What does it mean to be a Christian?

Today Frode, Juliejean, (Hazel) and Robert are all choosing to be baptised. But what is it they are choosing? Well, they’re choosing to follow Jesus Christ. They are saying publicly I belong to Jesus.

But what does that mean? What does it mean to follow Christ? What does it mean to be a Christian?

I think if you ask most Norwegians today if they are Christian they would say yes. By which they mean they’re not Muslim or Hindu, they have some sense of a God, and they think church is a good idea and Jesus’ moral teachings were pretty good. But the Bible says that’s not a Christian. The devil believes those things!

It’s not just about going to church either. You can go to church for many years and still not be a Christian. You can say all the right things, do all the right things, be a good person – but still not be a Christian.

So, what is a Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian?
Well, being a Christian means, firstly

1. Being perfect, like Jesus – every day.
We cannot know God, unless we are perfect.
Oh. But I’m not.

2. Recognising my sin, so I need Jesus’ grace – every day.

Wow! Thank God for grace and forgiveness! Yes, but it’s not cheap grace. We are called to obey.

3. Fighting my sin, in Jesus’ power – every day.

1. A Christian is to be perfect, like Jesus, every day

Now you might think, hang on, isn’t Christianity about being a bit better, trying hard, being nice?
Unfortunately, many “churches” have ended up presenting a “Christianity” like that – even here in Norway.

But that’s not what the Bible says. Listen to Jesus’ words:

Mt 5:48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Let me read that again. Og på norsk: Vær da fullkomne, slik deres himmelske Far er fullkommen.
Seriously? Oh yes. This is in the middle of the sermon of the Mount, where Jesus commands his followers to love their enemies, to be faithful to your wife – even in your mind: a lustful thought is the same as adultery. Woah. He says you must never worry, because that means you’re not trusting God. Never break a promise. And on and on. Be perfect, like God Himself.

These aren’t suggestions! These are commands. This is what you must do to enter the kingdom of God.

So often we try to soften Jesus words - to make them reachable if we just make a big effort.
But that’s the point. We can’t do it. We have fallen short of God’s glorious standards. Even the best of us. Even in our best moments. We’re not perfect like God.
That’s the mistake the Pharisees made (the bad guys in the gospels - the religious leaders who ended up killing Jesus). They were trying to reach heaven by their own efforts. They thought “perfect” meant “good enough”. It doesn’t. It means perfect.

Leviticus (3. Mos) 19:2 The LORD … said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

This is echoed again and again throughout the Law. And the apostle Peter picks this up in the New Testament:
1 Pe 1:14–16 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

The Apostle Paul says the same thing in Rom 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. In the original Greek the verse literally says being holy is the only sensible or smart thing to do. In other words, not being holy is DUMB!

Hopefully by this stage you’re thinking “Uh-oh, I’m in trouble”. Because that is exactly the response we’re supposed to have. Meeting God is not “Hey buddy, how’s it goin’”. It’s “oh my goodness I’m going to die”.
Remember the prophet Isaiah’s reaction when he saw God: Woe is me! I’m doomed. I’m finished. For I am a sinful man, and I have seen God.
And the Apostle Peter when he realised that Jesus was God said “Get away from me Lord, I am a sinful man.”

Perhaps if apostles and prophets are reacting like that... maybe we should too? Fall on our faces before God. Get away from me Lord. I’m not good enough.

God’s goodness is a fierce goodness. He’s described as an all-consuming fire. The Temple has layers upon layers around it – not to protect God from the people, but to protect people from God! To come to God imperfect is to die.

But hang on. Isaiah wasn’t perfect – but he wasn’t killed. His sin was wiped away and he served God. And Peter too. In fact, none of the so-called “heroes” of the Bible are perfect! Adam disobeyed, Noah got drunk, Abraham slept with his wife’s slave girl, David stole his friend’s wife and then arranged his murder to cover it up, Moses was a murderer – and said no to God! And the list goes on. Gideon was a coward, Samson was a sex maniac, Jacob was a cheat, Joseph was boastful and arrogant. So what’s going on? Is God telling lies? Does he actually just want us to try our best?

No. Judgement Day will not like school today where “everyone gets a prize”. Only the winners win. Only those who deserve.

As Romans 2 points out Ro 2:5–6 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done.

Ok, but how did David and Abraham and all the other imperfect people – how did they know God.

Here’s the magic. Here’s what makes Christianity unique amongst all religions and worldviews: grace. Grace. God’s undeserved favour. Nåde. Ufortjent velsignelser.

When we come to God, realising we fall short of his standard – he responds in mercy. That is why Jesus came. He swaps places with us. He gives us his perfection. He takes our imperfection, our sin.
Instead of being judged by what WE have done, we are judged by what CHRIST JESUS has done! It’s a swap. (Vi har byttet ut vår synd, vår gjerninger med Jesu gjerninger, Jesu godhet!)

That is how a Christian can be perfect. Not in myself. But in Christ.

A Christian is to be perfect, like Christ, every day.

And we do that by:

2. A Christian needs to remember he is a sinner, needing Jesus’ grace (forgiveness), every day.

This is the key. We do not come to God in our own strength. But we come in weakness. Help.

Jesus told a story to illustrate this. It’s found in Luke 18:10–14 if you want to follow along in your Bibles.
“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee (the religious, good person, top of society), and the other was a despised tax collector (traitor, “Quisling”, bad person, bottom of society).
11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’
14 I tell you, this sinner, not the (good) Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The Pharisees eyes were on – himself. He trusted himself to save himself. Good luck.
But the tax collector, Oh he knew he had no chance! His eyes were on God. His trust was in God to save him. And the message of the gospel is that Jesus saves sinners who trust in him.

We come in weakness, we come in humility. This is the way of the Christian life. This is what following Jesus looks like.

I have been thinking recently about the weakness of Christianity. In many ways its stupid religion with stupid message. There’s a big holy God, and he going to strike us down – well we all feel guilt, so far so good. But because he loved us so much he came himself to die on a cross for us. What? And we don’t have to do stuff, offer sacrifices, etc. to earn our salvation. It’s all done. What? It’s just. Weird. It’s weak. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. Drop your sword. You can’t force people to become Christians because then it’s not real. And our God is hanging naked on a cross, broken, bloodied. It is a very weak message.

But it keeps spreading. Remarkable. Under terrible opposition. Over 60 million people have died rather than give up their Christian faith. 60 million martyrs. And that was 10 years ago. The number is higher now. They roll over and die. And yet this weak church is unstoppable. Unkillable.

I heard recently that the first missionaries arrived in Japan in 1549. Huge numbers turned to Christ. The Emperor got worried and banned Christianity under pain of death. Huge numbers killed because they refused to renounce Jesus. 300 years later missionaries are finally allowed back in. And they find… Christians. And now the church is growing. Slowly. But growing.
We were at a Christian convention this summer and at the prayer meeting a brother was going to share what God was doing in his country. Which country was that? North Korea.

Christians sin. The church gets corrupted, and makes a huge mess. Governments crush the church. Enemies inside and out. And yet it endures. It carries on. It grows. The church keeps growing. In the quiet, in the dark. Under pressure. Under threat, It GROWS. All over the world. Almost as if some unseen power is guiding it, protecting it, keeping it.

In its weakness the church is unstoppable. Because in our weakness we see the power of God.

There is no other explanation for the church, it is only God. I cannot explain why Frode, Juliejean, Hazel and Robert are standing here today. Except by the power of God. In their weakness, he has been strong, changing them to be more and more like Jesus. They are living miracles!

Christianity is not about huge monuments and displays of power and doing GREAT THINGS FOR GOD. It is coming before Him in humility each day, saying I can’t. I’m not strong enough – will you be my power, will you be my strength, will you be my righteousness today, Lord Jesus.

We come as we are. We start by admitting our sin, turning away from our sin (repentance), and turning to God. And we continue, by admitting our sin, repenting, and believing.

Every day we need to remember “I am a sinner before God” – and turn to Jesus in our weakness, saying forgive me. And then we remember that in Jesus we are declared perfect. We are given his perfection.

And because we belong to Christ, we want to obey him, we want to love him. And so we fight.

3. Fighting my sin, in Jesus’ power – every day.

Because we come as we are. But God does not leave us as we are. He changes us.

