
is like two guys sitting in a darkened air-conditioned room in the middle of a large building, confidently proclaiming what the weather is like outside the building, based upon their experience of the light and temperature inside this room.

Modernism and its slavish worship of its idol of rationality, exposes its own frailties, or what the Bible call its sinfulness, it is a slavish or even mystical trust in the physical and its apparent capacity to convey the truth about the immaterial. And in the end it fails its own test and prove to be illogical and irrational, because of the brokenness of sinful human minds to understand reality as God has made it.

Christians on the other hand, are rational in their belief that in order to understand the weather outside the building, you would need someone to come from the outside of the building into the room with the two men in tell them what the weather is like. To believe the witness of the man from outside the building, is not only reasonable, but it is rational;
irrespective of how passionately one of the people from inside the room defends their beliefs (they're arrogant and irrational beliefs and in the end,) their beliefs are untrue and based on uncertain grounds of human perception of reality.

Christ has come from the unseen into the seen to reveal the truth about the unseen to all who would hear his reasonable, rational, truthful witness to all that God has done.

Faith is not a mystical leap into the dark, but a reasonable, even rational, convicted belief in Christ -- the revealer of the unseen -- a convicted belief in Christ and his promise driven home by the power of the holy spirit. Faith is a convicted belief based upon what is reasonable, in a similar way to how we know anything in life, we trust the person who told us. Very little of what we know in life, we actually know because we thought of it first hand. Most of what we now we learnt from someone else.

Faith is reasonable, because the one who has witnessed to us is trustworthy. Faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promises. Christ is the faithful revealer of the unseen to the seen.

Faith is the God-given, and God pleasing, response of reasonable people in the face of death. Death is the sharp edge that will divide the faith, from unbelief. Faith is the response that our preacher is exhorting from his Hebrew hearer's in this chapter as they shore themselves to face the hardship, trial, persecution and even death that is to come for following Christ.

1.Faith is a convicted belief (verse 1-3)

read verse 1-3
11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command,
so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.


The ideas of being sure of what with hopeful and certain of what we do not see, pick up the ideas of us standing upon solid foundation, and of having received the title deeds -- the proof of ownership -- of our inheritance which is to come, even though we have not physically sighted it yet. We are sure certain and confident, because we have the sure pledge of a trustworthy person, we hold the title deeds, as owners of our gift even though we have not physically taken possession of it.

To have faith is to trust, it is a convicted belief in the true word and action of a trustworthy person. Our faith is founded upon the person who is the object of our faith Jesus Christ the righteous.

And to our Hebrew hearers, the preacher pointed out there is nothing new about this, the ancients -- which is to say that patriarchs of their faith -- were commended for the same faith or trust, they are not only commended for it but they are witnesses to us of the life of faith.

In V3 we see that we are to take God at his word that he has made what is seen, from the invisible. God from nothing, the invisible if you like, has made the visible created world, and just as surely as he has made the scene from nothing, he will reveal the currently unseen to the seen. What was nothing has become something, and what is something will be turned into everything at his good time.

Faith is a convicted belief, a convicted belief on which we take our stand, our sure hope and certainty about the unseen future, based upon the Trustworthy witness who has come from the unseen and the future -- Jesus Christ Righteous.

Following on from these opening three verses where the author has sought To explain Faith, the author has three sections where he gives examples of faith and then uses them to explain Faith's benefits. So we are to gain encouragement from the witness of the faith of the patriarch's and we are to learn from their example of benefits that come to a believer from God and his promise by faith.
But also he also uses these examples and the benefits they receive from faith, to paint a deeper and richer picture of what faith looks like, of what faith means and what it brings and how it works itself out in the lives of the faithful.

The first of the sections goes from v4 to 11.

2.the examples of faith and faiths benefits -- part I (11; 4-11)

For the sake of time we are not going to re-Read versus 4-11 but just summarize it.

In this section the writer gives us four examples of patriarchs and their faith, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, and through each we learn something of the life of faith and the benefit that comes to the faithful by faith.

