The Three Trees

 

 

“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in this world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

(1 Corinthians 1:27- 29).

To illustrate this text let me tell you the Fable of the Three Trees. You may have heard this story before:

The Fable of the Three Trees

 Three trees once grew on a hillside. They often talked about what they would like to become. One said, “I would like to be made into a baby’s cradle”. The second said, “I would like to be part of a great ship carrying treasure”. The third said, “I would just like to stand on a hilltop and point people to heaven”.

 One day the woodcutters came along. They came to the first tree and said, “Let’s cut down this tree and make it into a feeding trough for cows.”

The tree thought, “No, I don’t want to be a feeding trough. I want to be a cradle for a baby.” But they made it into a feeding trough anyway.

 And when Jesus was born he was placed gently into that feeding trough (or manger) – because there was nowhere else for him. And the wood of the tree cradled far more than an ordinary child – he was the King of Kings himself.

 “Why,” thought the wood, “This is far more wonderful than I imagined!”

  The woodman came to the second tree and said, “Let’s use this one as part of a fishing boat.”

“Oh no,” groaned the tree, “I want to be part of a great ship carrying treasure.” But they made a fishing boat and they sailed it on an inland lake – not even on the great ocean.

 Simon Peter came to buy that boat and one day Jesus sailed in it and used it as a pulpit to preach from. The boat carried far more than earthly treasure then – it became a vehicle for the Word of God.

 And the wood of the boat thought, “Why, this is far more wonderful than I imagined!”

 

 The woodcutters came to the third tree and said, “Let’s make a cross to execute criminals.”

The wood of the tree cried out within itself, “Oh no, I don’t want to be a cross – a thing of shame where men die! I just want to stand on a hilltop and point people to heaven.”

 But they made a cross – and Jesus was crucified on it. And the wood of the cross became the Tree of Glory – the instrument of salvation for the whole world. Down through the ages people have looked to the cross and it has pointed them to heaven.

 And the wood of the cross said, “Why, this is far more wonderful than I imagined!”

I hope you don’t mind me telling you a fable – it’s far more than just a children’s story. It’s a parable. It tells us how God takes the mean and humble things and turns them into instruments of his glory.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God.

 When Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth he reminded them that not many of them came from wealthy families or were highly educated. He drew their attention to the fact that God chose the cross of Christ to save the world.

Jews were looking for signs and wonders and Greeks were always seeking for wisdom. To the Jews the cross was a stumbling block: for does it not say in the Law of Moses, “he that is hanged is accursed of God”?  ( Deuteronomy 21:23 KJV)

To the Greeks and other Gentiles it seemed to be utter folly. Who would become the follower of a man who had been executed in such a shameful way?

But Paul says, “To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1: 24).

We need to realise that there is power in the cross and in the cross alone. The power is not in man-made schemes, not in clever marketing ploys to win the world, not in the latest trendy teaching from some popular TV evangelist. The power is in the cross of Christ: his blood atones for our sins, puts us right with God and is able to transform the human heart.

 From defeat to victory

God takes the weak and feeble things and uses them for his glory. He takes disappointment and humiliation and turns it into victory and joy.

God’s Son was born in a stable, placed in a manger, brought up in humble obscurity, rejected by the leaders and religious teachers of his day, betrayed by one of his disciples, abandoned by the others, flogged and nailed to the cross by the Romans.

To his followers this seemed a crushing defeat. But three days later they saw it all differently! And in the years that followed they came to see that that cross of shame was indeed the means of salvation for all mankind.

If we put our trust in him, God can turn our disappointments and sorrows into joys. He can even use them to bring greater good into the world.

As it says in one of our Christmas Carols (although this verse is omitted in the Church Hymnary version of “It came upon the midnight clear”):

And those whose journey now is hard,

Whose hope is burning low,

Who tread the rocky path of life

With painful steps and slow:

O listen to the news of love

Which makes the heavens ring!

O rest beside the weary road

And hear the angels sing!

(E.H. Sears, altered)

Conclusion.

Yes this is the message of Christmas – God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. And it is also the message of Easter! It is in fact the Christian message – that there is power in the cross of Christ.

So then let us set aside our own power – out own wealth, intellect, influence, talents – let us lay them on the altar and let us unreservedly lean on the power of Christ to save us and to transform our world.

Remembrance Sunday

 

 [Talks given at a  Family Service in the Brecon Presbyterian Church on Remembrance Sunday, 10th. November 2013]

Talk (A)

Tomorrow, the 11th. of November is a special day which is known by different names in different countries. Sometimes it’s called Armistice Day. It records the time and the day on which the First World War ended – the 11th. hour of the 11th. day of the 11th. month. But I want us to concentrate on the word Remembrance. Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and today is Remembrance Sunday.

 

Remember

 Now, I have never been all that good at remembering things – not even when I was a child. In school when I had to learn dates, or learn my times tables, I was never very good at it. My mother used to say I had a good “forgettory” – not memory! And I have to admit that as I get older that my forgettory gets better and better!

But it is important to remember some things. You need to remember your name, your address, your phone number, your PIN number. You need to remember your wife’s birthday, your wedding anniversary, your children’s birthdays. There are many things we need to remember. And so I think this Sunday is an important day on which we can remember and thank those people who have helped us. On this day we remember all those who fought for freedom, especially those who died so that we could live in a free country. Soldiers who fought and died for their country, or who were injured and disabled for life as a result of conflict. Also civilians who suffered, for example, during the Blitz – they suffered terrible injuries, or lost all their possessions, of lost their loved ones, or went through very traumatic experiences. On this day we want to remember people throughout the world who are suffering as a result of war in countries like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan.

But equally we want to thank God for people who were prepared to make sacrifices and lay down their lives so that we could live under freedom. In this country we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and we have democracy. We wouldn’t have these things if the Nazis had taken over during the Second World War. So we are grateful for those who fought against them.

This Sunday is one time in the year when we use the word “Remembrance” in church. Can you think of other occasions when we use the word “Remembrance” in our worship? Well look at this table – the Communion Table. “This do in remembrance of me.” These are the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. In the Communion Service we do this, we take bread and wine to remember Jesus. We remember how he made the ultimate sacrifice for us. He died on the cross and gave his life for us so that our sins could be forgiven. Jesus died so that we could be free – free from guilt, free from fear, free from God’s judgement upon our sins. In the Christian church every Communion Service is a kind of Remembrance Sunday.

So today as thank God for people who made a tremendous sacrifices for their country we also remember to thank God for Jesus and the sacrifice he made.

 

Talk (B)

 Not to glorify war

When we remember those who died in war and made heroic sacrifices we are not trying to glorify war. No sensible person wants war. Remember what Churchill is reported to have said in 1954. Someone said that peace talks with the Communists were a waste of time “All jaw, jaw.” he said.

