Matthew 17:1-13 – St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, January 23, 2011

Ron Woodward

A former archbishop of Canterbury, the late William Temple, once made this astounding statement … this is what he said:

“The world can be saved from chaos and collapse by one thing only, and that is worship.”

His statement almost sounds absurd until you read his definition of worship that reads like this:

“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.”

That’s worship, according to Archbishop Temple. And by that definition everything we try to do during this hour on Sunday morning is worship—singing, confessing, hearing the sacred Scriptures, giving of ourselves in tithes and offerings and being responsive to the preaching of the written Word of God.

Well, this morning as we consider the passage that was read from the Gospel of Matthew, we’re encountering a very unusual worship experience—in fact, one with the kind of power the archbishop had in mind.

And in this remarkable account, I hope you and I will sense our own need for this kind of life-changing worship.

If you have a Bible with you, or would like to take the one in the pew, turn to the 17^th chapter of Matthew, verse #1

“After six days …” Those words are not there by accident. Rarely do the Gospel-writers concern themselves with chronology, but here it’s important not only to Matthew, but to Mark and Luke as well.

What’s the importance? It’s the connection between this vision on the Mount and what went just before, i.e. – the Great Confession of Peter, where he acknowledged Jesus as the very Messiah of God … but even more important, it was when Jesus first began to teach his disciples about suffering and the cross … and when Peter vehemently rejected the whole idea of the Master suffering or being rejected.

“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John …”

Two other times Jesus took with him these three disciples:

· When he went into the bedroom to raise the daughter of Jairus, and

· When he went apart to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Both those occasions had something to do with death; this one does as well!

“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain.”

Church tradition has it that Mt. Tabor was the site, but some think Mt. Hermon, nearly 3000 meters high, is much more likely since the preceding events took place up north near Mt. Hermon.

At any rate, “There he was transfigured before them.” The Greek word is metamorphosis, the word used for the change from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

“His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”

Imagine the impact on the disciples as they saw Jesus in such dazzling splendor!

• Later on John would write, “We beheld his glory!”
• And Peter would say, “We were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

Then, suddenly, before they could process the vision, “there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.”

• Moses, the fountainhead of the Law,
• Elijah, the first of the great prophets.
• Moses, who had never before set foot in the Promised Land, and
• Elijah, who knew the land so well.

And, interestingly enough, both of these giants of the O.T. had gone on to Glory in an unusual way, hadn’t they? Elijah’s home-going in a chariot of fire was the most dramatic, but Moses’ death was unusual also since the last chapter of Deuteronomy states that no one knows the place of his grave, and that God took him while his eyesight was undimmed and his strength was still there.

And what were these two giants discussing with Jesus? Matthew and Mark go in for brevity and don’t tell us, but Luke does. He says they spoke about his departure that he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. In other words, they were talking about his death that would be so radically different from theirs—talking about the cross on which the Prince of Glory soon would die … the very cross about which Peter had said a week earlier, “This shall never happen to you!”

Well, perhaps Peter was asleep during the conversation on the Mount; at any rate, he still didn’t get it, because in Eugene Peterson’s translation, he says,
“Master, this is a great moment! What would you think if I built three memorials here on the mountain—one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.”

No, Peter didn’t get it. It was as though he was seeing Moses, Elijah and Jesus as 3 equals, the three greats of Jewish history … just as if you or I would want to erect three shrines: one to Buddha, one to Mohammed, and one to Jesus.

And perhaps Peter was still loving the glory and shirking the cross. “Lord, is it ever good to be here! We love these mountain-top experiences! The glory, yes! Suffering: no way!”

“Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’”

The disciples would know the significance of the cloud—the very Shekinah Glory of God, the glory that filled the tabernacle and later the temple. And out of the cloud came the Voice. It may have sounded like James Earl Jones, but it didn’t say, “This is CNN!”

It said, “This is my son; listen to him!” – not to Moses, not to Elijah, and most of all, not to your own ideas about what should happen. No, Listen to him!

When the disciples first heard the Voice, they were terrified, but when they looked up again they saw no one but Jesus.

Now … what’s the application that the Lord has for us from this amazing account?

Let me suggest two things:

I. First, we also need to see Jesus in his glory.

Now, admittedly, there’s a paradox here. G. Campbell Morgan reminds us that in the Providence of God, the vision on the Mount was only given to 3 disciples; there were 9 others to whom the vision was not given, yet all but one of them were faithful unto death.

Morgan says, “Do not ask for the Vision on the Mount; he takes there whomsoever he will.” In other words, don’t seek visions; don’t lust after the spectacular!

… and yet, the other side of the paradox is that unless you and I have a clear vision of Christ, our daily life, our daily work is like a blind person on a treadmill; it lacks power, meaning and purpose.

We all need some time in our lives when we’re with Christ on the mountaintop—occasions that a friend of mine calls “Holy Ground Experiences.”

Probably the most significant mountaintop experience in my life took place when I was still in high school and went to a week-end youth retreat in the mountains of So. California and there I dedicated my life completely to Christ. At that moment I didn’t know what God’s calling would be, but I’d seen the Lord, I was on Cloud 9 and I was willing to do whatever he wanted me to do.

In the weakness of the flesh, we probably do need an occasional mountaintop experience that we can look back on as a point of great certainty.

In Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan tells of a time when Christian and Faithful began to lose their vision of Christ and even began to doubt the existence of the Celestial City. But one of them reminds the other, “Did we not see it from the top of Mt. Clear?”

Yes, for you and me we do need to remember the time on the Mount when the vision was clear!

Praise the Lord that often we can expect to see Jesus—what we Quakers have called “The Presence in the Midst”—right in this room as we worship together.

• It can come in the midst of a song or worship chorus,
• In a moment of silence, or
• In the middle of a sermon where the Holy Spirit takes the word of Scripture or the word of the preacher and penetrates your heart with it, either with great joy and blessing, or perhaps with deep conviction.

Do you know what I mean? In times like that, you’ve been on the Mount with Jesus.

There are also times, of course, when God will grant a mountaintop experience to us during a rather ordinary time of prayer or solitude, when we’re all by ourselves. That’s what Richard Trench refers to in his beautiful poem:

“Lord, what a change within us one short hour

Spent in thy presence will avail to make!

What heavy burdens from our bosoms take;

What parched grounds refresh, as with a shower!

We kneel, and all around us seems to lower;

We rise, and all the distant and the near

Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear!

We kneel, how weak! We rise, how full of power!”

Yes, we do need from time to time the Vision on the Mount!

II. But, we also need to hear the Voice out of the Cloud that says, “This is my Son; Listen to him!”

The real challenge of any mountaintop experience—as we all know—is translating it into life down in the valley.

How many folks have we known—including ourselves—who have gotten all fired-up for Jesus on the mountaintop, but whose wonderful experience hardly makes it down into the valley at all?

Hence, the word out of the cloud, “Listen to him!”

For Peter, it obviously meant: Listen to him when he speaks of the cross and suffering instead of the glories of an earthly kingdom. And listen to him when he calls you to take up your cross and follow …

And maybe it’s just as hard for us to listen to Jesus when he speaks of self-denial and sacrifice, or about giving to the poor.

We Evangelical pride ourselves in our loyalty and obedience to the Word of God—sola Scriptura—but just like Peter it’s frightfully easy for us to be selective listeners; we hear what we want to hear.

There are certain times in our lives when perhaps it’s the hardest to listen to him—

• Like when we move into adolescence and suddenly experience a whole new world of pressure, both within and without. Especially for high school kids, the church needs to be a vital presence to help kids listen to him.
• Then, when we go away to college and suddenly are almost completely on our own … and we’re making important choices and new friends, decisions that often determine whether we’ll be Christ-followers for the long haul. Especially then it’s important to hear that Voice, “Listen to him!”
• And when we choose a vocation and a life-partner, and work-up our first family budget. In those times, it’s really important to hear the Voice from the cloud, “Listen to him!”

Finally, I want to say something about church business meetings—the AGM and the EGM for the budget that was held just two weeks ago, and will be continued, Lord willing, for remaining questions about the budget next Sunday night. I wasn’t there two weeks ago, but the report I got was that the meeting wasn’t pretty. In fact, from what I heard, I fear that maybe the Lord wasn’t honored at all by that gathering.

But if not, why not? What could have been wrong? My guess is that more than one person present was probably a bit like Peter on the Mount and needed to hear the Voice from Heaven: “Listen to him!” Listen to Jesus, the Head of the Church, the only One whose will is ultimately important regarding decisions relating to what we rightly call the Body of Christ.

I don’t know about you Presbyterians, but we Quakers sometimes need to stop right in the middle of a business meeting, when things seem to be getting a bit tense … We need to just stop and be quiet. We need to stop and pray in order to listen to him.

Friends, I’m not a member at St. Andrews, so please forgive me if I’ve stopped preaching and started meddling, but I would insist on the basis of God’s Word that there’s really no situation in life where it’s not important to hear the Voice from the Mount that says, “Listen to him!” … Listen to him!

Like Peter, we often get it wrong. We love Jesus, we mean well, but our efforts may be entirely in the wrong direction. Like Peter, we all need to listen to him! Will you try to do that?

And doesn’t it make sense that if we all listen to Jesus we’ll be in unity?

Pastor Ron Woodward’s sermon on January 16, ­2011

Matthew 4:1-11

During the season of Advent we both anticipated and then celebrated the greatest event in human history—the incarnation, God become flesh in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in regard to Christ’s coming G. Campbell Morgan, the famous biblical expositor in the early part of the 20^th century, had this to say:

“Christ has come, the light of the world … the Revealer of the snares and chasms that lurk in darkness, the Rebuker of every evil thing that prowls by night, the Stiller of the storm-winds of passion, the Quickener of all that is wholesome, the Adorner of all that’s beautiful, the Reconciler of all contradictions, the Harmonizer of discords, the Healer of diseases the Saviour from sin …”

And in response what can we say but Hallelujah!?

But now that the Christmas Season is past and we journey along in the calendar towards Easter, I think there’s no better subject for a sermon than to consider the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. G. Campbell Morgan, to whom I referred earlier, wrote a marvelous book that I discovered long ago in seminary entitled, The Crises of the Christ, dealing with the major turning points in the life of our Lord here on earth. And one of those turning points I’d like us to prayerfully consider this morning, i.e. – the 40 days in the wilderness where Jesus was tempted by Satan.

In Mark’s Gospel, which doesn’t record anything about the three temptations, the emphasis is made that immediately after Jesus’ baptism—when the heavens were split open and the Spirit descended like a dove, and the Voice came from heaven—immediately thereafter the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan.