Abel we learnt was a righteous man, a man with a right standing before God with regards to his sin, by faith. And his example of faith speaks to us today, even though he is dead. Able had faith in his God.

Enoch had faith, and shows us in v6 without faith it is impossible to please God.
Noah had faith in his God, and this was both a blessing and a curse; for he was blessed by his faith as he inherited the gift of righteousness, but he was cursed by the Unrighteous world, which he condemned in their own unrighteousness, because of his righteousness that came by faith. Since the days of Noah men have scoffed at people of faith, of people who trust in the promise of God, for the gift of a righteousness that becomes there is by faith.

And finally our preacher makes an appeal to the epitome of faith in the old Testament, the patriarch Abraham. Abraham expressed his faith in obedience, by faith he lived like a stranger an alien in a foreign country, because he knew that the seen he perceived was not the true reality promised. Abraham believed the promise of God, he lived as a renter amongst a nation of homeowners, because he knew that God had promised better.

How could Abraham trust God?

Abraham trusted in God's faithful character. In particular he trusted in God's faithful character through his word of promise which we read about in the book of Genesis. Abraham was able to trust in God because his character and his word were found to be true in God's action, when he saved Isaac. Faith is a convicted belief in the character of God which he has demonstrated in his word of promise and his consistent action.

The preacher wants us to consider these examples of faith and follow them, and in the process he highlights the benefits that we receive as our inheritance from God by faith.

At this point the author, stops his main argument, to break out into a short summary that calls us to action in verses 13-16.

3.Faith is a convicted belief in action (11: v13 to 16)

Read versus 13-16
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died.
They did not receive the things promised;
they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left,
they would have had opportunity to return.
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

What is noticeable in the description of these people who lived the life of faith, is that they all died without receiving what was promised.
The problem with life is death.
Every life is lived with this dark spectre of a storm cloud called death that comes over the horizon and it lingers over us all. There are only two responses in the light of this dark spectre called death, denial or faith. Death is the test of faith, will we trust God or will we deny him when we face death?

You see although we've received that title deeds at our inheritance, we still have to pass through that storm cloud called death to reach out promised land.
FAITH trusts that God will be faithful to his word even in the face of death, unbelief expresses itself in denial of God and the rejection of faith to something more concrete in the face of the spectre of death.

The ancients in verses 13-16 again held up the for us as an example faith, to elicit faith from us. These people like us had only the promise and the character of God to trust. And They lived as aliens and strangers on this earth, they lived as renters in a nation of home owners, they saw what was to come from a distance, on the promissory note they accepted the gift but they were to receive in the future. Like Moses standing on the edge of the promised land, they saw the good thing that God had promised in shadow, and knew it was the promise of the real city, the heavenly city, the new creation that was to come.

Faith is a convicted belief in action, by faith they trusted God and acted upon their faith by living as aliens and strangers in this world, by not conforming to the norm but living a life of notable Obedience to God and his call upon them.

The challenge that the word here about faith about the ancient brings to us is, "do we live more for this life, or the life to come?".

All of us one day will have to face death, faith is not a spectator sport. The preacher to the Hebrews is calling us to follow in the footsteps of our examples, our hero's, who competed before us and won the prize, not of the things of this world, but they looked to a better country to come.

Faith is a convicted belief in action

4.example of faith and faiths benefits II (verse 17-31)
Reference only verses 17-31

It seems after his brief summary of faith in action in verses 13-16 the writer moves back to the example of faith which help to paint the picture of what faith looks like and Faith's benefits, through his examples of the patriarch's, and he continues with Abraham.

In fact he gives us an plethora of witnesses from Abraham Isaac to Jacob to Joseph to Moses to the Israelite people in exodus to the Israelite people in the conquest and even Rahab and we see the benefits of faith, including the resurrection from the dead in verse 19

And Moses, just like Noah before him and, in a chose to see past the temporal persecution, to see the ultimate and eternal true reality, he chose to be miss-treated for God's name, than to indulge in the sinful pleasures of this world, because by faith he did not fear the King (Caesar of the day) but he feared Yahweh the Lord, the creator and sustainer of all things, the judge of all men, instead of fearing the seen, Moses trusted the unseen, he trusted in the character of his God, because of the word of promise from his God, because of the word of promise of his God in action through the deliverance of his people.