Churchill said “ Jaw, jaw is better than war, war”.

Yes, war is something we want to avoid at almost all costs. But sometimes you can not avoid it. For example: if your country is invaded, or under threat of invasion you have no choice but to go to war.

Throughout the world today many soldiers fight, not to wage war, but to act as peacekeepers – to keep warning factions apart. Sometimes that can be done but it doesn’t always work. You see, no lasting peace ever came out of the barrel of a gun. It’s the human heart itself that needs to be changed. Hatred has to be removed and replaced with forgiveness – and force can not do that.

Work for peace

How can we work for peace in our world

 1. Pray for it

2.  Seek to live at peace with others – with our neighbours. Seek to forgive those who do wrong to us.

3.  Preach the Good News of Jesus, because he is the Prince of Peace.

 

 The Cross

The cross of Jesus is our sign of peace.

(Hold up cross.)

There are two dimensions here: the vertical and the horizontal.

The vertical one looks up to heaven. It speaks of our relationship with God and the need to be put right with him before we can be peacemakers in the world. The cross reminds us that Jesus died to forgive our sins and to put us right with God. That is the vertical dimension.

Once you have got that right you can think of the horizontal dimension. The two arms of the cross are stretched out to everyone. When Jesus spread his arms on that cross he was embracing the whole world. So we too have to seek to be at peace with those around us. It’s not enough just to be at peace with God. If God is the Father of us all, then we are brothers and sisters. We’ve got to forgive those who do wrong to us.

I truly believe that if everyone put their trust in Jesus, knew his grace and experienced his forgiveness, they would stop hating one another, and wars throughout the world would cease. So let us keep on spreading the Good News of Jesus.

 

 

World Communion Sunday

[Sermon preached at Brecon Presbyterian Church on Sunday 6th. October 2013]

Introduction

Did you know today is World Communion Sunday? I did not know until recently. It may be a worldwide celebration but it seems to have bypassed the Presbyterian Church of Wales. World Communion Sunday is an ecumenical initiative of the US Presbyterian Church which has been going since 1936 and has been taken up by some other denominations as well. It is held on the first Sunday in October.

Great variety

It provides a Sunday too think about Christians all over the world united in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Today I want us to think about this too. For the Communion service is one thing which unites almost all Christian churches. Our Lord commanded that we should remember him in the breaking of bread and pouring of wine, and most Christians do that, but they do it in an incredible variety of different ways. Some take Communion every week, some even every day , while others only have communion 3 or 4 times a year.

And the way in which the sacrament is celebrated varies from church to church. In some churches only the priest takes both the bread and wine – the congregation only have the bread. In many churches the bread takes the form of wafers of unleavened bread: in others, such as ours, we use ordinary bread. Some use real wine: others use non alcoholic wine, or even fruit juice. In some churches the communicants share a common cup: in others they have individual cups. In the Orthodox Church the bread is dipped into the wine and served together, with a spoon, to the communicants.

Great unity

Yes, there are so many different ways of celebrating this sacrament. But we are all doing the same thing, and all doing it in memory of Jesus.

Of course, there are great theological differences. In some churches they believe in transubstantiation – that is they take the words of Jesus literally when he said, “This is my body”. They believe some kind of mystical change happens at the moment of consecration. In Protestant churches we say, “No, it is not to be understood literally, it’s symbolic. The bread and wine reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It’s not that he is being sacrificed over again each time the Eucharist is celebrated”. No, it is a reminder of his sacrifice, as the Apostle Paul said:

For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 26 )

 So there are these very different ways of understanding the Lord’s Supper. You might think that the difference between, for example, the Roman Catholic and the Protestant understanding is irreconcilable. But it is still the same Lord we celebrate, the same Jesus who died on the cross for us all, the same Risen Lord who is alive in heaven and who will return one day to judge the world.

For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 26 )

For all the differences in the way we take Holy Communion, and all the different words we use to describe it, and all the different ways of understanding it, it is still something that unites us.

Three aspects

The Lord’s Supper has three aspects: past, present and future. When Jesus was with his disciples in the upper room he was celebrating the Passover – looking back to the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery. At the same time they were sharing a meal together in the present moment. But Jesus was also anticipating his death on cross, his Resurrection and his final victory.

 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’   (Matthew 26: 29 )

And for us too this service has three aspects:

Past

We look back to Calvary and remind ourselves how Jesus gave his life for us on the cross. How he died to take away our sins. We confess our sins to him and ask forgiveness for all that is in the past. And then we know that the past is forgiven and we have a new start in life.

Present

We are forgiven people – we live in the light of God’s love. We are children of the Kingdom. We share the bread and wine in a spirit of fellowship and love, of unity and forgiveness. We are united with one another and with all God’s people throughout the world, and with those who have gone to heaven. We share fellowship with the Living Lord.

Future

We look forward to a final victory of Christ. To the day of his return. We anticipate feasting with him in heaven. As the hymn writer says:

“Feast after feast comes and passes by,

Yet passing points to the glad feast above,

Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,

The Lamb’s great bridal feast of bliss and love.” (Horatius Bonar)

Stones can speak

 

Matthew19:40 : “if they keep quite, the stones will cry out”

 (Sermon for Palm Sunday)

Introduction

Shakespeare speaks of “sermons in stones” and our text speaks of the very stones crying out. There are quite a few references to stones in the Bible. Let’s think about some of the things that stones can do.

1) Stones can cry out in praise to Jesus

On Palm Sunday Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. He was proclaiming to all the people that he was indeed the Messiah who was coming in peace, to bring salvation to all who would receive him.The crowd was full of enthusiasm. They laid their cloaks on the ground to act as a carpet for him to ride over. They also cut branches of palms and of other trees and strewed them before him. And they waved palm branches in jubilation to welcome the Messiah.

The whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

we are also told that children were active in praising him.

But the Pharisees in the crowd were not happy. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!” (Luke 19:37-40)

 

Now there is a time for all things and this was definitely a time for praising God. Specifically it was a time to acknowledge that Jesus was the coming Messiah. If the people don’t do that, then even the stones lining the road will cry out!

This tells us that there is a time to be outgoing and evangelistic about our faith. There is a time to praise God with a loud voice. There is a time to boldly proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. It is our task now to do what that crowd was doing then.

2) Stones can build an edifice

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

(1 Peter 2:5)

 

Peter is telling us that we are like stones being used in he construction of a great building – a temple for the Lord. That temple is the church of Jesus Christ, and we are being built into it. Like building stones we are meant to fit together to make a secure wall. The stones have to fit in alongside one another. They are carefully cut and finished off so that they will all form a strong structure. But as someone has once said: building up the Church is rather like building with bananas! You can’t get them to fit together. They slide over one another. Let us allow the Lord to work in our lives – to finish us off so that we fit together in the wall of his holy Temple.

