Advent: The Human Experience of Waiting.

This is the next in my series of blogs in which I am reviewing Joan Chittister's The Liturgical Year
[Order it here and read my review of the first part of her book here.]

Joan Chittister's THE LITURGICAL YEAR

Over the next few months I will be blogging on "The Liturgical Year: the spiralling adventure of the spiritual life" by Joan Chittister, which is part of the Ancient Practices Series.

Lent 1: Suffering Kingdom-bringers, Suffering Kingdom-sharers

 

This first Sunday in Lent, we focus on the brokenness and suffering towards which these 40 days are journeying.    As I read the 3 readings set for this Sunday, please listen for the brokenness and suffering they contain and especially let these words remind you of your own brokenness and suffering……and be encouraged to bring your brokenness and suffering to the Cross of Christ. 

Isaiah 53:1-7  

1 Peter 2:21-25  

Mark 8:31-38   

Brokenness and suffering, some of it completely undeserved, some of it (in Peter’s case) deserved – he deserved the rebuke of the Lord.  Some of our brokenness and suffering is deserved……some is undeserved……the invitation of grace is to bring all our brokenness and suffering to the Christ who suffered and was broken.

Jesus introduces His Kingdom towards the end of His Ministry as a kingdom which is inaugurated,.... which comes, ......through suffering, brokenness, rejection..... and to His first followers this is so shocking as to be incomprehensible. The Kingdom of God in our midst, turns everything upside down, we've seen that as we've looked at the parables the last few weeks.  

And now Jesus tells His Disciples that this long awaited kingdom can only be launched through His death, and again, His first followers were completely unprepared for that, and indeed, they refused to allow it:

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 

Suffering lies at the heart of the Gospel……and at the heart of what it means to be Christian.  It shouldn’t surprise us – though many are surprised to hear this – that the early Christians understood their calling as Jesus' followers to include, as a central element, their own suffering, misunderstanding and likely death!  It isn’t just that as followers of a misunderstood Messiah, they themselves would naturally expect misunderstanding and persecution (although this true) but it is rather that the suffering of Jesus followers is, like Jesus’ own suffering, the way by which God’s purpose is achieved.

To put it another way, suffering is not just sometimes a consequence of being a Christian, it is actually the WAY through which God brings TRUTH and LIFE.  This is true of deserved and undeserved suffering – God can use it.

When Jesus tells His followers to pick up their cross and follow Him, we see a line straight through the New Testament to the theme of suffering and martyrdom.  Listen:

1 Thess 3:2-4

Phil 3:8-11

2 Cor 4:7-12

Col 1:24

1 Pet 1:6-7

1 Pet 4:12-13

Rev 12:10-11 

We don’t like this message, but it is the message of the whole of the New Testament: our suffering somehow has the positive effect of carrying forward the redemptive effect of Jesus’ own death, not by adding to it, but by sharing in it.

Jesus has chosen His followers as those who share His work of bringing His Kingdom – that’s why He sent out the 12, then the 70, then all those who came and come to believe.  But if we are to bring His Kingdom in His way, we will be people who share His suffering and who always see our suffering as an opportunity for God’s Kingdom to come. 

We are to be suffering Kingdom-bringers, suffering Kingdom-sharers.  Sharing His suffering is the way in which we extend His Kingdom on earth……it remains the way His Kingdom comes.

Now, a closing word to those of us who suffer because of our own serious mistakes.....what some would call "deserved suffering".  We live in a world which loves to put a mark on us, to try and identify us forever, by mistakes we might have made.  I’ve seen that mark on all kinds of people: unmarried moms, divorcees, ex-church members, people who've had abortions, married people who have had affairs, people who've made serious mistakes with their children, and countless others, like this preacher, who have made serious mistakes.  There is too little around to help people who suffer in this way. Where do you turn to when you live with someone who says, or who you know is thinking, "you should never have done that"....it can break us. We need a theology of brokenness, a theology which teaches us that even though we cannot unscramble an egg, God’s grace and ability  to use our mistakes and our “deserved” suffering, the suffering we bring on ourselves, let’s us live happily and even with renewed innocence far beyond any egg we may have scrambled.

So……the amount of suffering (“deserved” and “undeserved”) in this sanctuary……is HUGE.