In trusting in the character, the word of promise, and the action of God, Moses was trusting in the ultimate revelation of these things in Christ himself. Much like a pregnant woman has an unborn child which is ultimately be revealed to be a particular person, the promise of God that was trust worthy was revealed to have a particular fulfilment in Jesus Christ the righteous.

5.example of faith and Faith's benefits I II (double speed verse 32-40)

Like all preachers, getting late in the sermon he realises he is running out of time and speeds up. But it is a great section so we will read it with a brief passing comment on it.
Read versus 30-40
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets,
33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—
38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith,
yet none of them received what had been promised.
40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

You really can't understand the truth about life, unless you understand the truth about death. And you can't understand the truth about death unless you understand the truth about God and what happens after death. And you can't truly understand God unless you know Christ. Christ is the man, the god man, who has come from the other side of the curtain, from outside the building if you like, to tell us truly and Trustworthily what the unseen God is like. To know Christ is to know God, to know God is to understand death, to understand death is to understand life and to understand how to live it.

Death is a certainty, and by faith resurrection is our sure hope, just as it was for the ancients.

Brothers and sisters we have reached the last part of the sermon, a section that is possibly the centrepiece of all the preacher to the Hebrews has to say, which is to say this section is essentially the heartbeat and the description of the Christian life in four versus, which is a pretty big claim, but true to none the less.
Read 12:1-4
NIV Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin,
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.


5.Faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, expressed through perseverance in the face of death.

Christ is the author and perfect about faith, which is to say he is the beginning and he is the end of all has to do with our faith. He thought of it, he suffered it on our behalf, he endure it, and then reach his goal, which was to sit at the right hand of the throne of God, dispensing salvation for all who would believe the gospel message -- the promise of God -- by Faith.

Christ he is the means of our faith from first to last.

But in this context, he is also the example of faith par excellence, amongst all the men of faith of the Bible, there is no greater in Christ. Christ travailed the journey set out before him, not taking the easy path fitting for a king, but enduring the cross and scorning its shame. His suffering ensured his glory, his glory becomes ours, by Faith if we endure like he did, as we run the journey marked out for us with perseverance.

The preacher here exhorts us to live out two clear applications, firstly, to throw off Sin, and secondly, do not lose heart.

The first instruction, is to throw off Sin, this sin itself easily and cleverly entangles the person trying to run the race. The image the writer users is akin to seeing Usain Bolt trying to run the hundred metres Olympic final with suspect elastic in the waistband of his shorts, Sin impedes the Christian trying to run the race with perseverance. Throw off the Sin brothers and sisters that so easily entangles.

The second instruction is to not lose heart, we are to look at our forefathers who ran the good race by faith, and even more poignantly we are to look at Christ, to fix our eyes on Jesus, and draw courage that he ran the race before him, and will enable us to run ours. Not the same path a parallel and related, heading to the same destination. Christ's life tells us that hardship and eventually death is normal, but by faith we face death with confidence, not in ourselves but in our God who has acted so faithfully in Christ.

I watched the movie once, where a guy on death Row said, "nothing focuses the mind about what is important in life quite like the hangman's noose".

Now I reckon he was on to something there, but what he really meant to say was, "nothing focuses the mind about what is important in life, quite like Christ and his cross".

Christ the author and perfect of our faith has started and completed his victory by the cross, and by faith he has given us Righteousness, hope, and resurrection from the dead. We need no longer fear death, nor look longingly at the things of this world, but we are able to live at strangers and aliens, in this world, who rightly persevere as we await the real world, the unseen world, that is to come.