Peter, who wrote these words was himself called a stone or rock – for that is what the name Peter means. Jesus said his church would be based on the foundation of the same kind of faith Peter had when he announced that Jesus was indeed the Son of the Living God.

Later in this passage Peter also speaks of another stone:

3) A stone can become a cornerstone

For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,

a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and the one who trusts in him

will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. (1Peter 2:6-8)

These are words quoted by Peter from the Psalms. The cornerstone is the keystone of the building. Everything depends on that stone. Without the cornerstone being in place the whole building falls apart. In the same way Christ is central to his Church – without Christ there is no Church. Now this may seem to be obvious but it is surprising how often people forget this truth. They try to build the Church without Christ – just turning it into a social club or voluntary organization where people go to do good works. Without the preaching of Christ as Saviour of the world the Church is nothing. He is the Keystone.

But that stone is often rejected, Peter says. Jesus was rejected by the Pharisees and other religious leaders of his day. And yet now he is risen – triumphant as Lord of all. “And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Peter also says that for some people Jesus is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. He was a stone of stumbling to the Pharisees who would not accept this teaching. They could not accept he fact that he welcomed sinners into God’s Kingdom. They rejected Christ and trusted instead in their own self-righteousness. He was a stumbling block to them.

Let us make sure that he will never be a stumbling-block to us.

4) Stones can be used as weapons to execute justice

The Law of Moses prescribed stoning for a number of offences, including adultery. On one occasion the scribes and Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman caught in the very act of adultery and asked what should be done. ( Interesting that they caught the man and woman together but only brought the woman to be punished!) Jesus said, Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone. And when they all retired, shamefaced, he said “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”(John 7:53-8:11)

 

According to the Law, stones were to be used to execute justice on those deemed worthy of death. But Jesus came with forgiveness and grace for the repentant sinner. He did not condemn the woman but neither did he condone – he told her her to sin no more. How precious is this truth to us. The Law condemns but the grace of Jesus saves us from the curse of the Law. Without this grace there would be no hope for any of us – not just the obvious sinners.

It was because Jesus died on the cross that he is able to offer us this grace. On the Cross of Calvary he took upon himself our sins and suffered the punishment we deserved. Through his death we are freed from our sins and their consequences. We shall not face the judgement of the Law.

5) A stone can be rolled away to reveal the ultimate victory.

On the day Jesus rose from the dead the women went down to his tomb to anoint his body with spices. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb and the body of Jesus gone. Angels proclaimed to them that Christ was risen. And so the victory was revealed. A removed stone testified to the Risen Christ! As we go through Holy Week we quite rightly concentrate on the suffering and death of Jesus. This is especially true on Good Friday. We think about how Jesus died as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. But all throughout this week we must not forget the final victory. Good Friday is “good” because of Easter Day.His raising from the dead sets the seal on all that he did for us on the cross.

Conclusion

· stones can praise God, and we should praise God.

· Stones can build a temple to the Lord, and we are called as living stones to be built into that temple, which is the Church of God.

· A stone can be the corner- or key-stone. And Jesus is that cornerstone. May he never be a stumbling-block to us. May we wholeheartedly trust in him.

· Stones can be the means of executing the sentence of the Law upon the sinner. But Jesus died so that we might not be under Law, but under grace.

· A stone was rolled away when Jesus rose from the dead, triumphant over sin and death.May we all share in his victory.

O come! Emmanuel

(A sermon preached at the Brecon Presbyterian Church,  Advent Sunday 2012)

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

This hymn is based on the ancient Advent Antiphons which were first chanted by monks in the ninth century. The mournful yet beautiful tune is from the 15th century and the words as we know them were translated into English by John Mason Neal in the nineteenth century.

As I said, it’s a mournful tune, and if you sing it too slowly it can be a bit of a dirge. And yet as every stanza ends it breaks out into that wonderful expression of praise: “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”

I felt we just had to sing it today as I am going to talk abut the words of this hymn. These words are based on ancient Messianic scriptures. They are all from the Old Testament and speak of the coming of the Messiah. The hymn says Israel should rejoice because the Messiah is going to come. As Christians we know he has come, and we celebrate his Advent, his coming, particularly at this time of the year, just before Christmas.

When we think about Advent it is worth remembering that there are two Advents or Comings of Jesus. The First Advent was 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. The Second Advent will be when Jesus returns in the Day of Judgement. By his First Advent he brought redemption and forgiveness into the world. He made it possible for us to know God’s love. At his Second Advent he will come with power to establish his Kingdom in all its fullness.

Emmanuel

So who, or what, is Emmanuel? It is a title of the Messiah. “Emmanuel” is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Immanuel”, which means “God with us”. We find it in Isaiah chapter seven:

The Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

 

In other words: God will come into the world in human form. Yes, since Christ has come we can know the presence of God in our lives. “God with us”.

The Jews had been in exile in Babylon and even after their return from exile they were under the power of various other nations: the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. But they were also in a spiritual bondage or exile. God seemed far away, however hard they tied to keep his laws. Then Jesus came, as Immanuel, to put that situation right.

Lord of might

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,

In ancient times did’st give the Law,

In cloud, and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

God, the Lord of Might, gave his laws to his people on Mount Sinai. But the hymn says that Emmanuel is the Lord of Might. Now we are talking about Jehovah here – Yahweh, because Jesus is the same as Jehovah. He is not just a man who lived in Israel, but God in human form. That’s why the first Christian creed was simply the statement “Jesus is Lord”. (“Lord” is the word used in the English Bible for Jehovah or Yahweh.) When we say “Jesus is Lord” we are saying “Jesus is God, the Lord of the Universe. And we worship him as divine.

Rod of Jesse

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny

From depths of Hell Thy people save

And give them victory o’er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Isaiah speaks of the “stump” or “root” of Jesse. Jesse was an ancestor of Jesus, the father of King David. Isaiah predicted that a branch would rise from the “stump of Jesse” – one of his descendents would rise up to do great things. (Think of a tree which has been chopped down putting out new branches from the stump.) That branch which will arise from Jesse will be a rod to strike down all God’s enemies. And he will bring God’s salvation to his people.

With righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

(Isaiah 11:4)

So our hymn says Emmanuel will strike at the power of Satan, save his people from hell and bring victory over the grave. And that’s just what Jesus did. He died on the cross to defeat Satan, to save us from our sins and he rose again to overcome the power of death.

Dayspring from on high

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

This comes from the song of Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) in Luke 1:78-79.

Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (KJV)

“Dayspring” is an old English word meaning “the dawn, the rising of the Sun” and that’s how it is translated in new translations. But I like the word “dayspring”. It speaks of the moment the Sun come up from beneath the horizon, the moment when the day springs into action. (We have the same idea in the seasons when we talk about the Spring time, which was originally the “springing of the year”.)