Think about that … Immediately after “a great high”—a time when his identity and his mission came into clear focus, a time of high emotion—immediately he was confronted by Satan in all of his wiles. Perhaps it’s a sequence not too different from what Elijah faced when he came away from his triumph on Mt. Carmel.

But as we look at this text this morning, let me suggest that because Jesus in his humanity defeated Satan through full reliance on God the Father, you and I can be victorious over temptation in the same manner. And sometimes our greatest temptations come when we least expect them, right after some great spiritual “high.”

So, as we approach the text together, I want to affirm three things that come from Matthew’s account:

I. First of all, Jesus’ temptation was real

For some people that thought is hard to grasp. I mean, how could the sinless Son of God have been really tempted? By his very nature wouldn’t he simply have done the right thing without any struggle at all?

No, that’s not the picture of Jesus we get in the N.T. In the fullness of his humanity, the existential pull of temptation was at least as great for him as it was for Adam and Eve, and in some ways perhaps it was even greater. In his human nature, he was fully capable of sin.

“If you’re the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” … What good is your new-found power and authority if you can’t perform a simple miracle to satisfy your nagging hunger? Why not see what would happen? … see if your power really works? Besides, with a divine mission like yours, with so much to accomplish, it would hardly do to be so weak that you might die of starvation in this barren desert!

And then, think of the hunger of countless numbers of poor people in this very land. For their sakes, shouldn’t you turn stones into bread? If you satisfy people’s physical needs in an act of compassion you’ll have a short-cut to their hearts!

In the famous story of the Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky’s book, The Brothers Karamazov, the inquisitor, the 16^th century cardinal from Seville, has this to say to Jesus,

“Turn [those stones] into bread and mankind will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and obedient, though forever trembling lest Thou withdraw thy hand and deny them bread … Feed men, and then ask of them virtue.”

“Besides,” says the cardinal, “when man rejects miracle, he rejects God too, for man seeks not so much God as the miraculous.” (Think about it!)

A similar appeal comes with the second temptation. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down [from a high point in the temple]. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Among other things, Satan seems to be saying, “You talk a good talk about trusting God to take care of you, how ‘bout proving it?”

In the wilderness for 40 days, Jesus must have spent long hours considering his life’s work and the methods he should use to accomplish that work. If he merely confined himself to preaching, would people listen? Would they follow? Could helpless men and women really be persuaded to leave the realm of darkness for the Kingdom of Light? Maybe not …

But Satan has an idea: “Why not do something startling and dramatic—something spectacular that will not only attract attention but will convince the masses that you are indeed the Messiah, the Son of God?

And the third temptation offered another short-cut to a highly desirable end result—a way to avoid the cross and still have “every knee bow and every tongue confess.”

“All this [the kingdoms of this world and their splendor] I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.”

I am convinced that these temptations were real! The trial in the wilderness was not just a charade. As the Scripture says, “He has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.”

II. But a second observation from this account is that the three temptations are almost an exact parallel of what you and I experience!

Some commentators have tried to match them with the three-fold seductive appeal of the world which John gives us in his first epistle—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

A. Be that as it may, let me suggest that the temptation to turn stones into bread really describes all of the ways that you and I are tempted to use what God has given us just for selfish ends, for personal gratification. It may be that you’re tempted to use money and material blessings just for yourself, for your pleasures, but it’s far worse if you try to use and manipulate people.

All around the world we constantly hear about leaders in government who use their jobs—and cling to those jobs—for personal advantage. In the African country of the Ivory Coast, right now we have a head-of-state who insists on retaining power in spite of being defeated at the polls.

As for me, I’m not tempted to turn stones into bread but I am tempted to turn cinnamon rolls or other sweets into ugly fat around the waist! … and I’m sure I often lose that battle in ways that don’t honor the Lord … which leads me to suggest that four of the 7 deadly sins might fall under the category of this first temptation—gluttony, lust, sloth (or laziness) and wrath.

Some years ago I was meeting most every week with a friend for breakfast, and he told me that one of his chief temptations was sloth—coming home after a day’s work and just wanting to flake-out, to vegetate, to be a couch-potato instead of investing his time, his love and his energy in conversation with his wife, or in playing his two small kids who’ve looked forward all day to Dad coming home. Can any of you relate?

B. Okay, what about the second attack of Satan? The temptation for Jesus to cast himself down from a high point in the temple suggests to me the need that all of us have to be noticed, to be appreciated, to be admired, to have a following. And sometimes we’re willing to use some very wrong means to achieve that goal.

As all of us know, kids at school will sometimes go to great lengths just to get attention—often in very inappropriate ways … like acting out or bullying, or fighting or seeking some identity in a gang. And then there’s bizarre clothing and hair styles.

There’s a special occupational hazard—a special temptation—for pastors who really enjoy being up-front, and delight in the whole idea of having a following. The temptation is greatest for those who are unusually gifted in public speaking or who have the kind of charisma that easily leads to what’s been called “a cult of personality.” We Americans are painfully aware of the TV pastors and evangelists who have disgraced the ministry by yielding to this second temptation.

But in every sermon, most of us battle with a form of pride—the desire to sound eloquent and to be well-thought-of. It’s a temptation to exalt self rather than Jesus. And, of course pride is considered by many to be the deadliest of the 7 deadly sins.

C. The third temptation, of course, is the old “Faustian bargain”—selling out to the Devil to get what we covet in terms of ambition and authority. It’s the way of compromise—a willingness to do most anything to get to the top of the heap.

James says in his epistle that selfish ambition leads to disorder and every evil practice. So, in your honest moments, are there compromises that you’re making right now—or that you’re tempted to make—that would clearly take you outside the will of God?

I am convinced that the more we meditate on the temptations of our Lord, the more we will see that they form an outline for most of the temptations that we face from day to day. Do you know where you’re the most vulnerable? … what Satan’s “3 best appeals” would be in his attempt to lead you into sin?

Jesus’ temptations were real + they’re the stuff of what you and I experience, but

III. Best of all, they demonstrate, they illustrate, they accentuate the claim of Hebrews 2:14:

“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.”

By the way, did you ever wonder how the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness got into the New Testament? During those 40 days and 40 nights Jesus was utterly alone against temptation. No one was there to witness his battle with Satan. No reporters, no disciples were on hand to take down the story. Yet two of the evangelists give us a vivid and detailed account. The only logical explanation is that the story came from the lips of Jesus himself.

But why would he relate it to his disciples? Certainly not just to gratify their curiosity. Don’t you think that Jesus may have shared the experience in order to help his friends through their own hours of temptation?

Hearing the testimony of someone who has gone before and has experienced victory over a major trial or temptation always helps and encourages us. How much more if it’s the Author and Finisher of our faith?

So … there’s help from Jesus in your times of temptation! He’s there – at your side, in your heart – to provide a way of escape. And one of the reasons why this is so is because he suffered when he was tempted; he went through the existential agony of temptation. Temptation was real for him—not only when he faced it alone in the wilderness, but many times afterwards including on that awful night in Gethsemane when he fought temptation with tears and sweat and great drops of blood.

Here in Malaysia most of you may not be familiar with x-country skiing, but in Oregon my wife and I have often gone skiing in the months of January, February and March. And on one occasion some years back we were taking a group lesson in x-country skiing and the instructor was trying to teach us how to “wedge” with our skis in order to slow down or stop on a downhill slope. So, after demonstrating a couple of times and giving all the verbal instructions, our teacher asked the group, “Okay, who wants to go first?” i.e. – Who is willing to trust the teacher and conquer the fear of just falling down in the snow and looking absolutely foolish? Who’s willing to face the challenge?

Unfortunately, I can’t say that I had the boldness to step right up and be first, but one woman did, and she did exceptionally well.

The illustration is simple, but look: Our “instructor,” the Lord Jesus, has not only shown us the way but promises to dwell within us with Divine Power to help us succeed when we face our own times of testing.

And by his own example—the use of those powerful words, “it is written,” to meet all three temptations—he illustrates the vital importance of relying on Scripture and knowing the Word of God. While the Devil tried to seduce him with an isolated “proof text,” Jesus leans on the authority of the cardinal themes of Scripture, the themes that so obviously represent the will of God for us.

So, with Jesus having gone before, and with Jesus right here to help us, Paul says,

“Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the Devil’s schemes … Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all kinds of occasions …” (Eph. 6:11, 17-18a)

What better counsel could be given?

Jesus defeated Satan, not in the power of Deity, but in his humanity through full reliance on God the Father. With his help, you can be victorious as well when you’re all alone against temptation!

Pastor Richard’s sermon on 9 Jan 2011.

Three great passages of the Bible describe how the Church (Christians, God’s children) is to conduct itself. Theses sayings by our Lord Jesus Christ give us the essence of what the Church is to do today. First the Great Compassion (Matthew 5:43-45), then the Great Commandment

(Matthew 22:37-40) and finally the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

THE GREAT COMPASSION

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’

But I tell you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven.’ Matthew 5:43-45

The original command in Leviticus 19:18 reads: Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your own people; but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.

At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus delivered the Great compassion. It was part of his instruction to prepare the coming of the kingdom of heaven. The Jews had been taught by the Pharisees to love those who are dear and near to them but Israel’s enemies are to be hated. Jesus said that Israel should demonstrate God’s love even more to her enemies, because God loves them too. Jesus’ words were the opposite of their culture, faith and practice.

You know what that means to us today? The commandments of God are not dead and gone. They are very much alive and applicable. It has moral application to us and moral implication to others.

If we do not change our attitude to other people we cannot be a blessing to them. If our world view of people is not changed by the words of Jesus, people cannot know the love of God. Then surely they cannot enjoy the love of God. A transformation must first take place in our lives by the Lord Jesus. It might surprise many that our conversion in faith and transformation of character includes our world view: So form now on we regard no on from a worldly point of view though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor. 5:16-17). We are asked to do two things by our Lord Jesus. To love and to pray for people we do not like and those we hate because they could have been mean to us.

We are the sons of God. He is our Father in heaven. Love and prayer characterize God’s children. To be compassionate even to those who oppose us or disagree with us is to give God the glory and honour. To love and pray are two very difficult things to do. To love and pray for our enemies and our oppressors is certainly counter-culture.

It is what Christians do that people get to know the God of the Christians. Do you remember how the Church and Christians reacted when a church in the city was burnt last year (2009)? In fact there was no reaction. They acted calmly and graciously. There was no orchestration on how to respond. It was a natural response of no retaliation and violence, the way Jesus had taught his followers. Christians believe that God is in charge, in control and in command. What a testimony of restrain and patience!

