Sermon: Seeing People Differently (Philemon)

(Preached at Waitara Gospel Chapel on 6/11/2022) 

When I was asked to preach here on Philemon today, I was excited to say yes. Partly that's because I haven't been to Waitara Gospel Chapel for a while, and it's lovely to catch up with you all. I can sincerely echo Paul's sentiments to Philemon as a supporter of his ministry and say, "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brothers and sisters, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people."

 

And just as Paul did in his letter to Philemon, I also pray "that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ." As I tell stories about my ministry with SIM in Namibia, and my ministry here in Australia with Horizons Family Law Centre, I hope that the partnership you as a church have with me and Horizons deepens your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.

 

I'm also excited to preach because in the little letter of Philemon, Paul writes to a fellow Christian about one of his slaves. And I am very passionate on the topic of slavery.  At the end of 2019 I accepted a position with For Freedom - SIM's ministry division focused on combatting human trafficking, the trade in modern day slaves. The idea was for me to serve in SIM's anti-human trafficking work in Namibia and southern Africa.

 

Human trafficking is a big problem in Namibia. Let me try and give an example of how bad. Between 2011 and 2017 Australia had 31 prosecutions for human trafficking. Namibia also had 31 prosecutions for human trafficking during that same period. But Australia's population is 10 times bigger than Namibia. Why is it ten times worse in Namibia? Well, Namibia has higher levels of poverty and desperation. Australia has a highly functioning law enforcement system! Namibia didn't even have proper anti-human trafficking legislation until 2018.  

 

But another problem Namibia has is a culture that is more accepting of some forms of trafficking. Let me give you an example. I worked with a lady, Sarah, who started a church based anti-trafficking ministry in Namibia. Sarah was visiting a Herero village to teach the people there about human trafficking. There's no word for "human trafficking" in Otjiherero, so Sarah had to explain that we're talking about using fraud, force, coercion or abuse of power to to exploit a vulnerable person.

 

Now a woman in that village had a boy looking after her livestock. He was scruffy, thin, poorly clothed, didn't go to school. She said that this boy's parents had died, and he had no other family. She fed him. But she didn't send him to school or look after him like one of her own children. This boy was not adopted. Instead, she sent him off after her livestock to shepherd them, take them water, find them grazing land. But she didn't pay him like a hired farm worker. 

 

This boy was a slave. He wasn't chained up. He was "free" to leave anytime he wanted. But he had nowhere to go. He was vulnerable, and she was exploiting his vunerability through coercion and abuse of power. And that's human trafficking. It's not the kind of sophisticated modern slavery undertaken by organised crime syndicates across the world, but it's still slavery.  

 

The woman was not happy to be told this. She said, "If I didn't do this, the boy would starve and die." This argument made what she was doing acceptable to everyone in her village, and would have been agreed to in many villages. This scenario plays out again and again across Namibia. 20 years ago 1 in 3 Namibian adults had HIV - today that number is about 1 in 10; so there are lots of orphaned kids. Looking after orphans is great. But exploiting their vulnerability for your personal gain is not okay. Her response to this was, "Well, if you think what I am doing is wrong, you adopt him. You feed him, you send him to school." If she couldn't exploit this boy, she didn't want anything to do with him.

 

How would you get this woman to treat her boy slave differently? Maybe you'd call the police. But the police might not do anything - even in Australia, many identified cases of human trafficking aren't dealt with by police. Plus calling the cops pretty much ruins your relationship with the whole village - you'll never do ministry there again.  This wasn't Sarah's home village, but it was part of her clan group, so burning her relationship with them was not ideal.

 

Would you talk to the woman's church pastor or her tribal chief and get them to force her to look after the boy? That might work, but do you think the woman's relationship with the boy would really improve if she was feeling resentment about being forced to care for him?

 

Would you adopt the boy? Sarah was a single woman living very simply in the settlements in Windhoek. It would have been hard, but she probably could have sought another care arrangement for the boy. But does that really solve the problem for the woman who enslaved him, or the village who condoned it?

 

Maybe you're simply thankful you don't have to deal with this problem. We don't have this kind of problem here in Australia. So this just isn't relevant - and neither, you may think,  is Paul's letter to Philemon. Not because we don't have slaves in Australia - last year it was estimated there are around 15,000 modern day slaves in Australia. But we don't have the kind of culture Namibia has where even one kind of slavery is acceptable. You'd never have to try to convince someone to free a slave in Australia. So why bother thinking about it?

 

But we know that God speaks to us through the scriptures, so we can trust that there is something true and something valuable for us in this letter. And in my reflections on Philemon, I've certainly seen truth and value relating to my own life and our work at Horizons Family Law Centre. 

 

So let's take a look at what was happening when Paul wrote this letter. Paul is in prison. He's writing to Philemon and his family, a wealthy family who seem to be important members of the church in Collosae. We know they're wealthy because Paul is writing to them about Onesimus. Onesimus is Philemon's slave. That much is obvious, because he's got what at the time was a slave name. Onesimus literally means "useful". 

 

Onesimus has run away. Philemon may have mistreated him; Onesimus may have stolen from his master. Certainly Paul is concerned, because the punishment for a slave fleeing their master can be anything up to and including death, and Paul doesn't want Philemon to exact such a harsh punishment. 

 

Onesimus somehow found his way to Paul. He heard the gospel, became a Christian, and served Paul's needs so well that Paul describes Onesimus as a son; just like he says about Timothy. And now, despite how useful Onesimus has become to Paul and to the gospel, Paul wants to send him back to his master, Philemon. Because Paul sees that there's a relationship here that's in trouble, and he wants to help both of these Christian brothers reconcile. And he thinks the best way to resolve this tension is for Onesimus to return to Philemon, for Philemon to free Onesimus from slavery and accept him as a brother in Christ, and then to send Onesimus back to Paul to serve him and the gospel once again. 

