St Ives 15 Minute Christmas Message

So, Penny found this in a box that we were cleaning out. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to tell how old it is, since it doesn't have a date. Oh, actually, I can date it by some stuff in the body of the sermon, but I couldn't tell you how old that makes it. Let me put it this way - it's old!

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How would you react to someone who was going to take away your power?

How would you react to someone who was going to take away your living?

How would you react to someone who was going to take away your punishment?

Words

I've been asked to speak a little bit about Christmas, probably because it's in six days' time. You never get asked to talk about Christmas in, say, April. Anyway, Christmas is all about this baby being born. His name was Jesus.

Everyone reacts differently to babies being born. Dad tends to be very proud, grandparents doting, siblings curious or apprehensive, and mother with unbridled affection. When I saw a film of a baby being born in high school biology, my reaction was, "Ewwww." But now, several years on, when I saw photos of Juliette's caesar that brought little Jonah into the world, my reaction was, "Eeewwww."

Sometimes we have a shocked reaction to birth stories. A woman I met up in Queensland, for example, gave birth on her lounge room floor, while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. She kept saying, "I don't want a story to tell, I don't want a story to tell!" but she's got one anyway, and a pretty good one, too.

And of course, lots of people react to births with cards, "It's a boy/girl!", with presents, hospital visits and so on.

Well, the birth that we celebrate at Christmas time has it all - a story to tell (born in a barn), proud father, (God says, "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased"), and people come to visit, bringing presents and all sorts of stuff. But not all of the reactions are good ones. I want to go through three reactions, and see if you would react the same way I would.

Firstly, imagine yourself in a position of power, the CEO of a big company, let's call it Microsoft. Being CEO is a pretty good life - you are important, you make decisions, you have a good standard of living, the biggest television in the land, and so on. You've worked hard to get your position (you started with a fish and chip shop and ended up rocketing to fame and power), and to keep your position as CEO, keep stockholders happy, keep governments happy, all that sort of thing. You haven't been a bad CEO overall, you've done what you had to do. But one day, the ambassador of Iran comes and knocks on your door, and says, "Hey, have you heard? Someone's going to take your company off you, and you won't be CEO any more!" It sounds a bit traitorous. It sounds like a bit of a hostile takeover! What are you going to do? Would you just accept your fate, and let them take your company and put you into ruin? Or would you try and protect your position against this usurper?

This is exactly what happened on Christmas day. But it wasn't a CEO who was the target of a corporate takeover. Instead, it was a king called King Herod.

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^a]">[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

Why is Herod so disturbed? God has been promising this great king for so long, why would you not want what God has promised you? Well, I'll tell you. Herod was king, and king is a pretty comfortable position, a position of respect and authority. Who wouldn't want to be king?

Herod has a direct challenge to his authority as king - a child born who these wise men from the East describe as being "King of the Jews". King Herod is already king over the Jewish people. You can't have two kings of the Jews; it doesn't work that way. Now, is Herod just going to lie down and accept that his time as come? Or is he going to try and protect his position against a usurper? He attempts to protect his position of power, and he trues so hard that he goes as far as killing all the newborn children, up to two years old, in Bethlehem and the towns around. Thousands of innocent children's lives were lost in an attempt to protect Herod's position as king.

How would you react to someone who was going to take away your power? Everyone has got power, although not everyone is a king. You have the power to made decisions about your life, how you live it. How hard you work, what car you drive, how many kids you will have, what you buy someone for Christmas. So many decisions, and each of those decisions gives you power over your own life. And then Jesus comes along and says that he wants to take away that power. He wants to become king, not just of the Jews, but over your life too. He wants to have a say in all those decisions you make. More than that, he wants to tell you what to do. He wants to make the decisions, and for you to obey him.

There are a lot of people in Australia who know that they should obey God, but they simply don't want to give God power over their lives. This is most usually because there are things that we enjoy doing, that we want to keep on doing, even though we know God doesn't want us to do them. They rebel against God, denying that he has the authority to tell them what to do. Is that you today? Do you know that God sent this Jesus, whose birth we celebrate today, to be a king over every aspect of your life, but you don't want to give him the power? You want instead to hold onto it at all costs, even at the cost of other innocent people?

Think of it like drink driving. You have a decision about how much alcohol you drink before you drive somewhere. The law says that you shouldn't drink alcohol and drive your car. But they can't stop you from doing it - they can only punish you after you do it. But does the little girl who gets hit by your car because you're out of control get a choice about whether you drink drive or not? You think you know better, you think you deserve to have the power over your own life, and then you and other people pay the price. That is the simple fact about disobeying God. People blame God for wars, poverty, injustice and pain. Who starts a war? Who keeps money to themselves? Who takes bribes and delivers unjust rulings? Is it God, or is it people? No wonder God wants us to obey him.

So, we've imagined ourselves in a position of power. Now I want you to imagine something else. Imagine you're not a CEO, but in fact a machinist working in a car factory. You and all your other machinist friends work day in, day out, making cars. That's your living, and you enjoy what you do. It puts bread on the table, and it's honest work. Now, you hear about a new invention, called a ro-bot. This robot is supposed to be able to take a lot of the hard work out of building cars. "That's great," you think, "it will make my job easier." So you get back to your job, ignorant about the invention of the robot, and you take it for granted that in a few years you'll be steering some robot that will make your job easier. But it doesn't work like that. Instead, in three years' time you find yourself out of work, because the robot has completely changed how people make cars. You're not needed at all any more, or you need to be retrained. Your livelihood is gone forever.

This same thing happens when Jesus is born! But he doesn't take the livelihood away from machinists - he takes it away from priests. Going back to our story, when Herod hears that the king to replace him has been born, he asks the priests to find out where he will be born. The response?

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’^b]">[b]”

The priests are the ones that the Jewish society has entrusted with all things to do with God. They control the temple, where people go to give sacrifices to God. They read the Bible, the word of God, and they teach about it, telling people what God has said and how it should affect them. So if you want to know how God is going to fulfil a promise, you go to the priests. And the priests have the answer for King Herod, too. The priests don't need to look it up - they quote it frm the Bible.

And what's their reaction to the news that the King of God has just been born? Do they get all worked up into hatred and selfishness like King Herod? No, not exactly. In fact, they don't do anything. They don't get angry and want to kill him, but likewise they don't go down to Bethlehem to check it out and worship him either. Why? They just take it all for granted. God's going to send his King over Israel, just like he's been saying to us for hundreds of years, and everything's going to be ok. It doesn't require them to do anything. Because God loves his people Israel, so they can just go on doing things the way they always have, and it should be fine.

The priests simply assume that God is going to do what they want him to do - send a king that will raise the Jews to power and conquer the whole world. And no doubt the priests will have an important role in this new kingdom, and all will be well for them. But they're wrong. God has sent Jesus not as a political king to rule over the Jews. God has sent Jesus as a spiritual king, who will let the people of the world interact with God directly. They won't need sacrifices any more, or temples any more - they can pray anywhere, be in a personal relationship with God. And oh, no, the priests weren't paying attention, and they are going to have to be retrained.

There are a lot of people in Australia who think that, because they work hard, and they're pretty good to people, and they love their family, that God is going to let them into heaven when they die. What's that classic Aussie saying? "She'll be right - no worries." I'll just do what I've always done, and God will look after me, because me and him are mates.

I'm afraid God doesn't see it that way. You see, God doesn't weigh up all your good deeds, then subtract your bad deeds, and if you're better than Hitler, then you get into heaven. No, God is perfect - he is perfectly good, loving and just. And God will not let one little speck of evil get into heaven. So, if you've ever done one thing wrong, ever, in your life, then that's it. You can't go to heaven.

How would you react towards someone who is eventually going to take away your livelihood? Are you going to just pretend that it's all going to come out ok, that nothing bad is going to happen to you? Jesus has come to take away any shred of hope that you had of getting into heaven based on how good a person you are. He is the judge that God has appointed, and he will not allow a single speck of evil into heaven.

