Mark 11:1-25 Faith that moves mountains

Mark 11:1-25

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And I-uh tell-a you-uh! That whoever-uh beleiveth and claimeth-a in my name-A, and does not doubt, will receive! So stretch out-a your hand-a and claim it in faith-a. Claim-a a that job, claim-a that promotion, claim-a all the greedy little things-a that your heart wants-a because then we will truly know-a that you are a selfish loathsome thing that deserveth HELLFIRE and DAMNATION. Because v23 and 24 are NOT a cure-all to make God do what we want.

Faith that moves mountains has nothing to do with OUR faith and everything to do with the OBJECT of our faith: Jesus.
We can no more will a mountain into the sea than we can fly, or kill someone with a look.

We believeth-a and we claimath-a only that which comes from the mouth of our Lord. He is the King. Check the procession. Praise God in the highest! He is the King, not us. And we are under the King’s authority. And he is not interested in stupid things like promotions and fancy cars.
Jesus is not riding to Jerusalem to climb Golgotha be crucified in agony – so that you-a can claim-a a BMW. It’s so stupid.

What he is interested in, what he is going to Jerusalem for, what people are shouting “Praise God!” for is eternal salvation. Oh, he may well throw in a promotion and a fancy car, this house, much more than we need, for he is a generous God. But those things are rubbish compared to what’s really going on here.

No, Jesus is the King, the Servant King, who has come to do the impossible. And so he will be praised.

1. Praise Jesus, our King

2. Our King Jesus must be obeyed

3. We praise Jesus because he does the impossible

Let’s go!

1. Praise Jesus, our King

7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it. 8 Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!” 11 So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple.

This is a great victory procession. The victorious King riding in to the capital city, praised by his people. Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowds rejoicing and celebrating, shouting 10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!

And what did the blind man “see” in Jesus, in the previous chapter? What did he call him? “Son of David have mercy on me”.

Jesus is the son of David. Now this was a big deal. Because God had promised that one of David’s descendants would rule forever. In 2 Samuel 7, one of the BIG EVENTS in the Bible, God says to King David “2 Sa 7:12–17 I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. 15 But my favour will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’ ”

It’s a massive Messianic promise. And now Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, people shouting “Here’s the son of David”.

Wow. In 1 Kings 1 we read about Solomon, David’s son. He came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Solomon’s reign was the high point of Israel’s history. Israel was at its biggest, strongest, wealthiest. But as great as Solomon was, he sinned against the Lord. His reign ended in a whimper.

But here! Here is the true son of David, of whom the great and mighty king Solomon was only a poor shadow.

Jesus is the true King. This is the King we are looking for, the one we’ve been waiting for. Praise Him with great praise!

But wait, there’s more! Because exactly what Jesus is doing now was foretold 520 years prior by the prophet Zechariah. We know that Jesus is who he says he is because God has already told us what he was going to do.

Zec 9:9 Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.

The context of the prophecy is God will rescue Israel from his enemies. Zec 9:16–17 On that day the LORD their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.

Here comes the King to rescue his people! Can you feel it? Can you feel the excitement, the joy! At last, here He is! The one we have been waiting for for 520 years! Or 1000 years since the promise to David. And at last he is here! Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!”

Praise Jesus, our King.

How much time do we spend in simple praise and adoration of God? How much time do we thank our Father for his love and care. How often do we just say “you are lovely, incredible”? Go take a walk around Tinnemyra and look a the beauty and complexity of his creation and say wow! Think about the gift of salvation and be blown away. Jesus, the King, did this. He came to rescue. And he rescued me. Not because of anything in me but because of His great love. Praise Him! Blessings on the now kingdom of David. Blessed be our King Jesus. Amen!

2. Our King must be obeyed

11 So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples. 12 The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. 14 Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard him say it. 15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices.

Remember how Mark’s Gospel opened?

1:2 Mk 1:2 just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way, - it’s a direct quote from Malachi 3:1. And the verse continues like this: And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his Temple….But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

Malachi promised a day when the Lord himself will come suddenly to his Temple, a sudden day when the sins of Israel will be exposed. Israel’s judgement or evaluation is at hand. The King has arrived. Jesus’ first words of his ministry were in Mark 1:15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

Are you ready? The King is here. The only way to get ready is to repent of your sins. Recognising that what you are doing is wrong – turn away from that and turn to God. Because if not, he will suddenly appear, and you will be found wanting, like many in Israel.

The fig tree was green – it looked good from the outside – all the religious pomp and circumstance is there, all the rituals… but there’s no fruit, no reality, no love for the Lord God. It is a withered, dead tree.

The cursing of the fig tree, with the Temple pronouncement in between, is part of Mark’s “sandwich” structure. We know what the cursing of the tree (the “bread”) means because of the “meat” in the middle: clearing the Temple. The fig tree is Israel. The fig tree is the old religious order. The fig tree symbolizes both the hollow reality behind the imposing religious structure and the unrepentant, fruit-less nation of Israel itself.

The Temple is unfit for receiving the King. The Temple is unfit as a house of prayer for the nations – instead it is a den of robbers. 15 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, 16 and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.

The King has arrived and he is angry! Who can stand against him. Whoever said “Gentle Jesus meek and mild” was a fool. He is utterly righteous, utterly good, and so he will not be mild, cannot be mild. He wages war against our sin! And so Jesus charges in to the Temple, flipping tables, chasing people out! Must’ve been quite a scene. 17 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

And, we might add, a den of murderers – look at v18 When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him.

The old religious order is being exposed. It is death, not life. 20 The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. 21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”

Only Jesus can bring life. Disobey him, and you will, in the end, be cursed. Withered, from the roots up, by your own sin and the sins of others.

The King must be obeyed. Otherwise you will face his anger.

How are you going with obeying him? Are you a Christian? Or are you trying “religion”. Be good, go to church, that kind of thing. He’ll flip your tables! Or are you willing to follow Jesus whatever the cost. Is he your King?

And if you call him King – are you obeying Him? In those secret places where no-one can see – are you obeying Him? Because he can see. The Lord will come suddenly. Are you ready? Am I?

If not, we must repent and turn to Him while there is still time. We’re going to have Communion after this. Use it as a time to get right with the Lord. Confess your sin. Repent. Before it is too late.

Our King Jesus must be obeyed.

3. We praise Jesus, because he does the impossible

22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

Now we see how important CONTEXT is for understanding verses. If someone just quotes this verse to us, what do we think? Well, we think like the disciples did last week – self-glory, when they asked Jesus to sit at his left and right. They ignored his prophecy about his suffering and death. Bah, who cares. We want glory! And we ignore the next verse talking about forgiving people and difficult things like that. And ignore who is saying it. The King. The mighty promised Warrior God coming to his people in power.

And we use these verses to demand things from God. This is a favourite verse of those white-suited salesmen you see on so-called “Christian” television. Peddlers of false religion who sell modern-day indulgences to gullible people. Gullible because they don’t know their Bible, they don’t know the God they profess to love in all his power and might and awesomeness. Who in their right mind would believe that the God of the Bible would do whatever you ask him? Seriously? You? You with all your sin and failings, your rebellion, your shame, your darkness and evil? Ordering God about like he’s your servant, there to bow to the whim of the great <insert your name here>.

What’s the first rule of Bible study? Context.
And the second rule? Context.
And the third? Yes, context!

Because a text without a context is a pretext for a con. And, boy, do these guys con people. They run multi-million dollar enterprises on these cons.

Now maybe you will say “I was blessed by that man (or woman)” “they really helped me to understand this or that about God” or “my aunt was saved after listening to x”. God used a donkey once to bless his people. Doesn’t mean donkeys are holy. God can speak through the mouths of evil men, and he achieves his purposes through his enemies. Doesn’t make them righteous. Donæt be fooled by the braying of donkeys “hee-haw, name it and claim it”.

These verses do not mean “whatever pathetic worldly desire I have right now, I can ask for it and God will do it.” No, you cannot muster up enough “faith” to get a Ferrari, no matter how hard you try.
These verses are talking about something much greater than that. The mountain that Jesus is talking about is the impossibility of men to be saved – particularly here the people of Israel. And if Israel can’t be saved, God’s chosen people, what hope have the rest of us?!
None at all.
But as Jesus stated in the text we looked at two weeks ago “what is impossible with man is possible with God” (10:27). Have faith in God brothers, because the mountain of sin and rebellion against God is about to be dealt with – by Jesus on the cross. Jesus will cast that into the sea, the mountains made low and the valleys raised up for the Lord, a highway in the desert, a highway to the city of our God (Is 40 quoted in Mark 1:3).

So does this mean if we pray a pious prayer, asking God for good things like salvation for our loved ones, that he will answer – must answer? Again, no, because who is God and who isn’t? We know already from Mark that prayer is a declaration of dependence on God, not a list of things for him to do. This has to do with two things: 1. The offer of salvation for everyone. Jesus has made a way for everyone to be saved, he has removed the mountain, but who is saved is not for us to decide. 2. You, me, individually – if we pray for forgiveness, and believe in Jesus, we will be forgiven. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

How do we know that he’s talking about salvation here, and not big houses and fast cars and pretty women? The very next verse, which even begins with the word “But”, clearly a continuation of the same thought - is talking about what? 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
Forgiveness. Being forgiven by the Father. Being accepted. This is the real big deal. Ferraris are rubbish, utter nonsense compared to this. Knowing the Creator – as FATHER. Being forgiven, completely. Accepted. Free. No guilt, no shame. Utter contentment in life no matter your circumstances. Happiness whether you own a Ferrari or a pair of battered shoes with holes in the soles! This is where it’s at. And as we have been treated, we cannot do any less than treat others the same way. We have been forgiven so we can forgive.