Translate that conviction and conduct into the chambers and compound of the church among ourselves, brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to be patient and restrained in church on matters we disagree in. Do we need to be reminded that God loves and forgives? God’s children love others the way God loves them. Love in action shows we are sons of God, our Father in heaven. We cannot preach love and not show love in our lives. Members of the Church, we are a family under God! Love is a family trait. Our God is love! May the beauty of Jesus be seen in each of us – the love that gives and forgives in the family and to others as well!

THE GREAT COMMANDMENT

Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…

Love your neighbour as yourself.

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Matthew 22:37-40

This commandment was given when the Pharisees and Sadducees tested Jesus. One of them devised a clever question to know which commandment within the Law is the most important. Jesus answered and handed the Old Testament summary to them. All the Law and the Prophets can be distilled into two duties: Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself. Love God and love others, made in the image of God.

The environment of the day was debate among religious leaders. Which commandment is the greatest? Which commandment should we promote as the most important? Jesus summarized the first tablet of the Ten Commandments as “Love God” and the second tablet as “Love your neighbour.”

Mark’s Gospel records, “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:32-34).

From the Gospel account of Mark, a teacher of the law said Jesus had answered correctly. He said that it was more important to love God and one’s neighbour than to offer burnt offerings. Based on his answer, Jesus commented that he was very near the kingdom of God. That meant that he was close to leaving the Pharisees’ ways and receiving Jesus.

What do we learn from this important commandment? What do we learn from the Pharisees encounter with Jesus?

God’s word is powerful to transform. God’s word is light. God’s word guides. If we take God’s word seriously, we will experience change. We become more godly or Christ-like. Our outlook towards people gives them a new view of God, the Christ we reflect. If they see Christ in us, they would be more willing to hear the Gospel of Christ.

When we share God’s word, those who hear will be guided by the light. Share the Gospel clearly, confidently and graciously. People will listen. Gods’ word, God’s voice, will draw them to Himself. We use the Word of God. Let God use us to speak His word.

THE GREAT COMMISSION

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Matthew 28:19-20

Last words are very precious. Jesus gave these last words to his disciples before his departure and ascension. Three more duties to be discharged by them: “Go make disciples, Baptize them, and Teach them to obey everything he had taught.”

We are not asked to remain where we are, not stay where we are. We are asked to GO! Move out! The Great Commission is about going not staying. Go to where people are – where can we find our friends, clients, relatives, neighbours, the lost and seekers, etc.

Make disciples means to give young believers instruction on survival as believers. Teaching them to live the new way of life! Leading some one to say the sinner’s prayer is not good enough. Saying the ‘ABCD of Salvation’ is not enough. Renunciation and repentance is not enough.

They must know how to read the Bible – daily bread for their soul. They must know how to pray – spiritual breathing of inhaling and exhaling. They must bear witness – the occupation of testifying to the love of God and the work of Christ on the cross. They must be trained to stand on their own until they begin to make their own disciples. When this cycle continues, the church grows.

New believers, converts are to be baptized. Baptism is sometimes explained as making a public stand – telling people that one is a Christian publicly. That is not quite correct or incomplete in meaning.

Baptism is identification with Christ in His death, His burial and His resurrection. It is to say publicly, I have died in Christ when He died on the cross. My old ways and habits and beliefs are no more. I died and now I live again. Last time I was master of my own life. Now in my new life, Jesus is Lord and Master. My body is now the temple of the Spirit of Christ. Now I belong to Jesus. With this new life I live to love and serve Him. I have one purpose in life and that is to make God great with my life – glorify Him!

Baptism is a ceremony, an initiation that makes us say “No” to SIN; no to “I” and yes to Jesus. We say with commitment, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back!” Baptism is also a confirmation of this confession:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Finally, followers need to be taught the ways and words of Jesus Christ. Lessons learned from the Bible are not meant to be head knowledge only. The teachings of the life of Christ need to be internalized and put into practice. Obedience is the key word of being a Christian. Jesus said, “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Before teaching others, let us learn obedience. Do not insist on others to be obedient to the Scriptures or doubt their obedience. Rather, search our own hearts and minds whether we are obedient or selective in obeying the commandments of Christ. We need to help some people to learn obedience, by exemplary demonstration. This creates a better environment for fellowship and sense of family.

The disciples understood this very well. Before they could teach they had to learn. In following Jesus they watched him in action, listened to Him and carried out what he said and ordered. They were following a great teacher, as Nicodemus described Jesus.

Today we are disciples. “Christian” is only a label or an adjective to describe us. We are learners, like apprentices, take the slow and humble way. Do not assume that we know everything there is to know in the Bible. Let us learn together “How to Love God and Make Him loved.” Let us, as disciples carry out what Jesus commanded in the three passages. As disciples of Christ and as a Church, obey what Jesus had commanded.

1. Love those who disagree with us (unfriendly, unkind or oppose).
2. Love the Lord with all our hearts.
3. Love our neighbours as our selves.
4. Go and make disciples.
5. Baptize believers.
6. Teach them to obey all that Jesus taught.

Understand these commandments of Jesus and you see a vertical relationship with God and a horizontal relationship with people. Put the two together we see a cross that is planted in the ground and points to heaven. The teachings of Christ remind us that we have duties to two persons – to God and to our neighbour.

Conclusion

Jesus said: “If anyone would follow after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23, Mark 8:34. 10:21

Sometimes we think of the cross as ‘suffering for Jesus.” Can we see it as ‘Loving God and making people love God”? It is not an easy thing to do. It is hard work. It is deliberate effort. Doing it daily is not easy at all. We have to die to self, (deny our self), live for him (follow him), daily (everyday). Virtually, we make ourselves a living sacrifice, day after day.

“Loving God and making others love Him” is a worthy occupation and preoccupation. It has its rewards. It is personally satisfying because it is obeying our Lord Jesus Christ. For the church it is a unifying factor. It is pleasing and glorifying to God, our heavenly Father.

If this is our purpose in life, the purpose of our church family, then we must put our beliefs into practice. When we take God’s Word as it is, we see ourselves and others in better light. We would not delay to correct ourselves, renew and strengthen relationship. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” If we are truly motivated by the Great Compassion, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, the shape and size of our congregation will be very different in a matter of time.

To sum up my message “Love God and Make Him Loved” is to say “To know Him and to make Him known.” Can this be a two-pronged approach to how we live this year 2011 as a disciple of Jesus Christ and as a Church? Faith and practice go hand in hand. Faith without deeds is dead. A tree without fruit is barren and useless. May we all be known by our fruit! And they will know we are Christians by our love! Then we will be a blessing to others and to each other.

May the Lord bless you with me, as we love God and make Him loved!

Pastor Richard’s sermon on 24-Dec-2010

Matthew 1:18 – 2:12

Introduction

Out here in Asia people are celebrating Christmas. In Seoul – Korea, Tokyo – Japan, Shanghai – China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, many are doing last minute shopping for gifts. It is the time to give gifts and many people are exchanging gifts without any real reasons. It is like an international culture in December that people look forward to receive and give gifts. How has this happened?

Shopping centers and shopping malls are brightly and colourfully decorated to draw the crowd. Since it is Christmas many of these commercial places have huge posters that appear only at Christmas. One of these attractions is Santa Claus, sometimes called “Father Christmas.”

Is Christmas his birthday?

Father Christmas – Santa Claus

A story was created around a priest long ago in the church in Europe. He was known as Nicholas, a very kind person, ever ready to help poor people. Three sisters had no money or dowries for marriage. If they were not married they could be forced to be slaves or prostitutes. Father Nicholas threw bags of gold into the windows of the first and second sisters. For the third sister he dropped a bag of gold down the chimney. It fell into a stocking that was left to dry by the fire place. This story spread and Christmas became associated with not only Nicholas but chimney and stocking.

Fictionary Nicholas became popular. Once a group of students were robbed and chopped up by robbers. Nicholas joined and stitched them back together. Then he bandaged them up. Finally he restored them to life again.

His popularity grew even more when it was reported that he saved some sailors who fell overboard. The sailors said that Nicholas walked on water and carried them back to the ship.

For all that, fictitious Nicholas was made a saint. So he became St. Nicholas the patron saint of school children and sailors.

Today we know St. Nicholas as Santa Claus. Santa or “Father Christmas” then became the chubby, piped smoking, white bearded man in red, riding on a sleigh. This image was actually popularized in New York, USA, in 1809, by Irving among the Dutch Americans.

Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer

Since Santa Claus came from the cold North, he was shown to be traveling over snow by sleigh or sledge. And this cart sliding over soft snow was therefore believed to be pulled by reindeers. Reindeers are found in Lapland in Scandinavia, in northern Europe. How did one of the reindeers come to have a name, Rudolf, and its nose so red? Well, this actually came about through a popular song called “Rudolf, the Red nose reindeer because it had a very red and shining nose.”

Frosty the Snowman

A story was told of one snowy winter when some children came out to play. Together they built a huge big snow ball. Then they built another smaller ball on top of it. So there were two snow balls, one big and one small. They stuck two black coals for eyes on the smaller snow ball. And one boy stuck a carrot on and it had a nose. Now it had a face. One smart Alec thought of putting a hat on the snowman. When the hat was placed on it the snowman became alive. How did the snowman get its name?

Actually “Rudolf the Red nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman” were two songs produced and popularized by Rollins and Nelson, in the United States. When Gene Autry, the country and western singer sang them over the radio, they became a hit. Since then Rudolf and Frosty has remained with us every Christmas.

Can we do without Santa Claus, Rudolf the red nose reindeer and Frosty the snowman at Christmas? Are we celebrating Christmas because of them?

Christmas Tree

A long time ago there was story of an English missionary to France and Germany called St. Boniface. At that time people believed the giant oak tree had a spirit. Boniface met a group of people who were about to sacrifice a child (kill) under this oak tree. They worshipped Thor, the God of Thunder. Those people believed the oak tree should not be harmed. If any one harmed it he would die. Boniface cut it down. But no harm came to him. He did not die. So they followed Boniface to accept and worship Christ.

Later a new tree grew up from where the oak tree was. It was a pine tree. It was remembered as the tree of life or the tree of Christ. Remember a child was saved by Boniface!

The German people had pine trees in their homes for Christmas. It was said that Martin Luther placed candles on the branches which reminded him of the stars he saw between the trees in the forest.