It's like people who don't read the instruction manual to their new blender/coffee/Google web machine thing, and then complain when it doesn't work the way they expect it. Do you have an opinion about God that is based basically on what you think God should do, rather than opening his Bible, with his words in it, and reading what he has said about himself? Do you try and base your opinions on God on what you would like it to be, rather than praying to God, talking to him and asking him what he wants? So many people talk about God not doing things right, but very few actually read the Bible first, and make accusations second. So many people are just too busy to read the Bible, or to pray, or to go to church. It's so much easier to read the Da Vinci Code, and just pretend that you know what's going on, and then say, "Well, God will look after it all, and I'm sure it will be all right."

We've imagined that we were a CEO stripped of power. We've imagined that we were a machinist stripped of his job. One more imagining, then we can go and have a cuppa. Imagine now that you are a prisoner. You've committed a crime, and been sent to jail. Perhaps it was a big crime, maybe you killed someone. Perhaps it was a small crime, like you smashed into someone's car. Perhaps it's an in-between crime - you stole a computer from someone's house, or you beat someone up in a fight. Unfortunately, the crime you committed happens to be against the judge who is presiding over your sentence. And you happened to be caught doing this thing in a country a little less forgiving than ours - let's say it's Iran. The juge decides that people like you don't need to be on the streets, so he's going to throw you in jail, and leave you there till you die. But then the Australian ambassador comes and he pays the judge the recompense needed to get you out of jail. He doesn't pay it with your money, he pays it with his own money, so that you can escape a lifetime of imprisonment and ill treatment, followed by a humiliating and slow death. How would you feel about this ambassador? He has saved your life. You can never really repay him for that. It doesn't matter how much money you give him, it's never going to be worth what your life was worth. Imagine that your wife and kids get to see you again, you get another chance at life. How would you feel?

This same thing happened when Jesus was born. These magi who travel from the East (most probably Persia, modern day Iran) hear about a child who is born King of the Jews. His birth is so important that a star signifies his coming. It is so important that they pack their bags, with presents fit for a king, and travel for some days, weeks, to come and worship him.

The verse that the priests quote when they are talking about the King of the Jews being born, describes Jesus as being the shepherd over the people of Israel. But they actually don't read the next part. Let me read it to you now:

He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth. ⁵ And he will be their peace.

Jesus is not the shepherd of Israel alone. His greatness, his sheep, will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace. These magi have stumbled upon God's king over all the earth, God's shepherd over the whole world. And this child, born in a barn in Bethlehem, is going to bring peace, is going to be their peace.

You see, we are trapped, trapped by our own evil desires and actions. We can't help it! No matter how hard we try, we end up like Herod, telling God to go jump, because we want the power over our lives. We are like the priests, who ignore God, and say, "Oh, it'll be right, it doesn't matter." And when we do these things, we not only hurt ourselves, we not only hurt other people. We hurt God. He loves us, and we hate him. He loves us, and we ignore him. And there is a punishment set apart for those who disobey and ignore God - death, and hell. We have to die to pay the price on our evil lives. And we have to go to hell, because we can't go to heaven, because of our evil actions and desires.

But God has sent Jesus to be an ambassador on his behalf. He comes to set us free from the prison we have gotten ourselves into, to pay the price of our punishment. But he can't pay it with money. The punishment is death, and someone has to die. So Jesus pays, not with our own deaths, but with his own. The one man that did not have to die for rebelling against God, is the one that does to pay for our own evil rebellion. And to prove that God accepted this as payment for the debt, God raised Jesus from the dead after three days. It was God's free Christmas gift to us, that we might be able to com to heave and be with him.

REmember that Iranian prison? Remember that Australian ambassador who came and paid with his own money to get you out? You can't really pay him back, can you? Not for such a worthy and valuable gift. But you wouldn't ignore him, would you? You wouldn't hate him, surely. God created you. God sustains you, and God paid for you to be free of punishment. Is that not worthy of respect? Honour? Thanks? Worship? God has paid the price for you to live, but not so you can live how you want. God has plans for your life, but he needs you to obey him, to live how he wants. It means giving over power to him. It means listening to him, reading his word, praying, talking to him. Yes, you have to give up your power to him. Yes, you have to give up your life to him. But you can do that, because he has given his life for you already. Don't do it out of obligation. Do it out of love.

This Christmas, you have been given a gift - the power to decide to live for God. Don't throw that gift away with the wrapping paper.

Sermon: Spiritually preparing for Christmas - the motion of incarnation

Sermon 2 Words

Christmas is less than a week away. If you were here last week, you might remember that I referred to a 10 week Christmas planning schedule created by the Planning Queen. For this last week before Christmas, because her planning regime makes everything so organised, the Planning Queen can spend this week “enjoying the spirit of Christmas”. So just take a few moments. Sit back, close your eyes, and relax. Forget about the last-minute presents you have to buy, and how the shops will be packed full of last-minute shoppers. Forget how you won't be able to get a car park anywhere. Forget all the work you will have to do wrapping presents, cooking meals, preparing the house for visitors or packing the car for the trip away. Forget the potential headaches of dealing with family members you don't often see, or driving in the car for hours with kids who are easily bored. Forget all the work that is piling up for you to do when you get back from your holidays. Forget the Christmas party you are obliged to attend at a non-Christian family or friend's house, or the obligatory work Christmas party, that you know will be marinated in free alcohol. Forget the pressure the cost of all these things puts on your budget this Christmas season. Now, do you feel calm, ready to enjoy the spirit of Christmas? No, you're probably as stressed as ever, since all I did was make you focus on all those negative possibilities. Maybe what would really relax you is dreaming of December 27^th, and knowing Christmas was over.

It's so easy to get caught up in all the busyness of the Christmas season that we too readily forget about the spirit of Christmas, or the real meaning of Christmas. Then, to add to the confusion, we have different people left and right telling us what they think the true meaning or spirit of Christmas is: According to Westfield shopping centres, Christmas is about planning, gifts, partying, gifts, food, gifts, and of course the festive spirits. Which make great gifts. Ross Cameron, former federal member for Parramatta, wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about Christmas being a time when we can remember that all men are created equal, and that everyone matters. Hundreds of respondents wrote in to assure Ross Cameron that he was wrong with comments like, “Christmas is a sad day for humanity – it made hatred justifiable”, “What a load of codswallop,” “All this Jesus talk is just not right,” “Best thing to do at Christmas is buy your friends Christopher Hitchen's book 'God is not Great',” “Christmas is propaganda of the highest order,” “This article is positive proof that religion of any kind is essentially a form of total lobotomy.” These were responses to an article that didn't even acknowledge the resurrection as historical fact! President Barack Obama spoke to a group of young school children about Christmas, and he told them that the birth of baby Jesus “symbolises the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect”. A vox pop on an Aussie street turned up all sorts of answers – to the person on the street, Christmas is about: holidays, joy, spirit of giving, fun with family, end of the year and start of a new one, great food, Christmas trees, lights, decorations, music, being happy, celebrating togetherness, brings everyone together, birth of Jesus, love, a lot of work, snow, presents, Santa, and toys. Snow? Where does it snow in Australia at Christmas?

That's a lot of things swirling around in our heads when we think of Christmas! What we need is a way to clear our heads, so that we can remember what the true meaning of Christmas is, to help us spiritually prepare ourselves and our families for Christmas. Last week I said that at its core, Christmas is about Jesus being born, about the son of God being born as a human, God becoming a human, God with us. I used the word 'incarnation' to talk about Jesus – the idea of something which does not have physical form taking physical form. Jesus is God incarnate – God takes physical form as a human being, and lives among us. That is what we are celebrating at Christmas. How can we shape our spiritual life – that is, how can we pray, how can we talk, how can we act, what can we do – to ensure that we are reflecting on these spiritual truths of Christmas, and that those spiritual truths are reflected in our lives?