This is where it’s at. Let us stand in awe of Jesus as he does the impossible. Lift up your eyes – lift them up and see your saviour king. Lift up your voice and shout Hallelujah (God saves), Hosanna (save now) in the highest! Praise God! For here comes the saviour, the humble Warrior King, the Son of David going to war for his people, a battle that will cost his very life.

Jesus can do the impossible, casting the mountain into the sea, because Jesus is the King. The Servant King.

Jesus is the King. The King who must be obeyed. The King who is not impressed with empty religion. But the King who can move mountains with a tiny bit of faith expressed in this prayer “help me, Jesus, for I am a helpless sinner”. There is power in that verse. Name it and claim it is laughable rubbish compared to this.

See mountains move. Pray that prayer. Help me, Jesus. And watch the power of the King in action.

Isaiah 48-49 God’s surprising plan: His Servant who will save the world.

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Isaiah 48-49

(God saves rebellious sinful people through his servant)

What does 49:26 tell us about God? Does it challenge your view of God? Discuss.

We must allow the Bible to change our view of God. Debby has been meeting with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They may as well have been reading two different books. Every time there’s something that goes against their theology, their idea of God, they just ignore it or explain it away. We must not do that! Otherwise we can end up worshiping an idol – a parody of God. God is bigger than our framework, our idea of him. We need to keep asking the question: “Where do you find it in the text?” We need to learn to read what they Bible actually says, not what we think the Bible says, or what we want the Bible to say.

We need to see ourselves and to see God as the BIBLE describes. Only the Bible is the revealed word of God. Only the Bible is untouched by sin. Only the Bible is God’s word written so that we can know Him.

Do you read your Bible?

My challenge to you is to start reading the Bible every day. If you have kids read it with them. Great way to get started.

Right, let’s jump into these chapters and widen our view of the God that we serve!

1. The sinful idolatrous people of God are disciplined and saved

2. The Lord has saved his people in the past – he can save his people today

3. The Lord saves through his Servant King

1. The sinful idolatrous people of God are disciplined and saved

Is 48 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and born into the family of Judah. Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and call on the God of Israel. You don’t keep your promises, 2 even though you call yourself the holy city and talk about depending on the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Oh, oh, oh. I read these verses and I see myself here! How often do I TALK about depending on the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies – and yet when tested, I run to depend on myself. I shrink back in fear.

I don’t trust that God is in control. I have to keep reminding myself to trust him – and that trust is seen in obedience.

Why didn’t Israel obey the Lord? Why don’t WE obey the Lord?

Because we think he doesn’t see the evil we are doing.
Because we think he’s not in control so we’ve got to help him out (cheating, cutting corners, telling “white” lies)
Because we think His ways are not best – my solution is the best (lying, headship, divorce, porn, disciplining children, etc.)

4 [Our] necks are as unbending as iron. [Our] heads are as hard as bronze.
We stubbornly resist God’s will. We want to do our own will. So much so that we ignore the work of God around us.

5 That is why I told you what would happen; I told you beforehand what I was going to do. Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it. My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’

God does something and we say I did it. We forget to thank God. We don’t praise him. That was Israel. That is us.

So what does God say to his people as they rebel against him?

1. V10 Discipline: I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.

2. V11 Salvation: I will rescue you for my sake— yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!

God’s discipline is often just allowing us to experience the consequences of our decisions. He lets us do what we want! Things do not go well when we rebel against God. When was the last time you sinned and thought “I’m so GLAD I did that.”?

Never!

It always brings pain. God doesn’t tell us to obey him just so he can get thrills – ooh they obey me! He tells us to obey him because that’s how life was created to work. That brings deepest pleasure, deep joy.

17 This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. 18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.

Disobeying God brings pain. It’s like gravity – jump off the roof – ah for a moment it seems like you’re free from gravity, no consequences for disobeying gravity. Then crunch. We understand this physically. But it is the same morally and spiritually.

And some of us are slow learners, we need to be refined in the fire of suffering. Anyone here who finds they tend to disobey and need to be refined in the fire of suffering? Or am I the only one?!

When we rebel against God we experience his discipline. But if we are his people, we also experience salvation.

V11 God says I will rescue you. That in itself is amazing. But look at the reason he gives. Look at v11. What’s the reason? Because you’ve tried really hard… no. Because you’ve really had faith. No. Because you’ve turned over a new leaf and been really good. No. Because you live in Norway, the luckiest country in the world… no. for my sake (says the Lord in v11)— yes, for my own sake!

That gives us great confidence doesn’t it? Because our salvation like Israel’s salvation is not dependant on us. It is mercy from God, based on God, for God’s sake. It is not dependant on us. In fact it has very little to do with us. We just get blessed. Wow.

And this mercy runs through our whole life. So if you’re sitting here this morning knowing that you have sinned against God.... that would be all of us to varying degrees. If you’ve sinned against God know that you can be forgiven. No matter what you’ve done, no matter if you’ve even rejected the Lord again and again. You might have been acting towards God with a head of bronze – hard, stupid. And God can forgive you. Why? Because it’s not for your sake, based on what you have done. It is for God’s sake, for his glory, based on Him. So be confident that he can save.

The sinful idolatrous people of God are disciplined and saved. And that salvation we can depend on, because the Lord is powerful to save.

2. The Lord has saved his people in the past – he can save his people today

12 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last. 13 It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.” 14 Have any of your idols ever told you this? Come, all of you, and listen: the Lord has chosen Cyrus as his ally. He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon and to destroy the Babylonian armies. 15 “I have said it: I am calling Cyrus! I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed. 16 Come closer, and listen to this. From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.

God does not beat around the bush with proving that he can save! This is not something we just have to blindly believe just have faith as if faith is something brainless. He shows us time and time again – evidence that He and He alone can save.

Look at the Israelites. They sinned against God and so Babylon sweeps in and takes them off into captivity. But God has not forgotten them. Even though they have sinned and rejected Him He has not rejected them. He will show mercy. And so He calls up Cyrus – a pagan unbelieving king. He raises a whole empire, with Cyrus at its head, in order to rescue his people

Is there anything God cannot do?

And we know this happened just as he promised. Cyrus arose, the Medo-Persian Empire swept into Babylon, and the people of God were set free. Just. As. God. Said.

How do we know what someone will do in the future? How do we know how they will act? Well, we look at how they’ve acted in the past? A friend of ours is a known liar – when he says “I’ll pay you back I promise” what do we think. Yeah right. That money’s gone. But when someone who always keeps their promises say “I’ll pay you back” we know it will happen.

Past actions predict future actions. People don’t change (unless the Holy Spirit gets involved – then people change! As we know very well in this church!). But apart from a miracle work of God, past actions predict future actions.

And God is the same. His past actions predict his future actions. He is not an idol, empty words, powerless to act. He says 3 Long ago I told you what was going to happen. Then suddenly I took action, and all my predictions came true.

In fact the whole way through these chapters again and again God reminds us that his words come true. “I have said” - and it happens. His power, his absolute power to make his words happen – that is what defines him as GOD - rather than, say, an idol.

It is no surprise that when Jesus was exactly the same. What he spoke happened. Whether it was speaking to the wind and the waves, or to demons, or predicting his arrest, crucifixion and resurrection from the dead – everything he said came true.

His words are true. His words are power.

So when he says he can save, he can save! And we know he can save because he’s shown us in the past. He has saved in the past, so he will save now, and he will save in the future.

But how does God save?

3. The Lord saves through his Servant

Is 49:1 Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name. 2 He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver. 3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.”

So chapter 49 opens like chapter 48, with the command to LISTEN! But this time it is not just Israel who are called to listen, but those in distant lands – those far away. Foreigners, those not God’s people. Gentiles (non-Jews) like us. We are to listen now as God speaks about his servant. Why? Because God’s servant is going to be a light to the Gentiles.

Who is this servant? One called from within the womb. Even before he was born he was called to this work. Unborn babies are people too. So, within the womb he’s called by name. He’s called to bring words of judgement, a sharp arrow. And in v3 he’s identified as Israel.
But Israel’s a complete failure! God just described them as people with heads like bronze. And a few chapters back (42:18) Israel was described as deaf and blind. Very unflattering! Hmm. Let’s read on…

4 I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.” 5 And now the Lord speaks— the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The Lord has honoured me, and my God has given me strength.

V5 confirms our suspicions. Not Israel – but someone one of Israel, from Israel, sent to Israel to bring Israel back to God.
Perhaps someone like... Isaiah. A prophet, from Israel, sent to Israel. Not surprising he says “My work seems useless”. Israel are rebellious, heads like bronze, and things have got so bad that they’ve been booted out to Babylon! This was probably Isaiah’s heart cry as he saw where things were headed. My work seems useless.

Sometimes we feel like that don’t we? Maybe with other people, often with ourselves.
I will never be able to obey God in this area. It’s hopeless.

Israel will never turn back to God, will never be able to bless the world like God promised to Abraham. It’s hopeless. But what does this faithful servant say in v4 Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.

Php 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Php 2:13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Even when things seem hopeless – God is at work. When we see our own power, when we see our circumstances, sometimes it does look hopeless ... but for God. As long as the Lord is on the throne there is hope.

5 The Lord has honoured me, and my God has given me strength. 6 He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Lk 2:30–33 I have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared for all people. 32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” 33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him.

Jesus is the light to the Gentiles, to us. Jesus came not as a mighty King but humble, despised and rejected by his own people and by the might of Rome. 7 despised and rejected by the nations. Jesus was crucified by Jews and Gentiles together, a lowly servant – a carpenter from a backwater village Nazareth. “Did anything good ever come from Nazareth” people said.