2 Co 5:17–18 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

This is the work of regeneration: of changing a sinner into a righteous person. God declares us righteous and then starts making us righteous. It is a work that will only be completed after we die – when we see him face to face we will be transformed in the blink of an eye. But until then each day we become more like Jesus. (Sometimes one step forward, two steps back). But he is at work in us.

Eph 4:24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

1 Cor 1:2 I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people.
He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

We fight sin, we obey, we are regenerated, not by being strong. Not by trying really hard like some spiritual superman. No. We continue how we started. By admitting our sin. By admitting that we are weak. In humility. And by throwing yourself onto Jesus and his strength and his power. We are holy only through Jesus Christ. So every day we put on our new nature – we decide to act like children of God.

There’s an old Sunday school song which goes: Trust and obey, trust and obey, there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Faith and repentance. It’s how we start. It’s how we continue. It’s how we end. And one day, we will see him face to face. One day his work in us will be finished, just as he promised. The last bits of the old sinful man will be burned away, and we will rise like a phoenix from the ashes – new, perfect, like Jesus.
As CS Lewis once said – if we could see ourselves as we will be – in all our glory - we would fall down in worship. That is what Christ has done for us. This is why we are being baptised. This is why we fight our sin. Because we are loved by Him. And we love Him in return. And we will be with Him. Perhaps today.

Are you ready?

Come as you are. And be transformed.

The problem of hypocrisy. Are Christians two-faced?

Hypocrisy means being two faced. Pretending to be something you’re not.

Now when I originally thought about this topic, I thought of it from the point of view of an outsider. A non-Christian saying “You Christians are such hypocrites. You pretend to be good but you’re not. You say you’re full of love but you’re just judgmental arrogant bigots. And anyway, my aunt was a Christian and was always criticising us and telling us off.”

Now those are real issues and we’ll deal with them in a bit.

But I think the real problem for us here in this room is not that other people think that we are hypocrites – but that we think it.

Ever had this thought “I’m not good enough to be a Christian.”
Or “I keep sinning. I’m not a real Christian. I’m just a hypocrite!”
“I’m giving up. I can’t do this Christian thing any more. It’s too hard.”
“People are looking at me to show them Jesus. I can’t do that. I’d better stop telling people I’m a Christian.”

If we’re honest, I think we’ve all had these or similar thoughts.

And those thoughts show one thing. We don’t understand the basics of our faith! We don’t understand the gospel!

This is the gospel:

1. You are a sinner.

2. Jesus Christ came to save sinners (not good/righteous people).

3. In Christ you are declared righteous.

4. By Christ’s power, now live like a righteous person

We often jump to the fourth point: live like a righteous person – before points 2 and 3 Jesus Christ came to save sinners and If you are in Christ you are declared righteous. (and we leave out “by Christ’s power)
If we could do it ourselves, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come. And he wouldn’t have given us His Spirit!

Right, so this morning we’re going to look at the gospel.

1. I am a sinner

2. In Christ, I am righteous

3. By Christ, I am regenerated

1. I am a sinner.

(Can look these up & keep your finger there because we’ll go back three times)
Eph 2:1-3 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil...3 All of us used to live that way, following...our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Rom 3:10-12 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”
Gen 6:5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

If you are feeling like a failure this morning. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by sin. If you’re feeling like a “bad” Christian. If you are upset because you just can’t beat sin.
Good! That means the Spirit is at work in you. John 16:8 Jesus says the work of the Spirit is to convict us of sin, of righteousness available only through Jesus, and the coming judgement.

No non-Christian is bothered by sin. In fact, that’s the worst thing about becoming a Christian: realising you’re a sinner. And if you’re a new Christian – it doesn’t get any better! The Holy Spirit keeps revealing layer after layer of sin in our lives. Ugh.
That’s the Holy Spirit’s first job: convicting us of our sin.

So if that’s how you are feeling. Good! He is at work.

The first step in becoming a Christian and staying a Christian is admitting that you are a sinner, a rebel against God.

How do we know we’re becoming aware of our sin and admitting it? Our reactions to OTHER people’s sin starts to change. As we realise what sinful, well really, evil, selfish, people we are – we start to see other people as sinners who need Jesus. Rather than people to dominate. We get angry less often. Our anger is not so big. We might respond with a kind word instead of a hurtful one. Instead of standing up and punching someone, or swearing at them in the car, or writing a vicious email, we say ah, it doesn’t matter. I forgive them.
We start to think about other people’s needs a bit more. Maybe I can help my wife here. Or I’ll just do that for them, without expecting payback. Because that’s how Jesus is treating me.
This is called humility. Humility is not beating ourselves up saying oh I’m useless. In fact, humility is not inward-looking at all – it looks out, with Jesus’ eyes. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves, less.
The mark of a true Christian is humility.

It’s seen in loads of small changes which we might not notice which all adds up to one big sign: the Spirit is at work. Something’s changing in here.

And you know what. We often don’t see it. But other people do.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your sin – ask people what they see in you. Ask people here. We’re small enough that I know most of you fairly well. Ask me if I’ve seen changes in you.

We also miss the changes that are happening if we’re battling the BIG SIN in our lives. It’s all we see – so we miss the grace of God at work in other areas!

So, the problem of hypocrisy is defeated by admitting that we are sinners. We’re not hypocrites, pretending to be good. That’s the whole point. We’re not good. We need a saviour. We are sinners. I am a sinner.

So if someone says “You’re not good enough to be a Christian”: Agree with them! (And you can add “neither are you. That’s why Jesus came”).
Or if you get caught in a sin – apologise, make right, and explain this is why you’re so grateful for the grace of Jesus.
By the way, this is great for disciplining your kids. As a child you get caught in sin all the time! And it’s depressing. Why do I do this, Dad? Well, you’re a sinner. Rebel against God. You want to be God. Isn’t it great that Jesus came for people like us? Isn’t it great that we don’t have to pretend that we’re good (and try and make excuses for all the bad things we do) – but can admit we’re bad? I am a sinner. Praise the Lord for Jesus.

Because in Christ Jesus, a sinner like me, and you, can say

2. In Christ, I am righteous

Eph 2:4–5 We were dead in our sins...But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Rom 3:21-22 No-one is righteous...But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him... 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Gen 6:8 Everything we thought or imagined was only evil...But Noah found favour with the LORD.

God looked at this world full of sin. He looked at us shaking our little fists in his face, turning our back on him, putting crowns on our head and walking around pretending to be God. I’m God and I’m going to do what I want. He looked at us – and he loved us.
Whaat? He had compassion on us, loved us enough to shrink himself down, leave behind his glory and majesty and be born as a baby. Born right into our filthy world.
And not because we are loveable (or “worth it”) or our hearts reached out to him – we’re dead in our sins, whoever heard of dead people doing anything? - but because of His great love, of His great worth. Praise Jesus! We are sinners, yes, but we are forgiven sinners. And this is not because of anything WE have done but because of what HE has done.

Quick – what do you need to DO to become a Christian?
Go to church? Give money? Be good? No, Jesus isn’t Santa Claus (Julenissen).
Santa is Moralism. If you’re good, you get rewards. If you’re bad you get nothing (or punished).
Jesus is Grace. If you’re bad, you get rewards. (If you think you’re good, you get nothing, because you won’t turn to Jesus).

What do you need to do to become a Christian? Nothing. Nothing. NOOOOOOOTHING!
Accept what is given, and be happy.

It’s all done! As someone has said all other religions and worldviews say “do”. DO! Fast during Ramadan. Say prayers. Do good works. Be a decent human. Offer sacrifices to the gods. Be good.
But Jesus says Done. His arms stretched out on the cross, the lashes of the whip across his back, the nails driven through his hands and feet, he says done. Like a huge cosmic magnifying glass, all the sins of the world, your sin, my sin, sins in the future, sins in the past, all of it gathered from all of time and space and focussed on that one man on that one day on a hill outside Jerusalem. “It is finished” he said, as he breathed his last. Done.
His life given in exchange for yours. His righteousness swapped for your sinfulness. In Christ, you are perfect. In Christ, God does not see your sin – it is not counted against you. That’s why we can pray. Read the Bible. That’s why his Spirit can live in us and change us. If we weren’t perfect we wouldn’t even get near heaven’s gates with our prayers. But in Christ we’re right in the throne room, right on our Father’s lap. Hi Daddy, I’m here to talk to you.

That’s what Christ has done.