Jesus is the Dayspring from on high, the Rising Sun from heaven, who shines his light on those living in darkness. He puts death’s dark shadows to flight. He cheers our hearts by his coming into this world, for the world is a very dark place – sin and ignorance are found everywhere. But Jesus is the Light of the World. As John says, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). The candles of Advent and the lights of Christmas symbolise for us the light of Christ. His light shines into our lives and dispels the darkness.

Key of David

O come, Thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

You may well ask, “What is the Key of David?” Well, there is a rather obscure passage in Isaiah which speaks of this key:

I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. (Isaiah 22:22)

This is about Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was appointed by God to take over the running of the royal household of Judah. As steward of the palace he would have had the key they opened every door in the building. He was the one who controlled access to every part of the royal precincts.

Now in the Book of Revelation this phrase is applied to Jesus Christ himself. He himself holds the the key of he House of David. The Risen Lord says to the church at Philadelphia :

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. (Revelation 3:7)

These words tell us of Christ’s power to open and to shut, to provide or prevent opportunities and to decide the eternal fate of individuals.

So our hymn writer says Emmanuel opens the door to heaven and shuts the door that leads to eternal misery (for all those who believe in him). And we can take comfort and assurance from these words if we trust in Christ, then we have eternal life, John tells us (John 3:36). We can have assurance and confidence we shall eventually go to our heavenly home.

Conclusion

“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee,”

– he comes as Lord and God to be worshipped and adored

– he comes as Rod of Jesse to strike the forces of evil

– he comes as Dayspring from on high to pour his light upon us

– he comes as Key of David to open the gate of the heavenly kingdom to all who believe in him.

“Rejoice!”

.

Remembrance Sunday 2012

(A Remembrance Sunday service of worship for all ages,at the Brecon Presbyterian church)

Talk (A)

About the sacrifices made by so many.

Talk (B)

Do you know what an acrostic is? It’s when you take a word and use all the letters to stand for other words. Remembrance Sunday is a day when we think about war and all the things that people suffer in time of war. But it is also a day when we pray for peace.

So let’s make an acrostic from the word PEACE:

P stands for PAUSE

On this day we pause for a two minute silence. We stop what we are doing and we remember those who died, or were injured, or who lost their loved ones in times of war and conflict. These people suffered and died so we could have freedom and peace. So we pause to remember.

Something else we do is PRAY.We pray for peace in our time. We pray for those who are trying to keep peace in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan. And for those who try to bring together warring parties to the negotiating table. Just after the Second World War someone said to Winston Churchill, “All these peace talks with the Communists are getting us nowhere. It’s just all jaw, jaw, jaw. Churchill replied, “to jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.”

But much better than talking is praying. Because prayer really does make a difference in our world. The end of Apartheid in South Africa and the bringing down of the Berlin Wall were both brought about by prayer as much as by campaigning. Faithful men and women of prayer had prayed for decades about those who situations. And in the 1990s their prayers were answered.

E stands for ENEMIES

Enemies are people who hate you or people opposed to you. But they don’t have to be people you hate – even when you have to oppose them.

Jesus said

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

(Matthew 5:43-45)

In war we have to fight. In the last war he had to fight the Germans because we did not want to be taken over by Nazism. We had to fight for our freedom. That should have been our motive for fighting the Germans – not because we hated them.

In everyday life too we can find enemies – people who don’t like us, people who are hostile to us or people who bully others. How should we treat them? Jesus said we should “turn the other cheek”. I don’t think that means not standing up to bullies and not speaking out against evil. But the best thing we can do, Jesus tells us, is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. However much we may find it difficult to like a person, we can always pray for them. We can pray that they will have a change of heart, that they will come to know Jesus. Even the most obnoxious people are still human beings, made in the image of God. They are people for whom Jesus died and we should pray for them.

Saul of Tarsus was an obnoxious man. He went about arresting and punishing the followers of Jesus. But the followers of Jesus were praying for Saul, and one day he changed. He met with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus and he saw the error of his ways. After Saul was converted he became known as Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Pray for your enemies. Do you do that?

Talk (C)

Continuing with our acrostic:

A stands for ACT

Prayer is powerful, but we have to act also. And it’s not enough just to talk about peace – we have to be peace-makers. Jesus said:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

You’ve actually got to make peace. It doesn’t just come about by itself. Well what does this mean in everyday life – to be a peace maker? It means that we seek to be at peace with the people around us. We ought to go out of our way to be friendly and to help others. We should be very willing to forgive their mistakes and to show mercy when they do the wrong thing. We should refrain from judging them. We should be willing to forgive, over and over again.

Paul writes:

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

Sometimes we can’t be at peace with someone because the other person won’t allow it. They won’t be at peace with us, they make themselves our enemy. But, as far as it lies within us, we must be at peace with others.

And that is true of nations too. Before the Second World War we did everything possible to negotiate with Hitler – perhaps we went too far. But the time came when we could go no further, and we had to go to war. Hitler wanted to take over the whole of Europe. If he had taken over Britain, then all Jews in this country would have been killed. Children with learning disabilities would also have been killed and all with severe physical disabilities. Now, we did not want to live in that kind of country, so we fought against the Nazis. We wanted to live in peace, but we were forced by Hitler to go to war.

C stands for CHRIST

This way of peace and love we are talking about is the way Jesus taught us to live. And he lived that way himself. He showed the way of peace in his life. His was the way of forgiveness, love and mercy.

In the end, he died on the Cross. So C also stands for CROSS

But that was the greatest example of peace-making ever.Even as he was being nailed to the Cross Jesus prayed for those who were doing it. By his death on the Cross we believe Jesus made it possible for us to be at peace with God. He took our sins upon himself.

E stands for ETERNITY

Yes, Jesus made it possible for us to have eternal life. This peace with God is something what brings joy in this life, but it is also so powerful that it goes on for ever. Even death can not overcome it! If we believe in Jesus, if we are sorry for our wrongdoing, if we open our lives to Jesus, we shall be with him for all eternity. In his Heavenly Kingdom there will be no more war, no strife, no killing, no torture, no injuries, no harsh words, no bitter hatred. There every one will be at peace, former enemies will be reconciled and peace joy and love will reign for ever and ever.

Philip and the Ethiopian

Acts 8:26-40

Introduction

Last week we looked at Isaiah’s Song of the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53) and we saw how, in the book of Acts, Philip used it to explain the Gospel to an important Ethiopian official. This week I would like us to look in a little more detail at that incident in Acts 8:26-40.

It’s an important chapter, for it tells of the first time the Gospel was preached to non-Jews, and also the first outreach to an African.