He came as a nobody, but He, Jesus, is the King of Kings. v7 continues “Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

And what will this Servant greater than Kings do?

8 This is what the Lord says: “At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you and give you to the people as my covenant with them. Through you I will re-establish the land of Israel and assign it to its own people again. 9 I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’

He will save us.

So 13 Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

Dear friends, let us have confidence that even though our necks have been like iron and our foreheads like bronze. Even though we have sinned against God time and time again – we can be forgiven. He forgave the Israelites. He can forgive us. In and through Jesus, the humble King, the Suffering servant, the one who came to die in our place in order to bring his people – us – back to God.

Let us sing and shout with joy. This is awesome news. The new creation will echo with this word of praise. Our lives shout aloud that Jesus is our Lord. That he has saved us. Let us live out loud – obedient to him, and sharing the good news that God can save his people. Who can you share this with?

Think now, in a moment of quiet of one person you can share this joyous news with. God can save you. Yes you. No matter what you’ve done.

1 minute

Now as we go into confession, let us think about our own lives where we have had heads like bronze, and confess our sins to God, knowing that he is faithful to forgive us.

1 Timothy 6:1-10 The secret of contentment

1 Timothy 6:1-10

Who or what masters you?
What dominates your thinking?
What determines how you run your life?

Could it be money?

Do you find yourself running after money and what it promises? Holidays, nice house, big car, boat, cabin? Is that what drives you?
Because money is a cruel master, promising what it cannot deliver – satisfaction, contentment – and delivering headaches, stress, and an ever-moving target.
Repairs, worry I might lose it, and Oh, you’ve got a new car… well you should have got THIS one, it’s even better, and just kr60 000 more. And you sit and look at your new car which you were so excited about.. and now it doesn’t seem so great.

10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

What masters us?
1. Are we a slave to slavery, or a slave to God?
2. If we’re a slave to God, do we obey him and so experience a godly life, or not?
3. Is money our master?

1. Am I a slave to slavery, or a slave to God?

All slaves should show full respect for their masters so they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teaching. 2 If the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. Those slaves should work all the harder because their efforts are helping other believers who are well loved.

Slavery is brutal. But it was (and still is) a fact of life. In the first century up to half the population worked as slaves. In many places in the world today, people live and work as slaves. We might joke that we are “slaves” to our bosses, or we “slave away” at home. But the reality is that we are extremely free!

Slavery was handing yourself over to total control by someone else. They could decide what you wore, what you ate, when you slept, who you slept with, even whether your family would live with you or if they would be sent off or sold off to someone else. Every detail of your life was subject to your masters whim. A slave had no rights.

So you were very dependent on your master. A good master would look after you. A bad master would abuse you.

So, as Christians, how should slaves of their earthly masters now act? They are free men and women in Christ – and if their master is a Christian, then brothers and sisters! Party!!

No. We are to respect our masters, says the Lord through Paul. What? And If the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. Those slaves should work all the harder because their efforts are helping other believers who are well loved!

Why? So that v1 they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teaching. What message would it send about Christianity if the slaves who became Christians became lazy, avoiding work, complaining about everything, and mouthing off to their master? Would that make people sit up and say “Oh, I’d like to become a Christian”. No!

Like Jesus, our focus is on the good of others, and on the life to come. What joy to serve, even suffer, in this life if through our suffering we can win one to Christ. How brief this life is – gone in an instant – compared to all eternity with our Lord!

And if your master is a Christian – well, then you should be motivated to work harder, not less! This is your brother in Christ. You should long to please him, to serve him with joy. It is a loving submission – I know we are equal, but I choose to serve you. It is the same joyful submission with which the wife submits to the husband – we are equal but I submit to you; the husband joyfully serves the wife – I will lay myself aside to do what is best for you; and how the Son of God submits to the Father – though equal, He chooses to obey.

See, who is the slave actually a slave of? Is he just a slave of his master? Or is he a slave of Christ, joyfully choosing to love God in the way that he serves his earthly master.
Are we ruled by circumstances – what is happening around us – or do we choose to serve Christ, to allow him to be our master in this situation?
To be a first century slave was not a great situation to be in. But instead of moaning and complaining about your work, your life, you could choose to serve Christ in the way you work, in the way you view your master. No longer is he your master, but a person who needs the gospel of Christ – or if already a Christian, a brother in Christ.

It is something that changes within us. I will not serve that thing, that circumstance. But I will serve Christ in this difficult time, at this job, with this thing. Maybe your child is sick – how can I glorify God in my suffering? Maybe your children have been taken away by Barnevernet? How can I cling to God? What difference does it make that I belong to Christ?
It is an attitude of the mind. I choose to see this through the eyes of Christ, not through my eyes. And as we turn to him, as we obey him, that produces godliness – we experience the wonder of the Spirit at work in us in that situation.
You know, when I became a Christian it was like the sun rose in my life. I woke up the next day, and everything was bright and full of life. Nothing had changed – except me. Gone was the shadow, the moaning, the complaining – because, no matter what happened, the Lord was with me – and nothing could change that. I belonged to Him, and that is a deep joy that has never left me.

We are not slaves to the world, but slaves to Christ.

2. As slaves to Christ, let us obey him: Obedience produces godliness

Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. 3 Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life.

Teach these things Timothy, for these teachings promote a godly life. What things? The gospel. Everything we’ve been learning in 1 Timothy! It’s hard to give yourself over fully to someone. Can I really trust God? That old selifishness and pride rise up within us. I don’t want to obey God.

So we need the gospel. What have we learned so far in Timothy. Let’s remind ourselves of that, and be encouraged to follow our loving master – the only master who will not lead us on the path to death. For every other master will.

Chapter 1 we saw the power of the gospel to transform sinners – even the greatest of sinners like Paul. Following the law does not work – keeping rules, being good. You can’t be good enough, it doesn’t work! The law is like a thermometer which measures if we have a fever. It diagnoses the problem. The law reveals our unrighteousness, our sin. But the thermometer is not the cure. Imagine if the doctor said, oh yes, you have a fever – now go home and every day take your temperature with the thermometer. You’d think what an idiot! That can’t help me. I need medicine! The gospel is the medicine. The gospel, that Jesus has swapped places with us, that he takes our sin, and he gives us his perfection… that’s the medicine. In Christ, we are declared righteous, perfect. So, let’s live like what we are.

Remember the key verses in 1 Timothy? Turn back to 3:14 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, 15 so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

How we behave matters! We need to know the truth – hear it preached, get to Bible study, read the Bible, know the real truth, so false teachers cannot turn your head. You need to see the truth lived out in the lives of your church members. So often we see how someone deals with a situation and we think “ah, that’s how it’s done”. We see how they deal with sickness, or tragedy, or how they use their money or their possessions. We see how they parent. How they use their time. See the truth. And we ourselves need to live the truth. Chapter 2 showed how we as men and women should behave in church – learning quietly and in joyful, willing submission. Chapter 3 our leaders, who we are to submit to. Those following the Lord, obeying Christ, and who can teach the Bible – they should lead. Men need to take responsibility in leading the church as in leading the family. As chapter 4 says train yourself to be godly. We work hard at obeying Christ. Not to earn salvation – that would be trying to use the law – the thermometer – as our salvation. No, we work hard at obeying Christ because we are already saved. We are children of God. Chapter 5 went through how we deal with each other and particularly the problem the church at Ephesus had with the widows, and, indeed, church leaders.
Basically what Paul is writing to Timothy and his churches, inspired by the Holy Spirit is this: in Christ live like Christ.
We are not our own. We belong to Him. He is our new master, and we follow him.

These teachings produce a godly life – that is, a life in line with God. What a joy!
You want to grow as a Christian? Listen. Listen to the Word of God. And then obey it (or at least try to!) Jesus says the same thing over and over again in Luke. Listen. Be careful how you listen. Those who hear my words and put them into practice are the wise. Luke 8:18 “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.” Lk 8:21 (NLT) Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”

Pay attention indeed. Because if you listen to the wrong people, to false teachers…what is the result? 4 Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.

A church not full of loving submission, joyful service, looking out for the interests of others and pointing each other to Christ – but arguments, jealousy.

Is it going too far to suggest that the reason many of our churches are marked by arguments, jealousy, division and so on is because they have stopped teaching the gospel? That they have stopped proclaiming the sinfulness of man and the glory of forgiveness in Christ. So that it becomes a competition in piety – who can follow the rules the best and get one up over everyone else.

Listening to the gospel produces godliness. Listening to lies produces ungodliness.

What you listen to, matters. Who you listen to, matters.

Hear the truth and obey it.

3. Is money our master? Beware the siren song of greed

5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. 6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. 7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. 9 But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Why would these teachers become false? Why would they, as 1:19 say “deliberately violate their conscience”? Why are they 1:4 wasting their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. And v4 stir up arguments. Why would you do that?

v5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.

Day after day we read or hear stories of corruption, nepotism, favouritism – people using their power, their leadership positions, not for the good of the people but for their own selfish gain, and their family members. And the church is not immune! We are a club for sinners, not a holy huddle.... J

In the old days of seafaring, sailors used to talk of the sirens. Those were mythical creatures who sang such beautiful bewitching songs that the sailors would steer the ship towards them – and then be smashed to bits on the rocks, and die either from starvation or from the sirens feasting upon them, depending on which myths you read! In Greek mythology there were only two who avoided the sirens: one was Odysseus, who stopped his ears (and the whole crew) with wax so that he could not hear the siren song.
The other who avoided the sirens was Jason (Jason and the Argonauts) who hired Orpheus to play a more beautiful song and drown out the siren song.