Last week we looked at preparing ourselves spiritually for this remembrance by focusing on the graciousness of Jesus' incarnation – about how it was all about God giving something to us that we did not deserve. The obvious link is made to the giving of gifts at Christmas time, but we looked at three things we could do at Christmas to prepare ourselves spiritually for remembering this act of grace. You can remember that God came to communicate with humanity face to face as Jesus by reading one of the gospels with your family; remember that God came as a man to share in humanity's sufferings, temptations and death, by praying for those who suffer, who are tempted, and who are dying; and remember that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life by giving someone you know a gift they do not deserve, and making it clear that it is in memory of God's gift that we do not deserve.

This week, we are going to look at another side of the incarnation of Jesus, which is so important to us spiritually preparing for Christmas. We are going to look at the motion of the incarnation. What do I mean by that? Well, we often describe the birth of Jesus as the “coming” of Jesus, or perhaps the “sending” of Jesus. Jesus came from elsewhere. He wasn't created here on earth like a normal baby, like you or I. For him, being born was like coming through a door from one place to another. Jesus came from heaven. His motion was towards earth. Motion towards us. God, as Jesus, came to us.

Jesus' life, like all of our lives, is a journey. The birth of Jesus, that is, God's coming to earth as a human, is part of a bigger journey that God takes throughout history. God sets out on a journey that takes him through history in order to close the distance between himself and humanity. And no doubt you can imagine that the part of the journey where he comes to earth as a human is a colossal event in that journey – a big part of closing the distance. God had been setting up this visit to earth for millennia, and Jesus talks about that in one of his parables. It goes like this, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’”

God and people are separated. Over his journey towards us, God has many times sent messengers to bring his message to humanity. Those messages were things like, “Give me the respect and honour in your life I deserve,” “Live lives that are right and good, because I am right and good,” and “I am coming. Be ready.” It is a sad testament to humanity that, like in the parable, people have ignored and disregarded God's messages, and shunned and mistreated the messengers who brought them. But God is relentless. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. Surely humanity will respect God when his son comes. Because a son is not like a postman. You hire a courier to do a job – he does it, and delivers your message. But a son doesn't just deliver a message – sending a son is like going and visiting yourself. It's the equivalent of bringing the message in person. You are, in a way, sending your future self – you're sending the one who will inherit the family business, who will take your place when you're gone. It's his vineyard as much as it is your vineyard. So when you send your son, he should be respected.

The direction of God is towards us. That is something we should remember at Christmas. God came to earth, came to us. He wants to close the gap between us and him. He does the work. He made the journey from heaven to earth. We don't have to ascend into heaven to find God. He came to earth to be with us. That's what we are celebrating. This Christmas, make that thought the founding thought for you. To spiritually prepare for Christmas, now in this last week, take some time out to evaluate your life with God. Think about your life this year. Have you been taking time to listen to God's messengers? Their messages to mankind are recorded in the Bible, and they are expounded by preachers in church week after week. Or have you treated them shamefully, sent them away empty-handed? How can you expect to live the life God wants you to live if you don't even listen to him when he tells you how to live it? As you pray this Christmas (will you pray this Christmas?), praise God that he is the one that closes the distance between us and him. He travelled from heaven to earth to be with us. Pray that as you read his messages, you will respond to them by doing what he says. If you have not been honouring God's messengers this year, or maybe your whole life, then there is no time like Christmas to make a change. As you celebrate the coming of God, as Jesus, ask him to change your life. Jesus himself said, “I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Respect the coming of God's son, and pay God his due. Give him the respect and honour he deserves, by living your life for him.

So far we've mainly looked at the motion towards – that God came to us. But now I'd like to look at the flip side of that idea – that Jesus was sent to us by God. The motion of Jesus is to us, from God. When you buy presents at Christmas, both of these motions are important, aren't they? You have to consider who the gift is to, so that you get them something relevant, but you also have to consider who the gift is from, or else it can be a little awkward. In the Sydney magazine last week, there was an article about presents that had not been considered in these two motions. On the one hand, a farmer gave his friends in the city a crate of fantail doves. A lovely present perhaps, but not really considering who the present was to. Awkward. But not nearly as awkward as making sure you measure the appropriateness of who a gift is from. There was another story of a woman receiving rather suggestive lingerie for Christmas. Which would be fine, if she received it from her husband. But it's a little creepy when you receive it from your husband's mother. Jesus, the ultimate gift of the Christmas season, upon which all other gifts have their genesis, comes to us, from God.

Why does God send us Jesus? It's not because he's expected to by tradition, or because he picked us in a Chris Kringle. He sent Jesus because he loves us, because we need Jesus, and because we were never going to earn Jesus' coming. 1 John 4:9-10 says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God loves us. We need Jesus to atone for our sin, that is, to heal the rift between us and God. And we were never going to earn it, because we don't love God with every fibre of our being. That's how God loves us, though.

When you look at a nativity scene, it's hard to think that this same baby Jesus was sent by God on a mission, like a one man A-Team. But think back to the parable – the landowner sends a representative – his son – to bring his message. Sends him on a mission, a mission he knows could be dangerous. In fact, do you know how that parable ends? When they saw the son, “The tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.” This has been the human response to God for every messenger – berate them, beat them, treat them shamefully, even kill them. That's how we treat God's messengers, and that is how we treated God's son – the baby Jesus in the manger is the same Jesus God sent who we nailed up on a cross at Easter. At Christmas, what we celebrate is Jesus coming to us, and God sending Jesus to us. The presented is labelled “To us, from God.” But what should this mean to us at Christmas? How can we prepare ourselves spiritually to remind ourselves of this fact, that God loved us so much he sent his Son on a mission to save us, so that we could be with him?

Well, for starters, make sure you get people appropriate presents, not fantail doves or creepy lingerie. But no doubt you do that already. What can you do to remember the motion of Christmas – to remember that Jesus came to us, and that God was the one who sent him? I think one of the most powerful ways to remember this message is to remember that Jesus was sent on a mission. To help us remember that, I think we can do two things at Christmas time. First of all, we should remember those that we have sent out on a mission – our missionaries – each Christmas. Each year, AMT takes up a Christmas gift offering to give us the opportunity to give our missionaries around the world something extra at Christmas. Quite often, they don't use it for themselves, but pass it on to those around them who need it most, and it is a great blessing. While I was working in the AMT office, I heard of a great idea from a family who sought to remind themselves of God's mission each Christmas – they would go shopping for presents for each other, but instead of buying them, would work out how much the present was, and give that much to a missionary family. Would you consider making a pact with your family to turn your gifts to each other into a reminder of Jesus being sent on a mission at Christmas, by using that money to support those we have sent on a mission?

Second of all, we should remember that not only was Jesus sent on a mission, and not only are our missionaries sent out on a mission, but we, too, are sent on a mission by Jesus! Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We have been sent out by Jesus too! Christmas is a great time to remember those people to whom we have been sent, because it is a wonderful time to offer hospitality to people. There are many people out there who don't have a family to spend Christmas with, either because of distance, estrangement, or bereavement. What are they doing this Christmas? If you are hosting your family's Christmas this year, would you have a spare chair for them around your table? Some of my best Christmases have been spent around the Marlin family table, when I had no-one to celebrate with. You can remember the motion of Jesus to us, by remembering those you are sent to.

So, three things you can do this year to remember the motion of the incarnation of Jesus, three things to spiritually prepare yourself for Christmas: remember Jesus was sent to us by God by remembering those you have sent into the world – missionaries – and give them a Christmas gift; remember that you too have been sent into the world just as Jesus was sent, by reaching out in hospitality to those around you; and perhaps most fundamentally of all, this Christmas, remember that God came to earth, came to you. He wants to close the gap between you and him. He did the work, he made the trip, he covered the distance. Think about your life in the past year, and how you can change it in the year to come so that you are looking out for God's messages, that you are respecting God's messengers, that the life you live, you live for God.

