Sermon: A Light from Galilee (Isaiah 8:19-9:7; Matthew 4:12-17)

I prepared this sermon a little differently to normal. I wrote it out as I usually would, but then I wrote a series of headings for it, to practice preaching it from the headings, rather than from the substantive script I had drafted. I didn't like it for two reasons - one, I found that my sermon took about 10 minutes longer to deliver from the headings than from following the script; and two, I actually like my written style, and I find it works reasonably well orally, and I tend to put a fair amount of detail (perhaps too much) into my points, which are a lot easier to follow from a script. Also, as a subsidiary of that point, the fact that I use a generally narrative sort of style can make it a bit more difficult to summarise in point form quite so easily.

Anyway, I include here the sermon headings, as well as the actual sermon words. The sermon has markers in it for transitions in my Powerpoint presentation. These would clearly be of no use to anyone without the presentation, but I'm happy to supply it to anyone who asks. 


Sermon Headings

Promises: Isaiah 9:1-2, what does it mean?

History and Geography lesson

Cultural border between Jews and gentiles

The whole world is now a cultural border

The fate of Zebulun and Naphtali: invasion

1st Century AD: Times have changed

What is the darkness? The context of Matthew's quote

The shift in the promise: enlarging the nation to all people

Why must we wait for God's victory over spiritual darkness?

2 Peter 3:9 - God delivers a personal message personally

God delivers a message of relationship to people

Our role is as messengers of that message

God's way is to deliver his message through messengers who deliver it personally

The message is not just words: actions, attitudes, work - light people can see in darkness

Borders go both ways: either we shed the light, or it gets extinguished

Will we take light to the darkness, or will we huddle together in light? John Keith-Falconer



Sermon Words

Today I want to talk about promises. At Waitara Anglican, we have been working through a series looking at some of the prophecies made in the Old Testament that the New Testament links to the coming of Jesus. In the context of Christmas, the Old Testament reading for today from Isaiah 9 is pretty well known, especially verses 6 and 7, starting, “For unto us a Son is born.” What could be more Christmas-y than that?

But today I want to focus a little more on the promise that God makes in verses 1 and 2, because that’s the bit Matthew also quotes in his gospel, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Matthew actually paraphrases it a little, but the message is the same: a light has dawned, and those who are in darkness have seen it.

To understand what this means, we need to have a little bit of a geography and history lesson. Way back in Genesis, God promised to make himself a nation from one man, and the nation named after him, Israel, would get its own country, the promised land. *S* When the Israelites moved in and took the promised land God had given them, they split it up among the tribes of Israel (except the Levites – they didn’t get any land). *S* Zebulun and Naphtali are two of the tribes of Israel, and their portions of the land are up in the north of Israel, between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean.

*S* The geographic placement of the land of Zebulun and Naphtali is important – they are on the far northern border of Israel’s territory. That’s Israel’s border with the gentiles – the foreigners, who aren’t part of God’s people, and who have different spiritual practices, who don’t worship God. Galilee is the cultural border where God’s people and ungodly people interacted. The northern kingdom had turned their backs on God, and instead they took on the beliefs and practices of their ungodly neighbours. As we read at the end of chapter 8, Isaiah says they were consulting with mediums and spiritists instead of consulting God’s instructions for them. That northern border was a place of spiritual darkness.

*S* I think Christians everywhere today know what it’s like to live on the border of spiritual darkness. This is the information age, and it is getting easier and easier for the beliefs and practices of those who live without God to infiltrate our lives. *S* Greed and idolatry advertise themselves in commercials on TV and radio, in newspapers and magazines and emails, on websites, buses, billboards and blimps, printed on pens and shirts and hats and fruit, and even written in the sky! *S* The invention of the smart phone allows people, including children, to both access and even create pornography with the push of a button! *S* People commit terrorist acts just so their twisted ideology gets a few seconds of screen time on our evening news! There is nowhere to hide anymore, if there ever was – the whole world is the land of Zebulun and Naphtali; the ways of the world are always on offer. We all live on the border of spiritual darkness.

That history and geography lesson helps us relate what Isaiah is saying to our modern context. But Isaiah isn’t giving his audience a history lesson.*S* Just before Isaiah gave this prophecy, the enemies of God who invaded and conquered the northern kingdom of Israel – Assyria – came across that northern border, and the first place they attacked was Zebulun and Naphtali (as we read in 2 Kings 15:29). He is saying that the northern tribes abandoned God, and now they are gone, and their land has been humbled, conquered by their enemies.

*S* Isaiah is delivering a promise from God to Isaiah’s own people, the southern kingdom, who are also turning their backs on God and consulting mediums and spiritists; who are also facing God’s wrath in a similar way, from another enemy who will also invade from the north – this time it is the Babylonians.

*S* Isaiah is saying that God promises those who are deep in spiritual darkness will see the great light of God. Regardless of whether Isaiah’s people turn their backs on God, or the enemies of God overcome them, God will drive away the darkness, he will free them from their captivity to the people of darkness. And he will do this through a child who will be born, who will reign in peace and justice and righteousness forever. And it is God’s zeal that will make this happen. It will be God’s victory, and the people will have great joy.

Skip ahead with me now 700 years to the first century AD, when Matthew quotes these Isaiah passages in his gospel. Matthew is linking Jesus to this prophecy. But the focus has shifted slightly. Times have changed from when Isaiah first gave this prophecy. Now, God’s people are not adopting the gods and spiritual practices of their non‑ Jewish neighbours. Galilee is still a place where Jews and gentiles interact, but they are quite spiritually separate – the Jews have learned their lesson. And there was no real fear of an armed invasion, because the Romans were already in control of Judea.
When Matthew talks about Jesus fulfilling this prophecy from Isaiah, he is still certainly talking about a light coming to those in spiritual darkness.  He is saying that light is Jesus. But what is the darkness in Matthew’s time that makes him draw this link? In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus is starting his ministry. When Jesus hears that John the Baptist has been put in prison, he decides that the time is right to put down his carpenter’s tools and start his ministry of miracles and healings and preaching the good news of God.