Brothers and sisters, let us cling to Christ. Be so filled with the gospel that these lies do not lead you astray. Only by knowing the genuine, the real, can we be kept safe from the false. There’s an old song which goes “Keep your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face; and the things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”

Our society shouts at us: happiness is through buying things. Accumulate things. Have this experience, that experience – there is true happiness, true contentment. But what does God say? And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

How many do we know who have done this? How many of us are in danger of this? And as for Christian ministers.... just turn on a “Christian” TV channel and all too often you’ll find false teacher peddling their wares – send me money and I’ll send you blessing. It is a wicked corruption of the gospel.

Who you listen to, matters. Beware of the wealthy or those who are always going on about money. 5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.

Beware of “Christian” ministers who have become exceedingly wealthy through the ministry. Be especially wary of those who tumpet their wealth as a sign that they are blessed by God. Because I think 1 Timothy 6 would see it as a sign that they are false teachers? And what about the constant theme in Luke of care for the poor, of selling your possessions, of not serving two masters God and Money?

Many Christians have shipwrecked their faith on the rock s of greed. It’s easy for us to be lured in by greed because our society is immensely greedy. You may find that siren song in your heart as you are dissatisfied with what you have now. Always looking to buy the next new thing. Never content.
Do you thank God for your daily bread – the food you have, the job you have, the home you have – or do you think “of course, that’s what I deserve” or “but I work for this” not realising everything we have is a gift from our Heavenly Father? In the next Bible study we’re going to look at the Lord’s prayer in Luke 11, where we ask God for his daily provision. It comes from him!
Do you find it difficult to be generous, gripping on to what you have, unwilling to share, to give?

The antidote to this poison of money-love is found in v17-18 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.

Giving money to gospel work kills the greed in our heart. We show ourselves that we trust God to provide for us. We don’t have to store up wealth – trust God. We show that we serve Him, not Money, not the World.
Hospitality (having people in your home, for meals, etc) is another great way to counteract that call of greed. Sharing what you have – food, cars, tools, whatever.

Thanksgiving and praise for all that we have is essential. If we do not recognise that all we have comes from the Lord’s generosity, we will be angry and disobedient when He asks us to share it! So go through what you have and thank God for it. Thank him for his many blessings. And then be generous and bless others as you have been blessed. And, since we all live in Norway, we have all been MASSIVELY blessed! And the result of all this. Ironically, as we share, as we give away, as we set our sights not on things, but on Christ, we will finally be content with what we have. V6

Take a moment now to ask the Lord to examine your heart for that call of greed. And let us fix our eyes on Jesus, and be filled with him instead of filled with greed. Let us give ourselves to him as willing slaves, joyfully submitting, and let us see the fruits of godliness he will produce in our lives!

Exodus 1-20 overview: The God who rescues

Exodus 1-20

An Australian preacher called David Cook tells the story of the time he invited a friend of his who was very legalistic, very religious - thought you could earn salvation by obeying God and by being good – he invited him to a talk on the ten commandments. The next day David asked his friend what he thought and his friend said “you know what really struck me: you said 2 comes before 3” “What?” thought David “that’s what he got out of it? 2 comes before 3? What a useless....” But he’s right and it’s a deep insight. Look at chapter 20. 2 comes before 3

2 “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

3 “You must not have any other god but me.

Rescue before law. Salvation before obedience.

God does not save the Israelites because they were good obedient religious people. He saved them while they were disobedient slaves – and then called them to obedience. Obedience is the result of salvation, not the cause.

And if we get that the wrong way round we do not believe the gospel, but man-made or Satanic religion. You cannot please God through obedience but only through his sovereign grace. 2 comes before 3.

That is why Jesus came to seek and to save the lost – as we’ve been reading in Luke’s gospel. He came for sinners, not religious performing monkeys. Praise the Lord.

We’ve learned a lot from Exodus these past few months, but this morning I want to zero in on the central themes of Exodus and particularly what they reveal about the God whom we serve.
God’s sovereign power to save.
God’s sovereign power to judge.
God’s sovereign demand over our lives.

And we see illustrated in the great works and miraculous signs of Exodus the greater work, the greater miracle, the greater rescue in Jesus.

1. God’s sovereign power to save

Exodus opens with the Israelites very quickly in trouble. A new king comes to power, sees the Israelites as a threat, and decides to enslave them and to kill all the baby boys.

The Israelites are in trouble. And so in 2:23–25 [T]he Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.

And we go yay! It’s kind of like the moment in Die Hard when Bruce Willis’ character, John McClane, now has a machine gun. Ho.Ho.Ho. The turning point. The advantage has swung to the hero. Or in the recent men’s 50km at the World Cup in Sweden when Petter Northug was in fourth place – and then suddenly starts his sprint.

Something’s going to happen. Something magnificent. God knew it was time to act.

Actually, we lose a little bit in the translation. Because the original Hebrew just says “God saw the people of Israel... and God knew”

God saw. And God knew. And it’s just another indication of the character of God. He does not watch from a distance. Like in Genesis 16 when the Lord “sees” Hagar, whom Abraham and Sarah had just terribly abused. In her suffering – the Lord sees her, and knows her situation and meets her. He is the God who sees. The God who knows.

It is one of the great mysteries of our faith that we find revealed in the Bible a God who knows us. A God who shares our pain and suffering. A God who became human in order to save us.

John 1:14 So the Word became human and made his home among us.

Luke 1:35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.

Our Lord Jesus laid aside his majesty, was born as a baby, in order to live as one of us, to be the Son of Man as well as God’s Son, so that he could rescue us. He heard our cries as we groaned under our slavery to sin, with our king, Satan, the devil, seeking to kill us and destroy us. And he saw. And he knew.

You see, Exodus, for all its displays of power: plagues, pillars of fire, the sea rising up and parting – all of that is just a shadow, a mere shadow, of the reality of Jesus Christ and his saving work. That is where we really see God’s power to save. The Exodus is just a picture of that.
Want to know if Jesus can save? Look at what he does in Exodus, as he leads his people out – the angel of the Lord in the pillar of fire.
Want to know if Jesus can sustain us, provide for us? Look at how he provides for his people in the wilderness. Manna from heaven – every day for forty years, without fail. Water from the Rock, miraculously given at the right time.
Want to know if Jesus can protect us? Look at the waves crashing down on the Egyptian army as His people go through the same waters safely. Look at the ring of fire protecting the people from their enemy. See them arrive safely at Mount Sinai, just as He promised Moses.

God has sovereign power to save!

But wait there’s more. Because his salvation plan starts before we are even aware that we need saving. That’s how in control he is! The people cry out to God at the end of chapter 2 “Please save us”. But look at the beginning of chapter 2, and what do we see? Ex 2:1 About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months.
Before the people even cry out to God their saviour has already been born. Moses was the chosen saviour, kept miraculously safe through, ironically, Pharaoh’s own daughter. The plan to save was already in motion even before the people cried out to God. 2 Ti 1:9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
Rom 5:8 (NIV) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God saw our helpless situation. God knew us. And he set his plan in motion planned from before time even began: to save sinners like you and me. He himself would be the miraculous saviour. He himself would take the judgement we deserve upon his shoulders. He would face darkness and death and go through it.

The first thing we see in Exodus is God’s sovereign power to save. He decided out of his own great love, to rescue us. He is our saviour.

But the second thing we see in Exodus is God’s sovereign power to judge.

2. God’s sovereign power to judge

Ex 7:4-5 [The Lord says:] ...Pharaoh will refuse to listen to [me]. So I will bring down my fist on Egypt. Then I will rescue my forces—my people, the Israelites—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. 5 When I raise my powerful hand and bring out the Israelites, the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.”

Ex 7:17 So this is what the LORD says: “I will show you that I am the LORD.” Look! I will strike the water of the Nile with this staff in my hand, and the river will turn to blood.

Ex 8:22 But this time I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live. No flies will be found there. Then you will know that I am the LORD and that I am present even in the heart of your land.

God is the judge of the world. He made us. He owns us. And his judgement on our sin is therefore right. His judgement, however, is not without a purpose: then you will know that I am the Lord. I am Yahweh.

We are made to glorify God. That is our purpose. All of creation calls out “glory to God, glory to God”. Look up at the stars on a clear night and you can almost hear the Milky Way, millions of stars crying out “glory to God”. You drive through Telemark and see the beauty around you crying out “glory to God”.

But we? We rebel against God. We ignore God. We don’t want to give God glory but to glorify ourselves. I am the great I am. I am number one in my life. I am all that matters.

Ex 10:1–2 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Return to Pharaoh and make your demands again. I have made him and his officials stubborn so I can display my miraculous signs among them. 2 I’ve also done it so you can tell your children and grandchildren about how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and about the signs I displayed among them—and so you will know that I am the LORD.”

Ex 12:12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!

Ex 14:18 When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the LORD!”

Ex 20:2 “I am the LORD your God...You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.

To set ourselves up in opposition to God is foolishness indeed. Pharaoh did – and the Lord took his rebellion seriously. Time had run out for him: the Lord, horrifyingly, said you will now not repent, you will be stubborn and you will face my judgement. There is no way out. And what a judgement he faced!

Opposing God = FAIL! But that’s what I do every time I disobey his commands. Every time I look at his word and think, naah, I disagree. Every time I ignore him and dishonour him. Our attitude is like that of Boromir of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings. When Boromir finds out that the King is in front of him, the heir to the throne of Gondor, he says “Gondor has no King. Gondor needs no King”.
Is that not the attitude of so many around us? Is that not the default attitude of our own hearts? Oh what fools we are when we, like Pharaoh, fancy ourselves as equals to the Almighty God.