But please hear this: The amount of grace (from God) in this sanctuary……is HUGER.

Bring your suffering, your pain, your brokenness to the Cross and know this……in the great mystery which is our God and His grace……He can and probably already is using it so that His Kingdom may come. Be encouraged, suffering Kingdom-bringers, suffering Kingdom-sharers.

Tom Wright's How God became King has been an invaluable resource

 and inspiration regarding the call to be 

Suffering Kingdom-bringers, Suffering Kingdom-sharers.

 Buy it here

Lent Pastoral Letter

Lent Pastoral Letter

                                                                  image sourced here

Dear  AMC Family and wider JohnWesleyProject.com congregation,

The cross, O the wonderful cross

What Glory, what victory, I've found

I'll come to the wonderful cross

And my whole life I lay down

These words from The Wonder of the Cross by Robin Mark are a wonderful reminder of one of the reasons for the season of Lent: Over a period of 40 days, starting on Ash Wednesday, we undertake a spiritual journey deep into ourselves but with our eyes focussed on the Cross, and hopefully rediscover or perhaps even discover for the first time, the glory and the victory which are ours because of what Jesus did and then lay our whole lives down for Him again….or, perhaps, for the first time. I really hope that is what Lent 2014 will be for us all at AMC.

Lent is the span of time in the church calendar that starts with Ash Wednesday on 5^th March this year and ends with Easter Sunday, which is on 20^th April. Ash Wednesday commemorates the beginning of Jesus’ 40-day fasting and temptation in the desert, and Easter Sunday commemorates Jesus’ resurrection from the grave after His crucifixion.

Lent, then, is generally observed as a time for Christians to reflect, repent, and pray as a way of preparing our hearts for Easter. It is observed by many different Christian denominations, although not every Christian church or denomination does so. Because Lent is not officially instituted in Scripture, observing it isn’t in any way a “requirement” of Christianity. Nonetheless, Christians from many different backgrounds choose to observe it as a way of focusing their thoughts on Jesus Christ during the Easter season.
How does one observe Lent? It differs from person to person and church to church, but some of the things Christians might do to observe Lent include:

    On the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday is 5^th March and our service will be at 18:30), some Christians mark their foreheads with ash as a symbol of sorrow and mourning over their sin. (See Job 42 for an example of ash used as a symbol of repentance.)

     Some Christians choose to give up a habit or behavior during Lent as an exercise in prayerful self-denial. This might range from something as simple as not drinking your favourite cold or hot beverage during Lent to a full-blown program of fasting.

    Some Christians commit to a special devotional activity during Lent—for example, daily Scripture reading, regular prayer for a specific person or topic throughout Lent, or volunteer work in their community. I am making a booklet available as a Lenten resource called Let Us Hold Fast. If you don’t yet have any specific Lenten devotional material, please contact me at lent@johnwesleyproject.com or, if you don’t have e-mail, phone the office at 011 907 2807 and they will print one for you to collect (ask for normal or large print). There will be some in the Info Stand, but if we can send it to you electronically, it will save a great deal in printing costs. Perhaps you'd like to join the excellent Faith as Wesley Lived it course on Wednesday evenings at AMC for the duration of Lent.

The choice to observe Lent is a personal one—the whole point is to focus your heart and mind on Jesus during the journey to Easter. There’s no requirement to observe it, nor should you feel forced into participating. However, millions of Christians around the world do observe Lent each year; if you’ve never done so, why not give it a try? Whether you observe Lent in a small or major way, you’ll be amazed at what happens when you devote a part of each day to reflecting on Jesus Christ and God’s Word.

The above hymn begins with the following verse:

The wonder of your cross shall be our meditation
To gather in that shadow when the sun went down
To weep with those who thought that you were leaving,
You were leaving, Jesus
The humble King who never wore an earthly crown.

May this season be one of spiritual wonder, spiritual meditation, spiritual gathering, spiritual weeping as we worship the humble King who never wore an earthly crown.