So if you’re feeling oh so down about your sin. Well, yes it’s right to feel like that – but don’t forget the other side. I am a sinner. But I am righteous. Rejoice! Oh, I am a sinner. But what JOY! I am forgiven.

What love!

This room is full of sinners. And praise God! The church is not a place for those who want to come and shine their halo, and have God bask in their glory – God coming down off his throne and saying oooh, well done. If you’re here thinking you’re better than everyone else – well, I’ve got news for you. Jesus met people like you. They were called the Pharisees. And they were hypocrites. Because they didn’t think they were sinners. They thought they were better than everyone else. And so they were always judging everyone, condemning everyone, waving the big finger around. And they killed Jesus. They claimed to love God – and killed Him! That’s hypocritical! So, if you’re trusting in your own efforts to impress God instead of the cross of Christ you’re a hypocritical Pharisee! If you think you’re not a sinner or if you think you don’t need forgiveness, or if the Cross doesn’t fill you with JOY. You’re a hypocritical Pharisee.

We who know we are sinners. We know the value of the Cross. Without the Cross, we are lost. Without Jesus, we are lost.

Thank you, Jesus that you came!

Maybe you’re sitting there thinking “I don’t know Jesus”. Well, no time like the present. Ask him. Remember, you don’t need to do anything to “get ready”. There is no “do”. Jesus says “done”. And so we can come just as we are. Come as you are is our tagline and is an outworking of the gospel.
In fact, Pray now. If you know Him, use this opportunity to thank him and praise him for his grace. Thank him that you are righteous because of the Cross. If not, pray this prayer after me. Dear Jesus. I am a sinner. I’ve ignored you. I’ve pretended I didn’t need you. I’ve done wrong things and made excuses. Take me as I am. I need your forgiveness. I need your grace. Amen.

I am a sinner.
In Christ, I am righteous.

3. I am regenerated by Christ.

Now this is I think where the problem of hypocrisy comes in. Because, you know, Christians ARE different. We are changed. We do become better. The Spirit works in us.
And so there is a right expectation that Christians will be different.
And in fact, we must be. If there’s no change in a person’s life, they’re not a Christian. Jesus said you will know them by their fruit.
If they’re arrogant, and refuse to admit their sin – that’s a BIG sign that they’re not a Christian but a Pharisee. They are hypocrites, and give a bad name to Christians everywhere. Because they call themselves Christians but aren’t actually Christians. So your aunt who was so horrible – maybe she wasn’t actually a Christian. There are many who call themselves Christians but aren’t, especially in this country. They’re trying to save themselves, and they end up bitter and angry and judgemental and depressed.
But you, brothers and sister. Fight your sin. Rejoice in the Cross. Let the Spirit change you!

Because we come as we are. But God does not leave us as we are. He changes us.

Ephesians: We were dead in our sins...But Eph 2:8–10 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Romans: No-one is righteous...But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him Ro 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

2 Co 5:17–18 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

This is the work of regeneration: of changing a sinner into a righteous person. God declares us righteous and then starts making us righteous. It is a work that will only be completed after we die – when we see him face to face we will be transformed in the blink of an eye. But until then each day we become more like Jesus. (Sometimes one step forward, two steps back). But he is at work in us.

And we are regenerated not by being strong. Not by trying really hard like some spiritual superman. No. We continue how we started. By admitting our sin. By admitting that we are weak. In humility. And by throwing yourself onto Jesus and his strength and his power.

How does this work in practice? Well, let me give you an example from my life. Anyone who’s seen my wife will know that I like beautiful women. Actually, I like women. That’s why I married one. I’m attracted to women. I am designed to be attracted to a woman. And I’m designed to have sex with a woman. That’s my wife, Debby. But I’m a sinner, and so my sexual urges, like yours, are messed up. And I could quite easily want to have sex with a woman who is not my wife.
Now the Pharisee in me says “I would never do that, I am too good.” The Christian in me says “don’t be a fool. I am a sinner. I recognise my weakness. I recognise that my heart is deceitful – I think up lies, excuses to cover my sin. I could easily fall into this trap. What makes me think that *I* could succeed where so many others have fallen.” So I pray. Lord, help me not to fall into temptation.
And I take action. I don’t put myself into situations where I could be tempted. I’m not home alone with a woman. I’m not in my office with a closed door with a woman, Etc. Not that anything WILL happen. But I don’t trust myself.
I have seen a good friend fall in adultery – and it happened so slowly little bit by little bit, excuse after excuse – until he was having an affair, cheating on his wife, something he swore he would never do.
I am a sinner. And so are you.
Living as a Christian is NOT pretending you’re superhuman or better than everyone else. Living as a Christian is realising you are a rotten sinner who will lie to yourself and to everyone around you in order to sin and to cover up that sin. Don’t trust yourself. Trust Christ!

I hope you are encouraged this morning. I hope you can answer the charge of hypocrisy not with being angry and defending yourself or other Christians who’ve done things wrong – but say yes, we are sinners. What they did was wrong. They need to repent. Turn to God and ask forgiveness. And make things right. But because they messed up doesn’t mean they’re not Christian. Christian’s are sinners like everyone else. We’re not better people. We’re just forgiven people. And you can be too. We’re messed up people in a messed up world. But Christianity isn’t about saying c’mon everyone forward march, get things right. But by saying there is hope. And that hope is in the Cross of Christ.

Bibellærers dag 3.

16:00-16:30

Vi har lært: Vi må LYTTE til Guds Ord før vi formidle Guds Ord
Kontekst: Hvem, Hva, Hvordan, Hvorfor her, Hva med Jesus.
Struktur. Bindingsord. Bombardere med spørsmål.
Guds Ord er bært av pusten: den Hellige Ånd som gjør det levende.
Og den Hellige Ånd som talte gjennom apostlene – levende ord.

Hvordan lede en gruppe. Viktigst er hvem som leder.

Hva sier Bibelen? 1 Tim 3

Kontekst?
Hvem? Apostelen Paulus skriver til Timoteus (han var det vi ville kalt biskopen i dag)
Hva? Paulus legge fram hvordan man leder en menighet, og i denne kapittel, hvem skal leder en menighet. Og det er de som hører og adlyde Guds Ord. Og du ser det i livet deres – de lever en gudfryktig liv.
Det å værer kristen leder handler om karakter – hvem du er – ikke ferdigheter – det du kan gjør. Hvis du føler det totalt ubrukelig og ikke i stand til den rollen du har – bra! Som Jakob 3:1 viser til dette er noe fryktelig og viktig vi går inn i, og vi trenger Guds hjelp. Mer om dette i neste time.

Hvordan? I et brev til Timoteus personlig, men som er tydeligvis skrevet for å bli høylest i alle samlinger slik at menigheten også skal vite hva slags ledere de skal har og det de bør gjør.

Hvorfor her? Etter korset og oppstandelsen, etter pinse, kirken er etablert. Men hvordan organiseres og hvordan går vi fram. Veldig nær oss.

Hva med Jesus? Hans kirke

Å ville tjene er verdifull.
Eneste kompentanse eller ferdighet er ”dyktig å undervise”. Hvorfor? Fordi uten Guds Ord er ikke en kirke en kirke – se v15
Alt annet er kristen karakter.

Det kristne ledere trenger er ikke bedre teknikker eller lederskapskurs. Kristne leder trenger å være så fylt av Guds Ord – så mye i Guds Ord - at de begynne å tenke som Gud tenker. Slik at VI begynner å se folk med Guds øyne, at vi ser verden slik han ser verden at vi møte folk slik han møte folk.
Vi må først bli forvandlet av Ånden som tale til oss gjennom Ordet, før vi kan da tjener andre.

Det er alt for mange ”pastorer” ”prester” eller ”lærere” som skade evangeliet stort fordi de har ikke FØRST ydmyket seg foran Herren og tillot Ham å utfordre dem, og endre dem og forvandlet dem.

I Guds nåde, la oss fylles av hans ord, at vi skal så høyt elske Jesus at vi blir mer og mer ham lik!

Tre prinsipper i å lede en bibelgruppe.

· Vis, ikke forteller. Målet med bibelgruppe er at folk skal få verktøy: de skal lære å lese Bibelen for seg selv. Ikke informasjon. Da blir de avhengig av deg i stedet for Jesus og Ånden.