In 1841, Prince Albert of Germany, the husband of Queen Victoria of England unknowingly popularized the Christmas tree in England. At his home in Windsor Castle, he decorated a tree with lights and many nice things like fruits, sweets and ginger bread. The years that followed it became customary not only to light up the Christmas tree but to lay gifts below it. But it was the Americans who commercialized and marketed the pine tree for Christmas. Now many of them are of plastic and made in China!

The Real Meaning of Christmas

Christmas is really the celebration of Christ. It is the celebration of the coming of the Messiah, the One who was promised to the children of Israel a long time ago. There was a time when it was common to see posters of Christmas as “X’mas.” People do wonder what “X” is all about. “X” is an unknown factor or an unknown person. We are not celebrating an unknown person. We are today celebrating Jesus Christ coming to earth. God the Creator came into His creation as a man. Christmas is the festival of the birth of Jesus Christ.

A Saviour is Born

When the time was right God’s angel appeared to Joseph and told him that Mary, his wife was with child. That child was conceived from the Holy Spirit. It was to be a son and he should name him “Jesus.” By that name it meant that he would save his people from their sins. Jesus means “Savior or Deliverer.”

Some people in those days thought that Jesus Christ came to save the children of Israel from the Romans. The real reason he came was to save them from their sins.

The Bible says: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” No one with exception can excuse himself and say ‘I’m not a sinner.’” God’s word says everyone has sinned. We have had evil thoughts, lied or broken a rule or a traffic law sometime in our life.

The Bible says more: “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sin causes death to everyone in the human race. We will die physically. Spiritually we will also die and be cast into hell. God gave us Jesus. Jesus will save us from death so that we can be with him in heaven.

God with Us

The coming or the birth of Jesus Christ was expected by the people of Israel. They were waiting for His coming. It was a promised given a long time ago. The announcement of the angel of God given to Joseph was a fulfillment of a great promise. The prophet Isaiah said in ancient time: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means “God with us.”

When Jesus was born God came to live among us. Jesus was God the Creator. He came to the world he made but the world did not recognize him. Jesus was born a Jew but the Jews did not welcome him. Since the people he was born into did not receive him he went to others. As a result anyone who receives Jesus Christ and believe in his name will become a child of God. Since Jesus came “God has been with us.” If we believe and receive Jesus “God lives in us.” God is here and He is here for every one.

“For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Yes, God loves every one including you personally. You can now put your name in the verse and read it and make it you own.

“For God so loved Richard that he gave His one and only Son, that Richard believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Yes, Jesus can be yours today when you believe in Him and receive Him as your Saviour and Lord.

So Christmas is a wonderful time because Jesus Christ, the Saviour is here. We celebrate Christmas because “God is with us.” Are you celebrating Christmas for these reasons? Or are you celebrating Christmas because of Santa Claus, Rudolf and Frosty? They are the wrong reasons for celebrating Christmas.

Magi – Wise Men from the East

The people of Israel were not the only people who knew about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. People from far away in the east knew about that event. Those people studied the stars and they recognized a star in the east and followed it. They were known as the Magi – Wise Men.

Those were sincere seeking people. The One who was to be born was not an ordinary person. They knew He was born to be King of the Jews. Today we know Jesus Christ is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Let us all acknowledge Jesus Christ as “king of our lives.”

The Magi or Wise Men brought gifts to the “Christ Child.” The gifts they offered were gold, frankincense and myrrh. Gold tells us Jesus is King. Frankincense represents his priesthood. Myrrh showed that he would die as a sacrifice – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus is the Saviour of the world. He is the One we worship at Christmas.

Conclusion

So, what is Christmas all about? It is not about Santa Claus, Rudolf the Red nose reindeer or even Frosty the Snowman. It is not even about the pine tree. Christmas is all about the Christ Child.

He came as a humble gift. Mary and Joseph could not find any room in the inn. Our Saviour Jesus Christ was born in a manger, in a stable surrounded by animals. That night angels sang proclaiming his birth to poor shepherds in the fields at night. “Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 Jesus was born to be a Saviour for you and I.

Jesus came as a special heavenly gift. Our world was a hungry world. It was a spiritual hunger. Nothing really satisfied. It is the same today. No one satisfies like Jesus. He is the “bread of life.” Those who receive him will never hunger again. Jesus is God’s personal gift, sent from heaven to each one of us. “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:33) Jesus came from heaven to give new life to you and I.

Jesus came as a needed gift. Our world was a dying world. It was dying because of sin. It is the same today. Every one is a sinner and we need Jesus. In sin we will end in death but God intends to give us life. Jesus died so that we might live. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Therefore, let us celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas. Let us all worship Him. Jesus is Saviour. He is Our Lord and mighty God, the Creator of the world. If Jesus is not your Savior and Lord, invite Him now, to come into your life.

Rev. Richard Tok

SAPCKL

24 Dec 2010

6.00 pm

Reverend Richard Tok’s sermon on 24-Dec-2010

John 3:1-21

Introduction

What symbols best describe the meaning of Christmas?

Pine tree? Stable, manger, inn, boat, cross

Lights? Jesus, the light of the world!

Star? Jesus, the eternal light and guide!

Three Wise Men? Great and wise men of the world worship Him!

Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh? Kingship, priesthood and sacrifice!

Angels? Announcing the Saviour is born in Bethlehem to shepherds.

Christ Child? This is the central figure of our celebration. Luke 2:2-20

Not “X’mas” but Christ-mas!

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

1. Christmas begins from the Heart of God – For God so loved.

No other time of the year is love more wonderfully displayed than at Christmas. It is displayed in the exchange of gifts, greeting cards, colours and lights, carols, music, food and celebration. It is expressed by the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese in their country with little or no religious connections. Of course in the continents of Europe, Australia and the Americas, Christmas is of great significance. In the African continent and where ever its people have been like in the Caribbean or West Indies, Christmas is celebrated with deep expressions of love. The expression of love is universal.

It is natural for a person to love and be loved because man inherited the nature of God, the Creator. God is love! We do not say, “Love is God,” but “God is Love.” It is God’s nature and character to love. God made the world and God made us. He made us to love Him and to love one another. It is instinctive for us to love.

Yes, love began from the heart of God. Christmas is that event that the love of God is made known the world over.

2. The object of God’s love is the world – For God so loved the world.

True love is like an aeroplane. It must find a landing strip. True love always lands on someone. Otherwise it crashes and the person may die of a broken heart. Love must have a respondent. When you are in love you are co-respondents of love.

God’s love comes down to earth at Creation, then at Christmas. God loves the world and found that it was very good. God loves all the peoples of the world, “red and yellow, black and white” as a song says. Best of all God loves you specifically. See John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall perish but have eternal life.

Substitute “the world and whoever” with your country: e.g. Canada, Nigeria or Korea.

Then substitute them with your own name

For God so loved Nigeria / Richard that he gave his one and only Son, that

Nigeria / Richard believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God is the lover of all our souls!

3. The Gift of Love is from the Heart of God – He gave his one and only Son.

The first time I ever had a loving feeling for some one I did not do anything about it. I noticed the way she walked and the way she talked. I loved her from a distance. I dared not get close to her. I didn’t say to her “I love you. This is my gift for you, a taken of my love.” Do you know why? At that time I didn’t know the reason for my behaviour. Now I know. It was not true love. I had a crush for her. It was “puppy love.” That girl never knew I existed. Does this experience sound familiar to you? Are you going through that experience now?

For God it was different. God loved. He had a wonderful feeling. He loved you. He had someone to give His love to. He said, “I love you.” He made his love known to someone like you. He gave His most personal and precious belonging to seal His genuine love for you. He didn’t just talk of love. He showed His love by an act. He gave His one and only Son, Jesus, to you. When you respond to God’s gesture of love you receive His gift. The gift from the heart of God is Jesus. Have you received Jesus? Is Jesus yours today?

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.

Christmas is the Season of Giving.

The giving of gifts at Christmas is imitated by all peoples of the world.

This is the season of giving and receiving started by God.

4. The Love Gift is Given to a Dying World – that whoever believes in Him shall not perish.

A young boy wondered into the tall grass of his backyard and found a brood of chicks. Everyday he went there to look at the chicks to see how they were growing. One sunny afternoon there was a fire in the yard. His first thought was to look for the chicks. He tried hard to put out the fire in the grass. He failed. He couldn’t find the chicks. But he saw a hen. Its wings were spread but the feathers were burnt. With a stick he prodded. The hen was lifeless. He turned it over. To his amazement, the chicks were all alive under the mother hen. Mother hen took the fire and gave her life so that the chicks might live.

Christmas is the story of Jesus coming to take the “fire” so that the peoples of the world might live.

The Bible says that everyone has sinned. The soul that sins will die. It means that physically every man will die. It also means that those who die in sin will be separated from God. It began with Adam and Eve, our first ancestors.

Some people say, “I’m not a sinner. I’m a good person. I don’t lie, cheat or kill.” Let us examine the “Ten Commandments.” Consider God’s standard and you might reconsider whether you are a sinner or not.

God said in Exodus 20:

1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods but me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

5. Honour your father and mother.

6. You shall not kill.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not give false testimony against another person.

10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house, wife… or anything that belongs to someone else.

Surely, as you examine these Commandments, you realize you have broken at least one of them. To have broken one Commandment is to have sinned. Some have broken more or all of the Commandments. Sin has spread like a wild fire. Every one has sinned. No one is good. None is righteous. The result of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Sin has spread to everyone. Everyone is going to die. This is a dying world. What hope is there for all of us? But we need not have to die. Yes, all can be saved. God has the answer.

In the OT there was a story of a rebellion against God and Moses. As a result many were dying because of snake bites. Death spread like wild fire in the camp. Moses raised a bronze serpent on a pole in the middle of the camp. Any one bitten by a snake can look at he bronze serpent and live. The antidote for the venom was looking to the bronze serpent.

In the same way today Jesus has been raised on a cross to die. Jesus has died for the sins of the world. When you look to Him you will be saved because of His blood. Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins. His blood washes us clean from all sin and unrighteousness. Jesus died that we might live.

At Christmas we learn that God gives and forgives! So confess you sins to God and believe in Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

5. God’s Gift is an Everlasting Gift – shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Bible says that when you accept and believe Jesus you become born again. You become children of God and have eternal life. You were first born as a result of the decision of a man and a woman, your father and mother. To be a child of God is to be born again by the will of God. The Spirit of God lives in you. So, you can call God, “Abba, Father.” And pray “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…”

What is eternal life? Some people say that when you die, your physical life stops. Then the spiritual life begins. So you enjoy your spiritual life after you die on earth. That isn’t true. You see all who go to heaven where God is or to hell where God is not, will be there for ever and ever!