Much, much love,

        Cedric

Christmas 2013: Jesus Transforms Everything He Touches

Matthew 1:18-25

In Matthew’s account of Jesus' birth, there’s no real dramatic or spectacular moment—no starry skies filled with angels singing praises to God while open-mouthed shepherds in the fields look up in fear and amazement. Rather, in a very matter-of-fact way, Matthew tells a story of ordinary people facing decisions involving their religious traditions and laws, their relationship and their community. We looked at all this in a lot more detail on Sunday when we looked at Joseph. But today we look at the birth of Jesus and Matthew's very ordinary, almost boring account of it, which, I want to suggest is in fact the very power and beauty of Christmas, of Emmanuel, “God with us.” I want to stress the ordinary because the birth of Jesus, our Emmanuel, means God’s full and complete immersion into ordinary human life as you and I know it. God meets us in the ordinary places and situations of life, even in its complicated and sometimes messy details. Everyday human existence has now become the arena for God’s ongoing presence and activity, in other words, our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our towns.....all these have become the arena for God’s ongoing presence and activity. These ordinary places, these boring places, these places where perhaps we don't even want to be, are places where God is waiting to do extraordinary things.............because

God, as revealed to us in the Christ-child, man and resurrected Saviour, Transforms Everything He Touches

Why do I say this?......Because as I look at the very ordinary story that Matthew records for us...with no donkey, no stable, no shepherds, no innkeeper, no angels, no choirs in the heavens....just "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about".....I see an ordinary story of childbirth transformed into the best news the world ever received, a story celebrated by millions of people around the world (often by people who don't actually believe the story), I see a story people give up their lives and professions for so that they can tell others the story, I see a story people are prepared to die for...........and you know why?.......because it's a story touched by Jesus and Jesus Transforms Everything He Touches. So what do you want Him to touch this Christmas, or this coming year?........because we're in the presence of the God who transforms everything He touches.

This past Advent season in our part of the world has, somewhat miraculously in our mourning Madiba, been filled with joy and splendor, lights and laughter, and, dare I say some hope and even, some measure of peace on earth has been rekindled in us. We've been reminded of what is possible even in, especially in, hopeless situations.

And there have been mangers everywhere.......in shop windows.....on cards.......in supermarkets

Think about that. Ancient animal troughs, feeding bowls, so lowly and common in their day that farmers barely gave them a second thought, are now displayed with generous abandon all across the world. They are painted in gold, set up in lights, crafted from finest materials, bejeweled, designed by artists, and sold with retail markups—even though they’ll never actually be used by any animal anywhere.

The manger is now surrounded by orchestras giving live performances, immortalized in fine art, displayed in front lawns, printed onto window stickers that are pasted in children’s rooms (and some grown-ups' rooms and offices).

2000 years ago, that kind of treatment for a manger was not just ridiculous; it was not even imagined. A manger was just what it was: a dirty box used for holding hay and feed, a place where barnyard animals took their dinner.

Today a manger is a symbol of nothing less than the glory of God himself. Why? Because it was touched by God incarnate; and God changes everything He touches, giving that thing glory for all eternity. So what do you want God to touch this Christmas and this coming year?......your marriage, your job, your home, your church..........yourself perhaps?

You see I want to suggest that you and I are like that manger. Before the touch of God, we’re simply ordinary humans doing ordinary things. And then Jesus comes into our world, into our lives, into our homes, into our marriages, into our workplaces, and deeply into our souls which we can offer to Him as a manger for Him to make Himself at home in. And I invite you to do this, to invite Jesus in, and to keep on inviting Jesus in (it's not a once off decision, but a daily decision), because when we do this, we’re touched by the Creator of glory, and suddenly, rather than being ordinary, we are changed into vessels hosting the King.

Any greatness we may have thought we held is suddenly dwarfed into humility in the glare of his awesome presence. And any humble, degraded thing we may be or feel, is suddenly glorified by the awesome compassion of His instant, immediate, intimate love.

God transforms anything He touches. It was true of that manger so many centuries ago, and it’s true in your life, in my life, today. Let God touch you this morning.......whatever that might mean for you, just let God touch you this Christmas....allow yourself to be touched by this old, old and perhaps for you, this boring story we insist on retelling year after year after year.

Hear this good news: God welcomes us as we are—sinful, lost, helpless, dirty old mangers—then He transforms each of us into heavenly children who radiate and enjoy His glorious presence now and forevermore. Invite Him, allow Him to do this in you today.