For one day all of us will know that HE is the Lord, and not me. A pastor in the US called Mark Driscoll said that we need to understand 2 things: 1. There is a God. 2. You are not Him.

Funny, but very very true. 20:3 I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.

You see, the Lord God will be glorified whether we like it or not. He will either be glorified in salvation and joyful obedience – or he will be glorified as he destroys those who rebel against him. Israel – saved, brought out by His mighty arm – glory to God. Egypt – in rebellion, refusing to acknowledge God – who is this God – instead turning to other gods, worthless idols which cannot speak and have no power. Judged. Destruction, darkness, and finally death covered the whole land of Egypt.

It is a stark picture and a sober warning to us here in Norway, thousands of years later. Learn from the Egyptians. Their voices cry out to us across the ages – do not rebel like we did. For one day, suddenly, God’s judgement will fall and there will be no chance of repentance. Suddenly you will stand before the Holy God whether through your death or the return of Jesus, and he will open up the book of your life and what will it say? Perfect obedience to God? Honoured him with every breath? No. It will say “sinner”. Rebel. Imperfect. Unholy. And you will be cast out into the outer darkness where, Jesus says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Yes, it is meant to be scary! It is meant to make us afraid. It is meant to make us act! To seek God. To cry out for mercy. Yes God is sovereign to judge, but he is also sovereign to save, and if he can save people like the Israelites, if he can save a failure like Moses – a murderer, a coward, running away and hiding in the desert – well, there is hope that he can save you and me is there not? So if you haven’t asked him, fall to your knees and plead with him to have mercy on you. And so on that Final Day when the judgement falls “sinner, OUT!” – suddenly Jesus will step forward and say wait, not thi one, his sins are covered by my blood, the price has bdeen paid, I have taken his life and he gets my life. And the gates will open to Eternal Life. Will Jesus step forward for you? Do you know him? If not, ask him now. If you need help to pray Christian will be at the back of the room. Go to him and he will help you pray and ask Jesus to save you.

I’m now going to spend some time talking to the Christians. Those of us who have been saved – 2 comes before 3, salvation before obedience. But, 3 does follow 2 – obedience follows salvation, and so I want to end off by challenging us with

3. God’s sovereign demand over our lives

20:1 Then God gave the people all these instructions (commands).

In chapter 3 God calls Moses to be the rescuer of his people. Moses says no. God says oh yes you will. Moses belongs to God. Ex 3:14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

6:6 “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the LORD. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God.

Now there is a great comfort in belonging to God, in being saved by him – but there is also a great demand there. To belong to God means that you belong. To God. All of me, all that I am, my thoughts, my actions, my reputation, my future, my money, my family, my time – belong to you O Lord. Of course, everyone belongs to him anyway – we’ve just stopped pretending that we don’t. We know that we belong to him.

So, if you belong to him, then live like it. Make decisions in the light of the fact that you belong to him. The Israelites have been a crushing disappointment haven’t they? Moaning and groaning, longing to go back to slavery in Egypt – what is wrong with them? And so they pierced themselves with many unnecessary sorrows. Why?

Brothers how often do we do the same thing – deliberately do what is wrong when we know it is wrong and suffer the consequences. Or take so long to do what is right. Even simple things like find a church, find a place to live near the church, then find a job near where you live – so simple. Priorities right: spiritual food, a place to serve God’s people, people who will encourage you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. That’s what we NEED. But no we panic and we seek a job first, yes I’ve got that, then we find a nice house because we need that and then we thing Oh, oh dear, I need to find a church. Oh that one will do. And we suffer the consequences because we’re not thinking Christianly about these things. Who do you think provides “your” job, provides “your” salary? Is it not the Lord? Of course it is. He is sovereign over us. He is our Father. So trust him. Risk obeying him. It is glorious when you do and dull when you don’t.

What does Jesus say “seek first the Kingdom, and all these other things will be added”.

Oh Lord, expand my vision of you to fill my mind. I am so stupid when I make decisions, so blind, so hard-hearted. Lord, be my wisdom, be my faith, because I just can’t seem to trust you. I need to pray that kind of prayer more, and, I’m sure, so do you.

The Israelites were in the desert for goodness sake. There is nothing there but rocks and dust. You are in serious trouble if you’re there with no food or water (or a car to get you out of there. The desert can KILL you. And they were about two million people, plus herds etc. Panic, panic. But the Lord knew. The Lord saw. The Lord is sovereign. And so for forty years the Lord provided food and water sustained the people. Shouldn’t this be a lesson to us. Oh, that was then we say, as if that excuses our lack of faith now. Same God. Same ability to provide. And Jesus said “don’t worry about what you will eat or wear but seek first the Kingdom” and “your Heavenly Father knows you need these things”

Time to wrestle yousrself to the ground and say “Time to repent, time to change. Confess your sins, plead with the Lord to help, and then trust that his Spirit is at work in you – and He is – and then make deliberate decisions to change the way you live.”

And remember as you do this that you do this as a beloved child of God because 2 salvation, comes before 3 obedience. Praise God that he is sovereign to save, sovereign to judge, and sovereign over us.

Exodus 19 Be prepared to meet the Holy God!

Exodus 19:1-20:3

Why are you here?

Why do you come to church?

Because this is what you always do? Because you’re trying to impress God? Because your Dad told you to? Because you must? Because without God’s Word you will die? Because you are desperate to be with the Lord and his people? Because you fear the Lord, and want to avoid his anger?

Why are you here?

Today’s passage is about being ready to face the Lord. Are you prepared? Who is this LORD that Israel is about to meet? Unapproachable. Dangerous. Terrifying. Holy.

The first thing we learn from this passage is that
The Lord will destroy you because you are unclean
The Lord will destroy you unless you have a representative
The Lord will destroy you unless your representative is Jesus – so listen to Him!

1. The Lord will destroy you because you are unclean

Today the rescued people of God, chosen by Him, kept safe by Him, fed by Him, lead by Him, watched over and protected by Him - finally are gathered to hear from Him at His holy mountain. And yet they cannot approach Him. 12 Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death.

21 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go back down and warn the people not to break through the boundaries to see the Lord, or they will die. 22 Even the priests who regularly come near to the Lord must purify themselves so that the Lord does not break out and destroy them.”

Why would the Lord warn his own people that he will destroy them? What’s up with that?

Well, as I mentioned at the start, God is a HOLY God. Holy. What does that actually mean? We talk about the Holy God, Holy Bible that kind of thing – but what does it mean? So I looked it up. And “holy” basically means who God is. It is his nature, his selfhood. These are some of the descriptions of holiness: power, glory, transcendence, uniqueness, exclusiveness, pureness, dangerousness. He is other. He is pure. He is power. He is perfectly good. But that goodness is not a kind of “oh, how nice” goodness – it is goodness like a blade of sharpened steel, goodness like a blazing fire – goodness that will cut through and burn up anything that is not equally good.

And that makes him unapproachable. But God’s holiness is also expressed in his saving work and being with his people. So how can unholy people (that is people who are not-God) meet with the Holy God. Can not-God and God meet?

Well, yes, but only because God has made it possible, and (and this is important) only in the way that he has made it possible. There is only one way to God – His Way. Any other approach will end up with you dead, destroyed by his holiness.

As all of you know, we’ve just got a dog. And she’s great. Dogs are great. They’re such cool animals. Because a dog exists to please its master. That’s what they live for. A dog’s role, a dog’s job description is to serve and obey his master.
But a dog who doesn’t do that, a dog who is disobedient and running wild – a wild dog – is a problem dog, a bad dog, we say. He’s not doing what he should be doing. Instead of a faithful companion the dog becomes a menace, a nuisance, even dangerous to those around him. A bad dog is bad for those around him – and bad for the dog himself. He is not happy, but angry. He is alone, isolated, friendless, snapping at the world around him. Living in fear, anger – ready to attack to defend what little he has.

We were created to please God. He is our master and we were made to please him, to serve him and to love serving him. It’s in our nature. But like wild dogs we have gone astray. Bad dog. Stop pretending to be God (Ex17) and let God be God.

As Christians, we should know better. In everything we are to please God – all of life belongs to him. And yet so often we are like bad dogs, disobedient dogs – running away from our master when he calls, eating rotten fruit or cat poo even when our master is saying no (true story). Weeing on the floor inside (true story). We march around demanding our rights, demanding that he, our master, does what WE want him to do.
Dear friends, I am not God. You are not God. Like Israel we march around demanding water and food and comfort – our rights – instead of trusting him to provide what we need. Dear brothers, we have no rights. We belong to Christ – twice! He made us and he bought us back. We are his. My life is his. Your life is his.

Are you still trying to approach God on your own? Sneak around the back of Mt Sinai. Hide under Moses’ coat as he goes up. Pretend to be a bush. Poof! That’s the end of you. We know what God does to bushes! (Burns them!)

You cannot approach God. You cannot manipulate God. You cannot demand of God. Who do you think you are? Who does your life belong to?

It’s worth us stopping and asking the question: when did I last give my career over to God? Or my marriage (or future marriage)? What if God calls me to give up my career? Or calls me to be single? The key is: it’s not your career. It’s not your future. It’s His. We belong to him.

Have I given up my family? For some of you this is a reality of following Jesus – rejection by your family.

We talk about choice, rights, disappointment with God. This is supremely arrogant. We were created to serve him. That is our job.

And so as the people gather before this unapproachable God, they are gathered to hear from him how they are to live as his people. The next chapters of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and on to Deuteronomy are filled with God’s Law – God’s commands to say “this is how you will live your life”. Because our lives are not ours – they are his. And that’s a good thing because he is a good master and gives us good gifts and looks after us, like we look after Eowyn, our dog, and feed her and keep her warm and give her lots of love and affection. And in return she obeys us. Most of the time.