So consider the old Testament saints and the life of faith and perseverance, from Abraham Isaac Jacob to joseph to Moses, 18 examples in all I counted, who took God at his word and persevered.

Faith binds the believer to the reality that they do not yet see, but what they rightfully and confidently hope for.

faith is a convicted belief in Christ and his promise demonstrated in action, and expressed through perseverance in the face of death.

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

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hebrews - Talk 7 - 10:19-39

‘Let Us – Persevere’
Introduction
Kath and I, as you may be aware, have just got back from a 10 day trip to visit friends in New Zealand, and the great thing about travelling is noticing all the differences about another country, the weather, the food, the people, even the livestock. But also noticing all the things that are common to people wherever you go, like voting in a new centre-left government, and them having no idea what to do with the new economic crisis they inherited.

And one of the little cultural windows into the people you find in Western countries is of course the television, I love watching television in other countries, you learn all sorts of good stuff. Like who knew that Magnum PI was still prime-time television? Not me for sure!

But one of the things that is common both in their nation and ours is, that they also love television shows about relationships. In particular practical shows that help them to understand how to live out their relationships, like Dr Phil.
and on one particular night super nanny. I'm not entirely sure what possesses people to watch the show, but I suspect it is some sort of macabre vouyerism, that at least my children aren't that bad!

And this one night, we set down to watch it with our friends, (who also have small children), there was a couple who had six children. (Now I have one child, so quite clearly I am no expert on children), but these people had six children and quite clearly no idea!

And it's because between them, they didn't have an ounce of clue how to discipline their children -- for the want of a better description, there children were feral. Even the casual the Observer could see that this couple needed some real perseverance if they were going to make this parenting thing work. You need perseverance to constantly battle with little enquiring minds. Young minds make bad choices, and you need perseverance to train them to make good decisions.

But then you need perseverance to make any relationship work don't you?

And as we continue with the book of Hebrews, we see the preacher is persevering with his Immature hearers. He persevered with them, in order to encourage them, so that they may like their teacher - persevere to the end.

Today we are looking at Hebrews chapter 10 versus 19-39, which is a simple section of text, in that what it says is clear, but then in being clear what it says - it isn't easy to do. So it's a simple passage - but not easy!

In fact you could describe it as a salad passage.

"Why would you call it a salad passage, is it because it is good for you?"
"Well yes, it is because it is good for you, but more than that -- it's because it has three types of lettuce!"

"Three types of lettuce you say?"

‘Yes three types!’
The first of these using verse 22, where it says:
‘let us’ draw near to God

The second of these is inverse 23, where it says;
‘let us’ hold fast to Christ

The third of these is in verse 25, where it says;
‘let us’ encourage one another -- by not giving up meeting together

There are three types of lettuce in the salad passage, simple to understand, but not easy to do, so let's pray for God's help that we would hear and apply his word rightly.

Prayer


1. let us draw near to God -- verse 22
In verse 22 we read
‘let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’

The preacher here called his hearers to draw near to God. He calls his hearers to have faith, to trust God, to have confidence in their God.
Now It's all well and good to say to ‘have confidence’, but how can anyone have the confidence to draw near to a holy God, a consuming fire?

Well it's because of what he is already told us, starting with what he said in verses 17 and 18, that our sins have been dealt with.

V17
‘..their sins and lawless is acts will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice the sin.’
So We have confidence to draw near, because Sin has been dealt with.

But how has Sin been dealt with?
Well, Sin has been dealt with by Jesus Supreme High-priest, as we have focused upon over the last couple of weeks in the book of Hebrews.
Jesus our supreme High-priest, offered the supreme sacrifice of himself, and offered it in the supreme temple, the true house of God.

Verse 19
‘Therefore Brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great High-priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith..’

We draw near to God with confidence, because Jesus is our great High-priest


But still how can we draw near, we are still sinful people aren't we?

Well verse 22 tell us the results, the benefits we receive in our person, because Jesus is our supreme High-priest.

Verse 22
‘let us drawn into God with the sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.’