And where does he decide to start this ministry? You might think the best place to go would probably have been Jerusalem: it’s the centre of Jewish life, it’s a big city with lots of people, it’s the place of political power and influence, and it’s the religious focus of all Jews in the world – many of them made the trip every year for the Passover festival. Even those who don’t go to Jerusalem would know people in Jerusalem, who would tell them what was happening there. If you wanted to get your message to the Jews, that would be the best place and the best time. Start with Jerusalem and the Passover, and let your message spread from there.

But Jesus doesn’t go to Jerusalem. Not yet. No, he starts way, way out in in the back blocks of Judea, on the border with the gentile nations, where the people hearing his message are as likely to be gentiles as they are to be Jews. Galilee was still “Galilee of the nations” – that much hadn’t changed. When Matthew quotes the prophecy of Isaiah, he’s not only saying, “Look, Jesus is the light, Jesus is the child born to us that Isaiah promised.” He is also saying, “Look, God has sent a light to free people from spiritual darkness. And non-Jews are living in spiritual darkness, so God is revealing his light to them!”

Matthew expands the promise that God made through Isaiah all those centuries before. God is going to enlarge his nation; not by just bringing back the lost tribes of Israel, but by opening up his kingdom to include those from every tribe and language and people and nation. Spiritual darkness will be a thing of the past – not just for the Jews, but for everyone who lives in God’s enlarged nation – a nation that can include all people.  And that promise continues today.  Jesus is not only for people in churches.  In fact, Jesus is a light that is most needed outside churches, in places of spiritual darkness where he is not known!

Now I think you would all agree with me that this is a great promise God is making here. The picture of distress that Isaiah paints at the end of chapter 8 will be a thing of the past. Never again will people, any people, labour under a lie. Never again will they be oppressed by beliefs and practices that mean they live in fear, or that force them to make offerings to appease greedy idols or the spirits of their ancestors. Never again will they be far away from God, unable to enjoy the relationship that he so freely offers. What a great thing to look forward to.

It’s so great, in fact, that you might be wondering, “If God is promising to do so amazing a thing, why hasn’t he just done it yet?” About 700 years passed between God’s promise in Isaiah’s time and the birth of Jesus. Almost  2,000 years have passed since then to now, when Matthew reapplied the promise to Jesus and his ministry. Is God slow in keeping his promises?  When will the light of God shine so those in darkness can see it? When will God do what he said he would do?

For anyone whose families are still steeped in darkness, these are pressing questions. For people who are in spiritual darkness themselves, it would be a pressing question too if they knew about it.  Why doesn’t God snap his fingers and make these promises come true now? Why didn’t it all just happen when Jesus was born?

*S* God actually answers this question directly in the Bible. In 2 Peter 3:9 He says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 

The banishment of spiritual darkness is not simply switching a light on. The darkness is banished with a message. What Matthew is telling us when he quotes this promise from Isaiah is not that Jesus brings that message. He's telling us that Jesus is that message! The content of the message is Jesus, and his deity, and his death on the cross, and his victorious resurrection.

God could have just written, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” in the clouds for all nations to see. But as I said, banishing spiritual darkness is not just a matter of flicking a light switch. God sends Jesus, God comes to earth as Jesus, because this is a personal message. The message he brings is a message of relationship. God is seeking to enlarge his kingdom, and he delivers the message personally, because he is the message - the message is a personal relationship with God.
*S* The pinnacle of closeness is to deliver a message personally. When you give a Christmas present to someone, what's the most personal way to give it? You could send it by mail. You could leave it on their doorstep. You could give it to someone to pass on to them. But the most personal way to give a gift is by it delivering it personally, from you to them.

That is what we celebrate at Christmas - the delivery of the message from God that says to people, "Come and join my kingdom." The greatest gift we could ever receive is the son of God, Jesus, coming to live and die and live again for us. Jesus is the personal message delivered personally.
Let me ask you: this Christmas, have you received the most amazing gift of an invitation to God's kingdom? Have you received that invitation directly and personally from God? He's offering to shine his light into your spiritual darkness, to drive those shadows out of your life. He offers the power to overcome the beliefs and practices of the world, and he offers you a place in his kingdom. Take him up on it. Ask, and you will receive.

But that's not all. A nation, a kingdom, is not just a bunch of individual subjects relating to their king. It is made up of people who relate to one another as fellow citizens, united together by their membership of the kingdom and service to their king. Jesus comes as the message; and he calls us to be his messengers. He wants those already in his kingdom to be the welcoming committee for those that have yet to be made members.

How do people in darkness see a great light? The same way the message itself came - personally. Just as God himself came to be the message personally, God sends out his people to deliver the message personally. This is God's way. When God first delivered this promise to his people, he did it through one of those people, Isaiah. When God expanded the promise with Jesus, he declared it through a disciple from Galilee, Matthew.

There are still millions of people who have never heard of Jesus, who've never heard the message. How do we reach them? Should the church send the whole population of Waitara a Christmas card? "Dear non‑Christians, please accept Christ. Yours sincerely, Church you've got nothing to do with"? What impact would that have? But what if the church sends people to go and meet people, and help them with their problems, and become close to them - how much more impact if the message is delivered personally?

Remember that the message God sent to us personally is not just a written, or spoken message.  If God had just sent Jesus to preach a few sermons, we would not be celebrating his birth at Christmas.  We don't celebrate Isaiah's birthday or Matthew's birthday.  God sent Jesus as a leader.  He sent him as a healer.  He sent him as a sacrifice to forgive our sin, a payment for our passports into his kingdom.  Jesus, the message, isn’t just words – it’s actions, it’s attitudes, it’s work.  It’s light – something people in darkness will notice.

It’s all too easy to complain about the fact that these days we all live on the border of spiritual darkness.  But borders go both ways!  For every opportunity the world has to spread its lies into your life, you have an opportunity to spread God’s truth into other people’s lives!  God has made it this way, so that we can live beside and work with and live amongst people in spiritual darkness, so that we can be their own personal messenger.  If we believe God's word tells the truth, then the only thing we can do is take God's light into the dark world and share it around.  There is absolutely no use in clumping together to share our light with each other - because the light isn't for those in the light, it's for those in the darkness.