With those things in mind, let's pray:

Sermon: Spiritually preparing for Christmas - the grace of incarnation

Christmas is only two weeks away. 13 sleeps. 12 more shopping days, or 13 if you don't mind doing your Christmas shopping at a 7-Eleven. Apparently, a lot of organising goes into Christmas celebrations. Online, I found a ten week Christmas planner by someone called the Planning Queen. Yes, apparently, you were supposed to start your planning for Christmas back in October. You start off in week 10 with choosing a theme for your Christmas (the suggested theme for this year was a natural theme, using recycled and earth-friendly components in all of your Christmas stuff), then in week 9 you review and update your Christmas budget (the suggested budget includes $100 per child, and making homemade presents for work colleagues, your children's teachers, and your neighbours). Week 8 is when you should finish off your homemade gifts for all those people you need to give them to. Week 7 is the time to make all your own Christmas cards, as well as buy or make wrapping paper in the natural recycled theme of course. Six weeks out is when you draw up your Christmas present list and do your Christmas shopping. Week 5 is when you make all your homemade Christmas decorations – everybody is nodding because they all do this already, right? Week 4 is the week to do your toy cull, and donate unneeded toys to a worthwhile charity, as well as finding somewhere to volunteer for Christmas time. Last week, you were supposed to organise Christmas Day logistics and plan the menu for Christmas Day. This week, you can look forward to doing all the pre-cooking for your Christmas celebrations. And next week, after all the planning, you are supposed to “enjoy the spirit of Christmas”.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that you are all a week ahead on your schedules and that you've actually done all your Christmas pre-cooking, so that this week and next week, we can look more closely at how we go about enjoying the spirit of Christmas. If, like me, you are still hovering somewhere around week six and have lots of presents to buy, then you will appreciate how valuable the gift of administration and planning is that God gives to some people, because being organised means that people like Planning Queen have been able to set aside a whole week for enjoying the spirit of Christmas. After all, when you remember that the decorations, the shopping, the food, the stress, and the homemade cards are all window-dressing, you remember that Christmas is actually a commemoration of an important historical event. Christmas is the time that we remember Jesus, Son of God, being born into the world as a human being, and the consequences of that for our lives and for human history. So instead of a ten week Christmas plan to help us prepare logistically, let's look at a simple, two week Christmas plan to help us prepare spiritually for Christmas. How can we shape our spiritual life – that is, how can we pray, how can we talk, how can we act, what can we do – to ensure that we are reflecting on the spiritual truths of Christmas, and that those spiritual truths are reflected in our lives?

This week, we will look at one spiritual truth, just one, and next week we'll do the same thing. If we can grasp these two essential spiritual truths about Christmas, reflect on them, and reflect them in our lives, then we really will be prepared for Christmas. And we only need to learn two spiritual truths at Christmas time, because Christmas is actually a relatively simple celebration. We complicate it, fill it up with a lot of different things, and we celebrate it in a lot of different ways. But what's at the core of Christmas? Why is it we celebrate?

At its core, Christmas is about Jesus being born, about the son of God being born as a human, God becoming a human, God with us. You know this. Most of you have probably been to more Christmas services than I have. What I say is nothing new. But as the old saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. Not that I would say anyone here has contempt for Jesus. Rather, it is perhaps more a case of familiarity breeding apathy. The sharpness of what we know to be true, and believe through faith, can all too easily become dulled by hackneyed repetition. What do I mean? Let us do a thought experiment together which will illustrate what I mean. We believe that the birth of Jesus Christ is a gift to the world, allowing anyone to believe and receive eternal life, right? And so because Christmas is about remembering this incredible gift from God to humanity, we celebrate it by giving gifts to each other, correct? So if you agree with those statements, here's the thought experiment for you. I want you to think about a gift you have already bought for someone, or a gift you are about to buy. Do you have it in your mind? Now think about how you came to purchase or choose that gift. You probably thought about things like how much you can afford, how much the person will like it, what they might already have or what other people will get them, how much they need it, yeah? Now answer yourself this question: when, during your consideration of buying that gift, did you consider how it will help that person remember that Jesus entered the world as a gift from God?

When I first performed this thought experiment myself, I was hit with a twinge of discomfort. I asked our housemate Dave, and he felt the same thing. Think about all the work and effort you put into Christmas every year. The birth of Jesus might be the reason a number of Christmas traditions started, but is it why you do them? Giving gifts, decorating a tree, meeting together with family, having Christmas lunch or Christmas dinner – do you think about Jesus at all when you're doing these things, or do you just do them because you've done them every year, because everyone else does them, because it's expected?

This is why we need to spiritually prepare ourselves for Christmas. Of course, everything we do all through the year should be done for God and for Christ, but if we aren't celebrating Christmas for God, when it is all about remembering Jesus, then something is out of place. I want to talk about the core aspect of Jesus' birth – of his incarnation. Incarnation means when something that doesn't have a physical form takes a physical form. Obviously this doesn't happen often, so in most cases it would be metaphorical. If, for example, you described formula one racer Michael Schumacher as “racing incarnate”, you would not really mean that the entire concept of car racing was personified in the man – you would just mean he's a really good race driver.

But when we talk about Jesus being “God incarnate”, we are not talking metaphorically. We are talking about God taking physical form, becoming a human, becoming Jesus. God as a human. You hear this so often, it's easy to just nod and say, “Yes, I agree with that statement, that is what I believe.” But the truth of it has profound, absolutely world-shaking consequences. And it's two consequences of that truth that I want to look at this week and next week, to help us to prepare spiritually for Christmas. Today, I want to look at the grace of the incarnation, and next week I want to look at the motion of the incarnation.

As you will have heard many times, grace can be described as undeserved favour - being given something that you did not earn and are not owed. It is a gift, something freely offered. Sounds very much like a Christmas theme, doesn't it? Giving presents is a popular Christmas tradition followed by billions of Christians and non-Christians alike. Well the idea of grace, of giving a gift that is undeserved and has not been earned, is central to Christmas, because it is central to the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ. What do we get out of this gift? Is it like the flibbertygibbet you received from someone last Christmas that just sits there, making you wonder what to do with it? Not at all. The gift of the incarnation to humanity is quite incredible.

Because God came to earth as a man, and lived as a man, humanity was able to see God face to face. You are no doubt familiar with the passage in John where Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” His words in the verses following go like this, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Why would you desire to know God and see God? What does it mean to 'see' God face to face? Generations of God's people had not seen God face to face before Jesus, and generations of God's people have not seen God face to face after Jesus. Why is it important? It was important to Jesus' followers, because one of them, Philip, in the very next verse asks this:

Verse 8, Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”

Why is it important? Humans are a simple bunch – we are more likely to believe something if we see it with our own eyes. It's easier to have faith if you can see. So God came, so we could see. It's easier to have a conversation face to face, to have understanding and comprehension of someone's words. Have you ever had a conversation via letters, or email, or SMS, or even over the phone, where you can't see the person's face? Being able to look someone in the eye is more meaningful when you talk to them. The courts in Western Australia decided that it is so important to see a person's face while they talk, that you cannot give evidence in an Islamic burka. Humanity had the chance to look God in the eye as Jesus, to talk to him, and to hear him talk back, as easily as I am talking to you now.

You might say that it's not fair, because Jesus was only around two thousand years ago, and you never got to see him face to face and look him in the eye and ask questions. You might think that's not much of a gift. If you feel that way, I would encourage you to read the gospels, and read about the people who did come face to face with Jesus. What would you have asked different to them? What do you need to know that they weren't told? Have you ever received a gift that was to your whole family, or to you and your spouse, or that was to you and your siblings? One year, Penny and I received as a family gift some ENJO cleaning products. Now, although it reflects badly on me as a husband, I must admit that although the products were given to us as a family, I never used them. It was Penny who did all the work with them. However, even though I never used them, I still got to live in the house that was clean because of them. Jesus' incarnation is a gift to us in this way – although we as individuals may not get to talk to Jesus face to face at this moment, as members of humanity, we still reap the benefits of Jesus having been approachable, and having talked to people from all walks of life.