Christ our supreme High-priest, has cleansed our hearts, and our minds, and our bodies.

Now Our sin was our doing, it was harmful against God, and harmful against our own bodies. But Christ bought it at the Cross and made it his. Our sin is our doing, but it is no longer our possession, it belongs to Christ he bought it.
And the forgiveness he purchased has become our possession by faith, and it has brought about an act of new creation by God the creator in our hearts, our minds and our bodies through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus and Supreme High-priest, has cleansed us, and we are now a new creation in Christ. We now part of the new creation - the kingdom of God.

We are able to draw near to God, because we have been cleansed by Jesus our supreme High-priest.

Which leads us on to our second let us;

2. let us hold fast to Christ
Verse 23
‘let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised his faithful.’

Now as you remember in the context of the letter to the Hebrews, the ones receiving the letter were under a real threat of persecution and violence, even death, for following Christ. To be a believer in Jesus in these first century times was a precarious exercise under the occupying Roman rule.

But instead if you were a Jew, you actually enjoyed protection under Roman rule, and no persecution from your own family and friends. To be Jewish was a lot more socially acceptable, and a whole lot safer.

The temptation to turn your back on Christ, was very real that these first hearers. Which is why the preacher implores them to not turn their backs on Christ, to hold fast to Christ, because Christ is faithful to his promise to deliver the hope he has promised. The preacher wants us to be faithful, as Christ is faithful. Let us hold fast to Christ, despite hardship, temptation, trial and suffering, and even persecution. Let us hold fast to Christ because he is faithful.


Verse 35
‘so do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.’

Let us hold fast to Christ

Now if you've been paying attention as the passage was read earlier, you may have some questions about verse 26 and 27. What is going on there?

Verse 26
‘If we deliberately keep on sending after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice is left for sins, but only the fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.’

What is going on there?
I mean there isn't a Christian here, who hasn't at some point deliberately sinned is there?

Well, as always, the Bible is pretty good at explaining Bible, and reading the context always helps to inform our understanding of the passage. In this section of the text, the temptation to sin for the believers who are hearing the sermon, is the temptation to turn away from Christ. The temptation to publicly deny any part with Christ, the temptation of apostasy. These believers under threat of persecution and even the edge of the sword, are being tempted to escape the hardship by denying that they know Christ, and to deny it publicly.

Apostasy, to deny Christ publicly and to mean it, is to sin with a ‘big S’

The deliberate sin spoken of here, is not your day to day, garden variety (if you can use such language) type of sin, but the profound and conscious denial of Christ's lordship, his sacrifice, and his priesthood on your behalf. To deny Christ is to deny his benefits for you, to deny those benefits is to be without hope before God.
Now before you get too comfortable, in thinking while I haven't done that! Remember that the path to the big ‘S’ Sin, is paved with a whole lot of little ‘s’ sin (garden variety) Sin. So knock it off!!

Faithful with little things, means faithful with big things when they come.

Let us hold fast to Christ

Let us hold fast to Christ, because trial and temptation and persecution is coming.

Versus 32-34 we read;
‘Remember those early days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insults and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.’

The preacher reminds his hearers, they have in the past been faithful with little things, and now it is time to be faithful with the big things that are coming their way, to be faithful under persecution and trial and even the edge of the sword. In the second let us, they are to hold fast to Christ no matter the cost.

So finally we can move on to our third ‘let us’ in this passage, where our preacher to calls us, and says;

3. let us encourage one another -- and in particular, by not giving up meeting together
Verse 25
‘let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the day approaching.’

The positive expression of his point here, is let us encourage one other.

Christians have always met together, the mutual testimony to encourage one another. This profound act of worship of speaking truly to each other about the living God in his presence. This act of worship to speak truly through song and speech, and to hear the living God speak from his word, and to call upon him as our father in prayer. All these things exist to strengthen the Christian, so that they may draw near to God, that they may hold fast to Christ, and that they may persevere in Christ until the end.