· Vær tålmodig. La folk sliter litt, jobbe med teksten. Grubler over ting. Kan gå hjem med ”feil” forståelse. Det er Guds Ord som kan irettesette dem. Det er Åndens jobb, ikke din. J

· Spør ”hvor finner du det i teksten”. Vår svar må kommer fra teksten – det er Guds Ord og Hans ideer som gjelder – hans tanker - ikke våres! Folk skjønner fort hvor autoriteten ligger: ikke hos dem, ikke hos deg, men hos Gud gjennom hans ord.

Noen praktiske tips:

· Sitt hvor du kan se alle og hvor alle kan se deg og hverandre. Sitt ved siden av pratsomme folk, og mot stille folk (øyekontakt)

· Må være nok lys slik at folk kan lese teksten. Og penn papir osv. Nok stoler

· Gjør det enkelt for alle til å svare. Fortell de som snakke mye til å ti stille. Spør stille folk direkte enkel spørsmål. Vær oppmuntrende selv med feil svar for stille folk eller ny folk
Ikke si "haha, din idiot, du tar feil" si "God kommentar! Kan vi finne noen bevis på det i teksten." Eller ”Ja! Det er ofte hvordan vi tenker, ikke sant? Vi blir tatt av dette hver gang når Bibelen tar det opp. La oss igjen se på hva det faktisk står".

· Vær rask til å si "jeg vet ikke". Ordet er autoriteten, ikke du.

· Vær forbered! Du må ha gått grundig gjennom teksten først. Men bruk ikke mer enn to timer – helst en. Det kan tar helt av!

· Prøv å holde deg innenfor rammen av boken du underviser. Begrens henvisning til andre skriftene (fordi da blir alt bare det samme. Miste ”smaken” på enkelte bøker). Og du kan gå glipp av viktige ting hvis du ”balansere” en tekst med en annen. La teksten prate for seg selv.

· Ikke gi svar. La dem finner ut svaret selv.

· BE! Uten Gud kan vi ikke gjør noe som helst. Ber for din gruppe. Ber for de som ikke kommer. Ber for deg selv. Ber!

Bibellærers dag 2.

14:45-15:30

Vi har lært: Vi må LYTTE til Guds Ord før vi formidle Guds Ord
Kontekst: Hvem, Hva, Hvordan, Hvorfor her, Hva med Jesus.

Litt ekstra påfyll på hvor viktig Bibelen er, og hvordan Ånden kobles inn.

1 Mosebok 1:1-3 I begynnelsen skapte Gud himmelen og jorden. Jorden var øde og tom, mørke lå over dypet, og Guds ånd svevde over vannet. Da sa Gud: «Det skal bli lys!» Og det ble lys.

Kontekst? Begynnelsen! Introduserer Gud.
Hvem? Gud
Hva? Skapelsen
Hvordan? Poetisk overblikk som forteller oss om Gud og hans karakter.
Hvorfor her? Begynnelsen er et godt sted å begynne
Hva med Jesus? Treenig Gud. Gud (faderen), Ånden, og han snakke til noen. Jesus. NT sier at alt var skapt av Jesus Kol 1:16 Alt er skapt ved Ham og til Ham.

Hva skjer når Gud prater? Det som han sa!
Hvor er Ånden i dette bildet? Til stede!
Visste du at det Hebraiske ordet for Ånden her er ruach, som betyr bokstavelig ”pusten”? Ånden er Guds pust.
Derfor bærer Ånden ordet.

Nå tenker vi litt dypt: Hvor da er Ånden når vi lese skriftene? Med oss!

Og NT hjelper oss å bli sikre at vi er på riktig spor. 1 Kor 2:10-12 det har Gud åpenbart for oss ved sin Ånd. For Ånden utforsker alle ting, også dybdene i Gud. Hvem andre enn menneskets egen ånd vet hva som bor i et menneske? Slik vet heller ingen annen enn Guds Ånd hva som bor i Gud. Vi har ikke fått verdens ånd, men den Ånd som er fra Gud, for at vi skal forstå hva Gud i sin nåde har gitt oss.

Uten Ånden kan vi ikke forstå Guds Ånd. Det er derfor en kan være professor i Bibelen men ikke være en kristen. Misforstå hele greie. Biblene er jo levende ord, ikke bare en bok, men uten Ånden kan vi ikke forstå dette.

Det er derfor vi ba når vi startet! Uten Ham, forstå vi ingenting. Han bærer Guds Ord og gjør denne boken – som er bare en bok - til levende ord som holde oss i livet.

Vi lever av Guds Ord. Det samme Ord som skapet verden og holde det gående. Ordet kommer via Ånden. Han er Guds pust som bærer Ordet til oss.

Den er jo nesten litt logisk. Gud er vår Far, vår herre, vår mester og vi vil høre hans stemme, vi vil adlyde han, og vi vil bli kjent med ham. Og det skjer når han snakke til oss. Han forteller oss om Han selv – hvem han er, hva han har gjort i fortiden, og hva han gjør nå, og det han kommer til å gjøre i framtiden.

Og ALT DETTE finns i Bibelen. Ingen andre steder. Det er her vi hører Åndens stemme.

Nå skal vi øve på våre leseferdigheter og få litt teologisk tyngde samtidig. Hva er evangeliet, og hvorfor kan vi stole på bibelen?
Hvis vi har tid skal vi ser på bibelsk profeti.

Hva er evangeliet? (noen forslag)
John 3:16 OG 18 (slå opp). Syndere under Guds dom – men Guds Sønn, Jesus Kristus, har byttet plass med oss på korset slik at vi syndere kan bli tilgitt og få evig liv med Gud og leve for hans ære og ikke vårt. (synd, dom, tilgivelse, korset, evig liv)

Rom 1:16-18 (Bibelen Guds Ord) For jeg skammer meg ikke over Kristi evangelium, for det er Guds kraft til frelse for hver den som tror, for jøde først og så for greker.
For i evangeliet blir Guds rettferdighet åpenbart av tro til tro, som det står skrevet: Den som er rettferdig av tro, skal leve.
For Guds vrede blir åpenbart fra himmelen over all ugudelighet og all urettferdighet hos menneskene, de som undertrykker sannheten i urettferdighet. (2011 har utelatt ”FOR” i v18. Fy!)

Hvem? Paulus til menighet i Roma.
Hva? Legge fram og forsvare evangeliet og spørre dem om hjelp til hans misjonsreise til Spania
Hvordan? Skrive et langt brev hvor han bygger opp evangeliets grunnlag steg for steg
Hvorfor her (Hvor)? Etter Kristi oppstandelse. Kirkens epoke.
Hva med Jesus? Han er overalt.

Hvorfor kalle ham det ”Kristi evangeliet”? Rom 1:1-3

Se opp for bindingsord!! FOR. Hva betyr ”for”? Svaret på forrige versets spørsmål! Vi har en ”for” i v16 – da må vi lese vers 15. Han vil preke.
Hvorfor vil han preke? V16.
Hvorfor er evangeliet Guds kraft til frelse? V17 det er av nåde! Rettferdighet IKKE av å streve, offer, eller noe annet. Av tro. Å stole på noe.
Hvorfor må Guds rettferdighet kommer ved tro? V18 Fordi vi er syndere under Guds vrede.

Se du hvor viktig sånne bindingsord er? Se opp for dem. Sett ring rundt dem i Bibelen.
Se også gjentatte ord – som rettferdighet. Gi deg tegn på tema.

Det vi gjør nå er bare en liten fordypning på det vi gjør i Bibelgruppene. Spørsmålstegn er Hva Hvem Hvordan Hvorfor her og Hva med Jesus. Lyspære kommer fra svar på de spørsmål.

Det å lese Bibelen er ikke vanskelig. Sette av tid til å tenke og spørre masse spørsmål Question bombardment. Du ”bombe” teksten med en masse spørsmål. Hvorfor skrev han sånn. Hvorfor satt han tekstbiten der. Osv. Struktur er viktig. Ikke tilfeldig hvordan historier er satt sammen. Spør hvorfor.

Jeg skal viser deg en kjent eksempel på hvordan struktur hjelpe oss å forstå dypere poenget. Markus 8:22-26 hvor Jesus helbreder en blind mann – og denne historien er ”tilfeldigvis” satt inn i en tekstbit som handler om disiplene. Slå den opp 8:21-29. Disiplene forstå ikke. De ser Jesus men uklart. De vet det er noe med ham, men vet ikke hva. Da åpne Jesus øynene på en blind man – som merkelig nok ikke se med det første som i alle de andre mirakler. Hmm. Hvorfor? Hvorfor er det to steg her og ingen andre steder. Hvorfor har Markus plassert den her? For å vise at forståelsen som Peter og de andre oppnå er en underverk av Jesus. Han måtte åpne forstanden – åndelig øynene på dem. Du er Messias! Er en mirakel.