So this Christmas, are you personally trying to carry God’s light to people who are in darkness through words, through actions, through attitudes, through work that shines his light of forgiveness?  Or are you seeking to gather your light with a bunch of other people’s light so that you’re all standing around in light together?  Let me encourage you to make this Christmas one where you go and shine God’s light into someone’s spiritual darkness.  Let me finish with the words of John Keith‑Falconer, a man who in the 1800s left his position as an Oxford professor to take the gospel to Yemen, and died of malaria two years later.  He said, “I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.”

Prayer: Christmas Eve 2015

Our Father in heaven,

We thank you that Christmas is upon us. We thank you and that the search for gifts is (hopefully) almost over.  We thank you for the safe arrival of those family and friends who are coming and going, for the time off from everything to celebrate, for food and friendship  and family that are a part of so many people's Christmas.

But most of all, we are thankful to you for what we are celebrating at Christmas: your coming into the world as Jesus, God as a human being. You have come into the world to be human, and so you know what it's like for us.

You know what it's like to travel at Christmas time to be with your family.  Mary and Joseph had to travel a long way while Mary was heavily pregnant with you.  And you came from heaven down to earth, leaving your glorious throne above to enter this world as one of us! So we ask you to keep people safe as they travel this year, knowing that you can relate to the stress and danger of travelling.

You know what it is like to live in poverty - your first home was a stable, and your hospital bed was a feeding trough for animals. And so we ask you to bless those who are poor this Christmas, who have little for themselves and less to share, and those who have lost homes in natural disasters and freak weather. We pray that you will be with them this Christmas, knowing that you too have lived in poverty.

You also know the joy of receiving great gifts, because when you were young and in need the wise men came and brought you treasures. And so we ask you to bless those who this year are giving out of their wealth to those in need, because you know what it is like to receive such wonderful gifts.

You, Jesus, know the trauma of being a target of violence and hate, because when you were just a child King Herod wanted to kill you, and your family had to flee to Egypt to stay safe.  So we pray for those who have been subjected to violence, and who this Christmas have had to flee from their homes and their communities, leaving their lives behind. We ask you to bring them comfort, and to meet their needs this Christmas, and to give them somewhere safe to live, because you know the pains of being chased away from your home.

You know what it's like to be pushed to the edge of society, and to be ruled over by people who treat you as less than who you are. You grew up in a land that was conquered by people who treated you as a second class citizen, and punished you as a criminal. And so we ask you remember those who society forgets or belittles: the disabled, the homeless, the mentally ill, the prisoners in our gaols, the lonely in our nursing homes and hospitals - the rejected, the marginalised, the disaffected, those who face prejudice and discrimination. We ask you to lift them up, and shine your light on them, and fill us all with compassion and care so that we might include them, because you know what it's like to be rejected and cast aside.

Our God, you know what it is to be human, because in Jesus you are human. You know the challenges we face, the impossible rift that stands between us and you. You know that we can't come to you. We can't climb up into heaven to sit beside you. We can't possibly meet your requirements of perfection.  You know our weakness and our frailty. And we thank you that before we could even pray for it, you closed the gap, you bridged the rift. You did it by coming down to us, by being a human and living among us by becoming Immanuel - God with us. And you came to us because you love us.

We are just in awe that you would come to us like this, experience our weaknesses and our troubles, and reach out across the divide to take hold of us. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Please help us this year to do the same, and to care for all those who you care for, who remind us of you in their difficulties. Make this Christmas a time when we remember you, and bring love to those who you came to live beside.

We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen

Prayer: Being Human Involves God (Genesis 11:1-9)

Heavenly Father,

From the very beginning, you have always had a place for us in your plans.  When you created the heavens and the earth, not only did you make humans part of your world, but you made us a crowning achievement, in your image, capable of relating to you and wanting to relate to you.  You named us as a people for yourself, and you guided us.  You sent messengers through history to tell us your plans and your will.  You sent your son, Jesus Christ, into the world as a human, coming to us and becoming one of us.  You share with us your desire to have us live in your presence for all eternity, and you put your Holy Spirit within us, so that you dwell inside us each and every day, assuring us that yes, you really do want to be with us, and want us to be with you. 

And yet despite you being the King of the World, the Lord of Creation, the Lord God Almighty, we still feel like we can do things on our own. Worse than that, we sometimes think that we know better than you!  We trade your assurances of glorious eternity for false promises of a slightly better tomorrow.  We take the good news proclaimed in the Bible and explained to us by those you send, and we squander it, choosing to focus on our own entertainment, or our own pleasure, our own security.  We judge people you made in your own image, even those you call our brothers and sisters in faith. We have so little trust in you that we make up all sorts of excuses for not taking the many, many opportunities you give to us to do what you ask. Instead of being obedient and relying on you, we try and turn living for you into a system, so that if we can follow the right rules, say the right things, live the right kind of life, then we can tick the boxes and feel like we're on track.

Father, we're sorry.  We're sorry because we forget that for you it's not about rules, it's not about systems, and it's not about our accomplishments.  You don't want us to simply follow a pattern.  You don't expect us to be successful.  You sent your son, Jesus Christ, not just to show us how to live, but to die for us knowing that we are failures!  Our salvation is at your cost, not ours.  All you've ever wanted from us is to love you, to thank you, and to trust you.  

So thank you, our Father, for being so far above us that you never make the stupid mistakes we do. Thank you for stooping down so low to come and pay attention to us because you just love us that much.  Thank you for not leaving us to try and guess what we have to do. You take responsibility for the success of all your plans, and simply ask us to say yes to you.  Thank you for walking this human life with us, for sending Jesus to walk in our shoes, to know our victories and our struggles. And thank you for making your home in our lives through your Holy Spirt, so that every day, whether in times of plenty and joy, or in times of sadness and pain, we are never, ever without you. 