Eternal life in Christ begins the moment you believe in Jesus. It is the new life that begins when the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit comes into you as you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. New life in Christ runs parallel to the old life. When your old life ends your life in Christ continues as you go to Him where He promised.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

If you should die now, you will enter into the everlasting arms of Jesus. To be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord. Death is only a door to lead us into the eternal presence of God.

New life in Christ is quality “Life” – life with a capital “L.” It is a rich, bountiful and an abundant life. Jesus said, “I have come to give you life- life to the full.” Your new life in Christ will be meaningful, purposeful, fulfilling and directional.

The message of Christmas, which comes with the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, speaks of life rather than death. Be realistic! Without Christ is a hopeless eternity. With Christ is an eternity of hope.

Conclusion

Christmas is the Season of Giving and Forgiving!

Our Lord started it. We must continue it.

· God forgave my sin in Jesus’ Name;

I’ve been born again in Jesus’ name.

And in Jesus’ Name I come to you,

To share His love as He told me to.

He said, “Freely, freely, you have received; freely, freely give.

Go in my Name and because you believe, others will know that I live.”

All Power is given in Jesus’ Name;

On heaven and earth, in Jesus’ Name.

And in Jesus’ Name I come to you,

To share His love as he told me to.

He said, “Freely, freely, you have received; freely, freely give.

Go in my Name and because you believe, others will know that I live.”

· Forgive each other just as in Christ God has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Unforgiveness among Christians dishonours the dignity of Christ and His Church.

Unforgiveness hampers the work of the Gospel.

Unforgiveness undermines the testimony of Christians.

Unforgiveness discredits the angels’ song: “Peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

Christians must give and forgive just as in Christ God gave and have forgiven us.

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, and He committed to us the message of reconciliation.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

When you receive Christ, he is born in you! You are reconciled to God.

Friends and members of the Church: “We are ambassadors for Christ.”

Introduce Christ to others. We have the message and the ministry of reconciliation.

Have a very merry Christmas and very happy New Year!

Rev. Richard Tok

SAPCKL

24 Dec 2010

11.00 pm

Pastor John Roxborogh’s sermon on 2 Jan 2011

Jeremiah 29:1-7; Matthew 2:1-2, 13-23

The story of the wise men following the star is one of our Scripture readings again for two reasons.

This week on 6 January Eastern churches will be celebrating the birth of Jesus and the Epiphany or “manifestation of Christ” to the Gentiles.

Secondly it is of interest, because we also are “in the East.”

How do we see the light of Christ differently and in some ways, more clearly, because of where we live, because at this moment we are “in the East”?

In both readings places make a difference to how people experience God and understand what he is like.

Jeremiah is telling Jewish believers in exile that they can still worship God in a different place from their own country and that God wants them to be committed to the good of that country.

Matthew is reminding Jewish Christians 500 years later that Jesus did not only come for them, but also for people from other lands like the Magi from the East.

Places make a difference. For instance, living in Malaysia may teach us about prayer in a way that living in New Zealand may or may not. Being a migrant or a refugee makes parts of the bible, including perhaps the letter from Jeremiah to exiles, come alive to us.

As a pastor part of my work is helping Christians with different experiences of God understand one another better. People have different gifts, are at different stages of life, and have different personality types. They come from different places which affect their assumptions about how things should be done.

One of our challenges is learning which of these differences matter because they are due to sin, and what differences just have to be managed because they are due to the goodness and diversity of God’s creation, not to failure of some kind.

Church history can also remind us of the importance of different places and how they have affected what Christians think of as normal ways of being church. For Presbyterians – places like Edinburgh in Scotland or Geneva in Switzerland are places where significant things happened. But some of the problems and answers from those places are not the same as what was worked out in Africa or India, or China, or Korea or here in Malaysia.

Christianity in the East has its own history, and unfortunately much of that history has been neglected and forgotten.[1] One person who helped its rediscovery was a Scottish clergyman Claudius Buchanan who was a chaplain to British traders and soldiers in the East India Company. In 1809 preached and published a sermon which he called “A Star in the East” on this same text from Matthew we have read this morning.

At that time missionary work in British India was illegal. While in India he had begun to appreciate some of the ancient stories of Christianity in Asia before European contact, including the stories of St Thomas coming to India in 52 AD and dying there twenty years later.

Buchanan got involved with William Wilberforce and others to open India to Christian mission. He even created an essay competition on the best means of evangelizing India with the enormous prize money of £500.

As well as a presence in India from the first century there had long been Christian churches East of Jerusalem in Syria and Armenia. There were also churches along the Silk Road to China. Medieval visitors like Marco Polo and Catholic diplomats travelled through Southeast Asia. In medieval times there were Christian tribes in what is today Mongolia. Later the Jesuits had missions in India, Melaka, Macao, the Moluccas, Japan and into China. The Spanish brought Catholicism to the Philippines.

The 19^th century saw huge expansion of mission. Penang, Singapore and Melaka attracted missionaries waiting for China. In 1910, there was a World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh to coordinate Protestant missionary efforts. Representatives later visited Asia and came to Singapore in 1912.

In the 20^th century it was realised that there was a problem how to relate together the new churches which were growing in Africa and Asia to the older churches of Europe and North America. Now there were Christians in most parts of the globe it was a general question how much should the churches in Asia and Africa be Asian and African – or did you have to be European to be truly Christian? Even if you answered “Of course not!” the details were not easy. Whose culture has the right to define what is authentic Christian faith?

Of course we share faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” We all use baptism as a form of initiation. We all use prayers based on Jesus’ last meal with his disciples. We all read the Bible. We all pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Whatever our differences we all seek to be followers of Jesus.

And yet some things are different. One area is the effect of science on faith.

In Western countries the success of science had affected how people understood the way God worked in the world. People began to assume that God was a scientist and that so his laws must be scientific laws. While some saw science as a just a different overlay map of the same reality, others saw it as a threat because it said the reality was different and it gave alternative explanations for how the world worked and how it had been created. For many people miracles, prayer and the very existence of God now became problems.

For some time protestant missionaries from the West believed their brand of Christianity could cope with science and that science was useful ally in the fight against superstition and irrational religion. It was also believed that because of this English was the only safe religious language and in India missionaries persuaded the British administration to support English language schools more than schools in local languages.

(Others realised that every language present some risk to Christian truth, and that at the same time every language and culture is capable of bearing the good news of the Gospel. Because Jesus was truly human as well as truly God we believe that God’s word in the bible should be translated into the language of every nation.)

In the West in particular popular science, sociology, and psychology started to help erode confidence in the existence of God and reduced the status of the church. I have known Malaysian Christians practically in tears over the state of the churches they saw in Europe and they wondered how it was that these once great missionary countries could have so lost their faith and emptied their churches.

There are different issues here in the East.

Here I have known people who came to Malaysia who changed their understanding of what it is to be Christian. Some made a personal commitment to Christ for the first time. Malaysia has provided a freedom to explore what it means to be a Christian, and that has been a wonderful discovery. And if you are on that journey I encourage you to take another step.

I would like to encourage us all to think what is it about following Jesus that you can discover more clearly here, than you might somewhere else.

1) We may find being here presents the gift of opportunity. Here you may have time to be part of a bible study or fellowship group which at other times and places has not been possible.

2) Here you may discover permission to pray – there is no problem saying grace before a meal in any Malaysian restaurant.

3) Being in a society in which different religions are practiced, helps you understand other faiths the beliefs and customs of real people who are quite different from media stereotypes. It also gives you permission to think about what is God really like. You may read the bible with new eyes. You may find friends willing to discuss questions which were not taken seriously in other places.

4) You may find opportunity for fellowship with Christians different from you own tradition. We may discover that issues which seemed central to Christian faith in other countries, here are not so important.

5) It may be an advantage that here you may be away from places where you had an unhappy experience of the church. Here some of those associations are broken and you can think about God in a fresh way.

6) Here you may hear stories of how God has helped other people in their lives, in their work and business, in their health, in their concern for members of their family. You may discover that God wishes to be much more involved in our personal lives than you realised. You may be struck by how people have made choices to be Christian that are costly, but it has been their decision.

7) You may also discover here that your understanding of God expands. God is not only more personal he is also more concerned with larger issues and problems than those of our own world, however important. So we can discover that God is bigger not smaller. This is a place to grow our understanding of what God is like.

In conclusion I want to pick up the words from Jeremiah 29:1-7. It includes an extract from a letter to people who have been forced into exile. They had known what it was to deal with God in their home land and they wanted to go back. Jeremiah had to tell them that that was not going to happen any time soon and they needed to face being committed to where they now were.

Sometimes we apply to ourselves the promise “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you blessing.”

It is an important promise, but I think the more important word is verse 7 “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you . . . and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.”

The “city” here can represent each of the cultural groups we relate to – one’s own family, church, other Christians, one’s own ethnic group, other ethnic groups in the one country. This is not simple. They all matter. Some of their needs conflict, but each one of them is likely to enrich our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

St Andrew’s seeks to be an international church where we own these multiple cultural dimensions of identity and work out what we have to do to work together as a Christian community which takes seriously biblical teaching on Christian love, being an equipping church, seeking to serve others and one another in the name of Christ so that we grow together in him. Other churches in other lands will have a similar vision, but our being in Malaysia will make this possible in a way that is also unique.

We too, like those wise men of old, will have seen his star in the East.

AMEN.

[1] See Philip Jenkins, The lost history of Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2008.

(Pastor John Roxborogh’s sermon on 26-Dec-2010)

Let us continue the story of Christmas after Jesus’ birth

Matthew 2:13-15 (Hosea 11:1) Refers to Joseph, Mary and Jesus their escape to Egypt, and the prophecy “Out of Egypt I have called my Son” – a text that is very important for African Christians. Jesus was in Africa for a time.

In Luke2: 21-39 we see Jesus’ naming and circumcision – the naming is reflected in infant baptisms where parents are asked “Would you name your child” – it is an important responsibility for the parents to decide what the name will say to the child and to others about who they are.

And then there is a temple ceremony for purification and dedication. Mary and Joseph offer the sacrifice set for those who were poor – a pair of doves or two young pigeons

While they are there they meet two other people who recognise who Jesus is and who have great joy at his coming.

Just because we say our prayers does not mean we always get it right, but it is often prayerful people like Simeon and Anna who have a sense of what is really going on. Such people are a gift.