Ok. Vi fortsetter med Jesus og apostlene, for å vise hvor viktig ”hvem” spørmål er, og vite hvorfor vi kan stole på det nye testament.

John 14:26 Men Talsmannen, Den hellige ånd, som Far skal sende i mitt navn, skal lære dere alt og minne dere om alt det jeg har sagt dere.

Hva? Jesus forteller dem at han skal dø – han forlater dem, men sier at de må vente på den Hellige Ånd. Han forklarer mye av det som kommer til å skje, hvordan vi, kirken, skal overlever, og han ber for oss (kap 15).
Hvorfor her? (Hvor) Natten før Jesus skal dø. Han snakke åpent med disiplene hans.
Hva med Jesus? Han snakker!
Hvordan? Jesus taler
Hvem? Jesus til oss? Nei! Disiplene. Viktig.

Hvordan vet vi at V26 gjelder disiplene, ikke oss? Hellige Ånd skal minne dem om alt JESUS har sagt dem. Det er ikke oss.
Hvordan ta vi dette til oss, da?

TEKST >NEI!> OSS

˅ ˄

DEM > JESUS

Jesus lover at DE skal husker alt han sa til dem ved den Hellige Ånds kraft. Og så kan VI stole på at det de har skrevet er Guds Ord.

Hvis vi misforstå så sitte vi og vente på ord fra Gud. Hvis vi forstå ”hvem” så vet vi at vi har Guds Ord foran oss. Som Luter sa ”La ham som vil høre Guds røst les Bibelen!”

Kontekst-sjekk? John 16:13-15 Men når sannhetens Ånd kommer, skal han veilede dere til hele sannheten. For han skal ikke tale ut fra seg selv, men si det han hører, og gjøre kjent for dere det som skal komme. Han skal herliggjøre meg, for han skal ta av det som er mitt, og forkynne det for dere. Alt det som min Far har, er mitt. Derfor sa jeg at han skal ta av det som er mitt, og forkynne det for dere.

(Paulus (ufullbåret foster (1 Kor 15:8): erklært av Peter som ”skriftene” i 2 Pet 3:16))

Oppsummering:

Vi må LYTTE til Guds Ord før vi formidle Guds Ord
Kontekst: Hvem, Hva, Hvordan, Hvorfor her, Hva med Jesus.

Uten Guds Ord dør vi. Uten hans ord kjenner vi ikke ham. Uten hans ord opplever vi ikke Den Hellige Ånd. Uten hans ord er vi naken, ikke utrustet, uforbered for det kristne livet, og sårbar for djevelen.

Les Bibelen! Ordet er livet!

Og husk – bombardere tektsen med spørsmål. Vær obs på bindingsord som for derfor hvorfor osv.
Tenk på struktur. Hvorfor er historiene plassert sånn.

Og husk at dette er den Hellige Ånds ord. Og han er ved siden av deg for å forklare og åpenbare den til deg!

Nå skal vi BE for hverandre. 30 min.

Bibellærers dag 1.

14:00-14:30

BE! Hellige Ånd, åpne skriftene til oss i dag. Forbereder oss til å høre deg. Gjør oss i stand til å lære andre om deg.

I dag skal vi lærer en ting! Å lese.

Uff! Jeg kan leser tenker du. Ja, men det å lese er nøkkelen til å være en god bibellære!
Det er dette vi skal øve på i dag. Å lese! Å lese det som er i teksten, ikke det som vi tror er i teksten. Vi leser ofte med en viss forventning av det vi tror Gud skal si – dette er vårt rammeverk. Det vi må gjøre er la teksten endre vårt rammeverk – i stedet for å la rammeverket vårt styrer teksten. Det er derfor jeg spørre alltid ”hvor finner du det i teksten”

Vi må først LYTTE til Guds Ord før vi formidle Guds Ord.

For hvis ikke vi gjør det, så kan det være våre ord, eller djevelens ord som vi formidler, og ikke Guds.

Dere er her fordi dere skal være åndelig ledere. Dere skal undervise Guds Ord. Dette er noe stort! Og et stort ansvar.

Slå opp Jakob 3:1 Ikke mange av dere bør bli lærere, mine brødre, for dere vet at vi lærere skal få så mye strengere dom

Ok, så vi må da være forsiktig. Men hvorfor Bibelen? Hvorfor ikke Ånden? Dere har kanskje hørt kritikken: dere fokuserer så mye på Bibelen – hva med Ånden? Ofte mener de med det ”å synge” eller ”babler i tunge” eller det som ofte ble feiltoket som profeti ”å jeg se en grønn bakke og opp på toppen Jesus som smiler mot oss” (eller ritualer, eller hva som helst)

Men hvorfor legge vi så mye vekt på Bibelen? (noen forsøk)

La oss høre fra Jesus. Matt 4:4

Ok – første vi gjør når vi ser på et vers?

Kontekst / sammenheng

Vi leser aldri noe i det løse luftet – men vi ofte gjør det når vi leser Bibelen. Det er Guds Ord, men han skrev den som ei bok! Og vanlig bok regler gjelder.
Kultene som Jehovah’s vitner, Iglesio ni Christo, og herlighets ”teologer” bruker å sitere ut av kontekst og da vri meningen.

For å komme fram til konteksten spørre vi de fem Hv – spørsmål! Hva, Hvem, Hvordan, Hvorfor (her), (Hva med Jesus). Den siste takler vi i siste time – hvordan alt handler om Jesus

Hva? Hva har skjedd? Jesus er blitt født og vokst opp på mirakuløst vis, i oppfyllelse av GT profeti. Døperen Johannes har forberedt Israels folk på Guds besøk ved å varsle dem Matt 3:12 Han har kasteskovlen i hånden og skal rense kornet på treskeplassen. Hveten sin skal han samle i låven, men agnene skal han brenne opp med en ild som aldri slukner.»

Og da kommer Jesus og er døpt. Himmelen åpnes og Ånden kommer ned og Faderen sier ”du er min elskede Sønn”. Og da blir han ledet ut i ørknen for å fristes av djevelen.

Hva er det Jesus svarer på? V3 si at disse steinene skal bli til brød

Hvem er det Jesus snakker til? Djevelen.

Hvordan? Hvordan er historien lagt opp eller organisert. Mer viktig når du ser på større tekstbiter eller en bok. Men Hvordan? En dialog, historisk hendelser .

Hvorfor Her? Hvorfor skjer dette her?
Hvem andre ble kalt Guds sønn? Israel. Som vandret i ørkenen i 40 år. Hvorfor? Fordi de ble satt på prøvelse og feilet.
Hvem er Jesus? Nye Israel, som gjør det som Israel ikke kunne gjøre. Kontekst? – se 2:15.

Hva med Jesus? Han snakke. Ganske lett! J

Nå kan vi se på verset!
Hvordan lever vi? Av Guds Ord.
Trenger vi brød (mat)? Ja.
Hva trenger vi mer? Guds Ord
Hvem sine ord? Guds!
Tror vi virkelig på dette?

Hvordan hjelper kontekst og Hv spørsmålene oss? Vi vet at det vi har kommet fram til er riktig. Hva er forskjellen mellom Jesus og Israelittene? Jesus kjenner Guds Ord, og Jesus adlyde Guds Ord. Israelittene glemte Guds Ord, eller kastet det, og adlød ikke.
Tenk også på maten de fikk i ørkenen: manna, brød. Men de døde i ørkenen. Hvorfor? Ikke fordi de manglet brød, men fordi de hørte ikke på Guds Ord.

Vi trenger Guds Ord mer enn daglig føde.

Tror vi virkelig på dette?

Ok, vi har tid til et vers til. 2 tim 3:16-17

16 Hver bok i Skriften er innblåst av Gud og nyttig til opplæring, tilrettevisning, veiledning og oppdragelse i rettferd, 17 så det mennesket som tilhører Gud, kan være fullt utrustet til all god gjerning.