God in a manger was both humbling and humiliating and in God's humility and humiliation, the manger becomes glorified....of course He did the same thing to the ugly cross at Easter, changing an instrument of humiliation and torture, into a thing of glory......if He can do that for things like mangers and crosses made out of wood, how much more can He do for things made of flesh and blood in His own image? God in Christ wants to come into you and into me.....and I can't speak for you, but coming into me is both humbling and humiliating for God, but He longs to do it and continues doing it in people like you and me all the time. And the good news of Christmas is that as long as we receive Him and hold Him.......He does His work of life transformation, marriage transformation, home transformation, church transformation and imparts His glory.

Look at what He did for the manger, look at what He did for the cross......think of what He's longing to do for you.

Jesus Transforms Everything He Touches...so what do you want Him to touch and transform in your life this Christmas?

Welcome Him, receive Him, cling to Him and be transformed by Him.....because Jesus Transforms Everything He Touches.

I am indebted to  

Mike Nappa's new book

God in Slow Motion
for stretching my thinking
regarding what Jesus did
to the manger.

Advent 1: Characters of Christmas: Zechariah

Almighty God, who sent Your servant John the Baptist to prepare Your people for the coming of Your Son: inspire the ministers and stewards of Your truth to turn our disobedient hearts to the law of love; that when He comes again in glory, we may stand with confidence before Him as our judge; who is alive and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Luke 1:5-25

Advent marks both a beginning and an end. It begins the church year as a season of preparation for

all the festivities that surround the commemoration of Christ’s birth. More significantly, Advent also

anticipates Christ’s coming again in glory. The theologian Paul Tillich once preached that “our

time is a time of waiting … waiting for the breaking in of eternity.  All time runs forward. All time,

both history and in personal life, is expectation.”

Advent is a season of longing, waiting expectantly for eternity—for the fullness of the reign of God to break in......and there is a very real sense in which the fullness of the reign of God broke in upon Zechariah; a righteous, elderly, long-married priest who had had no children.  An angel of the Lord, Gabriel, appears to him in the Temple of the Lord.

As a priest in the Temple, Zechariah was a minister of God, working in the Temple, managing its upkeep, teaching people the Scriptures, and directing the worship services.  At this time, there were about 20 000 priests throughout the country.  Priests were divided into 24 separate groups of about 1000 each (according to David’s instructions in 1 Chronicles 24:3-17.)  Zechariah was a member of the division of Abijah.  Each division served in the Jerusalem Temple twice each year for one week.  Each morning one of the priests would enter the Holy place in the Temple to burn incense, which was burned twice daily.  Lots were cast to decide who would enter the sanctuary, and one day during the week, Zechariah was chosen.  Offering incense before the Lord was considered a great privilege.  A priest was allowed to do so only once in his lifetime, so many priests never had the opportunity.  But it was not by chance that Zechariah was on duty and that he was chosen that day to enter the Holy Place.

It is not by chance that you are here, today, at the start of Advent 2013.

An angel of the Lord appears and gives Zechariah a message from the Lord.  Now, angels are powerful beings, certainly awesome in their appearance and no wonder Zechariah was afraid,......so the angels first words to him are, “Don’t be afraid.”

Now, while Zechariah had been burning incense, he would have been praying, most likely for Israel’s deliverance and for the coming of the Messiah, and the angel’s words must have astounded him: “God has heard your prayer.”  And he no doubt thinks, “Wow, at last God is going to send His Messiah” but the angel says, “Your wife will bear you a son.”  God in fact had heard both his prayers (and of course, all his prayers), because we know He was preparing the way for Jesus, and He was giving Zechariah a son who would play an important role in that.

And Zechariah is faced with a choice……to believe that, in their old age, he and his wife will have a child, or to doubt……"Hmmm.................., that’s not really possible, we are too old."  He chooses to doubt, which is such a pity, because, while it doesn't stop God from fulfilling His promise, his doubt makes his life miserable,...............he can’t speak or hear until 8 days after his child is born – at least 10 months later.

What does Zechariah, our first character of Christmas, teach us as we enter Advent 2013?

3 things:

1. Many of us are afraid.  We live in scary times. The news this week has reminded us that it's dangerous and scary to be a baby in S.A. ……it’s dangerous to be a woman in S.A. as the 16 days of Activism campaign reminds us.....