In the church where I was converted when I was an engineering student the congregation had prayed for revival, but when God answered their prayers not in the way they wanted with something tidy and Presbyterian, but something untidy, unpredictable and charismatic among the youth. Many older folk were upset at youthful spiritual over-confidence, especially when it did not show proper respect for the elders.

But an elderly Irish Christian, Mr Coulter recognised what was going on. He saw that at one level youth were just being youth, especially as this was New Zealand not Malaysia. At another level what was going was something he recognised from memories of his own country, Ireland, and of stories of revivals there. What he saw was the Holy Spirit bringing young people to faith, discovering God’s Holy Spirit in their lives, and learning to discern God’s gifts and calling. And of course this did not mean they got everything right or that they had the maturity or experience to recognise that the different expressions of faith by older people in the congregation were also valid.

Perhaps Mr Coulter might have shared in the words of Simeon

Now Lord let thou thy servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.

This may be our response in different situations as well – when we have seen situations long prayed for brought to a resolution. One day we can let go a burden or see that a hope is being realised because we see that God has indeed brought things to a new place.

Simeon and Anna brought other words as well, more things for Mary and Joseph to ponder: about God’s choice of Jesus, about his role in judgment and salvation, in the experience of conflict, and in opening up secret things.

We too may have words that have come to us, through others, or in our own hearts, and convictions about what God is saying to us. They may be things we are not sure about. And we may be wise not to always speak them out. People can do harm bringing words of judgment which are not their gift or place to share.

But there can be words of comfort or reassurance that are quite personal. We cannot demand these things from God, but we should not despise them either. We should I think not be too quick to decide what God is trying to tell us, but such words can be very meaningful.

I myself had the experience of an elderly praying lady reassuring me about the salvation of my father. He had had a difficult life as a child and his own actions brought pain to others. Yet at the end of the day he too was a person of faith.

But there is another story in our readings this morning.

John the Baptist, at a time which proved to be near the end of his life, suddenly had doubts whether he had made a mistake in declaring Jesus to be the promised Messiah.

The story of John the Baptist and the messengers he sent to Jesus is often told a few weeks before Christmas to remind us of those who go ahead to “prepare the way of the Lord.” It is a time when we can also thank God for all those who prepared the way leading to our own welcoming of Jesus into our lives.

But I think it is good to think of John the Baptist not only in that role, but also as an example of one who was at the centre of what Jesus was about and who suddenly found himself having doubts and questions.

It is not uncommon after a big event for there to be a bit of a letdown. The experience of a low after a spiritual or emotional high can be quite real. It famously happened to Elijah after his spectacular defeat of the prophets of Baal.

We can map highs and lows in the disciple’s lives as they followed Jesus. Even the day after Christmas may be a bit of a letdown after the excitement of Christmas Day.

John sent messengers to Jesus to ask a serious question: “Are you the one or should we wait for another?”

In all the Gospels John is an important prophet, calling people to a baptism of repentance. He was astonished to find that Jesus also came to him for baptism. We remember his words about Jesus that “he must increase and I must decrease” and that “I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is much greater than I. I am not good enough even to untie his sandals” (Luke 3:16) “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

John had a successful ministry, and some of Jesus’ disciples had first been disciples of John (John 1:35), but he also suffered for the courage of his convictions and the directness of his preaching. When he criticized the governor Herod Antipas for taking his brother’s wife, he was put in prison. Antipas was the son of the King Herod who had met the wise men on their way to visit the baby Jesus and who had children killed in Bethlehem in an effort to get rid of him. In Matthew 14 it explains how his son Herod Antipas wanted to kill John the Baptist but was afraid to do so until he was tricked by his wife and his own foolishness.

Waiting in prison fearing something like this was likely to happen was not a good time for John. He began to have questions and doubts. His diet had never been good, now it was worse. It was not easy to think straight about all that had happened.

However, he did do something about it. He managed to arrange for messengers to go to Jesus and ask the question that was on his heart. In asking “Are you the one?” he was not testing God or looking for a sign. He was not playing games with Jesus saying you had better bless me and if you don’t I will go and try some other God. He was not threatening Jesus with some sort of performance review.

It quite proper for us to take seriously the questions that arise for us out of a search to know and do God’s will. It is important to do so. The New Testament is very understanding about questions like these. Sometimes we may feel Jesus was a bit rough on people asking questions – he does challenge people to work things out – but it all depends on why people are asking. Is it about following Jesus and knowing the truth, or is it about keeping Jesus at a distance and looking for reasons to avoid doing what we know to be right?

We can take courage from John Baptist going to Jesus – and the matter of fact way Jesus put the question back to him to think again about what was going on and what that must mean.

There are OK questions for us to ask on the journey of life of faith. It is important that we do so that we grow our understanding of God with our experience of the complexity of life.

We can reassure our children and ourselves that there is nothing that is too big or too complicated for God. That there is no understanding about the complexity of how the world works, in science, or in philosophy, in economics or politics, where it is not possible to appreciate that God is big enough for these things.

We will have questions. Jesus is likely to ask us to look at the evidence. But in doing us he will indicate that he understands us, he loves us, and he is at work in us too.

AMEN

Pastor John Roxborogh’s sermon on 25-Dec-2010

1. Like the shepherds we have heard something has happened and we have decided to go and see and find out what it means.

Like Christians around the world today, like the Shepherds in the Christmas story, we have decided not just to think about Christmas, but to do something about Christmas.

Every Christmas is a little different. We are different ages and stages in life. We are older. Children are older. We may be in different countries. Friends and familiar family may or may not be with us. Each year the gifts we share speak to us of the gift of God in different ways. Each year the familiar songs and readings add different layers to our memories and grow our understanding about what happened and what it all means.

Each year different songs are popular – Don’t they know its Christmas; Last year I gave you my heart – this year there has been a rush of Flash Mob Hallelujah Choruses sung in places like Macy’s Store in Philadelphia, A Christmas Food Court has received over 26 million hits on YouTube. One from Melbourne Central Railway Station 3 days ago has only 14,000 so far. There is something of the joy of the angels and the bewilderment of the shepherds in the onlookers – truly wonderful. Check out YouTube.

Here in Malaysia. Yesterday NST carried letters to drive carefully at Christmas, to remember the reason for the season, and one[1] saying that he would be visiting open house of his Christian friends on Christmas Day to add to their cheer. This morning the PM expressed hope …

“that Malaysians will continue to give the gift of goodwill and acceptance beyond the Christmas holiday season.

Every cultural or religious occasion celebrated in Malaysia serves as a joyous reminder of our nation’s wealth and strength in diversity. "This time of the year is no different," the prime minister said in his Christmas message.

Najib said despite Christians comprising only 9.1 per cent of the population, the widespread adoption of Christmas practices such as exchange of gifts was a testament to the nation’s ability to accept and embrace cultural differences.

Writing in his blog, he reminded Malaysians of their ability to band together to restore peace and harmony in the face of adversity such as the extremist attacks on the Christian community earlier this year.
"Our saving grace is the spirit we possess as a society that believes in respecting and accepting one another for our unique and varied points of view.". . .

Wishing a Merry Christmas to all celebrating, he called on Malaysians to keep the nation’s unity and prosperity in their prayers.[2]

And we ourselves have come once again, or possibly for the first time, here in this place, to share as people celebrate the birth of Jesus. We want to know not only “What happened?” We also want to know “What does it mean?”

What happened is given to us through the memories and stories gathered by two of the Gospel writers, Matthew and Luke: The accounts of Jesus ancestry, of Mary’s unexpected and embarrassing pregnancy, of her espoused husband Joseph’s experience of God’s reassurance, of God’s witness that this would be a special child. Their travelling because of a Roman census and finding themselves stuck for accommodation, and the birth of Jesus in the most unlikely and unhygienic of circumstances. How simple shepherds heard angels praising God and found the baby, as did people from the East who offered extraordinary gifts symbolic of a king, a person of prayer, and someone who would be anointed for burial. And the tragedy of the paranoid king Herod and his killing of innocent children in a vain attempt to be secure on his throne. Joseph, Mary and Jesus escaped to Egypt, but Herod for all his power could not escape his own death and so they were able to return.

“What was going on?” or “What does this mean?” is a much deeper question. When it says that Mary “pondered all these things in her heart”, she was thinking not just what had happened, but what did it mean? It is good to see for ourselves, it is important that we make our own decision to think about what it means.

Let us consider both those questions

2. What have we done this morning? What have we seen? What does it mean?

Many will have already opened gifts and there will have been laughter and surprises. Some will have been given exactly what they hoped for, and others things you may learn to value. Some of us may be extraordinarily self-disciplined and be waiting till after this service before they open their presents. Some will be more lavish in their gifts, some more restrained.

And coming to church is part of the giving and receiving, for worship of God is a service of giving, and a time when we receive gifts from God. The wise men not only gave gifts, setting a pattern for our giving, they also worshipped Jesus. And as the Shepherds told people the story about the child Jesus, so by our worship and our lives, we continue to tell the story of the coming of Jesus and what it means.

Christians worshipping are both more ordinary and more mysterious than we could imagine. We notice that they are made up of people, from different walks of life, from different cultures, languages, economic circumstances and political views.

All of us are growing in our understanding of what the birth of Jesus some 2000 years ago means for us, how it becomes the centre of our understanding of how the Creator God has shared human life.

The explanations often include reference to the time at the end of Jesus’ period of teaching, how he was falsely accused, betrayed, abandoned, and cruelly executed. In many churches as we will this morning, his last meal with his followers will be recalled and his followers invited to share in remembering what he said and what he said it would mean. And they and we will talk of his coming back after death and the promise of his return one day in history.

We have come to see people celebrate this. At one level what we see is other Christians in our diversity and common faith.

There is an ancient letter to Diognetius explaining what Christians were like about a century after the time of Jesus[3]

For Christians are distinguished from other people neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. …

But, inhabiting … cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners.

As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.

They obey the prescribed laws and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified.

Of course this is written from a Christian point of view about Christian ideals and we are not always successful at living up to those ideals.

3. Another thing we can do, in order for us “to see this thing that has happened” is to read the Christian scriptures in the New Testament.

We will notice that the New Testament begins with four accounts of “good news” about the life of Jesus. It is obvious they are all telling the same story, yet they are selecting different parts to help explain who Jesus is to different groups. Matthew wants Jewish Christians to remember Jesus came for all races, and Luke that it is often more and marginalized people who see and understand what God is doing.