We ask you, Father, please be with those who are sick, who are sorrowful, who are struggling - please let them know that it's okay, you've got it all under control, that their suffering isn't because they're sinful or they're worthless or that you've forgotten them. Please be with them in every dark moment, leading them into the light, where you walk with them. And be with us as we help them out of love for you.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Prayer: Genesis 1:1-2:3, Colossians 1:15-23 What it Means to be Human

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Your glory is displayed both above and below, in the sky and here on earth. In the heavens, we see the marvellous work of your creative genius - the beauty of the Milky Way, the brilliance of a colourful sunset, the fearful power of a thunderstorm, and the perfect placement of earth in the solar system to allow life to grow and be sustained.

And yet you are interested in us, your creation! You make whole galaxies turn, and yet you turn your ear to listen to the words of little children. And you don't just listen, you answer their prayers! You not only provide for us, but you care for us, you love us, and you open yourself to us. We are such a tiny part of a massive universe, and yet you call us the crowning glory of your creation.

You have made us in your image! Like you, we can think and create, reason and relate. You have given us this world to live in, and given us strength to change it. Because of you, we have power over many parts of this world; we have filled it and to a large extent we have subdued it to our will. We can provide for each other.

And yet, though you made us to be like you, we are not you. You are infinite and timeless: we are like fireworks, that burst onto the scene and then as quickly fade to smoke; we are like goldfish in a bowl, who cannot see past our own limited circumstances and situation, and are quick to forget the past.  You are perfect and powerful: we are as likely to ruin something as to improve it; and we often make mistakes we cannot fix.

And yet we still think we're so great, that we ignore you. You, the power of powers, the giver of our life, the master of our future - we replace you with things as weak and uncaring as the sun and moon, or silver-tongued leaders, or the mighty dollar. We are made in your image, and yet we treat each other as less than human. When people need work, we exploit them; when they need respect, we abuse them; when they need wisdom, we arrest them; when they need protection, we detain them; when they need your word, we ignore them.

But despite our failings, you reach out to us, and call us your people, and send us message after message to tell us that you are still here, that you still love us, and that you want us to follow you. You continue to show us who you are, and through that who we are in relation to you - beloved, special, worthy of your attention. Help us to recognise that worth you give us - not just in ourselves, but in each other - and to follow your call and reflect your image by demanding justice for the weak, showing grace to the guilty, giving help to the hurting, support to the sick, comfort to the grieving, and love to the lost. We pray to you for these people - those we know, those close to us, and those we only hear about; those we love, and those who set themselves up as enemies against us - in love for them, seeking to love them as you have loved us through Jesus Christ.  It is by his name and in his authority that we pray, Amen.

Prayer: What does generosity look like? (2 Cor 9:6-15)

Heavenly father,

We come together this evening to praise you and bring you glory. For you, and you alone, are God - there is no-one greater than you, no power more powerful, nowhere you cannot see, nothing you do not know. Everything else is made by you, and you have made it well, and made it good. And you are good - you rule over everything you have made with justice and righteousness. Who can question your sovereign will? You are worthy of all glory, for you achieve your every goal, and you succeed in everything you at our to do.

But not only are you just - you are both gracious and merciful. You are abundant in your blessings, and open yourself to all humanity, holding out your arms in welcome to all who would call you father. We are not perfect, like you are perfect, but instead of turning us away, you make a path for us to come to you - Jesus, the messiah, God with us.  Not only have you come to earth as a human and shared yourself with us, but you died on a cross to take away our just punishment, to make us blameless before you. And so we praise your name, because you are good to us in ways we cannot possibly earn, and you forgive us debts we cannot possibly repay.  We can call the king of the universe our dad! We can call the creator of all things our friend! We can live a new life with the spirit of God inside us, transforming us, teaching us,  changing us by your power!

And it's because you've done all this for us, father, that we want to praise you to the whole world. We want everyone to have what we have, and to hear about how great you are. We want to give you a massive like on Facebook. We want to give you five stars on TripAdvisor. We want to write a letter to the editor and tell everyone about how great you are. We want to tell our friends. We want to talk about you and what you've done for us with each other.  We want you to go viral, because you are so excellent, we can't help but share.

You're so amazing and so incredible that we want everything we do to show it - not just so that others get to see, but because you are genuinely worth the praise and the glory! And so we ask that in everything we do, in everything we say, in every dollar we spend, in every choice we make, that people might see what you're doing in us and in our circumstances, and see how great you are. And those circumstances aren't always cheerful. We pray especially for those who are suffering through trials, poverty, sickness, pain, and other difficulties. We ask that you will give them strength, and endurance, and faith in you, so that they can meet these challenges, and we pray that you will give us opportunities and skills to help them, so they don't need to do it alone. We ask that you might show yourself in good times and bad, so that in every instance you are praised and glorified.

We ask it because you deserve it, because of Jesus. Amen

Prayer: 2 Cor 8:1-15 Why Be Generous?

Heavenly Father,

You are a God of gifts. You love to give good things, and you are doing so constantly. You provide us with life, with existence, with a capacity for understanding ourselves, and relating to each other, and for loving you. We couldn't create ourselves, but you made us. We owe our very living to you, but that is not a debt you ask of us - it is a gift you give to us. You give us beauty, creativity, innovation and seemingly endless variety. Why are there a so many types of flowers and fruits and sand? Why are there so many colours and shapes and sounds? We feel so much wonder at seeing a sunset, or a beautiful painting or photograph, or when we hear a good piece of music, or eat a really good meal, and it's because you have given us that wonder as a gift, to bring us joy. We thank you for the everyday joys of life - for sunny days, that particularly good cup of coffee, or seeing someone we love smile - and we thank you for those special days of joy - graduations, new jobs, weddings, births, and all the things we have to celebrate.

We want to thank you today, not just because there are nice things and we get to experience them, but because you are a God of love and goodness who loves to make good things, and to give good things. These aren't gifts you only give your own people. Your sun shines on everyone, the righteous and the wicked, and you allow all people to have life and to experience what you have made. And you don't just reveal yourself to those who seek you out - you have signed your name on every creature, every natural vista, every work of art and every new invention, so that everyone gets to catch a glimpse of you through what you have made. You put all these things into our hands - a whole planet of resources, a whole kaleidoscope of talents, so we can be as giving to each other as you have been to us. We can experience the joy of giving gifts just like you give to us, and for that we thank you.