The negative expression of his point is that to withdraw from the Fellowship that meets together, is a concrete expression of a person withdrawing themselves from Christ himself. To withdraw from the believers in the first century, was to not make the good confession of Christ in the sight of opposition.

It was to wear your Australian Rugby league jersey to work on the Friday, but then turn up to work on the Monday wearing the New Zealand Rugby league jersey after they won the World Cup on the Sunday night!

Under threat at the edge of the sword, people withdrew from the Fellowship, to avoid suspicion, persecution, and hardship. To be part of the group was prima face evidence that you belonged to Christ. Withdrawing from the fellowship, was a concrete expression of withdrawing from Christ. And you know what, despite 2000 years, I suspect not much has changed in this regard? To withdraw from the fellowship is really an expression of withdrawing from Christ.

The preacher has called to the believers, let us encourage one another. But in contrast, what better way would there be to discourage the brothers and sisters than to withdraw from the fellowship?

Well what do you reckon?? Can you think of a better way of discouraging other believers?

I reckon that there are at least 10 things you need to make sure you do if you want to discourage your brothers and sisters
(by which I am being slightly ironic, and am of course encouraging you to do the opposite, and I am in the same breath not necessarily saying people are doing things, I'm just saying these would be dumb things to do!)

So here we go, 10 ways to discourage your brothers and sisters;

10. make sure everyone knows that church is just not a priority for you

Make Church just like dinner at home on Saturday night, it's what you do when you don't have a better option. And a better option can be a small as kids sport, or school holidays, or just plain tired.

So make sure everyone knows that church is just not a priority for you.

9.make sure things you never miss a chance to complain about church

The services are too long, there are too many creeds, there is too few confessions, there is too much new music, there is not enough old music, we always do the same thing, we never do the same thing!

And especially make sure you never miss a chance to complain about church, to the leadership whether it is the Minister or the CLT, or just in the Bible study.

And especially make sure you never miss a chance to major on a minor and take your theological hobby horse and ride it home like it was entered in the Melbourne cup, because nothing produces unity and encouragement like proud theological elitism

so make sure you never miss a chance to complain about church

8. make sure you bear grudges against people, and if possible to publicly, or at least with a small faction of your friends from the congregation

whatever you do, do not forgive as you have been forgiven

7.make sure you never serve, but always be served!

Be a consumer Christian, from teaching the kids, to doing evangelism, make sure everyone knows - it's someone else's job -- certainly not yours!

6. make sure you compartmentalise your Christian faith

Make sure you are one thing with Christians, and another with non-Christians. And especially never let your Christian faith into your workplace or allow it to bear upon your significant relationships.

5. make sure you never encourage other Christians with the good things the Lord has done in your life

Make sure everyone thinks you have a dead Christianity. At morning tea, or any church gathering, never get past talking about the sport or the kids schoolling. Never (ever!) tell anyone how you became a Christian.

4. make sure you never commit to anything related to church

Always keep your options open, whether it's a dinner RSVP, or a midweek Bible study, whether it's going on the roster during school holidays, or actually financially committing to the Fellowship rather than just giving the bits that are left over after you pay for what you want.

Never put yourself in the position of being committed

3. make sure you never read your bible personally

Privately, in the family, with other Christians or even in Church, do not read your Bible. And especially never ever share anything you've learnt from your Bible reading with another Christian.


2. make sure you never pray personally

Never pray to God, especially for the spread of the gospel, for Christian leaders, missionaries or for your Christian Brothers and sisters at church

Never pay personally, and especially never pray publicly when you have a chance during the service

1. make sure you never let Jesus and the cross set the agenda of your life

Your goal is to be happy not Holy!

discipleship, mission, even persecution are just not your bag baby! Leave that to the keen ones, the ones who seem to think that perseverance is an issue.

Make sure you never let Jesus and the Cross set the agenda for your life!


The Instruction
Verse 23
‘let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised his faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not to give up meeting together, and some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.’

The Comfort
Verse 39
‘but we are not of those who shrink back and have destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.’