 

Now Paul could have solved this very directly. He says in verse 8  "in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do".  This is Paul the apostle to the gentiles we're talking about here. He could just throw his weight around and order Philemon to free his slave.

 

And imagine if he had done that. Imagine if the letter to Philemon we had in scripture had a spirited, powerful rebuke of Christians who owned slaves, banning Christians from participating in slavery and clearly stating how sinful it is. Imagine how different the world might look! 

 

The latest global estimates say that in today's world there are over 50 million people living in modern day slavery. 50 million men, women and children, found in every single country of the world, being trafficked as though they were just another commodity - cheap labour, sex objects, mail-order brides, even a source of organs for transplant. In the world's history, there has never been more humans living in slavery than there are today.

 

And yet although there are more people in slavery today than ever before, they represent the smallest percentage of the world's population that has been in slavery than ever before in recorded history. Today it's thought about one in every 200 people are modern slaves. Back in Jesus' time, it's estimated that up to 25 percent of the population of the Roman empire were slaves. One in four! The impact of slavery in the ancient world was huge. 

 

But if Paul had simply penned the words "I do not permit a Christian to own a slave", centuries of misery may have been avoided. The ascension of the church into Europe's dominant religion could have been followed by a downturn in slavery.  Black slavery in America may never have arisen. Apartheid in southern Africa may never have happened. Or even if those things still happened - the evil of the human heart is deep - I think it's reasonable to say that a clear statement against slavery as sinful by Paul in the New Testament could have reduced a lot of suffering for a lot of people. 

 

Did Paul know that he held that power in his pen? Did he know he was writing scripture that would last thousands of years? I don't know. But I do that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul's words. God could have worked in Paul's heart to be more forthright to Philemon in his letter. But that's not the message we read here. Instead, it seems that even though God leads Paul to care about Onesimus's welfare, he also leads Paul to care about Philemon's heart attitude, and about the ongoing relationship between a slave and his master.

 

God is not in the business of blind enforced obedience. So Paul doesn't order Philemon to free his slave Onesimus, even though he could. Instead, he appeals to Philemon on the basis of love. God cares about people's hearts, not just their actions. God wants us to have a relationship with him, to do the right thing because we love him. He wants us to act because we love one another, because we love our neighbour, because we love the weak, because we love our enemies.

 

As I've said, we don't live in a country where there is a cultural acceptance of slavery. But there are many other actions and attitudes that are culturally acceptable in Australia but are not in line with loving God and loving our neighbour. In our work with families in crisis at Horizons, we see an understandable but unfortunate attitude between many parents who are in conflict. In our most recent newsletter you can read about one of our clients, who we'll call Alan. He and his ex-partner had a messy break-up, and because she felt hurt, she stopped their children from seeing their dad for months. When he first came to us, Alan wanted to take his ex-partner to court, to force her to let the kids spend time with him again. Court is a slow, expensive and painful process for everyone, but Alan didn't care. He was already feeling hurt.

 

Alan could have gone to court and got the court to force their mum to let the kids spend time with him. His kids should grow up knowing their dad. But there's an old saying: "Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still." Even if Alan went to court and even if he convinced the court to make orders forcing the other parent to let the kids see him, she would still be of the same opinion about him. She would resent him. She might resent having to do something she didn't want to do. Even if she never said it, her kids might grow up knowing that their mum hated their dad, and that can sour a child's relationship with their parent forever.

 

Thankfully, our lawyer, Jono, encouraged Alan to give mediation a real crack. Mediation is a compulsory step before court, but so many people just see it as a speed bump, an obstacle to overcome before getting to court and forcing the other parent to do what they want. But the truth is for parents who are able to put their conflict aside and seek to come to an agreement about what's best for their kids, the results are faster, cheaper, less painful, and most importantly more likely to succeed. 

 

Mediation works because when two people come to an agreement about the way to move forward, it's not just their actions that change, but their heart attitude changes too. Why break the terms of a plan that you helped make, that you agreed to? Alan's kids are still young, and these two will continue to be their parents their whole lives. Because Alan was able to show how he had changed for the better, and convince his ex-partner that he really did love their kids and want what was best for them, because he was prepared to make concessions, she was also able to make an agreement, and their agreement is very likely to work.

 

Now it's true that such agreements are not always capable of being reached. It's true that sometimes people feel pressured into making agreements they don't really agree with. It's true that sometimes people must be forced to do what is in the best interests of a child's welfare or safety, or more broadly force needs to be used to protect people or society from harm. That's why we have police. But the message we're seeing here in Philemon is that God doesn't want us to escalate straight to force if we can avoid it. We should avoid going straight to the logical conclusion of, "Well, I'm in the right and I've got the power here, so why bother talking about it when I can just force them in the end anyway?"

 

There are a lot of things in Australian culture that we in the church might not agree with, and yet that we might see seeping into the lives of those around us. How should we deal with one another in such situations? I would hope we could find the grace and love that Paul finds in his letter to Philemon. We need to remember that God wants us to focus not just on doing what's right, but wanting to do what's right out of love. 

 

How might we help someone to not just change their actions, but their heart attitude? Here's a few things I think we see in Paul's approach to Philemon, which guide us in our interactions with our clients at Horizons.

 

First of all, Paul's approach is made in the context of relationship. Paul starts the letter acknowledging Philemon's love and faith, and the partnership they have in the work of the gospel. And even though Paul doesn't leverage his authority as an apostle against Philemon, he still mentions it in terms of reminding Philemon of how close they are: in verse 19 he says that Philemon owes him his very self, which I think is a reference to Paul being the one who led Philemon to faith. Paul is able to have this conversation with Philemon because they share a close relationship of faith.