Philip was one of the seven men who were chosen to help the Apostles in the administrative work of feeding the poor. They were known as Deacons and all seven of them had Greek names – indicating that they probably were Greek-speaking Jews. Of the seven Deacons two of them showed a great gift for evangelism. They went far beyond the task of serving at tables. One was Stephen, who became the first martyr, and the other was Philip. Philip had great success preaching the Gospel in the Samaritan villages. Yes, the Gospel was spreading outward. It had first come to the Hebrew-speaking Jews, then to the Greek-speaking Jews, and now to the Samaritans (who were regarded as being only half-Jewish. Next it will break out of Judaism altogether and be preached to the Gentiles.

To help the story come alive to us I am going to retell it from the perspective of the Ethiopian official. According to a tradition of the Ethiopian church his name was Bachos, so that’s what we shall call him. He is described as a man from Ethiopia or Kush, which at that time referred to Nubia in the Upper Nile region. (It may not be the same area as modern Ethiopia. But we will leave the scholars to argue about that and just look at the story.)

Bachos’s story

My name it Bachos and I was a very important official in the court of the Queen Kandace. (Kandace was not her name – it is a title, rather like “Pharaoh”.) She was the mother of the King. Now the King was supposed to be a son of the Sun god and was worshipped and venerated. He did not do anything except sit around being worshipped so it fell to the Queen Mother, the Kandace, to actually run the kingdom. I was her royal Treasurer. I was responsible for all the finances of the Queen, that is to say: the finances of the whole country. You would call me the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain to day.

When I was a young boy I was chosen to become a eunuch, to serve the Queen in her court. It was a great honour but it was also a traumatic time for me. To undergo the cruel operation and to be taken away from my mother and father. But by God’s help I rose above my sorrows. And I also rose in the estimation of the Queen. When she saw my energy and skill she made sure I was well educated, and when I was an adult she appointed me to positions of power in her household. So I rose higher and higher until I eventually became her Treasurer.

Now, as I said before, we Nubians worship the Sun god and also the Moon and Stars and many other gods. But I was never happy with that. I always felt there must be a higher God, a Creator who had made the Sun, Moon and stars. So I made contact with some Jews in our land. (There were quite a few of them living in our midst. Some said they had been there since the days of King Solomon.) I spoke to these Jews and I found out all about their beliefs. And I found myself drawn to the God of Israel – the one true God, the God of justice and mercy, the God who had given such wise laws to his people the Jews. He was the one I wanted to worship – not the Sun or Moon.

The God of Israel

Then I made myself familiar with the Jewish scriptures – I told you I had been well educated. I studied the law of Moses, and the Psalms and Wisdom Literature and the writings of the Prophets. The prophet Isaiah especially spoke to me, for he talked of a Redeemer who would bring salvation. I felt a great need for such a mediator between myself and God, for I was very much aware of my sins. Now don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t a bad man, not a criminal. I was honest in my stewardship of the Queen’s money. No, but when I thought about the holiness of God I became aware of my own sin. I was aware of selfishness in my soul. I knew I didn’t love the Lord my God with all my heart and soul and every fibre of my being. And I knew I did not love my neighbour as myself. If only there was someone who could act as mediator between us and God and take away our sins! And Isaiah spoke of such a person – the mysterious Servant of the Lord who suffers for the sins of the nation. I was fascinated by this figure.

But the God I believed in, the God of Israel, seemed so distant. He had made me in his own image and I wanted to know him, but he was so far off.

So I made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, the God of Israel. Surely at the Temple in Jerusalem I would get closer to God. I made a long journey of hundreds of miles on desert roads. Of course I took with me my retinue of servants with horses, chariot and wagons.

What a privilege it was to stand in the outer court of the Temple in Jerusalem and worship the God of Israel. But it was also, in some sense, a disappointment – for God still seemed distant. I felt no nearer to him in Jerusalem than at home.

Isaiah’s words

And so I set off back home to Ethiopia. I travelled the desert road from Jerusalem, and as I went along in my chariot I read the Scriptures out aloud. I was reading that passage in the Scroll of Isaiah about the Suffering Servant and trying to get to grips with it.

Suddenly I was aware of someone running alongside my chariot! Where he had come from, I could not tell. You just don’t expect to meet people on that desert road. And you certainly don’t expect them to come running up behind your chariot! He told me later his name was Philip and that an angel had told him to take this road. And then the Holy Spirit had told him to run up to me! It all seemed a bit far-fetched, but I didn’t think so afterwards, in the light of what happened.

Anyway, he said to me “Do you understand what you are reading?”

“How can I understand, unless someone explains it to me?” I said, “Climb up here and sit with me in the chariot – can you explain what it means?”

This is the passage of Scripture I was reading:

‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.’

(Acts 8:32-33)

I said, “Who is the prophet talking about? He can’t be speaking of himself can he? Is he speaking of someone else? Is he speaking of the Messiah?”

“Yes,” said Philip, “He is speaking of the Messiah.” Then he began to open my eyes about this passage. He told me about Jesus of Nazareth, and all the things he had done. He told me of his sufferings and death, and of his resurrection. I saw how Jesus had fulfilled all the things prophecies of him by Isaiah – including his death to take away our sins. As I heard his words I felt a great burden fall off me. “This is what I need,” I said, “This Jesus. I need a Saviour, and he is the one.” Yes, I came to believe in Jesus and to open my heart to him, the Living Lord. As the hours passed by on our journey we shared together the riches of God’s word and my heart filled with joy. Then we came to an oasis and there was a beautiful pool of clear water.

“What’s to stop me from being baptized?” I said.

“Yes,” said Philip, “If you believe with all your heart you may be baptized.”

I said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!”

So we stopped the chariot and went down into the pool, and Philip baptized me. As I came up out of the water I felt a deep peace of heart. I felt my prayers were answered. I really did know God now. He was my Father.

I looked up to speak to Philip – and he was gone! I asked my attendants her he had gone but no one had seen him go. It was unaccountable. Just as he had seemed to come from nowhere, now he just seemed to disappear. Later I heard that he had been seen about forty miles away, near the town of Azotus, not long after the time he had been with me. The only way people could account for it was that the Holy Spirit had transported him bodily all that distance. I heard that he went on from there, preaching the Gospel in all the towns.

As for me, I went on my way rejoicing. I returned to my country with the Good News of Jesus.

And so we have the story of the very first mission to Africa. I have used my own imagination to portay what I think his thoughts might have been. You may not agree with me and I am not claiming any special insight into the mind of the Ethiopian. According to tradition Bachos became the founder of the Church in Ethiopia and there might be truth in this tradition.