But we're not perfect, and we don't always succeed in giving gifts as freely and as richly as you give to us. We fall short of the example you have set for us. You don't discriminate in your giving, but we live in a system that is unfair and unjust. You are open and welcoming to all, but we shut ourselves off from some people, or refuse to give them help, or simply ignore them. When we were far from you, you didn't hold back - you gave your own son, Jesus, and paid the ultimate price of death and separation. You emptied yourself of everything on that cross for us, to give to your enemies the greatest gift of all - an eternity with you. It cost you so much, and yet you still sent him in overflowing love! But we still count our dollars and cents, and our minutes and seconds.

We pray, Lord and Father, that you will continue to give to us - not just in goods, not just in beauty and wonder and closeness to you, but we pray that you will keep giving us that same spirit of love and giving that you have towards us. Make us into your hands and feet, so that through us you might give to those who are in need, who struggle to make their rent or to put food on their tables; so that through us you might heal the sick, and bring comfort to those who are tired and distressed, so that through us you might open arms of welcome to those that our society marginalises, despises and rejects. Give to us your spirit of generosity, so that we might overflow in that same way your love overflows to us. Don't let us be pools of your blessing, but make us fountains that spill over to everyone, so that your great gifts might reach those who need them.

Do this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen

Sermon: Enduring Persecution (1 Thessalonians 2:13-3:13)

Enduring Persecution

1 Thessalonians 2:13-3:13

What is persecution?

I used to work for Barnabas Fund, helping persecuted Christians. I was once lucky enough to attend a meeting of Christian leaders from persecuted churches to discuss their suffering and plans to help them through it. People whose churches had been bulldozed or burnt down, whose family members had been attacked, who faced government oppression, hefty fines, prison sentences and death threats, whose church members couldn't afford food because discrimination kept them unemployed - all because they were Christian. And what really struck me was that every time I talked with one of these leaders, they would tell me how much they were praying for Christians in Australia, because we are just a young church, and it is such a hard country. They wanted us, the Australian church, to be encouraged in our persecution.

Our persecution? What did they mean? You see, persecution is not just suffering. Suffering is part of the human condition. Everyone suffers.  Persecution is a type of suffering forced on people by others to unjustly punish them for who they are or what they believe. So the pain of a broken leg is suffering, but not persecution, unless someone broke your leg unjustly because of who you are or what you believe.  When ISIS sprays an N on your door marking your house as Nazarene so they know, "These are the Christians, these are the ones to attack," that is persecution.

Persecution is Good News

Persecution is not unique to Christians. But Christians have a unique attitude to persecution: it is part of the good news of Christianity. I'll repeat that, because it's a bit of a strange statement: persecution is part of the good news of Christianity. Jesus talks about persecution a lot. We heard an example of that in our second reading (Matt 24:4-13). Not only does Jesus promise persecution, but he links it to blessing and salvation! And the apostles said very similar things in their letters: Suffering because you are a Christian is suffering alongside Christ (1 Peter 2:21). Persecution makes us more like Jesus (Philippians 3:10). We share in his sufferings, that we might also share in his glory (Romans 8:17). Persecution spreads the gospel (Colossians 1:24). Do we want to be more like Jesus? Do we want to share in his glory? Do we want the gospel to spread? Then persecution is part of the good news.

On the flight over to that conference of Christian leaders, I recall sitting on the tarmac in Sinagpore for a long time. The plane was hot and uncomfortable. Finally, over the intercom comes, "This is your captain speaking. Sorry for the delay, and for the broken air-conditioning. We've been having some engine trouble. Unfortunately, the engineers couldn't fix the aircon. But the good news is they did fix the engine, so we are now going to take off." I remember some of the passengers did not think this was good news - if the engineers couldn't fix the aircon, who was to say they properly fixed the engine? The reason passengers didn't think it was good news was because they didn't have faith in the engineers. But it was fine, and we made it safely.

Persecution is a terrible thing - it is a time of painful trial and suffering. But it is also promised to us in the gospel, by Jesus and the apostles. So it is good news - but to see that we must have faith God, the engineer of our persecution.

Since persecution is part of the gospel, it should be no surprise that Paul tells the Thessalonians all about persecution. We read in chapter 1 verse 6 that the Thessalonians "welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering". Paul didn't hide the fact that persecution follows the gospel for those who accept it. They were well warned that suffering followed faith. They made an informed decision.

In chapter 3 verse 4 we read not only that Paul told them, but it was something he repeated to them again and again!  "In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know." Persecution wasn't an optional extra. It wasn't something that happens to other people. This was a fledgling church he had taught for only three or four weeks. But persecution was on the list of first things you get taught as a fledgling church, as a new Christian. It's part of the gospel message. It was something Paul was modelling to the Thessalonians. Those persecuted church leaders I met see us as a young church - a mere 200 years old, where some of their churches are almost 2000 years old. They see themselves as modelling persecution for us.

The Danger of Persecution

And we need to preach persecution as part of the gospel too! We need to model persecution and our response to persecution to new Christians, and to young Christians. And we need to do it not only because it lets people make an informed decision, but because persecution is dangerous to Christians. You might think, "Well, it's dangerous to some Christians, but not to me, not to my family or my church."

It's easy to think that persecution doesn't really happen in Australia. Maybe we think that if it's not affecting our physical wellbeing - our job, our income, our health - that it's not the real deal. We're not dying, we're not being tortured, so we're not in real danger. But that's a mistake, and here's why - because the most dangerous thing about persecution is not the physical impact it has on our lives, but the spiritual impact. I don't want to downplay the physical suffering of Christians who are persecuted in that way - it is a terrible, scary, painful thing. But our persecuted brothers and sisters, the ones who are so concerned about Australia, know that the biggest danger of persecution is it can tempt people to give up on God.