 

In our work at Horizons, we accomplish this by listening to our clients, understanding how hard and painful their situation is, and showing them not only that we can help, but that we actually care. 

 

And it's not always easy to find that level of understanding. I don't have kids that I haven't seen for months. I don't have a marriage marked by conflict and hurt. I don't have a substance abuse problem, or a string of run-ins with the police. But that's not really what understanding is about.  The understanding Paul shows us here is being able to see people differently.

 

Paul doesn't see Philemon just as a slave master who has treated a slave so harshly they have risked death to flee. He sees a Christian church leader who he led to faith and who wants to serve God more. And so as Paul talks with Philemon, he seeks to help Philemon see his slave as something more as well: as a fellow man in verse 16, as a brother in Christ (vs 15 you might have him back forever— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother), as a beloved son of Paul (vs 10 Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains), even as an apostle himself (vs 17 welcome him as you would welcome me.). 

 

At Horizons, we seek to help clients like Alan see themselves not as an aggrieved husband, but rather as a loving father; to see their ex-partner not as an enemy, but rather a co-worker; and to see their children not as pawns in a battle of passions, or symbols of injustice, or reminders of past pain, but as kids in need of love and care. 

 

This is the gospel: that God transforms people into who they are meant to be, into their best selves. The closer we get to Jesus, the more he changes us to be like him. 

 

Look at Paul in this letter: he denies himself the title of apostle in dealing with Philemon, eschews giving orders, and instead takes the name "a prisoner of Christ Jesus", to help a slave by seeking to free him, but also to help this slave master by encouraging his escaped slave to return to him, and encouraging the master to show him mercy by not punishing him and by actually freeing him out of love for Christ. 

 

Paul is holding out change to Philemon as an offer, as a different way, a better way, a Christ-like way. He is offering Philemon the chance to transform from being Onesimus's master to becoming his brother in Christ. 

 

We held out to Alan the chance to be more like Jesus by offering him the chance to transform from being a sometimes difficult, sometimes despondent man seeking conflict in a courtroom, into the loving father who recognises his ex partner as a loving mother and who works for what's best for his kids. 

 

Sometimes it looks different. My client, we can call her Amanda, had separated from her partner, and now her ex partner wants to see their kids. The problem is he has a chronic addiction to hard drugs. I was able to come alongside Amanda and encourage her - literally help her find the courage - to say no to her ex-partner until he's been able to transform his life into one that is safe and beneficial for his kids to be with him. We offered Amanda the chance to transform into someone who is courageous enough to stand up for her kids' safety, and in doing so even offer her ex-partner the chance to transform into a better father and a healthier person free from drugs.  Will he take up that chance? I don't know. But in helping Amanda see that she has a choice, and that her ex has a choice, an opportunity to change, we hold out a message of hope.

 

Truth is we can't change the world. We can't even change people. But thankfully, we don't have to. Thanks to Jesus making the path to God clear for us, and thanks to the Holy Spirit working in each of us, the message of hope that we can be transformed is available to anyone. That's our focus at Horizons: to help families in crisis remake themselves. We hold out the offer of hope that people can change. You don't need to be a solicitor to do that. You don't need to be an apostle.  You can be a struggling single mum  holding out that hope to your drug addicted ex-partner.   

 

But there is a cost.  This hope, this change, requires sacrifice. That cost was borne first and foremost by Jesus on the cross. But following this path of hope, seeing ourselves and others differently, seeking to reconcile relationships, offering people the chance to be closer to the loving person Jesus wants them to be rather than simply forcing them to do what's right, that bears its own cost. Philemon is being asked to bear a big cost - to free a slave who wronged him, to give up not just the financial investment of a slave, but the right he has to punish that slave for wrongdoing. And that's a big ask.

 

If he decides not to change, not to pay that cost,  then it costs Onesimus - he gets sent back to his master with no guarantee that Philemon will release him, no guarantee that his master won't have him killed! And that's why Paul actually holds himself out to pay the cost on Onesimus’s behalf, saying in verse 18 "If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me." In the same way Christ intercedes for us, so Paul intercedes between the slave and his master. 

 

We need to recognise that cost when we are holding out this offer of transformation to others. When clients come to us, it's because they are wanting there to be change for their families, but they can't afford to pay the cost: they can't afford a family lawyer to help them navigate the system. But if their family situation doesn't change, someone else pays the price. Quite often it's their kids. So like Paul, we seek to stand between them, offering our services for free or at low cost, so that these families in crisis have the opportunity to remake themselves.

 

Did Philemon end up freeing Onesimus? The letter doesn't tell us, but church tradition says that he did; that Onesimus did return to serve Paul in prison, and he actually ended up becoming the bishop of the church of Ephesus after Timothy, before being martyred by the emperor.

 

And did Paul's letter have a bigger impact on slavery? Yes! Today, we'd consider slavery a serious sin. The reason slavery isn't a way of life now for one quarter of the population is in no small part because of a short letter Paul wrote to one of his converts about a slave, and then the ongoing sacrifice of people to change their own ways, and then seek to help others change. Did it happen as quickly as we'd like? No. But is it clear evidence of God transforming people to loving one another enough not to countenance enslaving each other? You bet. 

 

Does our work at Horizons change the world? No. But through it God changes people to make good decisions for their families, rather than simply being forced to do something they don't value or understand. Many of our clients make real sacrifices to follow God's call to love our enemies and love our neighbours.

 

Like Paul, at Horizons we're called to make a sacrifice, to stand in the gap and hold out hope to families who really need it. No doubt you can imagine that a bunch of Christian lawyers like us could go into the marketplace and earn substantially more instead of living by faith. I recently took on another day a week at Horizons, and that has a real cost. And just like Paul, we are only able to stand in that gap with the support of churches and Christians like you. Christians like Philemon who were not forced to help but who heard the request to look at others differently and responded generously. So let me thank you for your refreshing of us in this ministry, and invite you to share with us in holding out the hope of transformation to others. 