Conclusion: lessons for us

So what do we learn? Well I can see four lessons, at least. We can learn:

– About seeking God

If people want to find God, they will find him. “Seek and you shall find,” Jesus said. Whatever their background, they will find God if they are really seeking him. This man went to the right place to find God. He went to the Jews – God’s people, and to Jerusalem – God’s Holy City. And he searched the Scriptures – God’s word. He read the Old Testament and he was pointed in the right direction. But it took the personal testimony of Philip to bring him to Jesus. And this is often true: most people are not converted just by reading the Bible. It is usually through the influence of a friend who has invited them to come to a meeting. Why not invite your friends to come to Church? Who knows what might happen!

– About knowing God

From Isaiah, chapter 53, we see it’s all about our relationship with God. The people needed a Saviour, a Suffering Servant, who would restore their relationship with God. It’s all about trusting in the One who was made an offering for sin – Jesus Christ. From the words of the Ethiopian we see that it’s also about believing in Jesus as God’s Son. “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” We too need to come to God through Jesus his Son.

– About sharing the faith

There is no such thing as a private Christian. The Ethiopian shared his faith. In front of all his servants he confessed his faith in Christ and was baptized as a public sign of that faith. He then went back home to bring the Gospel to his people. We also should confess Christ before the world.

– About obedience

Philip was a man who allowed God to guide him, a man who obeyed God. As a result he did amazing work as an evangelist. It must have seemed a strange thing to go down the desert road to Gaza. He could have said to the angel, “No, I don’t see the point in that – there’s no one living down there.” And when the Holy Spirit directed him to run up to the chariot of a complete stranger, a foreign dignitary, surrounded by his retinue? Well that was ridiculous! And this was a man of a different race, and colour, and culture. He was Gentile, for heaven’s sake! He was an African. Wasn’t the Gospel just for Jews and Samaritans – the sons of Israel? But Philip didn’t argue this way with the Holy Spirit. He believed that God knew best, and he did what was asked of him. We also can learn from his obedience.

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Fishers of Men

(Brecon Presbyterian Church Banner January 2012)

 

“Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19)

I used to go fishing when I lived in North Wales – sea fishing. I was never very serious about it, but I did occasionally cast a line from the shore at Prestatyn or from the pier at Llandudno. I didn’t catch much: an eel on one occasion and a dogfish on another. (The cat enjoyed eating that!) Usually I caught nothing – I only did it as relaxation and I was not really single-minded enough about it. Because catching fish requires dedication and single-mindedness.

The first disciples of Jesus knew this all too well. It’s interesting to note that over half of the Twelve Apostles were fishermen. Peter, Andrew, James, John, Thomas and Nathaniel, they were all fishermen. And Philip also probably was one too. He came from the fishing village of Bethsaida whose name means “house of fishing”.

For these men fishing was no hobby. It was their very livelihood. If they didn’t catch fish they couldn’t put food on the table for their families. It was a matter of life and death for them.

But one day Jesus came and invited them to follow him. He wanted them to stop being fishermen and to live by faith and become “fishers of men”. Instead of seeking for shoals of fish they were going to seek souls of men and women. They were going to spread the Good News of the kingdom of Jesus and urge others to follow him.

These Apostles were to learn that being “fishers of men” required just as much dedication and patience as being fishermen. It was no hobby or sport. It was just as much a matter of life and death as fishing had been. (Only spiritual life and death rather than physical.)

For we also, if we are indeed true followers of Jesus, are called to become “fishers of men”. And for us also, our faith should be a life-style, rather than a hobby.

Those first disciples would have found their previous experience of fishing to be of great benefit in the task of winning people to Christ. We too, as disciples, can learn from the fisherman.

We can learn at least three lessons:

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1) To be a good fisherman you need to be in the right place

I remember spending many fruitless hours fishing, without a single bite. I was obviously in the wrong place. There were fish in the sea, but they were not where I was. They were probably down the other end of he beach. Now a good fisherman knows how to recognize the signs. They know about currents and tides, and the habits of the fish. They know where to expect to find them. They look at the sea birds and learn from them – where the birds are fishing, that’s where the fish will be.

And we need to be in the right place too. We need to go out to win people for Christ. We need to be where they are. Jesus didn’t just sit in the Synagogue and tell people about God. He went out into the streets, the market places, the taverns and the open country.

All too often, in the Church, we are fishing in our own pool. It’s a very nice pool: very comfortable, plenty of fish in it ( most of which have been caught previously). In other words: we are preaching to the converted. We have to realize that less than ten percent of the population of Wales attend church regularly. The other ninety percent or so hardly ever darken the doors of a place of worship. They remain largely untouched by the Christian message.

So we must launch out into the deep water and cast our nets. We can cast them in many places: at work, in the shops, in the pubs – everywhere. (This Christmas we went and sang some Christmas Carols in the pub across the road. I hope no one thought that was an inappropriate thing to do. We didn’t, of course, preach to them there. But they knew we are Christians and we sang Christian words.)

It’s not a hobby, this fishing for men and women. If the Church does not ‘fish’ it will die out. It is a matter of life and death.

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2) To be a good fisherman you need to have the right bait

The disciples knew this. Usually they fished with nets, either from a boat with a drag net or with a single man standing up to his waist in water and throwing a small weighted net out in front of him.

Sometimes, however, they would fish with a hook. For this you needed a hook, a line, a stone to act as a weight and a good strong arm to cast it out! (Nowadays we use a rod to make the casting more efficient.) But all these things are useless without bait, or some kind of lure. If you are a coarse fisherman you use a worm or a maggot. If you are a sea fisherman you use a strip of fish or a lugworm or an artificial lure. If you are a game fisherman you use a skillfully constructed artificial fly. Whatever you do you must have something to attract the fish.

Many times I have reeled in my line only to find the bait has gone – small crabs have stripped it of the hook before the fishes could even get to it. Well, it’s not much use fishing without bait!

Also you need to know which kind of bait to use for the the fish you want to catch. A sea fisherman would never use an earthworm or maggot – the sea fish would not be interested in them.

And so, in “fishing for men”, in seeking to win people for Christ and the Kingdom of God, the “bait” is vitally important. But what is the right “bait” to use? Some think it is a good thing to lure people within the walls of the church by means of all kinds of entertainments and social activities. Now I’m not against entertainment and social activities. They do have their place in the life of the church and they may provide some social contact with people. Without social contact and friendship we will never be in a position to win people over to Christ.

But in itself entertainment and the like will not draw people to Christ. They’ll come and join in our social activities, but they won’t come to worship. They won’t become followers of Jesus. The social actives of a church are like ground bait which you disperse through the water to attract a shoal of fish. But you won’t catch any of them unless they actually bite the hook. And they won’t bite the hook unless it is baited.