Kontekst?
Hvem? Apostelen Paulus skriver til Timoteus (han var det vi ville kalt biskopen i dag)
Hva? Paulus oppfordre Timoteus til å holde ut og ikke miste grep på evangeliet. Og lære det til neste generasjon.
Hvordan? I et brev til Timoteus personlig, men som er tydeligvis skrevet for å bli høylest i alle samlinger slik at menigheten også skal holde ut.
Hvorfor her? Etter oppstandelsen, men før gjenkomst. Vi lever i endetidene. En åndelig kamp. Satt under press.
Hva med Jesus? Hans kirke. Hans Ånd er med oss.

Konteksten er vi under press, fengslet (som Paulus), lidelse – vi holde ut og legge fram ordet (se 4:1-2). Vårt håp er igjen: Guds Ord, og bare det.

Hva er det som er innblåst (utåndet) av Gud? Skriftene.
Hva er IKKE innblåst av Gud? Alt annet!! Bare skriftene.
Hva sier det da om prioriteten Bibelen må ha over andre bøker? Du kan godt lese andre kristne bøker – men det er IKKE bibelstudie eller bibelgruppe.
Det er å høre andre snakke om Gud i stedet for å snakke direkte med ham. Det å høre hva folk sier om en annen kan gi det en god bilde av hvem de er (hvis de er trofaste) – men det er bare å prate med dem direkte, selv, da begynne du å virkelig kjenne dem (jeg ha hørt mye om deg – godt å møte deg)

Hva skjer når vi lese Bibelen? Utrustet
Hva skjer da når vi ikke lese Bibelen? Ikke utrustet…. Vi har mange kristne som løper rundt på krigsfeltet helt nakne. Ikke noe beskyttelse!

Oppsummering:

1. Hva skal vi lære i dag? Å lese!

2. Hva gjør vi med vår rammeverk? La teksten endre det

3. Hvordan gjør vi det? Kontekst

4. Hvordan kommer vi til kontekst? Lese versene/kapitler før (og etter) og stiller 5 spørsmål:

a. Hva

b. Hvem

c. Hvordan

d. Hvorfor her

e. Hva med Jesus

5. vi lever av Guds Ord – ellers så dør vi. Vi er utrustet bare av hans Ord – ellers så er vi åndelig naken.

6. Vi må LYTTE til Guds Ord før vi formidle Guds Ord.

Hvordan ser du ut åndelig sett? Har du formidlet ordet uten å først har lyttet? Tatt snarveien uten på sette deg inn i det først?

Ta noen minutter og ber om tilgivelse og at Gud vil gjør deg sulten etter hans ord. Hver dag.

Isaiah 65-66 Two groups – which do you belong to?

Isaiah 65-66 Click here for mp3

The whole world, the whole of humanity, is divided into one of two groups. Either with God – or against him. The group against God will, in the end, get what they want – God as enemy, God the warrior, God the destroyer. The group with God will get what they want: God himself. Love and happiness and joy for all eternity. This world renewed, without sin or grief or tears. But God with his people in great joy – forever!

1. Only with God is there life, hope, and a future.

(so how do we join that group?)

2. Humility is the path to God’s group – the people with a future

3. God’s people put their trust in God’s mercy through Christ

1. Only with God is there life, hope, and a future.

Is 65 The LORD says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name.

I was ready to be sought – ready to forgive. God is not hiding. But we don’t seek him! We don’t want God.

2 All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes. 3 All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on pagan altars.

God spreads out his hands to a rebellious people. This was Israel in 700 BC, but it could describe us. It is our rebellion that keeps us away from God. Our choice. We don’t want God. We don’t seek God. Instead we make up our own “God” and say we worship that. I like to think of God like…!
We provoke him with our idolatry, ignoring his word, living life our way, not His. Our idolatry is making a new Jesus that’s more acceptable to our society. Our idolatry is materialism. Living for sofas and new telephones – even sacrificing our children and family. All that matters is money and things. Our idolatry is leisure. The good life. Our idolatry is our own goodness! We think we are such good people! Norwegians, the best people in the world, better than everyone else. 5 Yet they say to each other, ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ There is something ugly about self-righteousness. Norway is a great country. Norwegians are lovely people. But that arrogance that often spills over in to racism is ugly. These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away.

The same temptation is there for us Christians. The Spirit is at work in us - we stop lying, stop sleeping around, stop cheating. And we think, wow, I’m such a great person. I’m better than them. That’s why God chose me. Ugly, isn’t it? Look at 66:2 “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.”

If we are humble, he blesses. If we are arrogant? 6 “Look, my decree is written out in front of me: I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them.

These words are for us, and they are for Israel. It is a natural law. Stand against God – suffer. Live God’s way – blessing. We are made to love God, made to serve him. He is the fuel which drives our life. Oh, we may not like it, but that’s the way it is. We are made to be dependent on God.

We like to believe we are independent, strong, like God. Determining our own life. But we are weak, and fragile, dependent on each other and dependent on God. I was reminded of this at Kaleb’s football game last week, as one of his teammates, Arvit, a strong, tough boy, collided with another. The other boy jumped up and carried on playing – but Arvit stayed down. That was weird. Why? Because he’d broken his cheekbone. A little touch in just the wrong place. How fragile we are! To declare ourselves independent from God is foolishness.

But God will not destroy us completely, but 9 I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it, and my servants will live there.

Two groups. Two outcomes. We’ve seen it again and again. A tale of two cities – Zion of heaven or Jerusalem of earth. A life lived for God or a life lived against him. 13 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “My servants will eat, but you will starve. My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed. 14 My servants will sing for joy, but you will cry in sorrow and despair. 15 Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign LORD will destroy you and will call his true servants by another name.

Could it be more plain? One group has a future. The other does not. With God there is life, hope! In him our future is secure. Because one day all this will be gone, replaced with a new heavens and a new earth. If we are in Christ, this is our future: 17 “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
A new heavenly city – Zion , a new Jerusalem. . 18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more.

This is what’s coming. How do we know it’s secure?

He said the Babylonians are coming. They came. He said they would fall. They did. He said King Cyrus would send his people home. He did. He said that He would come to rescue his people. He did. Jesus came. And he said his servant would come to rescue his people through his death. And never did we imagine that the Servant would be God himself. The great King, humble. As Jesus cries out on the corss. It is finished. The price is paid. The way is open.

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But the snakes will eat dust. In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

The new creation, God’s holy mountain covering the whole earth is coming as surely as the sun rises and the sun sets. His word is secure. That, at least we must’ve understood by now!

So if this new creation is coming, how do we become part of it? How do we get into the group with a future. How do we become one of the “holy” – because God’s holy mountain is only for the holy?

2. Humility is the path to God’s group – the people with a future

Humility is a word that is often misunderstood. Humility is not thinking less of yourself – oh I’m worthless, I’m stupid. That’s not humility, that’s self-abuse, and needs to be stopped. Because you are made in the image of God. You, if in Christ, are a child of God, beloved, created to uniquely with your gifts and talents to praise God. Tell yourself these things instead of listening to yourself tear you down.

No, humility is not thinking less of yourself – it is thinking of yourself, less. I am not the most important person. Your mind is filled with Jesus, with the good of others, before yourself. That’s humility. Not what can I get out of this, but the answer is Yes Lord, now tell me what to do. No matter the cost.

Humility is the only way to come to God.

Because we can’t bribe God. We can’t give him something he needs. No, not even “love”. God does not need our love. God did not make man because he was lonely. If you were taught that at Sunday school I’m sorry but your teachers were idiots for teaching you lies. God is three in one, perfect love flowing between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Can we add anything to perfection?
Can we give God anything? No! 66:1 Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place?

It is a joke to try to impress God. Don’t do it. That’s why our tagline is “come as you are”. You cannot come to God any other way. We might appreciate it if you brush your teeth and wash your face – but God says come as you are, filthy, run down, whatever you’ve done, wherever you are – come. Can we build a temple? Can we win God over? Can we impress God? Can we give him anything he doesn’t already have. No.
(He’d be the worst one to by a birthday present for! He really is the one who has everything!)
2 My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken!

Everything is his. SO what can we do? Simply come, acknowledging Lord, I am yours. In my hands nothing I bring. V2 continues: “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word.”

That’s the only way. Humble. Like a child – Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, can you help me. Can you tie my shoes. Can you get a glass. Cut my spaghetti. Drive me to my friends. I can’t do it.
That’s how we’re supposed to live with God. In utter dependence.