 

Prayer: Pentecost 2022

 Heavenly Father,

Today we remember that great moment in history when you poured out your Holy Spirit on all believers, marking us with a seal, a guarantee that we belong to your kingdom and your family, and empowering us to perform great acts for your glory and the furtherance of your gospel.

We remember the many amazing things that have been accomplished through your Holy Spirit since that time: we think of how your gospel has reached the ends of the earth through ministries of healing and mercy to the sick, gifts of generosity and hospitality to the needy, acts of justice for the marginal and oppressed, translation of your holy word into many different tongues, and the fearless preaching of the gospel throughout the world. None of these works would have been possible without your Holy Spirit leading, guiding and empowering these ministries.

We are so thankful for all that you have accomplished through the works of your servants, who have been your hands and feet and lips across the ages and across the world. Without the tireless efforts of the Christians of the past, we can safely say that none of us today would have heard your good news and responded to it.

And today, Father, we pray that your prophetic words will remain true for our generation, because there is still so much work to be done, still so many who need  help, still so many who need to hear the good news that Christ has made a way for them to be with you forever. So we ask today, Father, that just like at that first Pentecost, you will pour out your Spirit on all your people. We pray that you will continue to put your words upon the lips of our sons and daughters. We know that across Australia the church is facing a drought of pastoral and ministry staff, and that across the world there are whole people groups who still can't even hear your word in their heart language.

We pray that you will raise up leaders among our young people, giving them dreams of how the world might be transformed to be more like what you want it to be; and we pray that you will give our existing leaders visions of how they can make that happen in ways that benefit us all. We pray that you will work wonders across the world, showing through your servants the wonders of your love, your mercy and your grace. Work in us by your Spirit to give us hearts that will be generous, giving, loving and selfless in the face of the needs, pains and sufferings that come before us.

In those past days, Pentecost was the time that saw over 3000 people added to your newly founded church, as people listened to the words of Peter. Let those same words be on our lips today: "Be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. Therefore repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

Stay true to these words, Father, and keep us true to them by your Spirit, for we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen

Sermon: Freedom to Serve (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

 1 Cor 9:19-23 = Freedom to serve

 

A few weeks ago while we were away in Namibia I loaned our car to someone from Ministry of Game. He'd had a car accident just before we left, and needed a car to get to work. When we got back and he returned the car, he told me that one of the headlights had blown. And I thought, "That's okay. I've changed a headlight before. I'll fix that when I have some free time."

 

A couple of weeks passed, and I was driving along one night and noticed that the headlight was still out. "I really need to get around to that," I thought. "As soon as I have some free time."

 

A blown headlamp is not a hugely difficult job to replace, and it's important, not only to make sure my car is legally roadworthy, but also as a safety issue. So why did it take me so long to find the time to fix it? Because life is busy! Other things pop up. Penny came down with covid. I started back at work. I returned to Ministry of Game. I was asked to preach a sermon. I had the ability to fix the headlamp, but just couldn't find the time.

 

But it just so happens that during this same period with the broken headlamp I also had a lot of free time. I had pretty bad jetlag for about two weeks. I would regularly wake up at 2.00, 3.00, 4.00am and I would sit around twiddling my thumbs. 

 

Why didn't I go and fix the headlamp then? Because you can't get a new headlamp at 3am! The petrol stations around my area don't seem to stock them. I could get a coffee or a donut or petrol, but I couldn't get a headlamp. I had the time to fix it, but not the capacity. Anyone who has had long-term insomnia knows this feeling of having lots of time but few ways of redeeming it because of the circumstances.

 

It's interesting how two totally opposite life situations - high capacity low time, and high time low capacity - both end up with the same result: some important things don't get done. 

 

And I think often we feel like it's important work for God that falls through these cracks. We see opportunities to serve the gospel, but either we're too busy to make use of them, or our capacity means we're unable to do them. 

 

Then we read a message like the one Paul writes to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 where he claims that for the sake of the gospel he has become all things to all people so that by all possible means he might save some. He made himself a slave to everyone, he says, to win as many as possible. And sometimes we get tempted to just switch off and say, "That sounds really hard. I'm no Paul. I can't even find time to change a headlamp. I can't even sleep. It's just going to make me feel bad thinking about it. This passage isn't for me. I just can't do that."

 

Now the thing is there is a challenge to us in this passage, but let me tell you it's not one that should leave us feeling like that! Paul isn't talking about his life in order to make us feel bad, or to try and big note himself. And he's not saying that every Christian's life needs to follow the same exact pattern that his did. We don't all need to be church planters, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, preachers, writers of scripture. Earlier in Corinthians he says that he thinks it would be great if we all stayed single, but he knows even that isn't realistic, and isn't God's plan! We don't have to live the same life as Paul, perform the same actions as Paul. God's plan is big enough for all people to play their part: Jew or gentile, rich or poor, young or old, single or married, male or female, slave or free.

 

Paul is talking about his life because he really was devoted to the gospel, and that devotion is clear in how he has lived his life, and he's saying that makes him someone worth listening to about how we all should live if we want to be devoted to the gospel. This whole chapter has basically been about Paul's resumé of why the Corinthian church should listen to him when he answers them about how they should use their freedom in life.

 

In our specific section he's addressing the freedom God has given him to choose what he does with his life, what choices he makes about what he does with his time, and who should get the benefit of his efforts. He's really clear about it: he is prepared to give up "his" way of doing things - the way of life that might make him more comfortable or more at ease or fit better in with his peers - in order to provide more opportunities for the gospel to be heard and accepted by other people. He becomes what people need to be able to give the gospel a fair hearing. He does it for the sake of the gospel.