...some might even feel it’s dangerous to drive around some of our shopping centers where mafia hits have taken place recently……this week we heard that economic growth in our country is at its lowest since the 2008 worldwide recession and the prospect of an improvement in 2014 is poor……scary times.

Just as He said to Zechariah, the Lord says through his Word (365 times!) to us: “Don’t be afraid.”  I think there’s a sense in which He says, “You don’t need to be afraid……not because I’m going to take all the scary things away……but rather you don’t need to be afraid because I am with you……I am with you.”

2. Just as He sad to Zechariah, He says to us: “I have heard your prayers”.......I really hope that this truth will bring you hope and comfort, in the Advent season of hope and comfort....Our LORD has heard, hears and will hear, every one of your prayers.

and finally……

3. Zechariah chose to doubt……let us choose to believe.
Believe that, just as Zechariah wasn't in the Holy Place by accident that day,……so too you aren't here in this place, celebrating Advent this day, by accident.
Believe that God wants you to hear that you need not be afraid.
Believe that He wants you to hear and to know that He has heard your prayers.

Choose today, choose this Advent season, to believe, rather than to doubt.

Pentecost 26: Right now, in this place, God is making a new Earth

Isaiah 65:17-25 and Luke 21:5-19

Text verse
I am making a new earth and new heavens.

Isaiah 65:17 GNB

Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah and our gospel reading from Luke really compliment each other today and I'm going to move between the two, referring to one, then to the other, because they both speak of the same reality, namely:

Right now, God is making a new Earth, a new Alberton, a new Alberton Methodist Church, and you and I are not only living in it, but are even invited to be part of God’s creative effort…. part of the building process. Here in South Africa a few years ago, we had the Fifa 2010 World Cup, part of which was a massive building programme, huge construction projects, but you and I didn't really play a role in the building process, other than through our taxes.

God is making a new Earth and you and I, and all people in fact, are called to be involved, not just with our money, but by hands on construction work. And there is no job reservation, there is no special skill required, in fact you are equipped and empowered on the job, and best of all, it is a project, which although huge in nature, definitely has no trace and no possibility of corruption or scandal. Your effort will make a difference and will not be wasted. Isn't that good news?

All people can do this work, in fact all people need to do this work and be involved in project re-creation. Every worker can be assured that the work they are doing is making a difference, and best of all, each of us can do our part of the job to perfection.

I am making a new earth, says God through the prophet Isaiah….. not…. one day I will make a new Earth and until then you are stuck with the earth you are living in….. no….. I am making a new earth.

This building project is nothing other than the kingdom of God coming on earth. Isaiah describes such a place, such a kingdom, such a new earth:
it is a kingdom where the people of full of joy;
a kingdom where there will be no weeping, no distress, or calling for help.
It is a kingdom where there will be no more babies dying in infancy…. our own country has a shockingly high infant mortality rate, doesn't it? Do we have to wait for eternity for this to change.....? Of course not.
It is a kingdom in which people will live out their lifespan.
The Psalmist considered three score years and ten as the blessed life, 70 years, but in this new Earth, 100 years old will be common and even considered young!
People will build homes and get to live in them, they will not be used by someone else, says God through the prophet Isaiah.
We live in a country where the majority of people who build homes, laying one brick upon another, then plastering, then painting etc….. the people who do this in South Africa generally never get to live in a house themselves. Homelessness in our nation is a disgrace. 

Against this background, doesn't the kingdom of God sound good? Many of you have never lived in your own home, and many live on the streets of our cities.
Doesn't this kingdom, this new earth that God is making right now sound good?

Isaiah goes on and says that the work you do in this new earth that God is building....... that He invites us to be a part of........ will be successful.

And best of all, this new place will be...................... peaceful.

On Monday we remembered fallen soldiers on Remembrance Day, millions who have died on battlefields. God says this new earth which I am building and which I invite you to help me build, is a place which is as peaceful as a world where wolves and lambs eat together, not each other, where lions eat with cattle, and snakes will no longer be dangerous! 

That's a peace that passes all understanding, isn't it? 

And yet, God says, it's what I am doing. That is what I am making, right now. Do you want to help me? The New Testament teaches that the time for that peace, which passes all understanding, is now! 

Jesus began his ministry, as you might remember, with words like this: ' The kingdom of God is at hand ' meaning, this kingdom, this new earth which Isaiah spoke about, is close.