Both of them borrow from Mark’s action-orientated life of Jesus which starts with the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist. John’s Gospel tells the story to emphasis what Jesus means for thoughtful people a generation later than those the other writers addressed. He uses a series of signs and sayings so we understand that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

John goes back to creation to say that in Jesus “the true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world”.“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”

There is something very enduring about even small amounts of light

If you fly to Europe overnight, and you look down as you cross over India, and Pakistan and the countries of the Middle East you will see thousands of lights, not only of cities, but also of villages.

If we think of fibre optic cables and the capacity of small amounts of modulated light in glass tubes to carry more channels of digital information than we would dream possible.

If we think of light from stars whose distance is measured in thousands of light years, so that by the time the light reaches us, the star may have ceased to exist.

But we also think of light in dark places, in terms of the light of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

4. The light of Christ has not been put out through the history of the church since Jesus, despite many setbacks and sufferings.

That light was not put out in the early centuries after Christ, despite persecution and despite the challenges of becoming the official religion of the Roman empire.

That light was not put out when monasteries of Ireland preserved precious and beautiful copies of the Christian scriptures when other parts of Europe were in chaos.

That light was not put out when the Gospel which was taken over the silk route to China in 688 AD. Under Mongol rulers Christian wives kept the light of Christ known in Mongolia.

That light was not put out when persecution descended on the Christian community of Japan built up by the work of Francis Xavier in his travels from Melaka, and it appeared to die, to reappear hundreds of years later.

The light of Christ was not crushed by the events in Russia under Communism or the cultural revolution in China though the church was severely hurt and people suffered.

But this is not just about history and other lands, it is also about the light of Christ coming into people’s personal lives. The experience of suffering may make us doubt God, but it is also amazing how for many that it is in darkness they discover the strong light of Christ.

5. Sometimes darkness is not only in our circumstances, it is also in ourselves.

Yet this does not stop God continuing to be at work in us.

What is God saying to you is always an interesting question. But it is also a serious one. Not to be treated superficially or lightly.

There are things we are sensing in us which are signs of God’s Holy Spirit speaking, proding, encouraging, enlightening.

Darkness has not put out the light that Christ is bringing to us.

This Christmas allow that light to grow in you. Do not feel that all your questions need to be resolved at once, but be assured God is with you, and the light of Christ will never be extinguished.

Let me share with you from what Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury has written in his Christmas message:

The clutching hand of the baby is, for most of us, something we can’t resist.

The Christmas story outrageously suggests that putting our hand into the clutch of a baby may be the most important thing we can ever do as human beings – a real letting-go of aggression and fear and wanting to make an impression and whatever else is going on in us that keeps us tied up in our struggle and violence.

Even more outrageously, the story suggests that this particular baby, the one born in the outhouse, the one who is rescued at the last moment from a village massacre like the ones that happen so regularly in forgotten civil wars today in Congo or Sudan – this baby is the place where the power of the creator of the universe is completely present.

The fact that this story of defenceless love . . . – touches something universal should make us think twice about giving up on the human heart’s capacity for goodness and faith, however deeply buried.

That is true for our hearts this Christmas, not just the hearts of others. We have come not only to see others, but to see for ourselves that God is at work in ourselves as well this Christmas.

Amen.

[1] Read more: Christmas : Remember true meaning of celebration http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18xmas/Article/index_html#ixzz1957WTVC1

[2] Read more: ‘Take goodwill beyond Christmas’ http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/02rlpm/Article/#ixzz1956Nok1n

[3] from http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0101.htm

Pastor John Roxborogh’s sermon on 19-Dec-2010

Isaiah 35:1-10

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus 2it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”

5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray. 9No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Luke 1:39-56

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

46And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” 56And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

Message

This morning we lit the 4th of our advent candles joy – following those of love, hope, peace in the first three Sundays of Advent.

On Christmas Day, next Saturday, we will light the Christ candle. In the birth of Jesus, love, hope, peace and joy are located in a real person. It is through him that we experience the love of God, we have hope in this life and for the life to come, we have peace with God, and experience joy at the goodness of God.

Isaiah 35 is an extraordinary poetic prophecy of the joy of God’s coming to the rescue of his people.

In Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus different people – with the exception of Herod – all experience joy at the coming of Jesus.

Christmas is for us too, by and large, an experience of anticipation, excitement, celebration and joy in homes, churches and shopping malls, it is a “wow” time of the year.

However in the bible as a whole, joy is not simply a good feeling about good things; it is an appreciation of God’s goodness not only in good times but also in bad.

Mary’s hymn of praise, often known by the Latin word, Magnificat, is not only a celebration of God’s goodness to her, but of God’s goodness to the poor and humble, and his faithfulness in every generation. It is a model of our own prayers of praise can extend from our own experience to what God is like and what God is doing for others.

When we look at it more closely we might notice that joy is not only about thanking God for good things in good times, it is about knowing God is good in times which are terrible. But it is a blessing in the midst of conflict – the proud are scattered, the powerful are brought down, the rich are sent away empty. Joy to the world announced by the angels to the terrified shepherds is not good news for everyone.

And for the followers of Jesus, the news is not going to be always good either.

There is the saying “God is good – all the time. All the time – God is good.” We do not say these things lightly because God’s goodness is also known in experiences of suffering which he does not always take away from us.

Joy is like Christian marriage – a commitment in good times and bad “for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.” And like marriage it has it times of ecstasy at being in love – and its time when love is deep and rich.

Joy is our subjective response to the objective reality that in Christ God is with us whatever the circumstances. There is nothing in all creation which can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

The most important message we can share with one another at Christmas is that God is with you.

Joy comes from an awareness of this reality. It is not some feeling we need to generate, but it is a feeling which perhaps can give ourselves permission to acknowledge. I am not one for trying to work up a congregation to feel better than they really are, or get in the mood, or praise God with more enthusiasm. But sometimes we could give ourselves permission to be a bit more joyful. Presbyterians had an old saying that the chief purpose of human beings was “to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” But sometimes we can be a bit serious about enjoying God.

Joy can come to us in many things. – marriage, the birth of a child, a successful harvest, the pleasure of a good wine, the deliverance of victory. Some people even experience joy at football and baseball matches.

However joy can also be known in circumstances which are anything but happy. A blind Scottish minister, George Matheson whose fiancé broke off their engagement when he started to lose his sight, wrote the hymn “O love that will not let me go”

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

Jesus taught about blessings promised to the poor and those who mourn. Peter told his readers “Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ’s followers.” (4:13f) Paul wrote to the Corinthians (2 Cor 7:4) “In all our troubles I am still full of courage; I am running over with joy.”

These are not abstract ideas they are experiences in real life.

In the prophecy of Isaiah deaf people hear, blind people see, water is found in a desert, refugees are able to return home in safety – the pre-natal John the Baptist’s kicks his mother Elizabeth when Mary comes to visit. Mary’s rejoices at what God was doing through her and for hungry and poor people who trusted him.

However when we read of Paul saying “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) we may not find this helpful advice. In fact it may make things worse. One person said “I find that being told that I ought to be joyous depresses me” (Berger 2002)

Joy is a feeling of happiness about something good that has happened or about something that God has promised will happen

Joy is also about the spiritual reality that God will have the last word and is ultimately in control.

Joy may or may not be about feeling comfortable or good, it is happiness knowing God’s goodness in all circumstances.

We tend to associate joy only with the positive things in life we attribute to God. They are part of what joy is about, but it goes deeper.

The word joy gives us language to talk about what ordinary Christians experience about God in both good times and bad.

This is partly a matter of definition of words in English, but it is going to take more than a better dictionary for us to even think about experiencing joy in anything like the range of circumstances found in the Bible.

Of course the prospects for joy can be improved by attention to our attitudes, and the things we do together as a community. A more positive attitude to life can be enhanced by how we treat one another. Sharing stories. Listening to one another’s pain. Doing practical things to help others can all improve our attitudes and make joy a more realistic possibility. Song and dance lift people’s spirits. Self-discipline, for instance the discipline of fasting, can help us have a sense of being under God’s rule and protection.

The question however is not really first of all what do we feel like, and how that might be made more congenial – though I do think that God cares about our moods and we should take our emotional needs seriously – but a more basic question is what is God like, and what does that change about how we feel.

Somebody has said (Berger 2002) that “A theology of joy requires the ability to see beyond the present moment”

When Moses was arguing with God about what was going on in Egypt, God eventually says to him “I have indeed seen the affliction of my people.” “This sense of being seen by God is the tipping point” for the response of joy.[1]

The first thing we need to know, however terrible or however good the situation we are in, is that God sees it. We look beyond the circumstances we are in, whether they are giving us pleasure or causing us pain, and we say “God sees this”

It is one of the great acts of prayer to acknowledge that there is no place that God does not see what is going on.

Of course this may lead to the question if God sees it why does God not do more about it – and there is often no easy answer to that. But saying “God sees this” is still the starting point of being able to receive the message of Christmas “Joy to the world.”

Joy at good things is not difficult. Joy moved Isaiah and Mary to some extraordinary poetry in praise of God.

Joy at God seeing things when they are not good may not be our automatic reaction. In fact it may be something we struggle with.

Feelings are unreliable. They are difficult to hold on to. We try to capture them but they escape. And they are affected by many things, our medication, our hormones, our health.

The love hope peace and joy we name the Advent candles after can just be a list of nice words and good feelings. It would be perfectly possible to be enthusiastic about these things without any Christian references at all. After all it is nice to be at peace, it is wonderful to be in love, it lifts our hearts to have a sense of hope, it is a gift to be settled in our spirits, to have a sense of peace with ourselves and others.

And even if we bring God into the picture, if we are just looking for these feelings in themselves, they will slip away – falling in love with love is dangerous, hoping for hope’s sake may be no more than wishful thinking. the bible not only talks about the peace of God which is beyond human understanding, it also talks about those who cry "peace, peace, when there is no peace."

Yet God sometimes uses even unreliable feelings to speak to us in ways we would otherwise not understand.

Let’s think about religious experience and our feelings for a while.