Remember the parable of the sower: "Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But because they have no root, they last only a short while. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away." This is the number one danger of persecution - that we might become so discouraged that we are tempted to give up on our faith, fall away from God, and go back to our old way of life. That's what kept Paul awake at night thinking about the Thessalonians; they might become discouraged in their faith because of persecution. In chapter 3 verse 5 he says, "I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain." Paul sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage them in their faith, so that they wouldn't be unsettled by these trials.

Persecution starts at home

When you look at the spiritual danger persecution holds, you start to look at the trials we face for our faith here in Australia a little differently. One fact about persecution is that often it comes from those close to you. And the closer they are to you, the more painful it can be. That was the situation the Thessalonians faced: in Chapter 2 verse 14 Paul said, "You suffered from your own people." It was not primarily outsiders, but their fellow Thessalonians who persecuted them. It was the same for Paul - he always preached to the Jews in a city first, and they came and fought against him in Thessalonica, and chased him to Berea.

The most painful persecution tends to come from your own people.  A person in Australia might face rejection, ridicule, even some anger from family and friends. After all, in their eyes you're joining a group linked in the media with child abuse, or standing against same sex marriage. Many people think science has disproved the existence of God, and think believing in God makes you stupid. People who become Christians when the rest of their family hold other views are in for a rough ride. Even if they don't mean to, sometimes non-Christian family will just say hurtful things. I remember my brother once bought a bumper sticker that said, "Jesus loves you - everyone else thinks you're a" <word not appropriate for church>. And he showed it to me with pride, thinking it was a great laugh, not even realising that he was laughing at me. Of course when I pointed that out, he told me, "Aren't Christians allowed to have a sense of humour?"

And that hurts. And our automatic reaction as living things is to shy away from things that hurt. Adam Goodes is an Aboriginal AFL player who has recently taken indefinite leave from the game he loves because people keep booing him. It's not violence, it's not torture. It's booing. This is a big, manly, muscular footy player! This is the power of persecution - it makes people give up! The constant barrage of anti-Christian sentiment we face could cause anyone to feel bad, to question their faith, to ask "What if I'm wrong?", to say, "This is too hard."

Fighting Discouragement with Faith

Persecution's biggest danger is that a Christian gets discouraged, and tempted to just give up. That's why Paul's number one concern for the Thessalonian church was to send Timothy to, "to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials." The weapon God gives us to fight discouragement of our faith is encouragement in our faith. And that encouragement comes from one another. We need to carry one another's burdens, as fellow Christians. Discouragement is a burden that we must share together, without judgement, because this persecution is a promised part of the gospel, and is a serious danger. Satan will try to stop us, because encouragement works to strengthen people's faith. Paul says in Chapter 2 verse 18, "For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way."

How do we encourage one another in faith? Often our first port of call is to tell people,  "Read the Bible more, learn more about God, understand your beliefs more deeply." Those are all good things. But that is just one part of encouragement in faith. There's an idea that education can cure all the ills of the world. It's not a Christian idea. It's a modern idea, a secular idea. And it's convincing because learning is good! And learning about God is probably the best learning of all. But learning is just a part of growth. Faith is bigger than knowledge. The gospel is a pretty neat little message. It can be recorded into a small pamphlet. Little kids can grasp it. In Chapter 3 verse 8,Paul considered the Thessalonians to be standing firm in the Lord: not because of their great knowledge - they didn't even know what happens to Christians when they die - but because they were strong in their faith in God and in Jesus Christ.

When I was on that plane with the broken engine, I didn't trust the engineers to fix it because I know anything about engines. I trusted them because they are engineers! Handing one of my fellow passengers the schematics of an aircraft engine may not calm their nerves - seeing how complicated it is might make them feel worse! But assuring them, "Hey, those guys are professionals. They know what they're doing," that's encouraging their faith in the engineers.

Strong Faith is a Strong Encouragement

And that's what we are called to do for those who are struggling with persecution - to encourage their faith in God. The biggest encouragement to a believer who is struggling with the discouragement of persecution is to share the strength of your own faith. A strong faith is a visible faith. Paul says to the Thessalonians in chapter 1 verse 3, "We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith." A life of faith produces work. If we want to encourage Christians who are facing persecution, who are disheartened and hard pressed, we need to be living lives of faith, with works produced by faith. That is why Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians: chapter 3 verse 2, because Timothy "is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ."  Timothy's life of work produced by faith will buoy up and encourage the Thessalonians.

If you want to be an encouragement to those who are suffering for bearing the name of Christ, then you need to be strong in your faith. Your trust in God needs to be visible in how you live your life. Living by faith is not saying, "I trust God to help my suffering brothers and sisters in Christ, so I don't need to do anything myself." Living by faith is saying, "I trust God to give me everything I need, so I can give my time, energy and money to helping my brothers and sisters who are in need."

Persecution is good news because it also strengthens our faith. It turns out that the Thessalonians are so strong in their faith in Jesus that when Timothy brings back a positive report of how the young church is doing in the face of trials and persecution, Paul writes to them in chapter 3 verse 7, "in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith." Paul actually gets encouraged in the midst of his persecution by the Thessalonians and their faith! And in the same way, as we seek to encourage those who are facing persecution, we too will be encouraged by their faith in enduring persecution.

Christians in Syria, in a town called Kobane that was recently taken by ISIS, sent out this message, "Don’t worry about us, even if they were to cut our heads off ten times we would still say that Jesus is Lord!" They send that message out to the church, to us, because they assume our biggest fear is that they might be tempted to fall away, and they want to encourage us that they are standing firm with Jesus. They face death, and they want to encourage us!

Do you want to grow in your faith? Then come alongside those who are persecuted. Not only will you encourage their faith, but as they endure, so too will your faith be encouraged. When our response to persecution is to put God first, it can't help but be an encouragement to others, because our faith is clearly shown!