Perhaps, every year near Christmas, you should set aside some time to read through a gospel, and remind yourself of the human personage of God, Jesus Christ. I know Christmas is hectic, but you can read a gospel out loud in about the time it takes to watch a movie. The book of Luke in 131 minutes (Hurt Locker), or Matthew in 122 minutes (Batman Forever), or John in 103 minutes (Grown Ups). If you're really pressed for time, read Mark in only 76 minutes (Disney's Lady and the Tramp). Spend one night with the TV off and read the whole thing. Read it aloud with your family. Take turns. But take time out at Christmas to come face to face with God through Jesus. There's a Christmas tradition that will focus you on Christ.

God came to earth in Jesus for another gracious purpose, too. He came as a human that he might share humanity with us. In the book of Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11, this is what we read: “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,” and then in verse 17, “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

We are not alone in humanity, and in all the things that make us human. Suffering, temptation, death – these experiences are not ours alone to bear. God, in Jesus, became a human being, and as a human being suffered, as a human was tempted, and as a human died. He was fully human in every way. He knows what it's like for us. He didn't have to do it. But he did it, “because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted”. He is able to help us. That's a gift of the incarnation to us. We can look up to God and say, “I'm suffering! I'm being tempted!” Even “I'm dying!” and God can comfort us and help us, because in Jesus he can say, “I know exactly what it's like.”

God gives us the gracious gift of help in our troubles. And Christmas time can be a troubling time for many. Maybe this year, in preparing spiritually for Christmas, you can set aside one of your regular prayer times to call out to God to help those suffering, in temptation, or those who are sick and dying. And as you pray for those people around you – and perhaps for yourself too – pray in the knowledge that Jesus understands what you are saying. He can be right there with these people in need. He can be right there with you. He knows what it's like, and he is able to help.

Finally, and most importantly, the incarnation is a gift to the whole world which enables humanity to come to God in repentance and receive eternal life. This is the big gift, the one we all know so well. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God came to earth in human form to provide a gracious gift to humanity, in order that we can believe and have eternal life with him in heaven. Although we celebrate this more fully at Easter, it is a fact that were Jesus not God Incarnate, born of God and born of man, he would not be able to fulfil this mission – he would not have been the gift to the world that God desired, and that is so gracious to us. So at Christmas, we give gifts to each other – ostensibly in memory of Christ, whom God gave because he loved the world so much.

I say ostensibly, because as our thought experiment showed, I don't think the gift of Christ for our salvation is always foremost in our minds when we are buying presents. It's not because giving gifts is a bad idea. I think it is merely because gift giving has become so much a part of the tradition and culture of our times that it has become separated from symbolising the gracious gift of God to us in Christ Jesus. Christmas gift giving is so important to our economy, that a lot of shops are only profitable because of the Christmas season – there are many shops that run at a loss the whole year just to make a profit over Christmas. Our society has subsumed gift giving to its own ends, without needing to remember the gift of God.

What can we do to remind ourselves that gift giving is a symbol of the gracious gift of God? Well, we can give gifts. But how about giving a gracious gift to someone that really doesn't deserve it. In our society today, it's expected that you give a gift to your family, your spouse, your close friends – it's almost as if you owe them, especially if they bought you a gift. But this year, why not think of someone who will be totally not expecting a gift from you, and buy them a gift. When you give it to them, you can make it clear that you're giving them a gift to celebrate that God gave us all a great gift that we do not deserve – he sent his son Jesus into the world so that we might have eternal life. If you can't think of someone, then why not pick up a Barnabas Fund Gifts of Love catalogue, and give a gift to the suffering church. They will definitely celebrate God's gift to us all.

Three things you can do to prepare spiritually for Christmas this year: remember that God came to communicate with humanity face to face as Jesus by reading one of the gospels with your family; remember that God came as a man to share in humanity's sufferings, temptations and death by praying for those who suffer, who are tempted, and who are dying; and remember that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life by giving someone you know a gift they do not deserve, and making it clear that it is in memory of God's gift that we do not deserve. My prayer would be that if we do these things this Christmas, we might reflect more on the real meaning of Christmas, and we might reflect it more to others. Let's pray for that together.

Picture of soft drink rings on minis

So, here's a picture of rings from Coke and... whatever soft drink has white rings, I can't think of it for now. Possibly diet coke or vanilla coke. You can see they fit pretty snug around your typical D&D mini, and they just sit on top of the4x4 monsters that are printed on paper.

In our game, we tend to use red for bloodied markers, and then different colours for different things - dazed, slowed, immobilised, ongoing damage etc.

Ezekiel chapter 39

So I've spent the last period of time writing a sermon (as so usually happens when there is a gap in my bible reading) but now that I've finished it, I don't know that I should post it, since I'm not actually giving it till December. But what the hey, I'll stick it up. How many people will actually see it, after all?

In the meantime, back to Ezekiel, before I start on my next sermon on the same topic.

vs 1

Oh good, Gog is still getting a thrashing.

vs 2

It's so interesting that in other places, where God uses a nation for his purposes, there is this real quandary about whether he is using them, or he is just approving the actions they do, and they want to do it anyway, so he is just going along with it, and then he'll punish them for the actions which they always wanted to do. But here, and in the last chapter, the language is far more forceful. God is dragging Gog to do the things, and it's pretty much entirely for the purpose of smiting him for doing it. Which makes it a lot more difficult to justify, which is good, because it makes you sit back and say, "Okay, so that's God. How do I deal with that?"

Personally, God can do whatever he wants in my book. Since he defines what is good, it is good.

vs 3

Not many people see it, but you do realise that this is God prophesying that left-handers will rule the world, right?

vs 4

Again, the carrion bird feast is echoed in Revelation.

vs 5

I'm not sure what the relevance of the open field is - that they will lose a fair fight, not a guerilla war in the mountains?

vs 6

Well, damn. I mean, it's not bad enough that God drags their whole army out to battle, only to slaughter them all, but when he defeats them, God himself goes on a reciprocal rampage and burns down their houses!

vs 7

They sure will. I won't argue.

vs 8

The day. It's long in coming. Even longer than we shortsighted Christians think.

vs 9

This is great. It is obviously a verse to give you an idea of how big the army was, that if you piled up all their weapons, you could use it as firewood for seven years. And remember, people used fire a lot back then - for things like cooking.

Now, you have to be a little guarded about the dispensationalist interpretation, which sees the invasion of Gog and Magog as that of Russia. While it is true that an AK74 has a wooden stock, I don't know that tanks and such burn that well. But as a friend of mine said, "They can just siphon out the petrol!" Nothing stops the dispensationalist.

vs 10

Israel has certainly shown itself to be good at this. You attack them, they beat you, they retaliate, they take some of your land, and then they fight tooth and nail over it for decades. No doubt some of them even look at this verse as legitimising this. But of course it doesn't.

vs 11

"Oh, this valley? Well, it used to be the highway to the beach, but ever since Gog attacked Israel, it's been blocked with the bones of him and his army." I mean, seriously, are you getting the message? If you are against God, you are paste.

vs 12

Another seven. Coincidence?

vs 13

I would remember having to work for seven months to bury bodies, for sure.

vs 14

But oh, no, it doesn't stop there. I suppose this is to show the holiness of God's land. I mean, if God wants an army to march onto his promised land and then strike them down, that's fine. But you can't leave a bunch of corpses lying around.

vs 15

It's an important job. Dead stuff is ceremonially unclean, I think especially dead human.

vs 16

Body parts are going to litter the ground - I mean, does God make them all explode, or what?

vs 17

As truly disturbing as this picture is, those who had been to war during this time period would no doubt be well aware that when hundreds, if not thousands, of corpses are lying around, this is the consequence.

vs 18

And of course it's a fairly ignoble way to die - the death of the defeated.

vs 19

You'd almost think that God has a special soft spot for vultures.

vs 20

But really, it's just marking out that God is going to kill so many people, because it doesn't matter how many rise up against God, they are wrong, and they will die.