 

We have that same freedom. Just like Paul, God has given us the freedom to choose what we do in our lives. And I don't mean that vacuously, like when we say to kids, "You can be anything you want when you grow up; you could be Chief Justice of the High Court if you work hard!" Only 13 people have ever held that position in Australia's history; no doubt there have been lots of people who worked very hard in their lives and yet were disappointed - the chances of getting there are perishingly small. We're not God; we don't get to determine how everything happens.

 

But God is God, and he could determine everything for us. Like windup robots, all our moves could be predetermined so that we have no say. But amazingly, graciously, he allows us to make choices about our lives - sometimes bigger choices, and sometimes smaller ones. Sometimes we have the freedom to make changes to our lives, and other times we can find ourselves trapped in our circumstances and our only choice is how we deal with it. Paul is saying when he has choices to make, he asks the question "How will this further the gospel?" and whatever the answer is, that's how he makes his decision.

 

And that way of treating choices has two results. First of all, it directly furthers the gospel! It means that all the choices we make are serving the gospel. And secondly, by making choices in our life that further the gospel instead of just whatever society wants, or what makes us the most money or the most happy or the most comfortable, the gospel becomes that much more credible to others because it's clear we take it seriously. We see this worked out in our passage today: Paul chooses to live his life in a way that helps Jews, gentiles, and even the weak in faith be won over by the gospel; and then he says to the Corinthians, "and because I live my life this way, I'm worth listening to about this".

 

But what about the busyness of life? Life has gotten busier for a lot of people. Kids have more structured sports, activities and club memberships, which means their parents have more time driving them around and attending them.  Older kids are more likely to have jobs. Most university students also hold down jobs at the same time as they study full-time, and many young adults in the workforce will find they need to continue upskilling with more study once they enter their career. Housing prices and cost of living continues to increase, along with a felt need for more stuff, and so the amount of time spent at work increases. With many families having both parents working, grandparents spend more time looking after grandkids.

 

Or what about my incapacities? This modern life also leaves people tired and depleted and lonely. People see friends and family less often - especially true in covid times, but even before that it was hard, because people had less time. People are lonelier than ever before. Just a really simple example: you don't talk to strangers on public transport or in public places or shops anymore. It's been a gradual thing over time, but when we lived in Namibia I noticed a marked difference in how open and affable complete strangers were.   

 

We can get really tied up in looking at what we aren't doing, and especially looking at certain activities that we see as really central to the service of the gospel - preaching, evangelistic programs, discipleship programs, mission work, volunteering on the church rosters - and the less we are doing of them, the less we think we're devoted to the service of the gospel. And so then we feel like we're failing God, because we're not living up to the example of Paul.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was having a chat with a young adult Christian man who works as a professional, and he was asking this question: why aren't more Christians reducing their workload, freeing up time, so they can spend more time doing work with the church and in activities that further the gospel?

 

And I said to him, Brother, since becoming a Christian I have tried to live a life dedicated to the gospel! Attending, hosting and running bible studies, preaching in churches around Australia, choosing my university studies based on how I thought I could serve the gospel, my first job out of uni was with a mission agency, then working for a charity for persecuted Christians, attending bible college, becoming a church elder, running youth groups and youth camps, founded and run Ministry of Game, taking part time jobs and pay cuts so that I have enough free time to devote to church ministries, donating a portion of my income, and even putting my profession on hold to go overseas as a missionary. I have chosen paths less travelled so that my opportunities for serving the gospel were higher, even if it meant other opportunities suffered. And I can tell you that now that I'm in my 40s, those sacrifices of time and reduced income and less professional development are taking their toll. Would I do it again? Probably. But I can tell you I can totally understand why some people would not, or could not, make those same sacrifices.

 

And I can still read what Paul says about his life and feel inadequate, because there have been opportunities that I have let pass by because I simply didn't have the wherewithal to take them on. There were needs I saw in Namibia that I desperately wished I could attend to, but even if I had the time, I didn't know where to begin. It's like when you see someone broken down on the side of the road with their car bonnet up and smoke pouring from the engine. I could stop and ask if they need help, but I can't fix the engine - I'm not a mechanic! That's just the way life is: even if you're choosing between serving the gospel by going left or serving the gospel by going right, when you choose one you can't do the other. You lose that opportunity at that time. None of us can do everything.

 

But the really great thing about Paul's focus on the choices we make is that those problems of having lots of opportunities but no time to act on them, or lots of time but no opportunities to act on, become less important. Now, obviously there are choices we can make in our lives that will free up our time and energies to be involved in those important ministries that serve the gospel, as I like to think I've done in my life. But just like Paul says he wishes everyone stayed single so they had more freedom to serve God the way he does, but that's simply not for everyone: we can't judge one another, and we can't judge ourselves, simply for not making those choices.

 

But you know what is for everyone? Making sure that the choices you do make are ones that you can see allow you to serve the gospel, because not only will this ensure that you are serving the gospel in everything you do, but it will also mean that the way you have consciously decided to live your life will be gospel-shaped, and that will give authenticity and genuineness to the gospel you share with others, because both your words and your deeds back it up. While the gospel message is always worth hearing, the gospel you share will be worth hearing from you.

 

And those choices about your life come in big and small sizes. Remember my headlamp? Pretty small thing. But the choice to fix it serves the gospel; leaving it broken does not. It's illegal and unsafe to drive around with a broken headlamp - and what will others think about the genuineness of my faith in Jesus if I won't take the time to fix such a small thing? I can tell you the moment I realised this might be a good illustration for my sermon, I went out and fixed the headlamp!