You see, I am her Master. She is my Dog. God is our Master. We are his people. We are not the same. He is Other. He is Holy. Do not touch the mountain, for you will surely die.

16 On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. 17 Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

The Lord will destroy us because we are unclean, like disobedient dogs.

But that’s not the whole story, is it.

2. The Lord will destroy you unless you have a representative

19 As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply. 20 The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.

How is it possible for unholy people, sinful people, to get into contact with a holy God? We need a representative. We need someone to bring us the word of God. And we need someone to clean us – make us ready to meet with God.

10 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing. 11 Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch.

Moses could go to meet with God. Why? Because God chose him to be the representative. Remember way back in chapter 4, at the Burning Bush? God says to Moses “Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

Moses’ job was to be the mouthpiece of God. Not to add anything to it, but to simply repeat the words of God. What he heard his Heavenly Father say, he would say.

And Moses’ words, which were really God’s words, could make the people ready to meet with God.

14 So Moses went down to the people. He consecrated them for worship, and they washed their clothes. 15 He told them, “Get ready for the third day, and until then abstain from having sexual intercourse.”

Why sex? I don’t know. Perhaps, like fasting, to control your bodily desires simply to honour God? But they were washed, they were cleaned – and only then were they ready to hear the voice of God. 20:1 Then God gave the people all these instructions: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me.

Moses prepared the people to meet with God, and then they met with God.

What we’re doing today is not so different. We are God’s people, gathered together to hear God’s word. This, in Exodus 19 and 20, is the first church. The word “church” (ekklesia) simply means meeting or assembly or gathering. That’s what church is: the gathering of God’s people to hear God’s word. A gathering of Christians without God’s word is not a church. A Christian by himself reading the Word is not a church. But coming together, gathering together, to hear the word of God –that is a church.

This morning we are gathered together to hear God’s word. We are a church. But we did not wash our clothes or abstain from sex to come here this morning. Because we have been made clean not by Moses – but by the one who is greater than Moses: Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. As we saw last week He does not just bring the word of God – he IS the word of God. To know him is to know God. HE is the wisdom of God. He is the perfect representative of God to man – to see Jesus is to see God. And he is the perfect representative of man to God. And he can make us ready to meet God – cleanse us – so that we can be called the people of God.

He can make the unholy, holy.

3. The Lord will destroy you unless your representative is Jesus – so listen to Him!

9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you.” Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

Why did God do this? I mean the people already knew Moses spoke for God – after all they’d just had ten plagues when Moses said “God says this will happen!” and it happened. They had the Red Sea, when Moses raised his arms and the sea parted. They fought the Amalekites and Moses raised his arms and they won. It was quite clear that Moses brought God’s word. Duh! So why this extra thing now? Why a cloud on a mountaintop and a voice from Heaven that proves that Moses speaks for God so that the people will always trust him?

Well, those of you who know the gospels will know why! We did Mark last year in this church – and in Mark chapter Mk 9:2–8 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. 4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. 5 Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.”

God does this with Moses so that when he does this with Jesus, his Son, we know that HERE is the true representative of man to God. Here is our Moses, the perfect Moses, the greater Moses. (And if you noticed also the true Elijah, the greater Elijah, the perfect Prophet). Jesus is the one whom Moses foreshadowed. Moses was the image – Jesus is the reality.

And just like the Israelites with Moses, the way we need to respond is to LISTEN and then obey what is being said.

With Moses we need stay back from the mountain or we will die. We need to trust Moses to go and be our representative. We need to wash our clothes and abstain from sex for three days to get ourselves ready, trusting God’s word that that will make us acceptable to him.

Some may question “why would that make them acceptable – washing clothes doesn’t deal with sin”. No, it doesn’t. It’s a symbol. It’s saying to God we need you to wash us, we trust that by obeying you in the symbol, in the ritual, you will do the reality. It’s like communion – we just eat a bit of bread and drink some juice. That can’t save us. But we trust the reality behind the symbol, behind the ritual, that God will forgive our sins because of the body and blood of Jesus. We are saying to God we need you to wash us by the blood, we need you to rescue us, forgive us. It is a symbol or ritual of our need for God. It is an act of humility. The symbol cannot save. But the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection CAN save.

Heb 12:18 You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.... 21 Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22 No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering... 24 You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
So...25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!

The Lord will destroy us unless our representative is Jesus – so listen to Him!

I started this morning by asking why you were here. Why have you come? Because if we are coming trusting in anything other than JESUS as our representative, we will be destroyed.

Why? Because we are not perfectly good. We are not holy. Particularly in our culture, raised on the idea of the grace of God, this idea that God will reject us is very culturally inappropriate. But who are we dealing with. Fluffy little God, the grandfather in the sky? The God of the Bible is HOLY. He who dewells in unapproachable light. He is vast and majestic. His voice thunders. The ground shakes. When Christ returns he will not return as the Suffering Servant, but as the King, huge and awesome, body like flaming fire, and a sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth. He will return to judge the living and the dead, and if you are not ready you will be destroyed,. Are you ready? Are you ready to face the Living God?

You know, when we talk about sin, we often think about the news stories. And they are a big evidence for that we, as the human race, have sinned against God. But we can often be fooled by the news into a false sense of security – well, I’m not as bad as them, I’m not a sinner like them. And the unspoken idea sneaks in that I’m better, surely God wouldn’t reject ME. I’m... holy. But are you? Am I?

Do I live every day consumed by the glory of God? Do I pursue holiness? Do I seek every day to know God better? Does my life belong to Him – or me? Do I think of MY future, MY reputation, MY career, MY money, MY time.

Well, I know myself. I know many of you. And I know that we don’t live for Christ every minute of every day. Too often we sin. Too often we don’t share the gospel. Too often we are not interested in even going to church or Bible study. We do it if there’s nothing better to do. Nothing better than meeting with God? Spending time with our Lord and Saviour? Yup, that’s how sinful we are. That’s why in the confession we confess as sinful the good things that we haven’t done as well as the bad things we have done.

Like Israel, we are all different people, with different pasts, some good, some bad – but ALL of us are on the outside, barred from God’s holy mountain. God’s holy fire has come down upon the mountain – but we cannot get close. We cannot see God. We are outside.

We need someone to go to God for us. We need a representative. We need someone to clean us, to make us ready to meet with the Living God. Praise God that our representative is Jesus.

Let us use this time now to confess our sins before the Lord. We’re going to have time now to kneel or stand before God in humble confession, and ask him to forgive us for being disobedient dogs. For running away from what he has called us to do. For keeping our career or our money or our friends or our family or our reputation out of his hands. Let us confess our sins to him, and ask him to be Lord of ALL of our life.

And then let us celebrate together the great joy of our perfect representative. The One who went through death and back again to buy us back, to win for us the right to go up on to the mountain, to meet with the Living God like Moses did, and to hear his voice, to know HIM. Our Lord and Master. Our Life.

Colossians 3:16-21 ALL of life: at home.

Colossians 3:12-4:6

How do we “live in community” together? What does a Christian community look like? What does it mean to be a Christian Dad or Mom? Or a Christian child? Or a Christian worker? Or a Christian boss? How do we relate to each other in the church? Our neighbours? Non-Christians? What about people of other faiths? Muslims? Hindus? Bahai? Christians who don’t know Christ (“churchians” or “religionists”)? Outsiders?

Last week we looked at the answer to some of those questions, particularly about relationships in the church: in vv13-15 we see that we are to make allowance for each others’ faults, be quick to forgive, live in peace – it’s pretty clear that the Lord is not fooled by outward appearance! He knows that there will be conflict. He knows that within the church people will upset each other and offend each other and step on each others’ toes. It’s not all fluffy bunnies and ice cream in the church! So instead of pretending that we’ll never sin against each other (ha!) we’re called to work hard at forgiving each other, making allowance for each others’ faults – basically being thick skinned, not getting easily offended, not looking for ways to cause problems – and to live in peace. Above all LOVE each other.

That’s hard. And that’s why we remember that we are in chapter 3, not chapter 1! How does chapter 3 begin? Since you have been raised to new life with Christ. It’s something that happened. The call to obedience in chapter 3 is because of chapter 1 and 2: we have been saved by God’s power, by God’s grace, alone. He is supreme. He holds us. He gives us his power and strength to serve him. Remember 1:11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He enables us to live as Christian people. He gives us his power, his strength to serve him.

And most of all, he gives us his love.

As I said two weeks ago, love can’t be faked. We must be given it by God. Our hard selfish hearts of stone need to be swapped out with hearts of flesh, hearts filled with the love of God. Because, you see, we are called to act like vv12-17 (in fact like ALL of chapter 3), not just for a couple of hours on a Sunday, and maybe the occasional special event where we all dress up nicely and put on our fake smiles, or pitch in for a dugnad and pretend to like it… but all the time.

All. The. Time. Every minute of every day, wherever you are, whatever you are doing: you are to be tender-hearted, full of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. And so on and so on and so on. The whole chapter!
All the time. Full of love. Full of truth. Full of peace.

“You demand the impossible”, we say to God!
And he replies “now, you’re starting to understand.”
The life of a Christian is impossible…without Christ. Without his Spirit, his power, his heart, we will fall short.

Think about it. Changing nappies – be like Christ. In church – be like Christ. When someone offends you – be like Christ. When your husband or wife wounds you deeply – be like Christ. When your kids are driving you crazy, pushing your buttons and making you MAD – be like Christ. When you’re at work, bored out of your mind – be like Christ.