vs 21

I'm afraid even if God send down a pillar of holy light that just killed a whole army, people would just blame America and say it was a GDI style ion cannon or something. That doesn't mean God didn't show his glory - it just means that the blind are called the blind for a reason.

vs 22

But those who see can see, and will go, "What the - woah."

vs 23

So... we won't have forgotten about that by this time, evidently.

vs 24

That's for sure. God deals with all uncleanness - if it's his own people, he exiles them. If it's a rogue army, he explodes them. If it's corpses, he summons carrion birds. He's got it all covered.

vs 25

God has let his name slide a little, but now he's going to make his image crystal clean again, and he's going to do it by making sure Israel does it.

vs 26

No-one to make them afraid! What an incredible statement. The less we fear, the less we fear God, I suppose.

vs 27

He definitely was. I mean, could you honestly read Israel's history any other way? Of course you could. But this way is pretty darn compelling.

vs 28

Leaving none behind. Damn it. It's in the Bible. I mean, I love it as a military idea, but as an educational idea it leaves something to be desired in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, as a religious idea, I think I'm okay with it. Not that everyone will be saved - but that no-one who should be saved won't be saved. And as such, all humanity should be reached with the gospel.

vs 29

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this promise. Is this marking Acts, or did God pour out his spirit on the exilees upon their return? Both?

Ezekiel chapter 38

vs 1

As it does.

vs 2

Good old Gog and Magog. I wondered where it came from. Don't ask me where they are though. But now, instead of prophecying to dry bones, he's prophesying against some more nations.

vs 3

So God just sets the record straight right away.

vs 4

It sounds like God is going to drag him out painfully, but I don't quite understand why the army is involved. Perhaps it will become clear.

vs 5

So that sounds like a pretty big army.

vs 6

Okay, we're talking a hell of a lot of troops - an empire worth.

vs 7

So Gog (or Magog?) is taking control of this huge empire worth of armies, because God has called them to do so.

vs 8

Wait, what? God is raising another army to invade Israel? After he's brought them back and made peace with them again?

vs 9

Unless God is going to destroy them all at the border, I think we're in for some repetitive history here.

vs 10

What a cool way to explain it - they will have this huge army, march to Israel, and then they'll think something evil. Before that, it was just military manouevres.

vs 11

Of course, no reason for Israel to build gates, because God is their gates and walls.

vs 12

Good to think that Israel will have been made rich again by God. But I assume that this is at the very least a warning to say that Israel may still have enemies.

vs 13

Why they feel the need to throw in their two cents, I don't know. But the fact is, that's the question you're bound to ask when there is an army at your doorstep. They're probably not going to borrow a cup of sugar.

vs 14

And here's the thing - God is talking to someone who probably is a leader of armies, and who probably does think like that. It's almost accusatory, like saying, "If you saw a baby with a lollipop, you'd think about stealing it, wouldn't you?"

vs 15

I guess if you think it's going to be easy pickings, then why not?

vs 16

This is what I love, and it is actually a fantastic way of showing how God makes things happen, using people's own selfish natures against them, and using evil for good. God allows Gog to raise up an army, God actually tempts Gog to come and attack a soft target, Gog selfishly thinks that's a good idea, and I think, from the sound of it, God is going to smite Gog's ass off the planet.

vs 17

So this isn't new news, then.

vs 18

Even though God tempted him to do it, and even went so far as to put hooks in and drag him there, God will still be angry he's turned up.

vs 19

Which is not the most awesome news ever for anyone, really.

vs 20

That sounds like an earthquake, all right. A biggun.

vs 21

That's a lot of sword.

vs 22

But God isn't content with using one sword against another - he wants it marked out that he is involved a little more directly.

vs 23

When a huge army comes knocking and God smites them out of existence with fiery sulfur, if at that point you do not know he is the Lord, you're crazy.

Ezekiel chapter 37

Well, after something of a hiatus, it has finally gotten hot enough that I can't sleep past about 6am, so that's a rather engaging way to get back into morning Bible reading.

vs 1

You know, I have never heard a sermon on this passage, or any real explanation. All I have heard is the song they sing at CCC, which basically consists of singing the words "Prophesy, prophesy, prophesy, prophesy, prophesy to the dry bones" ad nauseum.

Anyway, God takes Ezekiel to a valley full of bones.

vs 2

I suppose dry means not with bits of flesh sticking to them. So more skeleton than zombie.

vs 3

This is most likely the most intelligent answer someone can give to any question God poses, especially when in the spirit.

vs 4

No doubt Ezekiel is going to learn something from this.

vs 5

Well, there's not much else you could promise bones - a good burial?

vs 6

So they will come back to life, and not just as skeletons. God is not raising an army of undead.

vs 7

I can imagine this scene, thanks to myriad years of fantasy games, but if it actually happened in real life, I think I'd freak.

vs 8

So instead of skeletons, thy became corpses.

vs 9

Now this story, I don't know if it is told in the dry bones song, I don't remember. But this is a fascinating story to me. Because the word for breath in Hebrew (and Greek) is also used to spirit. So breathing life into these corpses is giving spirit to them. But also, Ezekiel prophesys to the spirit, giving it a command from God, and it enters these bodies. We also learn something about these bones - they were slain, which I would take to differentiate them from those who may be dead from natural causes.

vs 10

Now, I said before that God wasn't raising an undead army, but the word army just happens to be used here. Is it actually an army, or is it just a great throng of people, and an army is a good group descriptor of such a large group of people? Not enough to be a nation, perhaps.

vs 11

I am so glad to read these words. I thought I was going to puzzle over this. But here is God explaining his vision. The bones are Israel (so it is enough for a nation), and Israel is complaining that they have no life, or no hope.

vs 12

Is this where the doctrine of resurrection starts? I mean, no question God can do it, but he never really promised it before. In any case, I don't know that this is what he is promising per se here. It seems to be more metaphorical. God is going to bring back their hope. But then ultimately, without resurrection, is there hope? Ecclesiastes has things to say about that.

vs 13

People will definitely know that God is Lord when that happens. Or has it happened, as reported in Matt 27:51-53? That passage always puzzles me.

vs 14

It's almost as if life not in the land of God's promise isn't really life. But God gives them hope that they will live there again.

vs 15

Ahhh, good old word of the Lord. Let me guess, he said, "Son of Man"?

vs 16

So, two sticks with names on, one for Judah, and one for Ephraim (well, for Joseph, represented by Ephraim).

vs 17

If i were to just say what I thought this meant, without reading on, it seems like a reunification message to me. Which, to me, would be hugely important, because taken at face value, it would be saying something about the future of Israel.

vs 18

As people would, considering all the other things that Ezekiel has done for God so far in this book. I can imagine people coming up and saying, "Ezekiel, what are you doing?" "Err, I'm buying eggs." "What does that mean?" "No, seriously, just buying eggs. But check out these two sticks with names on them."

vs 19

I called it. This to me is really quite important. Has this happened? Will it happen? Or is this a metaphor for the new Israel?

vs 20

Whatever it is, God wants them to see it clearly.

vs 21

As one stick, as it were.

vs 22

As far as I know, they were never divided into kingdoms again. But also as far as I know, we have never really heard of the northern tribes again in history, and what happened to them. I don't know, though. That's just what I've heard.

vs 23

A huge promise here, especially considering how bad the northern kingdom was. But God's promise was still with them, and so he makes it clear that all Israel is his. Does it happen in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah though? I don't think so.

vs 24

This has got to be messianic, since they never again have a davidic king.

vs 25

I was going to say that it's easy to read this as a metaphor for Christian hope, but then I was going to ask, "Okay, but what does that mean for Israel?" But honestly, how is this hope any different from our hope? It's not. It is just as pie-in-the-sky hopeful, just as eschatologically hopeful. They've been waiting just a bit long for this as we have been waiting for Christ to come back.

vs 26

To a Christian, this definitely refers to heaven. But to a Jew, does it refer to another temple being built? I still don't really know much about the eschatological hope for Jews.

vs 27

It's the classic promise of God, and one the Jews will be glad to hear since they're tromping their way into exile for several decades.

vs 28

I can quite confidently say that the nations will know this at the end of time. But will the nations know it beforehand? I'm honestly not so convinced. Or perhaps they did know, because Jesus came from Israel? And in that way, we can see that they're blessed in the same way Mary was blessed to have Jesus as a child. They have him as a national child. They've disowned him, which was a bad decision. But that doesn't stop him being a child of Jerusalem, as it were.