 

An example of a big decision might be what you're going to do with your life for the next few years. Since coming back from Namibia, I've had lots of people tell me, "I could never be a missionary in Africa." And many of them came up with really good reasons why! I honestly wasn't expecting that. I thought, "If someone like me could do it, surely anyone could." But just like marriage is not for everyone, neither is overseas mission. And of course I'm not dismissing the strength that God provides us to accomplish great things in his name - he has shown again and again that he can do such great things with weak people. And I'm not discounting the call of God on some people's lives - if you  hear it, you'll know, and you need to listen. But at that point it's a different kind of choice, because if you feel convicted by God to do something and you don't do it, that is sin. We shouldn't be choosing to sin.

 

But a lot of the time, the big choices we get to make about how we are going to shape our lives are choosing between two good things. The gospel can use accountants and police officers. It can use prayers and payers and pastors and parents. It can use the married and the single. Some of these big choices you can't make lightly: buying a house is a long-term commitment, but you can sell it; changing careers is a pain but you can do it; it's much more difficult to change marriage partners or having children.

 

Whatever choice you're making, when you're choosing between things, you need to look at them for yourself and weigh up for yourself how you see it allowing you to serve the gospel, because even though you might be choosing between two good alternatives in principle, in practice one might not be so good for you in your service to the gospel.  While doctors might be super useful to the gospel, you as a doctor might not be. I don't know why it wouldn't work for you in particular: maybe you'd be too distracted by the big salary, or you would have a bad bedside manner, or you'd get too frustrated by the years of study and you want to do something to help people right now!  That's one of the reasons I love Ministry of Game. It's a ministry that involves doing something I already love doing - playing games with people - and turns that thing into something I can do to serve the gospel by sharing my life with these people and contributing to their journey along the Waitara Path.

 

Not everything is going to be like that, sure - packing up chairs or cleaning up after cooking aren't my most favourite things, but I can see how they serve the gospel and so I choose to do them rather than not do them. And sometimes you have to choose to not do something now so you can do something later: I could volunteer every waking moment of my time to gospel ministry and I would pass out after about 72 hours I reckon, because I need sleep, I need to eat and drink, I need rest. This follows the emergency mask principle on the airplane. When they say in the safety instructions "Put on your own mask before helping others", that's because starving yourself of oxygen is not going to help you help more people. It's going to leave you unconscious on the floor needing someone else's help. So even choosing rest can be a choice for service of the gospel. You know I was more disappointed than I thought I'd be when I heard the church wasn't going to be a polling place for this election? I won't get to use my sausage flipping skills to serve the gospel. But rather than focus on the choice I didn't have, I needed to focus on the choice I did have: what was I going to do with my election day if not volunteer at church? And I ended up deciding I would just vote, and relax, and hang out with some friends and watch the results on TV. And it was a good use of time, and served the gospel by helping us rest and recuperate.

 

But here's the challenge in making these choices: whatever we choose, if we've made our choice in order to serve the gospel, we have to make sure that we actually use that choice to serve the gospel.

 

If you chose to babysit your grandchild instead of volunteering at church because you think it will serve the gospel better for you to be a godly Christian influence in the life of your grandchild, then you need to make sure you are actually being a godly Christian influence in their life for your service to be effective! If you chose the higher paying job because you feel you can serve the gospel better by having more money to give to mission work, then you need to actually give the money to mission work for that service to be effective! If you choose to get married instead of staying single, then you need to actually invest in your marriage as part of furthering the gospel for that service to be effective! If you choose to pray for something, then set aside a time where you can concentrate and reflect and pray thoughtfully and effectively! And when you choose to get involved in actual front-facing gospel ministries like teaching scripture, running youth group, attending a Bible study, then you have to work to be effective in those ministries - that means building relationships of trust and support and encouragement, learning what is being taught and teaching it effectively through what you say and how you live!

 

So what decisions are you in the process of making right now, this week, this month? What big and small decisions are coming up for you? I urge you this week as you make those decisions to factor into your decisionmaking how your choice is going to help you serve the gospel. Then I urge you to take that factor and put it at the top of your list in your decisionmaking. Let the service to the gospel rule your decision-making process. If you do, then by all means possible we might save some people. And alongside Paul, we can all share in the blessings of the gospel.

 

Sermon: The Ascension Foreshadowed (Psalm 68:15-35; Ephesians 4:7-13)

 When we left Namibia in 2020, we left in a hurry: three days’ notice, one suitcase each, no farewells. It was the opposite of a Band-Aid: despite the fact we were removed quickly, it was more painful. 

 

We've just gotten back from three weeks in Namibia, going to collect some things, but mainly to say goodbye to all those friends we never got the chance with before. And at first, everyone was so glad to see us again! We could eat together, tell our stories, catch up on what has happened in our absence. But all too soon it became three weeks of goodbyes. Three weeks of "When will you be back?" Three weeks of "Can you stay just one more day with us?" Three weeks of "I don't want you to go." Leaving was hard, but at least this time we knew it's the right thing to do. Penny has her PhD; I have my ministry with Horizons. Those things can't happen till we're back in Australia.

 

Last week, Christians around the world remembered Jesus' death on Good Friday, and together we also celebrated his resurrection on Easter Sunday. But there's another important holiday which comes 40 days after Easter, and commemorates another important event in Christ's story. 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven. Ascension Day is a public holiday in Namibia; here we get no such luck.