17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

We’ve looked at our relationships in the church, now Paul briefly turns his attention to our relationships outside the church: wife and husband, children and parents, (both of which we’ll look at today) then slave and master, and outsiders (which we’ll look at next week).

So, how are we to be like Christ at home: in our marriage, with our children and parents?

1. Wives and husbands v18-19

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.

What do you feel when you hear v18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord.?
Anger? Approval? Fear? Dismissal?

But this is the word of God, isn’t it? Jesus commissioned his apostles to write his words, to tell people about him and to explain the fullness of his teaching, through his Holy Spirit. Paul was specially commissioned as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Peter speaks of Paul’s letters as Holy Scripture. And what’s written here is certainly not contrary to the created order in Genesis 1 and 2 which Jesus himself quoted as being the very Word of God.

So we cannot just dismiss what we don’t like. So let’s put our initial reaction aside, and examine this more closely.

What’s interesting with this list of wives/husbands, children/parents, slaves/masters is the equality of all. The husband and the wife are to obey the Lord. Masters and slaves are equally addressed, as are parent and children. Those without power (or with less power) (wives, children, slaves) are addressed as equal citizens of heaven, being called to live in a way that pleases the Lord. Those with power (husbands, parents, masters) are reminded that their power is given under God, to be used as HE sees fit: in love, for the good of those under your power. This is no justification for abuse of power – it is the opposite!
It’s very clear that these couplets are to be read together. There is no justification for someone quoting v18 without taking v19 – despite the fact that some have done that in the past to justify their bullying behaviour. Ironically, many “modern” women are doing that today to justify their rejection of God’s word. First of all, who are you to stand in judgement over God? How arrogant! Second of all, why do you not read v19?

In v18 God says, yes, wives, submit. Why? Because it is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. Submission is fitting.
But what is submission? What’s interesting is that the word in the original Greek was not used to describe the marriage relationship in those days. Paul wasn’t just taking something from the old 1^st Century culture and dressing it up a “Christian”. The word for submit here is something uniquely Christian, and has to do with order. We submit because it is the way that God has ordered creation.
The word is also very closely linked to humility. So the mark of a Christian wife is not pride and arrogance, but humility, a glad and willing servant heart. In other words, she is a wife…like Christ.

Likewise the “love” of the husband is not familial love or erotic love but the love of Christ, which is a self-sacrificial love. He is also called not to pride and self-sacrifice, but to deny himself and use his God-given authority for the good of his wife. In other words, he is a husband…like Christ.

Our society is interesting because we have no problem with v19. Of course, we say, husbands should love [their] wives and never treat them harshly. Everybody knows that!
Well, of course everybody knows that because we’ve had the Bible drummed into our heads and affecting our culture for over 1000 years here in Norway. Ask the women in Syria how they are being treated now. Islam gives women very little respect. They are not equal with men. And they are treated as such. The treatment of women in the Islamic world, particularly now under ISIS, is horrific. I was going to share some stories but I decided not to do so, as they were too disturbing.
In Hinduism, women and men are not equal. In traditional African religion the man is the head and the woman his servant, and he is the head for his own good pleasure, not for the good of others.
In feminism the woman is the head, for her own good pleasure. Any thought of serving her husband is ridiculous. It’s all about me, my needs, my wants being met.

Why, then is Christianity so different to every other religion or philosophy? Why the equality of men and women? Why does leadership and headship mean servanthood and selflessness instead of power and glorifying myself?
Because that’s what Jesus is like. Because our relationships are modelled on his.

In the Trinity, the Son lovingly submits (same word) to the Father, and wants to glorify him and magnify his name. The Father loves the Son, and wants to glorify him and magnify his name. There is an order there: the Son submits to the Father, the Father loves the Son. And our marriages are to reflect this. It is joyful voluntary submission, and joyful, servant-hearted headship.

This means, ladies, that if you do not respect your husband, if you are always bossing him about, if you are always pushing for your way to do things, if you are making decisions and controlling everything – you need to repent. You need to apologise to him. You need to say, please, take the lead. I have taken your place.
And husbands, you might need to do the same. Apologise to your wife because you’ve not loved her like you should. You have not taken responsibility for your marriage, for your relationship, for your wife. If you have a bad marriage, it is YOUR responsibility to fix it. It will be painful, it will be hard, it will involve a great deal of confessing sin, and putting yourself, your own interests and desires aside. You will need to spend time with your wife. You will need to talk about feelings, and emotions (!). You will need to listen to her and try to understand her. You will need to confess your sin to her. You will need to read the Bible with her and pray together. You need to watch over her life and show her her sin and help her repent (always easy!) – and listen to her when she points out your sin and repent of your sin (always easy!).

You need to look out for each other, seeking each others’ good, and always pointing each other back to the gospel, back to Christ. We are two sinners, but we will obey the Lord by his grace.
Husband, please lead like Christ. Wife, please submit like Christ. And then as people look at your marriage they will see the gospel pictured. Hey, there’s how Christ loves his church, there’s how the church responds to Christ.

If you want to know more, why not download or read the sermon on Ephesians 5:21-33 “Christ and the church”. And ask those of us with a bit more experience living as a Christian couple “how do you deal with this, or “do you have advice here” and so on. And watch us. And if what we’re doing seems to line up with the Bible, then do that! That’s part of the reason we are in a community together, so that we can show each other how to live. We learn from each other, from those a little further along the road. Oh that’s how to do it. I have learnt a great deal about being a husband and father from two good friends of mine, just by watching them with their wives and children. Seeing Christ at work in people is really helpful.

So, wives, respect your husband’s authority, and husbands, love your wives unselfishly.

2. Children and parents v19-21

20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.

What’s fascinating here is that Paul addresses children directly in his letter. Children? Why bother talking to children? Why give them a motivation for obedience? They must obey or be punished.

But, no, our Lord is the one who rebuked his disciples for treating the children as unworthy of coming to him. Children are people, people made in the image of God. And so they are given responsibility just like everyone else. They are to “obey their parents”.

Note the stronger word now. It is not submit, but obey. They are called to listen and obey. That’s what my Dad used to say to my sister and I “you will listen and you will obey”. How I hated those words. They struck right at the heart of my self-centredness and pride. And oh how those words are what I needed to hear. I’m so glad I had a Dad (and Mom!) who called me to OBEY. Because this “pleases the Lord” says v20.

Why? Because the family relationship reflects God’s relationship with us. He is our Father, and we are to obey him. It is much easier to understand our relationship with him if we’ve had a good earthly father who loved us, cared for us, and called us to obedience.

The modern “kids can raise themselves” philosophy is simply an excuse for laziness and uninvolvement. Kids don’t know what’s best. They are not little adults. Their understanding of the world is limited. They don’t understand the dangers in the world, in other people, and in themselves. Their mind, emotion and wills are immature. They need to be protected, nurtured, cared for. Given a safe environment to grow and be who they were created to be. That’s our job as parents. Not to stifle, not to ignore – but to inspire, guide, lead, show, and love.

That’s why v21 says , do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.

As parents we have the power to demand obedience from our children – and that for their good, not for our convenience. Our goal is to model Christ to them, and I think that’s part of the reason v21 says specifically fathers rather than parents. It reminds us that the role we are playing is the role of our Heavenly Father, God Himself. God “parents” us out of his deep love, doing what is best for us. He uses his power for our good. We are to do the same, and the greatest good is to point them to God. We show them that they are sinners who need the gospel of grace. We show them that we are sinners who need the gospel of grace. Debby and I make sure that we apologise to our children when we have sinned against them (maybe by losing our tempers, for example!) – and we call our sin, sin. And we say we need Jesus to forgive us. And when they argue and fight and do the things kids do – we call their sin, sin, and don’t make excuses for it but remind them that the Bible says their hearts are corrupt, so of course they will sin – don’t be surprised or despondent about it – but there is hope: God has made a way to be made right, through Jesus. In Christ we can ask for forgiveness and receive it. So we model both the seriousness of sin and the joy of forgiveness.

Children must obey their parents, for it pleases the Lord. It is part of their obedience to him. Fathers, do not discourage the children by aggravating them.
I think there’s another reason Paul says “fathers” here: it is to remind the father that as the head of the home he has the final responsibility for raising his children. It’s his job. He can’t just delegate to his wife and be done with it! He must be involved! Fathers, you model God to your kids – and he is not absent.

Again, if you want to know more or you got any questions – ask! We are a community. We do life together. And you can download the talk on Ephesians 6:1-4 called, simply “Fathers”.

20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.

17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

As Christians we are not free to live how we please. We belong to the Lord. Our lives belong to the Lord. Our relationships belong to the Lord. And so we are to submit to our husband, for this is fitting. We are to love our wives and never treat them harshly. We are to obey our parents, for this pleases the Lord. And we are to parent our children like our Heavenly Father, with love, with deep involvement, and acting for their good, and always sharing the gospel.

Col 1:1-14 The gifts of GOD and our life in gratitude

Col 1:1-14

Intro:

Have you ever met a Christian who makes you think, what is different about this person?

To answer my own question: I have.

Like my friend Robert we’ve been friends for as long as I can remember. There is really something in the way he speak and behave towards others: That really reflect the Gospel in his life. I see it in the way he treat and loves his wife and children. It’s something about the way he root himself, in the word of GOD. It makes me think, that this man, he is something special, he even looks like Jesus, with his long hair and unruly beard.

So the question becomes:

“Is it something about Christ that makes Robert special, or is it something about Robert that makes Christ special”?

If Robert knew that I had asked that question, he would been quite offended. He makes it clear that he lives a live reflecting what he believes. So if he didn’t believe the Gospel, his life wouldn’t reflect it.