Suffering Church Sunday 2010 talk

Suffering Church Sunday is a brainchild of Barnabas Fund, in an effort for churches to spend one Sunday a year focused on those who suffer for their faith. While I wrote this sermon, I modelled it around a powerpoint presentation that they sent out. It's the first time I've written a sermon using someone else's outline. Was interesting to do. I also kept it short, because I was time-conscious of the service. The little (S)'s are marks where a new slide should be shown, as I didn't have control over the slides myself. If you want to see the presentation, click here.

Suffering Church Sunday sermon

John 15:18-16:4 – Be On Your Guard

3.47-6.20 of Haddy's story

Last year, you might remember that St Ives Community Church devoted a Sunday to remembering the suffering church. We heard testimonies of those who had suffered for Christ, we looked at the different kinds of persecution that Christians suffer around the world, and we prayed for and learned about the plight of our brothers and sisters in Christ who face discrimination, rejection, beatings, separation and even death because they call Jesus Christ and Lord, and we sought to stand by them because we are their fellow believers.

This year, the focus of Suffering Church Sunday is a little different. This year, we look at the spread of persecution of Christians that is becoming more and more pervasive across the world, and how we as Christians, here in Australia, may face similar forms of discrimination to those we saw last year effecting our brothers and sisters in Christ overseas.

It might be surprising to think that this is possible. When we think about Christians suffering persecution, we think about Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world, or we think about China and the Communist world, or we think about India and the Hindu world. But what these Christians, who have been suffering for decades, some for centuries, want to tell us is, “Australian Christians, be on your guard. British Christians, be on your guard. American Christians, be on your guard. European Christians, be on your guard. Because they will not stop at us. You are next.”

I've told this story many times, but it bears telling again. Seven years ago now, I was in a hotel in Cyprus meeting with Christian leaders from across the Middle East and across the world. There were Christians from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Pakistan, Central Asia, Russia, Guyana and other places, as well as me from Australia, a couple from New Zealand, and a couple from the USA. And these Christian leaders from across the persecuted church would approach me and ask, “Ben, tell us about Christianity in Australia. We have heard that bad things are happening there, and we are worried.” You see, at the time, two Christian pastors were in court in Victoria because they had been giving seminars about the nature of Islam and its negative attitude towards Christianity. They were found guilty of discrimination for telling the truth, and were ordered to pay damages to the Islamic Council of Victoria and to make a public apology.

Has the situation got better here in Australia? You tell me. The ethics class trial in our schools has been a great success, according to the government, and many parents are keen to take their kids out of Scripture classes and put them into non-religious ethics classes, at the same time raising questions about whether Scripture is needed in schools at all. In Victoria recently, a Christian Brethren campsite on Philip Island – that perhaps some of you have been to – was charged with discriminating against a pro-homosexual group that wanted to use their facilities to propagate their beliefs about homosexuality and forced to pay damages. In New South Wales, the anti-discrimination law uniquely fails to protect Christians because of its wording. Similar things are happening across the western world, with some converts from Islam to Christianity not able to escape death threats even in places like England, as Haddy's story shows.

(S)Should this really be surprising to us? After all, Jesus made it clear to his disciples before he was arrested, as we read in the book of John, (S)“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (S)Discrimination, harassment and persecution are effecting Christians all over the world, and that includes places like Australia. (S)The poster on the side of that bus reads, “There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” (S)In places like Australia, the culture is turning against existing Christian institutions and beliefs, and Christians are finding themselves under increasing pressure for what they believe. (S)There is an increasing pressure for us to change what we do and think so that it is in line with what non-Christian society thinks – the world of political correctness, scepticism of spiritual things, and antagonism towards established religious institutions such as church. (S)When we are faced with some of these things, it can cause us to ask some pretty serious questions. (S)Why does this persecution happen to us? (S)How should we respond to it? (S)And does it call our faith into question?

Jesus foresaw these questions coming, just like he foresaw persecution coming to his followers, and he didn't shy away from telling them about it. (S)No, Jesus wanted them, and us, to be ready, to be on our guard when discrimination and persecution comes to us. (S)In this passage in John, Jesus seeks to explain (S)why the world will hate his disciples, he seeks to show them (S)how to respond to suffering for his name, and he seeks to (S)protect them from falling away from their faith when persecution comes.

So why, according to Jesus, does the world hate Christians? (S)Quite simply, it hates us because it (S)hated Jesus first. Jesus says that he came with a confronting message. (S)If he did not come, then people would not be confronted with the guilt of their sin, their disobedience and rebellion against God. But he did come. (S)He came, and he preached that we need to repent, to turn away from our sinful lives and to live for God. The world just can't stand that message, because it's offensive to be told that you're wrong. And so the world hated him. And so the world killed him. (S)The world hates the followers of Jesus because we don't fall into lock-step with them. We accept Jesus' message. (S)We accept that we are sinful, and there is nothing that we can do to come before our perfect God. (S)We have been chosen by Jesus to be a part of his kingdom forever. We are therefore no longer part of the world.

(S)Moreover, Jesus tells us that the reason people hate us is because they also hate the father. (S)Jesus is God in bodily form, and comes to call for our obedience. But we don't want to be obedient, and so we rebel. (S)You can see why Australia is so hard a place for the gospel to penetrate. Australians don't like people who are different. Oh, we don't mind people coming from all cultures and nations and backgrounds. But we don't like it when people separate off into their own little groups, and don't mix with the culture and become Australian. We also don't like tall poppies who say that they're better than us. Well, God tells us that he is better, that he is perfect, and that we are sinners. He tells us to be different, not just to fit in, but to be different, to be holy, for him. Jesus, as God, claims not to be our equal, but to be our king, to be perfect. Humanity does not want to bow the knee, and so it rails against God, it fights and struggles to keep control. (S)Psalm 69 was written by David, but is messianic in referring to Christ. “Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me.” If our lives as Christians are to mirror the life of Christ, then we can only expect these words to be true of us too. People will hate us without reason, they will be our enemies without cause, they will seek to destroy us.

(S)If this is why the world hates Jesus and his disciples, what should our response be? Well, Jesus tells us that too, and it might not be the response we would think of. You see, when someone has a problem with us, we would usually seek to change what we're doing, talk about it with them, try and come to some sort of resolution or compromise. We would probably want to stop doing what it is that makes them angry. But not in this case. The world hates us because it hates Jesus. (S)The response he calls us to is to bear witness to him all the more. The opportunity is there, constantly, for those who are persecuted for Christ's name. The number of times they are told, “Just convert to Islam, and we will stop beating you,” or, “Just renounce your faith, and we will release you from prison,” or even what was on that bus, “Stop worrying, and enjoy your life, and forget about God,” all they need to do, all we need to do, is renounce our faith, and things will go better for us. A Christian couple in the UK, living in Derby, have recently been barred from fostering children by their local council, because of their Biblical views on marriage and the family. They have had to take their case to the High Court, where a decision will be made essentially about whether Christians are 'fit and proper' persons to foster or adopt children. Do they want to adopt a child? Just renounce their beliefs, and they won't have a problem. Does Kedron want more school camps? I remember Greg saying that if they just remove the religious element, they will get more.