 

Just imagine for a moment being one of the apostles on that day. Just over a month before, you witnessed Jesus killed on a cross, and you thought that everything was over: the person you thought was the messiah had been executed as a criminal, and while you mourned all the people around you rejoiced. But then, three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, and you had him back! He was with you again, walking and talking and teaching and being wonderful. "This is it!" you think. "Now that Jesus is risen, he will surely conquer our enemies, those enemies that crucified him. He will ascend to the throne of Israel, and restore the kingdom to its glory!" This is what you would have thought, because we're told in Acts chapter 1 that this is exactly what the disciples were thinking: verse 6, "Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

 

You see, even after Christ's shocking death and amazing resurrection, the apostles were still expecting a victorious ruler over Israel. Their minds were likely cast back to pictures of God's ascension in the Old Testament, pictures like we see in Psalm 68, which we've just heard read to us. In such pictures, Israel gets special pride of place. 

 

Our reading in Psalm 68 starts off talking about Mount Bashan - a big, tall mountain with snowy peaks that reach up into the heavens, a place known for warriors and creatures of great might. The bulls of Bashan are referred to elsewhere in scripture as symbols of strength. But we're told this great mountain is envious. Why? 

 

Because it's a place that seems suited for the throne of a God, but God doesn't choose it! God chooses instead Mount Zion - not even a mountain really, more of a hill. It doesn't reach up into the sky. It's pretty unimpressive. But it is in Jerusalem, the city of God's people, the city of his chosen and beloved king David. So that is where God chooses to build his temple; that is where God makes his throne. 

 

This is the picture the apostles have in their mind about what God's victory is going to look like: it involves God's messiah ascending to Mount Zion like a king who has been victorious in battle. He leads the people he defeated in battle as captives; there is a huge celebration with music and sacrifices to God; his people bring him many gifts to welcome their God, and even the kings of foreign nations, who have for so long been enemies on the doorstep of the kingdom, are humbled and must bring tribute to God as their rightful ruler; and those who continue to stand against him will be violently crushed - his chosen people will wade in the blood of God's defeated enemies.

 

That's how the apostles were feeling on Ascension Day. To this point they had not seen much evidence of this sort of thing happening. In fact, they'd seen the opposite: Jesus seems to constantly be getting humbled! Born in a manger, living on the edge of rural Judea as a carpenter, wandering from place to place with nowhere to sleep, supported by women because he has no money, dining with sinners, touching the sick and demon possessed, rejected by the Jewish leaders and the people, arrested and convicted as a criminal, killed on a cross like a thief.

 

But now he's resurrected. Now things are going to change! Now we'll see psalm 68 fulfilled! Now it's time to party, right? Right, Jesus?

 

But Jesus' response to the apostles is confusing. He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

 

And then in verse 9, something completely unexpected happens: "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight." Rather than ascending to a throne in Jerusalem, Jesus ascended into heaven, leaving the disciples without him once again! 

 

How do you think it felt? Jesus had come back from the dead victorious over the grave, you got to hang out with him for a month, and then he just left again? And not just left, but floated up into heaven never to be seen again? Would you be shocked?

 

They were shocked. The apostles were so shocked that Acts says they just stood there staring into the sky until a couple of angels came and told them to stop standing around gawping.

 

Have you ever felt the loss of Jesus to humanity? Have you ever wished that you could just head to Jerusalem and meet him face to face? Maybe you'd like to ask him some tough theological question, or to listen to him preach. Maybe you'd drag your friends and family there and say "See? I told you he exists!" Maybe you'd go to him and ask him to stop your enemies oppressing you. Maybe you'd bring him gifts because you love him so much; or go to celebrate his greatness with music and dancing and food and festivals. Maybe you'd take your kids to be blessed by him. Maybe you'd go just to touch the edge of his robe and be healed, or to ask him for some food. 

 

Wouldn't that be awesome? That's what we lost when Jesus ascended back to heaven. We lost psalm 68. We lost that opportunity for witness and celebration and justice and worship and healing and answers and and and. 

 

But we didn't. This is what Paul clarifies for us when he talks about Christ's ascension in Ephesians chapter 4. He wants to show us another side of the ascension; a different impact, how it affects us in ways perhaps we hadn't considered. Rather than us feeling like we have lost something, he wants us to hear psalm 68 in a different way, to view its importance differently to the narrative of God ascending to his temple, or a king to his earthly throne, so we can see what we've actually gained from Christ's ascension into heaven. Paul quotes just one verse from psalm 68, but it's enough to remind us of the whole psalm, to evoke all these pictures, all these thoughts that people were having and that we still have, so that he can give us a new perspective on those pictures. 

 

When Paul starts talking about the ascension to the Ephesians, the first point he wants to make is in verses 9 and 10. Let's start with verse 9: "(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 

 

When we read ascension psalms like psalm 68, to us it sounds like God is being lifted up, made more worthy, more glorified, becoming somehow greater than he already was, like he's attaining something he didn't already have.  But Paul is reminding us that in psalm 68, God is "ascending" to a mountain that isn't even the biggest mountain in the area. 

 

Psalm 68:33 describes God as "him who rides across the highest heavens." In order to ascend to mount Zion, which direction must God travel from the highest heavens? Downwards! In order to take his throne in the temple among his people, God must first descend to them.

 

And so it is with Jesus. Christ's ascension reminds us firstly that he is immanuel - God with us. Jesus came and lived among us as one of us. And that is certainly something we can celebrate, just as Israel celebrated God making his place in Jerusalem.

 

But we shouldn't be surprised that he would return to the heavens from which he came, just like our friends in Namibia weren't surprised that we would one day return to Australia. It is glorifying for Jesus to ascend to heaven once again. That is where his throne is. His ascension is one of those clear proofs to us that Jesus really is God, and not just a prophet or a miracle worker.

 

So when we now read verse 10, "He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)" we see that his ascension not only reminds us that Jesus truly is God, but also that it's his ascension that allows him to fill the whole universe - to live in the heart of every Christian in the world, to be with us all in a way that he simply couldn't be if he were enthroned in Jerusalem. 