• A sense of disquiet in our spirits, and absence of peace, may be a call from God to pray about something, or to seek God’s wisdom about a situation. It may be a reminder to commit situations to God and not necessarily try to fix them ourselves.
• A sense of deep happiness when we have given our life to Christ, or asked forgiveness from God, or from our wife, or parents, or colleagues, can be God’s confirmation that we have done the right thing – a sign of the reality of God’s Holy Spirit. To an unbeliever these may have some natural explanation as learned behaviors or group dynamics (and natural explanations are not necessarily wrong, just incomplete). Conversion experiences, or experiences described as being baptized in God’s Spirit are real, and valid. At the same time they not things that everyone has.
• Christians affirm the gifts that others have, and that includes the sorts of religious feelings some of us have and others do not. We do not try to make everyone the same. We do not boast of our gifts, or do things which might make other people jealous because of what we have.
• Sometimes we puzzle over whether types of spiritual experiences are of God or of Satan. I think this is unhelpful. Many things can be used by God to speak of God or they can be sources of temptation. For instance dreams can be used by God even today, but that does not mean that every dream has that layer of meaning, or has to be categorized as being good or bad spiritually. And dreams can be confusing and unreliable. We know that from the Bible as well. They may be more about questions than answers, but if we sense God is trying to tell us something, then that might be worth checking out.
• There are other emotions too which can be a vehicle for the Holy Spirit if we allow God to work in that sort of way. Our physical yearnings can be sources of spiritual hunger which lead us to know and trust God at a deeper level. Our fears can be warnings we should hear, or anxieties which need love. Our conscience may alert us to our need of forgiveness, or of spiritual danger, or it may lead us to feel more guilty than God actually wants us to be.

What can we rely on? How can we be sure?

We can be sure:

• When our experiences of the work of God’s Spirit in bringing us love, peace, hope and joy are shared by other Christians today, and in similar circumstances by the people we read about in the bible. When thousands of people who have acknowledged to God that they have done wrong things, and they give that burden to Jesus, and ask God to give them new life because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, and they have a great sense of joy and peace, then we have grounds for saying – that is a valid spiritual experience.
• We also need to say that when they are many who make that same prayer who do not feel anything, but yet set their lives to learning about Jesus, reading the bible, becoming part of a community of Christians, then their absence of religious emotional experience is also valid. It does not mean God is absent. This too is a common Christian experience.

Whatever out spiritual experiences, and whatever processes we take to digest and interpret them, Christmas is likely to be for us a season of great joy. May it be a time when we allow those feelings to be a confirmation for us of God’s Spirit at work in our lives.

Like Isaiah may our hopes for a better world turn into prayers of deliverance which bring joy and hope to others.

Like Mary may our experiences of God’s hand in the intimacy and expectation of bringing a child into the world enable us to speak not only of our own joy, but the promises of God to all who seek him, that we and our children will know as she said “That is mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.”

This is joy to the world

Amen

[1] Berger, Rose Marie. "Pursuing the secret of joy." Sojourners 31, no. 2 (March-April 2002): 27.

Pastor John Roxborogh’s sermon on 12 Dec 2010

Christmas at St Andrews is part of our family memory. When our eldest daughter saw YouTube videos from last Sunday evening she was excited to remember the making of the banners, including the banners of Christmas, which still decorate this church.

I wonder what memories of Christmas you have from other years, perhaps from other lands, from other churches?

My own early memories include being on a ship during a storm in the bay of Biscay in December 1956. I was 11. My mother and I were on our way from New Zealand to England where she was to teach for a year. Furniture was sliding around and had to be tied down, and we were singing “Silent night, holy night” yet the night was anything but silent or still.

This year here in St Andrews and in the other services you may be celebrating we are adding to our memories and understanding of Christmas. Every year we discover something more of the birth of Jesus.

Of course we are concerned about the true meaning of Christmas. We note how Christmas is often soaked with values which make it hard to see that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

Yet if we allow, perhaps even the gifts can speak – perhaps of the gifts of the wise men. Perhaps in our longing for something real the seeds of prayers for the lasting gifts that Jesus brings. Our looking back can tell us that often the gifts we did not want proved to be the ones we really needed, and the things we coveted often became hollow in their irrelevance.

One of the lasting gifts relating to both our needs and our wants, is the peace which the lighting of the Advent candle this morning reminds us about.

Peace and the absence of peace is one of the themes in the story.

“For a child has been born for us . . . and he shall be called . . . Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!” Luke 2:14

We know that this is both profoundly true and yet not automatic or straightforward. It applies to some experiences in life, but not yet to all.

The lands where these events took place remain profoundly troubled. If Joseph and Mary were trying to get to Bethlehem this Christmas they would have a concrete security fence to negotiate.

We still yearn for peace as an absence of violence and a growth in respect and understanding. We may pray for the peace of Jerusalem – a seemingly hopeless yet vitally necessary prayer that does not take sides but realises that miracles are needed.

Yet in the Christmas story there are examples of peace which we can know: peace with God, peace with ourselves, and peace about others.

Peace with God. Isaiah talked about people walking in darkness seeing a light. Of course it refers to a communal experience, not just an individual personal one, but it is both. Sometimes the phrase “Oh he has seen the light” is used almost sarcastically that someone has come to their senses, yet it is the most wonderful thing that can happen, and it happens still as God works in our hearts and lives.

Coming to Jesus may not solve all our problems or answer all our questions, but it is like turning the lights back on after a power cut. Peace with God is one of the gifts that Jesus brings at Christmas.

Peace with ourselves. Mary, like Joseph, was perplexed by the discovery of her pregnancy and it puzzling circumstances – and Matthew and Luke want us not so much to think about its biology as its meaning – Jesus was born from God, and in time as John would explain in his Gospel, so would his followers be born from above, born again into a new family. Mary has her questions, as we may too, and she goes on thinking about, as we may wish to too, but she also decides that whatever she can or cannot understand about how this came to be, that she would accept the will of God for her life.

In our perplexities as parents, or parents to be, or as those trying to understand ourselves as we grow up or as we grow old, as we experience sickness and not just years of health, there comes the time to say “Let it be Lord, according to your will.”

This is not some magic formula, but the acceptance of our situation and our placing of it in the hands of God. It is a way in which peace about what is going on for us can become as real as the lifting of a headache, the removal of a burden on the spirit. It may not go away immediately, but one day we will awake and it will be gone.

Peace about others. The Shepherds were more than perplexed, they were terrified. What scared them was something so overwhelming in its praise of God that they could not handle it. This may not be the experience of all of us, but sometimes we are as much troubled by the power of something good as we are of something bad.

What others do in the name of God can threaten us. In the shepherds’ case, it was the angels, and they were not wrong to be frightened.

I am struck by how often Christians are worried about what other Christians are doing. Perhaps the situation of the shepherds is as if those who are used to more staid Presbyterian worship were suddenly transported like Harry Potter and landed in a revival meeting. Other people’s exuberant praise can be unsettling. Yet like the Shepherds we may also hear God’s reassurance in sounds we do not understand. I like it that what they did was to get up and go and they went to find out what it was all about. The moved past their own sense of shock or threat to do something practical to find out more.

When we are concerned about praise of God we do not understand, perhaps the simple step to recovering our peace is doing something practical. We may find that though our experiences of God are not the same, there can be a quite unexpected peace in recognising God’s work in others in a way that is different from his work in us. We may also need to cope with those who may have difficulty extending this same understanding to us.

But there are strands in the story which do not have a happy ending. The peace announced to the shepherds was powerful and real, but it is not the only experience of life. Innocents still suffer. We don’t know why God allows some things to happen. It is the Christian story to both experience miracles of deliverance, as did the wise men Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus; and suffering, as the innocents and later Jesus did.

Our own Christmas memories relate to both the gift of peace and to the realities of suffering. It is good that we often pray at Christmas for those for whom this is the first Christmas since someone close has died, and for whom this Christmas will be poignantly different.

What do we do with these memories?

The American poet Robert Pinsky has said that “Deciding to remember, and what to remember, is how we decide who we are.”

We have some choices about remembering and memory which help us cope with the experiences of life and grow our understanding of what Christmas means.

Robert Pinsky’s concern was about America and its need to make decisions about its memory in order to determine its cultural identity, a concern that applies to other countries as well. If a nation loses its memory it also loses its understanding of what it does remember.

He also talks about the hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Philip Brooks that we have sung.

O little town of Bethlehem!

How still we see thee lie,

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,

The silent stars go by;

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The Everlasting light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight.

Brooks wrote this Christmas carol after the Civil war in the United States when many little towns were silent at Christmas simply because so many of their young men were gone. Their sleep is dreamless because they have died. Something touches people in this carol, perhaps even unsettles them if they think about the words.

We hear this as a peaceful carol, it is actually about trusting God after a national tragedy. It can apply not only in the situation it was written for, but for many others. This too is part of the memory of Christmas.

But there are ways and ways of remembering. A Croatian theologian, Miroslav Volf, now in America, had experience of persecution in his homeland. He has written about what do we do with painful memories like these and he addresses the importance for Christians of “Remembering Rightly.”

We have choices about remembering, about whether it fuels bitterness or forgiveness, about whether it buries problems because they are too painful, and how much it allows healing to happen. These can be difficult choices. Some memories need healing, and some forgiveness, some we do need God’s grace to leave in his hands for now and for eternity.

Peace is about handing to God those things which feed bitterness and eat away at our souls. Recently my niece wrote this:

If someone wrote out all the qualities of Jesus and asked people if they would like to have those qualities then I’m sure many people would like the idea of being like Him. I would be a much happier person if I made the effort to love and forgive people, even my ‘enemies’, than if I had seething grudges against people, which would just eat you inside out and consume your thoughts.

At Christmas we are both reliving and also creating memories which help us to both understand and to “remember rightly”.

Memories of Christmas are important for our children. We have a responsibility to allow them to grow their understanding of God and of the meaning of Christmas as they themselves grow and discover the world. They need to know that the sense of wonder about life which they may experience as they read of Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus’ birth points them to a God who will always be big enough for their deepest questions about life, about the exceptions to its rules as well as about the amazing way God normally works in nature.

They too will face, as we do, the Herods of this world as well as with the things which go wrong in our own lives.

We are concerned for growing a capacity to engage with the questions which arise from their own experiences of peace with God as well as the realisation that others praise God differently. There will be questions about prayers answered and questions from prayers not answered.

There are mysteries here, but there are also truths which God would have us learn. We are not stuck at one point in a journey of faith.

The Christmas story is not something to be grown out of, but to be grown into. Its meaning can never be fully captured in any one attempt to explain the real meaning.

Our context and our times will always both give us fresh insights, and create risk of not remembering rightly. Our choices matter. We need the shared memories of Christmas in our different cultures and across the different ages and stages of our own lives to sense what God is doing in Christ for our salvation.

No matter how long we live, every year something fresh will deepen our sense of what is going on and what the peace of God really means.

The memory of today will go on working in us in all the Christmases to come. Amen.