And you know, living like that brings great freedom! In my own life I keep having to remind myself: he is the head of my home. He is responsible for my kids – their sin and their godliness (goodness), their growth and their health, and whether they are saved or not. It’s his responsibility. Mine is to obey him. Listen to him. The rest is up to him. It’s the same with this church. How often do I pray “Lord, your church has a problem – please sort it out”! And he does. Look at us! Growing. New people being saved. New life! We love each other. Weird! Praise God!

So let us tremble at his Word. Know his power. Listen to Him. Obey him. Because if we come to him arrogant. If we come telling God what to do. If we come full of our own goodness, showing God how religious we are.... 3 But those who choose their own ways— delighting in their detestable sins— will not have their offerings accepted.

False religion doesn’t work. In fact it makes things worse. If you’re coming to church thinking that yes, God will be impressed – he won’t! V3 When such people sacrifice a bull, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb, it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog! When they bring an offering of grain, they might as well offer the blood of a pig. When they burn frankincense, it’s as if they had blessed an idol.

And so 4 I will send them great trouble— all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.”

It’s not easy to follow God, but worth it. 5 Hear this message from the LORD, all you who tremble at his words: “Your own people hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. ‘Let the LORD be honoured!’ they scoff. ‘Be joyful in him!’

But what will happen to them?

But they will be put to shame. 6 What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the LORD taking vengeance against his enemies.

Religion offers no hope. Being good offers no hope. Being humble before the Lord – that is our hope.

3. God’s people put their trust in God’s mercy through Christ

Isaiah has been predicting a great day – a day when the Lord will bless and rescue his people. It’s a day that was partially fulfilled when the pagan king, Cyrus, is lead by God to release his people back to Israel. And it is fully fulfilled when the true King, Jesus, unites Jew and Gentile into one new humanity on the Cross, as the church is born.

7 “Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son. 8 Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin, her children will be born.

In one day, on the day of Pentecost, 3000 were added to their number. The church had explosive growth. Within about 30 years, there were Christians across the known world. The Emperor of Rome had heard of Christianity – and considered it a threat! A nation born in a single day! We are one people, one people spread across the whole world. A great global family. Wherever you are in the world, we have brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, this morning, across the whole world, in every country, people are meeting to praise our Lord Jesus, and to listen to his word. It is a great miracle.

18 “I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. 19 I will perform a sign among them. (The Cross) And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations. 20 They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. 21 “And I will appoint some of them to be my priests and Levites. I, the LORD, have spoken!

Every nation gathered in the church. And in the new creation, the new Jerusalem, we will all be together, side by side, equal in Christ Jesus. A great crowd singing praises to our God. 23 “All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month

All humanity – all meaning “without exception” – there is no-one excluded. Not all meaning everyone. There is no universalism in the Bible. Universalism: the idea that everyone will be saved in the end, that no-one is judged. V24 kills that!

24 And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror.”

It’s a weird ending don’t you think? Not how I would end it. But Isaiah wants us to feel the impact. There are only two groups. For those in Christ, things will go very, very well. For those who refuse to accept him, things will go very, very badly. They will get what they ask for – no God. But since God is the source of life, what they are asking for is death. Death and destruction.

So, dear brothers, choose life!

Now, how do we apply this? Well, during the confession and communion, now. Ask yourself some questions to find out which group you are part of. Ask: Do I LISTEN to the LORD? Do I delight in Him. Seek Him. Love Him? Would I give up everything to be with Him?
What’s holding you back? Whatever it is, get rid of it, because it is rubbish compared to knowing God. It is worth it.

We have a glorious future! A secure hope! So let’s live for Christ now. Frode told me he did something last week he’d never done – witnessing on the Jesus bus. Living for Christ.
Maybe for some of us it’s stopping stealing. Stop watching porn. Work! Spend time with the kids. Report corruption. Be a voice of reason. Love our wives.

Whatever the Lord calls, let us do it. The answer is Yes, Lord – now tell me what’s the question.

Isaiah 62:1-64:12 How to read the Bible when you don't like what you're reading: Jesus will crush his enemies

Isaiah 62:1-64:12

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Today I want to take you behind the scenes – a ”making of” – of preparing a sermon. Welcome to my world, at least on Thursday’s and Friday’s. What I do Monday-Wednesday is accounting – be grateful I’m not giving you a behind the scenes on that!

So, when you’ve got a text like Isaiah 62-64 how do you go about preparing to preach it?

The first step in preparing a sermon is to read the text. Not the commentaries. Not the latest article on Facebook to pop up on this topic or this book. But to read the text. Why? Because the text is inspired by God. It is God’s word. And everything else is uninspired. Everything else is corrupted by sin. Only the Bible is written by God for us so that we can know him in all his fullness.

So we start by reading, just like we’ve done.

And then we read it again, more carefully. Look for surprises. Look for questions. Look for big ideas.
That sounds familiar, yes. This is what we do in Bible study! This is in fact how we read any text we want to understand. Especially those written from a different cultural viewpoint, and especially those which disagree with us. The Bible is both of those. It’s written to Ancient Jews. And it often disagrees with us!

Here’s my text.

Here’s some of the surprises and questions.

62:1 Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.

Who’s speaking? Is it Isaiah? Is it Jesus (carrying on from chapter 61)? Is it the Lord, speaking from Heaven?

Whoever it is, He is speaking with great power. And he will not stop until Jerusalem is holy, until Israel is restored, until the people of God are made righteous. It is someone who loves Israel. So, these could very well be Isaiah’s words – but they are also the words of the Servant King, the words of Jesus, the one who fulfilled Isaiah 61 “The Lord has anointed me to preach good news.”
Why? Because there is amazing grace here. Did you notice it? Eg v5 Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. And that’s a surprise, isn’t it? WHY? Why does God love his people? Why does God claim them as his bride.

If you don’t ask that question, you’ll miss it. You’ll miss the glory. You’ll miss the astounding grace. You’ll just go, meh, that’s what God does. Yes it IS what God does – so be astounded, be amazed! That’s why this first part QUESTION is so important. Why will God rejoice over his people? Because they’ve been really good? Because they repented? Because they followed the rules really well? No. Because God has decided to have mercy. Because Jesus announced the day of the Lord’s favour. (61:2) That is now.

So the first surprise is the love of God for his people. The mercy that he has on rebellious people. Today is the day of the Lord’s favour. I fact, turn back to 61:1-2. Remember last week? This is what Jesus quoted in the synagogue (the Jewish church) in his home town: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD’s favour has come,

So, context control! Yes, our first surprise is right – God really does love his people. He really has come to save us.

But the second surprise is the sudden violence in 63:1-6 where the Lord is covered in blood from crushing his enemies. It is a big puzzle, a big surprise, a big question mark – but it is also, we have found one of the BI GIDEAS in theses chapters and the book as a whole: Jesus the warrior.

Read those verses again and feel the weight of them. Let it hit you between the eyes. This is our God. Woah.

63:1-6 Who is this who comes from Edom (one of the enemies of Israel), from the city of Bozrah (the capital of Edom), with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in his great strength? “It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation! It is I, the Lord, who has the power to save!” 2 Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes? 3 “I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. Their blood has stained my clothes. 4 For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors. 5 I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me. 6 I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”

Good grief! Is this the God we know and love? Is this God the gentleman? God who is full of love? God who accepts everyone? Who is always fair and just? Is this really gentle Jesus meek and mild?

The difficulty with preaching is this: I have an idea of God in my mind. A way I like to think about God. But in preparing a sermon I cannot preach to you my version of God. I must preach God’s version of God. And in my experience he is always more out of control, wilder, bigger, scarier than my version of him.
And it’s the same for all of us if we want to read the Bible properly and really know God. We must allow the text to change our picture of God.

A big problem is that our idea of God comes not from the Bible but from our culture around us. What does our culture say God should be and shouldn’t be? It affects us more than we know.

How do we deal with a passage like this? It wrecks us because it ruins our idea of God. And our idea of ourselves.

In order for us to be good Bible readers we need to understand our cultural bias. So we don’t read what we want to be there, but read what’s actually there.

So, what does our culture say about God and about us?

Let’s start with ourselves. Because that’s what we’re most interested in. What do we think about ourselves? We are inherently good. Not perfect, but pretty decent. It is outrageous that God does not accept us. Totally unfair that God sends us to hell. Punishment does not fit the crime. We do not think of ourselves as sinners. Sinners are other people, certainly not me.