 

Skip ahead to the end of Ephesians 4:13 - the goal is that "we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

 

We don't have a God who is distant from us, like a king who we can see maybe once in our lives from a distance who hands down pronouncements but who has a tight inner circle we are not a part of. No, God's plan is that all of us, all Christians united, know Jesus more and more, till Christ fills us to the brim. 

 

It's this idea of Christ filling us that I want to explore in more detail, and is the focus of Paul's use of psalm 68. In Eph 4:8, Paul quotes verse 18 of the psalm: 'This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”'

 

"But wait," the eagle-eyed among you will be saying at this point, "Didn't verse 18 of Psalm 68 say, "When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people"? What's going on here? Paul seems to have changed the Psalm. For one, he's changed the person from referring to God in the second person "When you, you took, you received" to the third person "When he, he took, his people". That's not such a big deal though. But the more troubling change is that where the psalm says "you received gifts from people", Paul writes "gave gifts to his people". Giving and receiving are the opposite! What’s going on here?

 

I looked at what some different scholars said, and to me, it seems that Paul has made a decision to adapt the wording of his quote to fit the context of his message to the Ephesians and explain the reality of Christ's ascension with the picture from psalm 68. This is something we do when we read or preach from the Bible even today: sometimes we come across a passage where its immediate application to the lives of its hearers is one we would never do in the modern world and in the light of Jesus. 

 

A classic example is our sermon series last year on Leviticus. We looked at verses that told us how to ritually bathe, avoid unclean foods, even how to buy slaves. But in none of those cases did we ever apply the lesson directly from Leviticus. Reading them in the light of Jesus, we actually end up doing the opposite! We preachers didn't change the words of Leviticus to fit our message, but we certainly updated the application for 21st century Christians.

 

I think Paul is doing the same thing, but by adjusting the words of the psalm itself to make the point. This was an understood and acceptable practice at the time, and makes a lot more sense when you have a biblically literate audience who know the passage so well that they can appreciate the purpose of the change without feeling it threatens the reliability or inspiration of scripture.

 

So now that we understand what's going on, what is Paul saying about the impact of Christ's ascension on our relationship with him by using psalm 68?

 

Well, it starts at Ephesians 4:7 "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it."

 

First of all, Paul makes clear that God is in the business of giving people grace. He uses the word "apportioned" which might make it sound like he's being stingy, like there's only so much grace going around and we are lucky to get just enough to get by. But we know that's not true. God is overflowing with overabundant grace. Yes, some people need to be forgiven much - and God forgives them much! This grace of God is a big theme for Paul in Ephesians. And the psalm describes God as “God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens", "a God who saves; from him comes "escape from death".

 

But Paul doesn't just talk about the saving grace that God has given us; he also talks about the grace that God gives us in providing good works for us to do in his name. He talks about God's grace in making Paul a servant of the gospel, and God's grace in giving Paul the job of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. Directly after saying in Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast" he immediately follows in verse 10 with "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works"! In Paul's mind, God's grace - his undeserved favour to us - is not only seen in the fact that he saves us, but also in the fact that he allows us to participate in his work of showing grace to all people. This is why grace is “apportioned” – because even though we all get this grace of doing good works, not all of us do the same works. We’re given different jobs, different portions.

 

So when Paul then quotes psalm 68 and evokes the picture of the victorious king taking many captives and giving gifts to his people, we see how he is using this to describe what is happening at Christ's ascension. Who is it that Christ takes captive? Us! Some of the language that the psalm uses to talk about God's enemies is quite confronting, but all the more so when you realise that we all were God's enemies before we were saved. 

 

What are the gifts that God is giving to his people? According to Paul in Ephesians 4:11 "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service". 

 

Not only is God's grace shown to us in the gifts he equips us with and the works he provides for us to do... but we ourselves are actually the gift to one another, to equip each other to do the good works! 

 

The original verse in the psalm talks about gifts coming to God "even from the rebellious", referring to how God is worthy of praise and honour even from those who stand against him - another picture of God's victory. But now with Paul's focus it becomes "gave gifts to his people, even from the rebellious". That's us: enemies of God now captured by his love and transformed into gifts for one another. 

 

When we as Christians are united in seeking to grow into the fullness of Christ, we are all both the recipient of God's grace, and the giver of it, and the  actual gift! How much more involved in God's plan could we be? When Jesus ascended into heaven, he started a work of filling the whole universe with himself, and made us a part of that. That's what the ascension means for us.

 

Now I don't want to talk too much about spiritual gifts in detail, because next week we'll be looking at the foreshadowing of Pentecost. So instead let me leave you with this question: do you feel like you're a gift to God's people, given to help unite us in being filled with Jesus? Because that's what you are. You are a gift to me, just as I am to you, and we are all gifts to one another. 

 

These last few weeks, Penny and I have been inundated with stories from our friends in Namibia about how we've been a gift from God to them, and not just in Penny's lecturing or our preaching. It was how we were role models of being married; of being friends and work colleagues who were there when they needed help or advice or just a listening ear; it was giving loans, offering lifts, hospital visits,  sharing life, sharpening one another. And that means everyone who helped financially support us or who prayed for us to get there was also a gift to those people. 

 

We don't often go around talking to each other another about how big an impact we are in each other's Christian life. It's easy when you have an upfront role like preaching to see how you're a gift. Sometimes it's more difficult to see how you might be a gift to others. But it's easier to focus on how other Christians are a gift from God that helps you mature in Christ. Every person who has inspired you in your Christian life; who helped you navigate a difficult time; who had been a spiritual role model; who has served you as part of the body of Christ - they were gifts to you. And in those same ways, you are a gift to others. 

 

So next time you think about how you wish that Jesus was here, instead of staring up into the sky waiting for him to come back, remember you’re part of his ascension, and think about how you are contributing to filling up someone else with Christ.