Persecution is not just a danger Christians face in foreign lands. It is a part of the gospel. All Christians face discouragement and temptation to fall away wherever their lives rub up against the outside world. We need to understand that and equip new and young Christians with that knowledge. It is only by faith that we can stand firm and encourage others to stand firm. We need to live lives of faith, not just for ourselves, but for young Christians, new Christians, and those facing harsh trials. By standing with them in faith, we encourage them, and are likewise encouraged.

Prayer: Receive the Word (1 Thess 1:1-10)

Heavenly Father,

It is so amazing that you give us your word, written down for us, so that we can turn to it at any time and hear from you. You have revealed yourself to us.  You show us your power, your holiness, and your love that you have revealed through history. You have revealed more to us about ourselves than even we know. You have shown us how we are made in your image, how we fall short, and how you seek to draw us back to you. You have revealed your will to us.  You have given us guidance and wisdom, steering us away from evil and beckoning us towards good.  You have revealed the mystery of your son, Jesus Christ, who came as a human to save humanity from sin. You have revealed that your Holy Spirit lives within us, and counsels us in truth.  You even give us glimpses into the future of heaven, into your great glory, where you call us to be with you forever. We thank you that you have opened our hearts to your message, and you have brought us into your family. Thank you for awakening in us a faith that produces work, that calls us into reliance on you at every step. Help us to constantly come back to you and to your word, and continually convict us of its truth, and our need to obey it.

Father, we thank you for revealing so much to us! We thank you for those who have worked so hard over generations to make sure that your word in the Bible comes to us in a language we can understand; who have sought to write and teach and preach to us about what it means; and who challenge us to read it, accept it, and live by it. We ask that you will bless Bible translators, that you will bless the lecturers and students at Moore College and other Bible colleges that uphold your word, and that you will bless Marty as he seeks to bring to us challenges from your word tonight. 

We pray also for the work of the Bible Society, and other missionary endeavours that seek to translate the Bible into the heart language of every human community, and to put your word into the hands of everyone who wants it. Please be with the thousands of translators, scholars, typesetters, computer programmers, financial controllers, printers, distributors and donors who make accessibility to the Bible a reality for so many people around the world.

And we pray for all of those in our own community and country who are starved of your good news message, not because it's inaccessible, but because they are blind and deaf to your words. Please continue to open people's eyes and ears, so that they might see and understand what you have to say to them. And open their hearts and minds, so that they might receive the truth of your words to them. We pray for the hard work of people involved in scripture classes - for those in our church, those from HADCEA, and those involved in university ministries like Karen Sowden and others with EU, AFES and IFES. We pray for school chaplains,  prison chaplains, sports chaplains, army chaplains, hospital chaplains - wherever someone is seeking to share your word with people in need, Lord, we pray that you will be there to pour out your blessings on them, and on those who hear and receive your word.

And we pray that we likewise might share your word with those around us - our families, our friends, our workmates, whoever we come into contact with. Place your word in our hearts, encourage us to read it as part of our daily lives, and fill our hearts and our minds with your wonderful message of salvation for the world. Never take your word of truth from our mouths, for we have put our hope in your promises.

And it is through Jesus Christ, who is the Word from the beginning,  that we pray. Amen.

Sermon: Church History in 15 minutes (youth)

Five ages, Five struggles, Five lessons (intro 206 +178 conclusion = 384)
The Early Church Fathers (70-312):  The Age of Heresy and Correction (246)
The Catholic Church (312-1517):  The Age of Power and Unity (289)
The Reformation (1517-1648):  The Age of Pluralism and Revitalisation (389)
The Enlightenment (1648-1914):  The Age of Reason and Mission (283)
Globalisation (1914-2015):  The Age of Persecution and ? (324)

I’ve been asked to come and speak tonight about church history, and I think that’s fantastic, because history is really important, for lots of reasons.  Tonight I’m just focusing on two.  Most importantly, history informs our identity.  Church history tells us who we are as the Church, the worldwide people of God.  So you’ll notice that throughout this talk, I will refer to ‘we’ and ‘us’ – meaning you, me, and the church of the past.  We share a common identity.

History also records our responses.  Church history keeps track of the problems we have faced in the past, how we responded to them, and what the results were.  Not only can we learn from our mistakes, but we can learn from our successes.

Now, church history is huge.  We’re looking at 1,900 years or so – more than both the Old and New Testaments together.  And we’re doing it in 15 minutes.  Of which I have about 12 minutes left.

So let’s get into it!  I’m dividing church history into five different periods, which highlight five different struggles the church has faced, and five different successes we accomplished.  This will help to highlight how the church’s history informs our identity, and how it records our responses.

The first period of church history is all about the early church fathers.  These are the people that learned directly from Jesus’ apostles and then taught others.  By this time, we as a church had realised that Jesus was not coming back straightaway, and so we had to figure out a few things.  One was how to survive – this was a time of great persecution, especially from the Roman government.  Christianity was made illegal and Christians were systematically persecuted if they made their views public.

But not only were we under attack physically, we were under attack mentally as well!  Intellectuals attacked Christianity as stupid. False teachers were trying to fit Christianity into their  beliefs or philosophies.  The big struggle of this age was heresy – false teaching.  Many foundational Christian truths come from the early church fathers, like the trinity, and the inspiration of the New Testament as scripture.  And they weren’t decided in quiet, considered reflections on God’s word, but whilst trying to combat heresies that were rising up against the church!  So the lesson we can learn from this age is correction.  We have a huge body of Christian teaching that stretches all the way back to this time period – like the Apostle’s Creed – that teaches us the true way of Jesus.  We need to stick to it, and speak against those who undermine it.

Then in 312, something amazing happened.  The emperor, Constantine was his name, was converted to Christianity.  Not only did he become a Christian, but he changed the whole Roman Empire to being Christian, made Christianity the state religion, and made Sunday a holy day.  This period I call the Catholic Church period, and it is the longest one – it goes for about 1,200 years!  The popes, the crusades, the monasteries, the cathedrals – all of that happened in this era.  The church grew and grew, and even when the Roman Empire fell, it became the religion of the whole of Europe.  We owned more land than any kingdom.  We had more gold than any emperor.  We controlled schools, universities, libraries, law courts and even armies.  Awesome, right?