We’re going to have a look at the generous gifts GOD has given us in verses 1 to 14. In the same text we’re also going to have a look at how our lives reflect our beliefs. We’re going to do this through to points. The first one I’ve called The gifts of GOD, the second point I’ve called Our life in gratitude.

The gifts of GOD

1.State the point:

Reading todays passage we see that; GOD gives us everything we need. Everything from ministers of His word, to salvation from our sins! Just have a look at verses 3-5.

2.Show it in the text:

³ We always pray for you, and we give thanks to GOD, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of GOD’s people, ⁵ which come from your confident hope of what GOD has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

3.Explain the point:

If Paul’s letter stopped a verse 4, it could be understood as the Colossians were justified through their fantastic works in v.4. This is exactly why we go through books of the bible and why we read things in context. Because when we continue in verse 5 we see the reason for the Colossians faith in Jesus and their love for all GOD’s people. It is the confident hope of what GOD has reserved for them in Heaven. Basically they look forward to Heaven.

Where did this hope come from? It came from the truth of the Good News, the Gospel. So looking at verses 3-5 we see that GOD is the provider of the faith, the love and the hope. What was it the Colossians did that made them special? Nothing, at best they “accepted” GOD’s generous gifts.

As we continue to reading through the verses from 1-14 we see that GOD doesn’t even stop there: He is the giver of faith, love, hope and the Gospel. Through the fruits of the Gospel our lives are changed, from the day we hear and understand it.

Who is responsible for us hearing the Gospel? Have a look at verse 1, GOD chose Paul as an apostle of Christ. Why did GOD do that, because He wanted to. GOD gives us ministers of His word. Their job is to teach the word of GOD. By sharing the Gospel through the preaching of the word, bible studies, and praying that hearts and mind may be opened to His word.

GOD is responsible for sharing the Gospel, and giving us the complete knowledge of His will, spiritual wisdom and understanding.

In all things, GOD provides for us. He gives us all the strength, patience and endurance we need. He wanted us to be saved, so He transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His son Jesus. Jesus loved us so much that He purchased our freedom and forgave our sins, through His death on the cross.

What did we do to deserve this? Nothing! Jesus wilfully died for our sins, beaten, whipped, and crucified. He paid the ultimate price for our freedom and forgiveness. GOD knew that no other sacrifice would heal the wedge between man and Him. In all His wisdom and love for mankind, GOD sacrificed His only Son. So that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. All the blessings GOD has given in verses 1-14, are gifts we have done nothing to deserve.

So what I see in Robert, and everything you see in other Christians that are makes you think, what is it about these people that make the special. Well it Is GOD, they are simply working out the gift GOD has already worked into them.

4.Illustrate the point:

If a rich man decided that he felt like giving you 10 million kroner. Polite as you are you accepted this generous gift, and became a millionaire. The rich man gave you 10 million of his hard-earned money, whilst you said thank you and danced all the way to your bank.

5.Apply the point:

GOD gives you these gifts because He loves you, Jesus died for you because He loves you, He gave you His Spirit, The Holy Spirit because He loves you.

So no there’s nothing we can do to deserve God’s gifts and love. When a Christian does something well it’s because of what GOD gave them. Not because they’re brilliant.s

There are no super-Christians, but there are people GOD works stronger through than others. Not because they deserve it but, because the way they live their lives, allow the fruits of the Gospel to grow, and be made more obvious. GOD’s gifts never stop being just that, gift!

So or all we can do is to gracefully receive His generous gift and live a life in gratitude, where we let the fruits of the Gospel be made obvious in our lives. Where we create as good a soil as possible for His gifts to grow. This brings us to my second point that I’ve called Our life of gratitude.

Our life of gratitude

1.State the point:

Do you think that there a link between the Gospel and behaviour?

Yes there is, because a faith is living and a faith without good fruit is not a real faith

2.Show it in the text:

Let’s have a look at verses 6 – 8.

“This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about GOD’s wonderful grace. You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.”

3.Explain the point:

In these verses, we really see the power of GOD’s Word; If we start by having a look at verse 6

“This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about GOD’s wonderful grace”

Those of you coming to our bible study might remember that to start with the Gospel was shared only in the town of Jerusalem. When the persecution of the Christians started. It went from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. The Gospel spread all over the world. Not only was the gospel shared all over the world. People all over the world received the Gospel and believed it. Just look at the Word of GOD. It has been translated into 518 languages. The result of this is that a lot of people have, heard, was taught and understood the Gospel.

There’s a lot of great examples of how hearing and understanding GOD’s word changes lives.

One is the Methodist minister William Booth and his wife Catherine. Who wanted to share the, Gospel with those who were living on the outside the acceptable Christian lifestyle. They preached the Gospel, to prostitutes, drunks, the poor and the homeless. They took care of their physical needs, such as food, clothes, somewhere warm and safe to stay as well as the preaching of GOD’s word. Doing this they lived and shared the Gospel. The founded the Salvation Army.

Do you want to honour and please GOD with your life? Do you want to live a life so close to the Lord, that people will see you’ve been with Jesus?

The only way for us to honour and please GOD with our lives, is to be filled with knowledge of His will, spiritual wisdom, and understanding. To do that we have to hear, learn and understand the Gospel.

The best way I know of to do that is: To make a conscious decision every week to go to church, to go to bible study, to read the bible daily, and to pray daily.

I am not telling you to go to church so that I can tell you how to live your life. I’m saying just like Jack and Robert told me. Come to church so that you can; hear, learn and understand the gospel, and grow in Christ. That is the reason you should go to bible study, read the bible and pray daily, the source of godliness is rooted in the bible.

How do I know that I understand the Gospel, you might ask? Have a look at verse 6. When we understand the Gospel our lives will be changed and some of the signs of a changed life is: v.4 faith in Jesus, love for all GOD’s people, v.6 fruit of changed lives, v.8 love for others, v.10 every kind of good fruit.

in Galatians 5:22-23: Paul writes that the fruits of The Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-controll. For anything to bear fruit it must be alive.

What is the most common reason for a tree not bearing fruit? To put it bluntly, it’s more than likely dead. Then what do you think is the most common reason for faith not bearing fruit? A faith without fruit is a dead faith. A faith bearing fruit is not something you can muster up yourself, so dare to ask yourself:

Am I bearing fruit, Am I growing in Christ, have I heard and understood the Gospel?

A faith without actions is not a faith, neither would actions without faith be faith, it would be a statement.

Saying I am a Christian without leading a Christian life, is like saying me saying that I am the world’s tallest man. I can say it, you can hear it, but it wont make it so.

But when my friend Robert tells me that he is a Christian, I don’t doubt it for a second. Why? Because I’ve seen how he treats his wife and Children. I’ve seen and heard how he can talk to complete strangers about Jesus. I’ve seen how faithful, and gentle and self-controlled he is. Robert’s witness is that he say’s that he is a Christian, and he act’s like someone who is in Christ.

Living a life in close fellowship with GOD, will do something to you! When He is the one who feed and nourish you. He enables you to grow closer to Him in faith, and to bear much fruit. When you spend time in His word and with Him it will do something to you. As it did to Robert, and not just him.

4.Illustrate the point:

Look at Nelson Mandela - he spent 27 years in prison on Robben Island, and in those 27 years never missed one church service or one Bible study. Week in, week out for 27 years the bible made an impression on him. Now we don’t know if he actually bowed the knee to Jesus, that’s between him and GOD - but the impact that Jesus had on him was seen in his remarkable transformation from the terrorist/freedom fighter founder of umkonto we sizwe (ANC military wing) to the man who said “we need to forgive, we need to reconcile” and lived it. The man who stepped down from power, the man who was humble and gracious. GOD’s Word affects us.

5.Apply the point:

Just like the church in Colossae, we need to live a life that reflects our living faith. Showing our faith in Jesus, our love for all GOD’s people bearing fruit everywhere. Even if we’ve done all this, and live in that way, we can’t rest on our laurels. We need to commit to spending time in GOD’s word, , study the bible, pray, listen and obey GOD, and humble before Him. That will smack our tomatoes so that we’ll be deeply rooted in Him.

I don’t think anyone will disagree that my second point today, about how we live our lives has been especially challenging and offensive. I’m preaching it, and let me tell you, I feel judged. While reading and preparing this I thought,

“ oh boy I’m in trouble” And I have a feeling I’m not the only one reacting like that. Why because I am not drowning in fruit, but to rest of you who feel the way I do I want to say this: Sanctification the process of becoming more like Christ, growing in Him, and for the fruits of the Spirit to take hold. It is a life long process, and for most of us, It doesn’t happen over night. As long as you see that something is happening in your that is a good sign.

If you don’t feel that you are growing, come talk to us one of the Elders in the church. We will pray for you, and help you as best we can. Sometimes there’s little adjustments you can do in your life, and other times there’s more complex situations that has to be dealt with. The best advice I can give you is simply, think for second. Who has given you all the gifts I’ve been talking about today? Yes it is GOD, so turn to Him, come to Him in Jesus’ name, and ask Him to help you. He will. Remember Jesus died for your sins back when you were an unforgiven sinner.

Conclusion:

GOD is incredibly generous, He keeps giving, and He gives us everything we need. Everything; Ministers of His word, Faith, Hope, the Gospel, understanding of His word. Therefore lets live a life in gratitude close to Him so that we stay deeply rooted in His word, reading the bible, going to bible study, hearing His word preached, praying to Him. All this will create Good soil where all good fruit will grow. Our Faith will grow, our love for Jesus, for all GOD’s people will be made visible.