Jesus would teach us to pray: 'your kingdom come'; in other words, this new earth, let it come, let it be,….NOW.

And then He showed in His life how, when we live like He lived, this kingdom comes, this new earth... happens. We see in the Gospels that where Jesus was, and especially when He was accepted and really made welcome into people's lives, there was joy, even in the midst of the brutal Roman occupation. Remember the story of Zaccheus a few weeks ago?

He showed that this new earth was coming and being established, because when people died before the proper age for their dying, well...... He stood at the deathbed or the grave, of children and adults, and said: 'Wake up! In this new earth you which I have begun making, you need not die before its actually time to die. '

Jesus showed and taught in many different ways that with His arrival on earth, the new earth, the kingdom of God, was and is, in our midst.

And He showed how by a small step of faith one can enter into this new earth, and be born again and empowered and equipped for life and work in this new earth.

Are you born again, and have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and His power, and are you living and working in and for the kingdom of God, so that where you are, the kingdom of God is coming, and where you are, God's will is being done?

We were ministering in Cape Town in 2010 and the old Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town had to be destroyed before the new Cape Town Stadium could be built. Sometimes things have to be destroyed, broken down, before new and better things can come about.

The Temple in Jerusalem was one such place. It was a hindrance to the fulfilment of Judaism, which is really what Christianity is. It was a hindrance to God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob being fulfilled at the time of Jesus and after His ministry.

In verse five of Luke chapter 21, we see pride in the disciples as they look at the Temple, marvelling at its beauty, and the beauty of the gifts, the sacrifices, the fine bulls, and sheep and lambs being offered to God. The first fruits and the tithes of all harvests going up to the Temple.

King Solomon had built the first Temple in about 900 BC and it was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. 70 years later, Zerrubabbel rebuilt the Temple, and about 500 years later, when Jesus was born, Herod the Great built the new Temple, which was so huge and grand, it took him 46 years to build, and it was the Temple that was in Jerusalem during the life of Jesus. It was a source of great pride in Judaism.

And in this reading Jesus is predicting/prophesying/foretelling the destruction of this temple. Listen to verse six: “all this you see, the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place, every one will be thrown down.”

And that prophecy was fulfilled in A.D. 70, just 37 years after Jesus spoke it. The Romans absolutely destroyed the Temple and all the things Jesus prophesied, wars, revolutions, earthquakes, famines, strange and terrifying things in the sky….. all these came about in A.D. 69 and 70. You can Google 'fall of Jerusalem and Jesus prophecies' and you will see Roman historians and Jewish historians recording all these things.

Of course for the disciples hearing these words, it sounded like the end of the world. They could not imagine a world without a Temple. Where would they bring their fine cattle, and lambs, and calves,… where would they bring their beautiful first fruits, their produce and harvests? Most of all, where would they bring their tithes?

And there we see why the Temple had to be destroyed,…. because what people had to learn is that God doesn't want your best bull, your finest lamb, one 10th of all your income………………..,

He wants….. YOU! (He knows that when he really gets you, he gets everything else.)

The Temple didn't encourage the giving of self to God, so it had to go.

It also had to go because while in the old kingdom, the old earth, God dwelt in the Temple, in the new kingdom, the new earth, God's dwelling place is with his people,….. remember,….. He is Emmanuelle,…. God with us.

So the old Temple had to go and it wasn't the end of the world, it was the beginning of a new world, the one which Isaiah had looked forward to, and which Jesus told us to pray for, and which comes when God's will is done on earth, in ....Alberton [insert your own hometown here], by you, by me, even as it is done in heaven.

When you and I walk with the Lord and do his will, there is joy….. and…. the new earth is built.
When you and I live as Jesus showed us to live,…… the new earth is built and God's kingdom comes.

Isaiah said there would be no weeping and calling for help…. well, in this new earth, there is certainly no calling for help, because as the born-again people of God, we offer help before people have to call for it and if there are tears, we wipe them away as we comfort them and……as we live this new way, the Way Jesus lived and calls us to live….. the new earth is built. As we offer our clean water to others to drink, and then perhaps even work for clean water where they live….. babies no longer die in infancy and people live out their lifespan, because waterborne diseases disappear and….. the new earth is built.