So how are people drawn to Christ? Jesus said on one occasion:

I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.   (John 12:32-33)

“I will draw all men to myself “ – it is Jesus himself who will draw them. More specifically it is by his sufferings on the Cross he will draw them. Our message is Christ crucified as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. That is the only message which will draw them to Christ himself – that is the “bait”. The thought of him dying and suffering for us is what moves our hard hearts. The love shown at Calvary is what draws people to Jesus into God’s Kingdom.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)

Yes, the Gospel which saves people is the message of Jesus – firstly his Death, then his Resurrection, Ascension and Return. Without this message we are fishing without bait and wasting our time.

And of course that message has to be backed up by our lives. We need to demonstrate the love of Christ. We have to know the Gospel but we also have to show the Gospel. We have to be able to explain our faith and to demonstrate it in our lives.

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3) To be a good fisherman you need to be sensitive and alert

I went boat fishing once. Most of us in the boat were catching nothing. You would think there were no fish in the water, except that one man was just reeling them in! He was far more experienced than we were. He was sensitive to the bites. When he felt a tug on his line, then he immediately reeled in. As for us: fishes were nibbling away at our baits and we didn’t even notice it! We were missing opportunities because we were not sensitive and alert.

In a similar way we, as “fishers of men”, can be insensitive to the needs of people. Maybe we can be unaware of their interest in spiritual things. Sometimes these “fish” are nibbling the bait without us being aware. They are seeking, but they are too shy to actually take the bait. They will not come straight out and say, “I want to be a Christian,” or “I want to find the meaning of life,” or “I want to know peace with God”. Now, if we are insensitive we can scare them off. It is possible to be so concerned with the task of keeping the church open that we do not see the needs around us. Or we can be so concerned with our own individual needs that we we don’t see spiritual need when it faces us in other people. So these “fish” are put off. They swim off elsewhere, and maybe get hooked by false religions such as Spiritualism or Mormonism.

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Conclusion

You need to fish in the right place, you need to have the right bait, you need to be alert and to exercise patience and endurance.

The Disciples knew that fishing was a hard life. And Jesus did not promise that it would be any easier fishing for men. As fishermen, many times they had fished all night and caught nothing. But they had never given up. Eventually their patience had been rewarded.

And it was just the same when they became “fishers of men”  -preaching the Gospel. It will be the same for us too.

Remember how the Disciples experienced the miracle of the great catch of fishes? on Lake Galilee Let us pray that there might be such a miraculous “ingathering” into God’s net in our day. The Church and the Nation desperately need a spiritual revival.

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The Peace Child

A Family Service at the Brecon Presbyterian Church on 11th. September 2011

 (The talk given below was broken up into sections and various visual aids were used.)

 Introduction

Today is 9/11, the11th. of  September, and ten years ago there was the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, with all that terrible loss of life.

Today we’re going to think about how sin and hatred has brought violence into the world, and what God has done about it in sending his Son Jesus into the world.

The Peace Child

 Headline in the Daily Telegraph August 25, 2011

 “TRIBAL FEUD RESOLVED BY SWAPPING CHILDREN”

 On the tiny Pacific island of Tanna a feud has been raging for 27 years between two tribes. Things got so bad that tribal chiefs have revived a 200-year-old custom.

Both tribes will give a child to the other tribe to become a member of that tribe. They will hold a ceremony in which the children will be exchanged. A girl, aged seven, will be taken to the other tribe and welcomed by all the people. They will all file past and shake hands with her. Then a boy will be presented by the other tribe and the ceremony repeated. For the time being the children will continue to live with their parents and family. But eventually they will leave and make a new life in the other tribe.

This might seem to be a barbaric custom but it actually is a very sophisticated way of bringing peace between two groups. The Peace Children – the children exchanged – are a symbol of the unity and a link between the two tribes. Each child keeps its link with its own original family while also becoming a part of a new family. So the feud is done away with because the other tribe is now “family”.

I think it’s a great idea, and it reminds me of what God has done for us in giving Jesus to live among us. He was born to be the Peace Child between God and human beings.

 Reading: Ephesians 2:12-19, from the Message:

 “ It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.

The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. ”

In Jesus Christ, God has brought together the Jews and the non-Jews – for Jesus died for all of us.

 The Sawi

When I read of the two tribes in the newspaper the other day it reminded me of a book I read more than 30 years ago. The book is called the Peace Child and was written by Don Richardson. Richardson was a missionary in Western New Guinea, among the people of the Sawi tribe. They were wild people and had a reputation for being both cannibals and head-hunters.

Richardson and his wife went to actually live among the Sawi people. They were the only non-Sawi people there. At first they spent a lot of time learning the language and gaining the respect of the people of the tribe. And then they tried to tell them about Jesus.

But these people had very strange ideas. In their culture they respected the strong man who was able to lie and cheat, and get the better of his enemies by his cleverness. A man who betrayed his friend was a hero if he gained power by his action.

When Don Richardson told the story of Jesus being betrayed by Judas, the people of the Sawi tribe took it the wrong way. To them Judas was the hero of the story and Jesus was just a fool!

 A breakthough

The Richardsons were considering leaving the area because they were getting nowhere with the Sawi tribe. And the Sawi were always fighting. Three villages were constantly fighting one another. Men were being killed all the time.

And then something happened. The Sawi didn’t want the Richardsons to leave, so they decided to make peace between the three villages. They used the custom of the Peace Child, very similar to the one used by the people of Tanna.

Young children were exchanged between the warring villages. One man actually walked over to his enemies’ camp and handed his son over to his hated foe. If a man would actually give his son to his enemies, then that man could be trusted and there would be peace between the two groups.

When Don Richardson saw this it was a revelation to him. He realized he would be able to explain what God has done for us sending Jesus into the world. the concept of the Peace Child gave a way of explaining the Gospel that the Sawi could understand.

  Visual Aid

Text:

GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS SON (John 3:16)

 ( The text was built up on a board with a paint brush and poster paints using “ladder writing”. This is a technique involving forming letters in the squares between the rungs of a ladder. Each square is converted into a letter by the addition of a blob or two of paint. It is a very quick method of building up lettering and usually keeps the audience fascinated!)

Jesus was born into our world and lived as one of us. He took human form, and so is truly human. At the same time he is truly divine. He he is like a bridge between us and God.

Visual Aid

(Using a paint brush a diagram was quickly built up. GOD and US are shown at opposite side of a ravine. The word SIN is written in the gulf between the two. A bridge is drawn between GOD and US, and the name JESUS is written on it. All this was done fairly quickly with paint brushes and poster paint.)

Jesus is the Peace Child who made it possible for us to come into God’s family. When he died on the cross he removed the barrier of sin between us and God. He made it possible for us to come into God’s family. He is our Brother, and God is our Father. And he also broke down the wall of hostility between Jews and non-Jews. And between all other warring groups of people. If someone believes in Jesus then that person is my brother or sister, because God is our Father.