But this is not the path that Jesus tells his disciples to take. He tells them that he is going to send the Holy Spirit, which will go out into the world and testify to about Jesus. (S)In the same way, Jesus tells his disciples that they must testify to him, because they have been with him since the beginning. In the same way, we are to continue testifying to him, bringing the gospel of hope and freedom to people, people like Haddy, people like us, sinners who need to hear it. Yes, some will hate us for it, because it is an offensive message to be told that you are sinful and that you're not perfect and you're not the way God wants you. But Jesus tells us also in verse 20 that if they obey Christ's teaching, they will listen to us too. There are those out there who need to hear the message, who God has chosen to hear it. And no matter whether it will cost us our comfort, our money, our friends, our job, our family, or even our lives, Jesus calls his disciples to testify to him in the face of persecution.

Think about that. How offensive is your life? Does the life you live, do the words you say, send that message that no-one is good enough for God, and that the only way to find true meaning in life is through submission and obedience to God through Jesus Christ? How often do you cop flack about it? I asked some of the young people if they would be prepared to give their lives up for Christ, and most of them were honest and said that they really hope that they would do it if it came to it. So then, I asked them if they're prepared to die for Christ, why do we all – them, me, you – not totally live our lives for Christ? And their answer was profound: because it is harder to live the life every day and suffer the little things - the rejection of friends, the not fitting in with society, the giving up of things that you know you shouldn't do – than it is to think of giving your life for God in one shot, and going to heaven. Is that how you feel? That it's easier to come to church on Sunday, then just go to work on Monday, and not do anything to stand out or make a fuss or show what you believe? Of course it's easier, but it's not what Christ demands.

(S)And Christ knew that persecution would come on his disciples, both back then and today. In fact, he gets them ready for it. (S)He gives them advanced warning, so that when it comes they remember that he warned them. And he tells them so that they do not lose faith and fall away, because he knows how hard it will be for Haddy, he knows how hard it will be for us. (S)So let me ask you another question. When you became a Christian, was it a hard choice? Were you aware of what you were giving up? Were you aware of what people would think of you? Or for you, was it an easy choice, because you went to a Christian school, or your family were all Christians, or you were at a Christian camp surrounded by Christians, and everyone you knew and loved were ecstatic that you had made the right decision? Were you told that it was going to be hard, that you were going to suffer, that persecution is the lot of the follower of Jesus, and did you count the cost before you made the decision? (S)Maybe you weren't, but Jesus told his disciples that they should. In Luke 14 Jesus tells his disciples they have to be prepared to hate their family, their children, even their own life, or they cannot be his disciple. They have to count the cost, like you count the cost before building a house, or going to war – he told them that if they aren't prepared to give up everything, then they should forget about being his disciple. Maybe you were never told that when you first became a Christian. Now you know. Are you prepared to make the change in your life?

(S)Jesus told his disciples what was coming. (S)He wanted to make sense of the suffering that they would undergo in his name, (S)he wanted to call them to bear witness to him regardless of the cost, and (S)he wanted them to know what to expect by following him. People like Haddy, who take their lives in their hands when they accept Christ, know how valuable he is to them. The time may be coming when being a Christian in Australia will actually mean that you are looked down on as intolerant, irrelevant and ignorant – if that time is not already here. So ask yourself, how valuable is Jesus to you?(S)

Lord, be with us all as we seek to live our lives entirely for you. Help us to recognise the persecution that Christians face, both in the Muslim world, the Communist world, the Hindu world, the Buddhist world, the Tribal world, and the western secular world. Thank you for the concern our suffering brothers and sisters have for us as we face discrimination. We pray that you give us the same heart of loving concern for them as they suffer relationally, financially and physically for you. We thank you that you are worth the cost. Amen

Ezekiel chapter 36

And now, a longer than normal one.

vs 1

Ahhh, perhaps this is why the prophecy against Edom was just before. God got Ezekiel to prophesy to the mountain of Seir, and now he wants him to prophesy to the mountains of Israel.

vs 2

Which again was what the last doom prophecy was about.

vs 3

Which, I might point out, was what God was planning.

vs 4

Wait... God is actually talking to the mountains and the ground? Okay, if you've ever needed a reason to believe that Ezekiel's prophecies that aren't directed to Israel are still directed to Israel, I think here it is.

vs 5

God is comforting the land almost, letting it know that he is going to punish those who have taken it away from Israel.

vs 6

I just have to say it - this verse is more full of typical Ezekiely statements (word of the Lord, this is what the Lord says, etc) than any other so far. It's like every verse has it in it! So God is speaking out of jealousy.

vs 7

Just as people scorn the land because of what happened, so will they scorn all the other nations that God brings low.

vs 8

This land will be fruitful again. Surely comforting to the land - but obviously to the people to know they will be returning one day.

vs 9

Now, just because this is a literary device, I don't know how much we can look into this verse. I mean, you could make an argument that God is saying that land likes to be plowed and sown. Perhaps just land that has been promised for such?

vs 10

See, is this what land really wants, a multiplication of people? I don't know, I can't talk to land. I really wonder if it can be read that way, and not just, "Obviously God is not talking to land, he is talking to the people."

vs 11

As if the land didn't already know that God is Lord.

vs 12

Interesting to think of the land as depriving them of children. I suppose it's a reference to droughts and other such catastrophes.

vs 13

Which I think is not unreasonable, considering God does take special interest in the promised land and its people, so plagues and locusts and such have been known to happen.

vs 14

God has had enough of that stereotype of his land, though. So no more.

vs 15

And no longer will people make up stories and taunts about the promised land being some sort of death trap, or black spot. Although I'm sure people talk about it as such today.

vs 16

That's more like it.

vs 17

Lovely picture.

vs 18

Which is harsh, but God did tell them that's what he'd do.

vs 19

Indeed he did. Although the past tense is a little odd, because it only just happened when it was written.

vs 20

Oh, wait, he might be talking about north kingdom Israel. That would make more sense. You can see, though, that even though the north kingdom people had forgotten they were God's people, other nations hadn't.

vs 21

They profaned it in the land, and profaned it out of the land. Great.

vs 22

This is hope giving, but also harsh. I mean, it's good to know that God is doing it for his own holy name, because that is an eternal thing of importance. But it sort of sucks to know that you're the ones who profaned it in the first place.

vs 23

And so God, in his classic way, will use the people who profaned him to prove to the world that he is holy.

vs 24

Thankfully he seems to be done with cursing and judgment for the moment. Now he's going to rebuild his name by reconstituting his people.

vs 25

He will polish them up so they are almost like a new people.

vs 26

What a fantastic promise. No wonder so many people know this verse from Ezekiel. I think we all feel our heart of stone weighing us down sometimes. It's fantastic to think that God would do this for us. We sometimes feel little bits of it, but I think we all wait for it's eternal completion.

vs 27

As above. The promise of God's Spirit comes so early in the piece, relatively speaking. The whole Acts thing is a fulfilment of this.

vs 28

The relationship will be renewed.

vs 29

The blessings of the land will return, but along with it a washing away of uncleanness. Probably these two ideas could have been broken up by a verse.

vs 30

I can see how tasty this promise is to people, how they want to be able to point to their life and say, "Look, I'm not starving, I must be a Christian." If only we could make it true. I mean, we could, and we do for some people, but we could do so much more.

vs 31

It's the old-fashioned heaping burning coals on their heads. Of course, they will mourn for their own sin, but also the sins of their forefathers that led up to where they are now. That's a good illustration of the connectivity of history for the near eastern culture.

vs 32

A stomach churning verse.

vs 33

It's a comforting thought, that the punishment they are suffering is temporary, that things will get better again, even if they don't know how long it will be.

vs 34

Cultivation of course means wealth and prosperity, the life of the promised land.

vs 35

They, I assume, are the people who pass through, probably people who had heard all the taunts and missayings about God's land.

vs 36

So really, God couldn't do his job properly if he didn't destroy the land so thoroughly that only he could return it to fruitfulness.

vs 37

Once again. God really is a relenting old softie, isn't he? Just... erm... ignore all that killing and suffering that he caused as punishment.

vs 38

The remnant that exists will grow, God will grow his people, because that brings him glory.