This is because we don’t understand that God’s standard is perfection. That’s partly what holiness means: absolute perfection. Absolute goodness. But we think that’s unreasonable. Perfection is unreasonable. When Chinese parents drive their children or Russia drive their gymnasts to be perfect we think hey, slow down. So when God says be perfect. Uh-oh.

And of course Hell doesn’t exist. That’s far too unreasonable. Maybe Hitler is there. And a few Islamic State guys. But no-one else. Fire & brimstone seems childish.

Our movies though reveal another side. When Liam Neeson’s daughter in Taken gets kidnapped – he goes all out and murders loads of criminals involved in the sex trade. And we’re all woohoo! Justice.
Or in Avengers when the alien baddies get killed by our heroes. With a nuclear bomb! Oh well they’re aliens.
But we understand the need to be rescued from evil. When there’s evil in the world we want justice.
But note we are always innocent. We’re never the ones doing the evil. Bad news – the Bible says that we’re the evil ones.

Well, that’s what we think about ourselves. The good. The decent. The innocent. I’ve heard many times “I thought I was good, until I started reading the Book”. One of our members said that a few weeks ago! We don’t believe we are sinners, rebels against God.

But what do we believe about God?

God is a kindly old grandfather, who says tut-tut to our sins, but will really let us all in to paradise anyway, because hey, we’re basically good people. Maybe not Hitler though. Maybe he shouldn’t be let in. Anyway, the Bible says “God wants everybody to be saved” so they will be, right? The Bible says it so it must be true.

We don’t believe God is sovereign. I determine my life. I have free will, and that is what makes me human. It is the creed of humanism – har du lyst, har du lov (så lenge det ikke skade andre). Do what you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. And so there is no room for the God of the Bible who is in control of my life.

We also don’t believe in God as judge. I am my own judge. The only opinion that matters is mine. On Thursday at the school concert a young girl was wearing a t-shirt that said “I complete me”.
In the movie Frozen the heroine, Elsa, ends up saving herself. No-one else saved her. She did it. Her own character was what saved her in the end. Our culture says you do not need a rescuer (Jesus) you can save yourself. God cannot judge you, only you can judge yourself.

How does this compare to what we’ve just read?

Couldn’t be further apart! And so our temptation is to make God a bit less holy, a bit less scary, ourselves a bit better, a bit bigger, a bit more like God. Every cult, false religion, has a small God. You can win him over. Do this, do that and he’ll like you. JW’s, Iglesio ni Christo, Islam, Hindism, even atheism although there the “God” is me. Just do these things and you can win God’s favour. The God of the Bible? You cannot win his favour. You cannot impress God. Look at 64:6! We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.

Even the good things we do are worthless – our goodness is like dirty rags. Literally the word there is menstrual cloths – that is pads or tampons. You really think you can impress God with your goodness. I’m a decent guy! Hey look God here’s a load of used tampons – are you impressed. It’s shocking language because it’s mean to shock us, wake us up! It’s meant to blast our cultural bias right away.

Our culture creates a God like ourselves – just slightly bigger. He has a bit more power, but not all-powerful. He’s a bit better than us, but not holy, not blindingly, frighteningly perfect. He demands nothing of us. Unlike the God of the Bible who demands obedience. As Jesus said: if you love me you’ll obey my commands. If you want to follow me pick up your cross – crucify yourselves daily and give up your lives for me. Would our Norwegian “God” ever ask that?!

No wonder we struggle when the Bible says that God is coming as judge – to judge us! That his judgement is that we have fallen short, and belong in hell. And that he’s coming to trample us like grapes in his winepress.

So what do you do as a preacher or indeed just as a reader of the Bible when you come to verses like these? What do you do with 63:1-6?

I know. Just don’t read them. Just don’t read the Bible. Many of us don’t. Or just read the “nice” bits. Or we read the Bible lazily. We read without really thinking about what we read. We read what we want to be there, rather than what’s there.
That’s what we do isn’t it? How many of us here do exactly that?
Examine yourself here. If you don’t read the Bible or you only read the bits you like... is it because you are hanging onto your culture, your false view of God – an idol, rather than the true and living God.

It’s much easier if we don’t read the Bible or just read bit of it, because then we can make God whatever we want him to be. That’s what the Jehovah’s Witnesses do. And the Mormons. And unfortunately, many, many Christians. Including us.

So, those are the puzzles, the surprises, the question marks. Ok. So now that we’ve battled our culture we can see what these verses really tell us. We can get to the big picture. What are some of the big ideas in the passage, and what is its overall message?

62:1-12, the whole chapter, is God’s promise to rescue his people and give them a glorious future. Made righteous, not forsaken, a royal wedding. He will place watchmen on the walls who will cry out day and night to the Lord , praying, until he keeps his promise. He will not forget. HE will redeem, save, rescue his people.

And this is certain. Because he is the sovereign, AWESOME God of the Bible – BIG not small. Because we’ve seen time and time again that when he says something it happens. We know: he will redeem his people. He will rescue his people. If he was not sovereign it would just be wishful thinking. I HOPE I can rescue my people.

See, we like the God can rescue us part, but we don’t like the God is sovereign part – but God’s promises are meaningless, worthless, if he is not sovereign. If we want God’s rescue, if we want to know the future is secure that heaven awaits, that the world will be remade, that Jesus will come back – if we want all of that, we have to accept his sovereignty. Otherwise he has no power to make things happen! But we know he does because of the Old Testament stories. Because of Isaiah. How often do we read “ I, the Lord, have said this”. He wil rescue his people.

And we also know that God will take revenge on his enemies. 63:1-6. Why is this here? Because judgement is the flip side of salvation. There is no salvation without judgement. It is one and the same action. God comes down – you either cry to him for mercy – and he will save you – or stand against him – and he will crush you. Are you one of his people or not.

Again, God is sovereign to judge. Judgement will happen. Again, that’s not something we particularly like. But actually, we should. Because it means that evil will not have the last word. Evil will not overcome. He will have the last word.

I read on Wednesday evening in the newspaper that Islamic State just burned alive 19 Yazidi girls for refusing to be sex slaves. I read another article about two of these women who were kidnapped by IS and what they went through – and the men who are risking their lives to rescue them. That’s just one event, in one small part of the world. Stuff like that is going on everywhere. We live in an evil and ugly world. But evil will not win.

Because God is sovereign. Because God is taking care of them now. No-one escapes. Everybody dies and will stand before the fury of the righteous judge. Light so bright you cannot look at it. Remember Isaiah’s cry when he saw the Lord “I am doomed”. And Isaiah WAS a “good” man. But he was doomed. Filthy rags do not belong in the throne room.

So, application. What do we do with this chapter?

If we read the Bible lazily. If we read with our cultural blinkers on. What will our application be?

Work hard! Impress God. By being a bit better. By choosing to be a nice person. That’s our default “gospel” that we have.

And that’s completely wrong.

Thankfully Isaiah shows us what our reaction should be, what our application should be: a prayer of thanks and asking for mercy.

63:7 to the end of 64 is one long prayer.

I want us particularly to note his reaction to Jesus the warrior God in v7. 7 I will tell of the Lord’s unfailing love. I will praise the Lord for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel (His chosen people), which he has granted according to his mercy and love. Remember that Isaiah writes this inspired by the Holy Spirit. So He, the Spirit is also teaching us how we are to respond to God’s judgement on his enemies: “I will tell of his unfailing love”.

Isaiah then goes through and remembers all the times God has faithfully rescued his people in the past, even though they rebelled and sinned against him. God of mercy.
And so, because God is merciful to sinners, he is so bold to ask again “Lord, remember us. Lord, save us.” 15 Lord, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 16 Surely you are still our Father!

Amen we cry. Lord, you are still our Father because of your great mercy. We do not trust in our own goodness – even our best good works are filthy rags before you the holy, almighty God. We are weak, we are small, we are hard pressed. Is 64 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How Himingen and Gaustatoppen would quake in your presence!

Let us cry out to mercy to the Lord, and ask him to help us, remember us. Our God will come in salvation or in judgement. Let us plead with him to come to us in mercy. Let us plead with him for Notodden, for Norway.

Let us stand and pray v5-9 Let us make it our prayer. 5 You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. 8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. 9 Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.