And as we follow Jesus’ example, and love instead of hate, and turn our enemies into our friends, it is like a world where wolves and lambs eat together…. it is peaceful and it remains peaceful because we let the Lamb of God give us His peace….. we no longer rely on the peace that the world offers and…….. the new earth is built. And so we could go on and on and on.

And it is my hope that we will, as we leave here, go on and on and on, reaching out to others, wiping away tears, even stopping babies from dying unnecessarily, loving our enemies, and so on and so on and so on. Because when we do these things, and of course many others, the new earth is built, brick by brick, by you and me as we work together with God.

I am making a new earth, says God.

These are ways (among many) that we can help him build it, so that His kingdom comes and His will is done, here in ....Alberton [insert your hometown], by us, even as it is done in Heaven.

Pentecost 25: Facing the Future Looking Backwards

Luke 20:27-38

                                                            sourced here

Pentecost 22: Use Scripture Authoritatively for its Intended Purpose

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
and
Luke 18:1-8

Today, we look at one of the primary places in Scripture, where Scripture talks about itself.  What does the Bible say about the Bible?  We Christians say many things about the Bible and believe many things of the Bible, but what does the Bible say about itself?

Paul writes to Timothy and he says:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

I think there are 2 important things to lift here:  Firstly, let’s be reading and teaching the Bible to children from their infancy.  Why? ......because they are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Here we have the Bible telling us what it is good for, what it can do......namely it can teach us everything we need to know in order to be saved.  You want to know about that......read the Bible.  Many of you are preparing for year-end exams.  The Bible will not tell you everything you need to know about history, geography, science, biology, etc.  It is not and makes absolutely no claim to be a science book, or a maths book, or a history book.

It claims to be a salvation book and no other book on the planet gives us salvation by faith information......NO other book.

Paul goes on:

All Scripture is God-breathed

We sometimes take that to mean only that God “breathed into”......”inspired”......the writers of the Bible.  But no......all scripture is God-breathed, not was God-breathed/inspired.  This means that our God, by His Spirit, inspires, breathes into the readers of the Word as much as He breathed into/inspired the writers of the Word.

Isn’t that exciting......when we read the Bible, God has an opportunity to inspire us, to breathe life into us.

Please read your Bible.

The Word goes on:

and is useful 

Useful for what?

for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 

Useful (not indispensable) for

Teaching me which way is right.

Rebuking me where I am wrong / off-track.

Correcting me by showing m how to get back on track

and Instructing me about staying on the road of righteousness.

We all need teaching, rebuking, correcting and instructing......we often don’t like to be rebuked or corrected.......but we need to be sometimes.  This book is useful for these things......Please, read your Bible.......Why?......

so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Isn’t that interesting? ...... Do all the above......read your Bible......not so that you can get to Heaven.......not so that you can be holy......not so that you can be a better person.......BUT......so that you can be thoroughly equipped for good works.

God wants......no, He demands......good works from his saved people.

He doesn’t save us so that we can go to Heaven, He saves us so that Heaven can come to us and through us to others as we do good works for the least among us.  This is not a new idea......previously, scripture has taught us:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…….we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Why are you saved......to do good works.

This is not and never has been a popular message, so Paul goes on and gives Timothy / you / me a strongly-worded comment:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; 

Preach the Word friends: and as Augustine said, “only use words when necessary”.......preach the word by your lifestyle.......in your homes.......your workplace.......school.......church.......on the streets of Alberton.......preach the saving word of Christ in the way we live / behave / act towards the world around us and

be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 

Earlier, Paul has said that the Bible teaches, rebukes, corrects and encourages us......now he says that Bible readers have authority to correct, rebuke and encourage.

The Bible teaches us to do what the Bible does.......because:

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 

That time has come, hasn’t it?

I think Paul knew it would come in Timothy’s time, so he says to Timothy and to you and to me

But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

“Keep your head” .......there is no room for hotheads in the Kingdom of God.......sometimes things don’t go our way.......”endure hardship” .......the Word of God as He inspires us can sometimes lead to great hardship.......ask Jesus.......ask Paul.......ask Moses.......Jeremiah.......Job.......all these and many more found that the Word of God sometimes gets them into a lot of trouble, but they never stopped believing that:

Let us not either......please.......read your Bible.