As it says in the hymn:

Join hands, then, brothers of the faith,  Whate’er your race may be!

Who serves my Father as a son  Is surely kin to me.

 (John Oxenham)

Conclusion

Ten years ago today al-Qa’ida, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, attacked the Twin Towers killing hundreds of people. And now, ten years on, the world is still full of violence, even though Bin Laden is dead. We humans can’t fight terrorism or stop violence and war in our own strength. But Jesus has made it possible for peace to prevail on earth. He can change the human heart and remove the hatred that is there.

This is what Don Richardson found with the Sawi tribe. Richardson was able to use the custom of the Peace Child as a way of explaining what God has done for us. He sent his Son into the world to be the Peace Child, but we rejected him and killed him. Through his death, however, he brought salvation and peace. When the Sawi people heard this they were able to understand what Jesus had done for them. They turned to Christ in large numbers and they gave up their violent ways and lived in peace with their former enemies.

[this sermon was reused on Remembrance Sunday, 12th. November 2017, as an appropriate reflection on how Jesus is the answer to the problem of war and hatred.]

Passion

Introduction

It’s not often you hear a sermon inspired by a yoghurt carton! The other day I was enjoying a yoghurt when I read what it said on the carton: “Passion Fruit and Peach Yoghurt”. That started me thinking about passion fruit, passion flowers and about the word passion itself. Today people tend to assume passion fruit has something to do with romantic love and sexual desire. Some even think it might be an aphrodisiac! ( In fact it has nothing to do with sex – it is rather about the Passion of Christ. I will explain that in a minute.)

In Latin the word “Passio” simply means suffering. But in the English language the word passion has come to have a variety of other meanings. According to the dictionary there are six meanings:

1. intense or uncontrollable feeling

2. an outbreak of anger

3. ardent affection, love

4. strong liking or interest

5. strong sexual desire

and finally:

6. the sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and his death.

It is this last meaning we intend when we talk about Passion Sunday – a Sunday set aside to think of the sufferings of Jesus before we get on to celebrating the Resurrection at Easter.

The Passion of the Christ

In his film The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson presents a particularly gory and blood-splattered version of the Passion story. I would not recommend this film as I think Gibson has let his imagination run away with him. He has gone far beyond the Biblical account in his portrayal of the blood and physical suffering. For example: in the flagellation scene, I seem to remember, the courtyard was absolutely splattered with blood. I doubt if that was true in real life.

Maybe Gibson is trying to make us feel the sufferings of Christ by portraying them in this way. He seems to want to make us believe that the physical sufferings of Jesus were worse than those suffered by any man. But I do not think this is true. We know that  many people through the course of history  endured prolonged torture and pain far exceeding that of Jesus (as far as physical pain is concerned). Even the thieves crucified with him suffered more physical pain, as they lasted longer on the cross. (Jesus died before the others did.)

No, it is not necessary for us to believe that the physical sufferings of Jesus were more intense, or more prolonged than those of any other human. It is not an article of our faith. Surely, for us the important thing to remember is his spiritual suffering as he took upon himself the sins of the world. On the cross Jesus experienced a time of dereliction, when he felt God was a million miles away.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” was his cry.

As one modern hymn writer puts it:

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How deep the Father’s love for us, How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss, The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the chosen One, Bring many sons to glory

(How Deep The Father’s Love For Us, Stuart Townend)

The important thing for us is not to concentrate on the blood and physical pain, but rather to meditate and to wonder at the love shown to us by Jesus at his Passion.

The Passion Flower

But where does the Passion Fruit come into all this? The Passion Fruit is simply the fruit of the Passion Flower (Passiflora in Latin). And that flower gets its name from the fact that it was used as a kind of visual aid by Spanish monks in the 16th. century. They didn’t have PowerPoint in those days! Rather they used illustrations from the world of nature. These monks were missionaries in such parts of the world as South America and they used the Passion Flower to tell the story of the sufferings and death of Jesus:

• The pointed tips of the leaves represented the Lance or spear which pierced his side.
• The tendrils represented the whips used to flog him.
• The ten petals and sepals represented the ten faithful Apostles (excluding Judas who betrayed him and Peter who denied him).
• The radial filaments represented the Crown of Thorns.
• The ovary of the plant looks like a chalice and was said to represent the Holy Grail, the cup used at the Last Supper. Or alternatively it looked like the hammer used to drive in the nails.
• The three stigmas represented the three Nails used to crucify Jesus (one for each hand and one for the two feet together).
• The five anthers represented the five Wounds of Christ (two in his hands, two in his feet, and one in his side).
• The blue and white colours of the fewer represented  heaven and purity.

So the Spanish missionary monks used this flower as a visual aid to help people think about Christ’s sufferings and death. Perhaps the next time you see  a Passion Flower you might think of this.

Medicinal

Another interesting fact I have gleaned while looking this up is that the Passion Flower plant contains a number of different medicinal substances.The North American Indians used its leaves and roots as medicine to deaden pain and to sooth the mind. Chemists have extracted pain relieving substances, sedative drugs and antidepressants from the Passion Flower plant. Some researchers are looking into ways of using these in medical treatment.

If we can say that the Passion Flower plant has medicinal properties then the same can be said of he Passion of Christ himself.

Listen to these prophetic words from Isaiah:

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah: 53:4-5 )

By his wounds we are healed.

• The Passion Flower plant contains substances that relieve pain and  the Cross of Christ relieves our pain and brings hope to us in the midst of life’s sorrows and woes.
• The Passion Flower plant contains substances that calm the mind and the Cross of Christ brings us the calm and inner peace of sins forgiven.
• The Passion Flower plant contains substances that lift depression and the Cross of Christ lifts our souls from despair and brings salvation.

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We sing the praise of him who died, Of him who died upon the cross.

The sinner’s hope let all deride; For this we count the world but loss.

Inscribed upon the cross we see In shining letters, “God is love.”

He bears our sins upon the tree; He brings us mercy from above.

The cross! It takes our guilt away; It holds the fainting spirit up;

It cheers with hope the gloomy day And sweetens every bitter cup.

( We Sing the Praise of Him Who Died By Thomas Kelly )

Conclusion

The Passion of Christ may lead us to shed tears. But they must be more than just tears of sympathy for him. They have to be tears of repentance – sorrow that it was our sins that brought him to this point. And then our sorrows are tempered by the realisation that his death, his sacrifice, has brought about our salvation.

It is a sorrowful time of year, this Passiontide, and it is a good thing to think solemnly of Christ’s sufferings and death. But even at the darkest time, on Good Friday, we can not blot out the knowledge that he has conquered sin and death. We know that what Jesus did for us on the Cross was his act of victory. That’s why we call it Good Friday.

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