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.”
Thursday, December 24, 2015
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
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