Well, the old saying goes “power corrupts”.  And that’s the struggle in this period: power.  The more we got involved in running countries, the more we slowly got infected by corruption.  Instead of glorifying God, we wanted to keep hold of our power, and we changed our beliefs to do it.  The church got greedy.  We were trying to usher in God’s kingdom on earth – we should be trusting God to usher in a new heaven and a new earth.

But during this time, the church was in unity.  That’s what catholic means – universal.  It was the one church.  Early on in this period, we sat down as a church and worked out what the way forward was in this new era of church and state together.  And the reason we could accomplish so many enormous things – good and bad – was because we were a global, united church.  We should remember what we can achieve when we all work together for God’s glory.

Slowly but surely, as power began to corrupt the church, cracks started forming in its unity.  In 1054 the Pope excommunicated the Eastern Orthodox Church – the first major division of the church in our history.  But this was as much a division on political and cultural lines as it was religious lines, so it had little impact on either side’s churches.  So our next period starts in 1517, when a guy called Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 problems with the church up on a door in Germany.  That’s a lot of problems!  He wanted to see the church reform, so we call this the Reformation. Luther wasn’t the only person railing against the Catholic Church during this time.  Because they were all protesting against the Catholic Church, we call them Protestants.  They didn’t agree on everything, but they did all agree the Catholic Church had it wrong.

And so wars started.  The terrible Thirty Years’ War involved basically all of Europe.  I can’t tell you how many people died, but for example, Germany lost 50% of its male population during that time.  And it all started because Catholics and Protestants felt that there should only be one church, and they were it.  While the newly created America wasn’t involved in the European wars, they were having the same struggles with religious freedom.

The struggle we as a church faced during the period of reformation was that of pluralism – people had different views about God, how churches should run, parts of Scripture.  We thought that to be Christian, we must all be the same – we thought unity required uniformity.  The Thirty Years War ended with no winner.  All sides realised they couldn’t defeat the others, and so in the end they had to make peace.  They had to learn to live with each other, and in 1648 they signed the Peace of Westphalia.

Thankfully, this focus on the Bible and people’s personal faith started a period of great revitalisation in Christian spirituality.  This time of division actually caused both Catholics and Protestants to really think about what it means to be Christian, the importance of Jesus and salvation, and made people really come to grips with what they believed.  We too can put our focus on the Bible, and on the key elements of Jesus and salvation, and be revitalised in our faith, instead of distracted by petty divisions.

While the ink was still drying on the Peace of Westphalia, there was another revolution taking place – an intellectual revolution.  It is called the Enlightenment, and represents the movement of thinking away from God, faith and sinfulness, and towards reason, science and human goodness.  People were sick of religious wars and people being burned at the stake for witchcraft.  This is the era of Isaac Newton describing the world as a machine whose intricate workings we could understand by way of reason and experimentation.

When people realised that the physical world could be explained by use of reason, they assumed that the spiritual world – that of angels, demons, miracles and life after death – simply mustn’t exist, because it can’t be explained by reason, only by God’s revelation in the Bible.  The logic of that assumption is actually pretty weak, but it was, and still remains, hugely powerful!  This is the struggle of reason.  We as a church struggled with reason, because for over a thousand years everyone had simply done what we told them.  Now when we gave the answer, “The Bible tells us so,” it wasn’t good enough anymore.

But as the church began to really reflect on why God, Jesus, the resurrection and eternity are so important, we realised that God is not just important to us, but to the whole world.  And we regained our passion for world mission.  The 1700s and 1800s saw the rise of huge missionary endeavours, reaching from Africa to India to China and everywhere in between.  The stories of brave missionary families travelling to far‑flung places with their belongings packed in coffins, knowing they would probably die – they come from this period in our history.  Likewise, if we reflect on why God and Jesus and resurrection and eternity are so important, God will awaken in us the realisation of how important his gospel is to all people, not just to us.

Then came the Great War, the First World War in 1914, with machine guns, and tanks, and mustard gas, and aeroplanes.  Then came the Second World War, with submarines, and battleships, the Holocaust and the nuclear bomb.  The promises of Enlightenment were looking shaky.  Science, reason and human goodness were not delivering the universal happiness we had been promised.  That’s the period we now live in.  I call it the age of globalisation.  For the first time, we are realising that what happens in one part of the world can have global effects.  Pollution in America affects sea levels in Polynesia.  Ebola in West Africa could mean Ebola in Australia. ISIS in Iraq means the deaths of thousands in Nigeria.  This is true inside the church too – a prayer meeting in California in 1906 where people started speaking in tongues started the Pentecostal movement, which now has 280 million followers worldwide, and saw charismatic gifts awakened in people from both Catholic and Protestant churches.

What’s the struggle for our church in this period in which we live?  Living in Australia, you might think it is secularism, or decline in numbers, or struggling to remain relevant.  But actually, the struggle for us, for the church, in the age of globalisation is persecution.  The last 100 years has seen more of us suffer and die for our faith than in all the 1900 years previous.  A hundred years ago this year Turkey systematically killed 1.5 million Armenian Christians.  Communist Russia killed perhaps 20 million Christians by the 1970s.  Conservative estimates think about 8 to 10,000 of us have been killed for our faith every year since 2000.  And that’s just killings.  The numbers for rape, torture, arrests, fines, church and house burnings, confiscation of bibles, beatings and exclusions from family are uncountably huge.

What’s the lesson we can learn from our current time in church history?  I don’t know.  At the moment it’s hard to see the church’s response clearly.  But one thing I can guarantee:  in every period of our history, the big lesson to be learned has always revolved around coming to grips with what we really believe.  Every time, in every age, the church has turned to God, seeking his will in the face of their situation, and God has given guidance, and the church has moved forward.  Every single time.  There is no reason for us to believe that it will be any different, even in the face of violent persecution.

That is the big lesson church history teaches us.  We can look back and see what shapes us as Christians, and we can look back and see how God has guided us to where we are today.  And that should lead us to continue seeking God’s will to guide us in our struggles, whatever they are now, and whatever they might be in the future.