Merredin Uniting Church

Scriptures: Romans 13:11-14  Matthew 24:36-44

Advent must not be like the woman I spoke about last week. She spent a day getting ready for her date. She had her hair done and her nails manicured. And when her date didn’t show up on time, she let her hair down again, put on her pajamas, ordered a pizza and watched television with her dog. When her date arrived she was no longer ready even though he had given her extra time.

Advent is a time of preparation for the Messiah. Before the birth of Jesus it was waiting for the One whom the prophets had foretold. For Christians today it is a time of waiting for the promised return of Jesus.

We don’t know when that will be. Jesus said that even He did not know, only the Father knows.

Nonetheless each of us here has come to Jesus and accepted Him as the Saviour and Lord of our life. That has implications for how we live our life for He has come to us and is present with us in the Holy Spirit. Sometimes though we feel that He is not with us. Perhaps like the woman in the story who thought that her date had stood her up, we have let our hair down and donned our pajamas, now we’re just passing our time in front of the telly.

So what is expected of us in this in-between time.

How should we behave?

How should we live?

How should we make our decisions?

Jesus foretold this time. He said that these days, before the coming of the Son of Man, will be like the days of Noah. We will just go on living ordinary lives until He comes, but we are to be prepared. Noah lived his ordinary live but in living it he set about building a boat. And then, when the flood came he and his family were taken but everyone else was left behind.

Jesus said that we need to be prepared too. And this preparation is not about doing something in the physical realm – like Noah building a boat. Instead it is about having our hearts and lives prepared. It is a spiritual and moral preparation rather than a physical one. Jesus said that two men would be in the field, one would be taken and the other left – what was the difference between the two men, or the two women working together with the handmill. Each was doing their work, why should one be taken and the other left.

I believe that its about the heart. Its about attitude and faith and expectation. We are to keep watch, be ready and expectant at all times for Jesus to confront us. Oh yes, He will come again in all His glory but He is also with us now, we need to have eyes, ears and hearts open to see, hear and receive Him.

How do we do that?

Its a matter of behavior, the kind of life we live and the way in which we make decisions about that life.

Paul says that at the present time our preparedness must be marked by our wakened state. We must rise from our slumber. Slumber does not only mean “sleep”, it also means “hibernation” a kind of switched off state that some animals use in winter as they wait for summer to arrive. This is, I think, what Paul means – as we await the return of Jesus we cannot just switch off to reserve our energy. We’ve got to use our energy for all its worth because we won’t need that kind of energy once Jesus does arrive.

So, in our wakened state, how do we behave, live and make decisions that bring glory to God.

How do we behave?

When we come in faith to Jesus we become a new creation – the old passes away. By faith we accept that Jesus came to redeem us; and that redemption means that the blessing which was given to Abraham is given to us so that by faith we might receive the promise of the spirit. (Gal 3:14)

We are renewed and reborn; we put aside the deeds of darkness and clothe on the armor of light.

We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son, where we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.

In the light we must behave decently. In other words we must be open in our relationship with God and each other. In God’s light we cannot even hide our thoughts.

Paul lists three pairs of vices in our reading from Romans which we are to particularly put aside.

- Orgies & drunkenness

- Sexual immorality and debauchery

- Dissension and jealousy

He has other lists in his other letters but why these three sets here. It is, I believe, because they have to do with our whole being: body, soul and spirit.

Orgies & drunkenness relate to the body or physical manner of our behavior; Sexual immorality and debauchery relate to the soul, or emotional manner of our behavior; Dissension and jealousy relate to the spiritual manner of our behavior.

It is not a list that simply forbids drinking, consorting with prostitutes and conflict with other people.

It is far deeper than that – keep your body clean and in the light; keep your emotions pure  and in the light; keep your relationships and attitudes positive and in the light.

Not in body, soul or spirit should you need to be ashamed – live in the light physically, emotionally and spiritually.

This is new creation, this is the redeemed life.

How do we live this life?

Paul says that we must clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and we must not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

It is a renewed life. We are “born again” and we must guard this gift of new life with all our heart and soul and strength. But we live in a world that doesn’t care too much about another kind of life – this life of the Spirit.

The world focusses on trying to make the old life better through greater freedoms and more “things” but it is building on a poor foundation, a foundation which has been marred by sin from the first.

The only way to live this new life is to model ourselves on the example of our Lord Jesus. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we need to read the Bible and particularly the gospels in a way in which we see the character and example of Jesus.

Think of the story of Zaccheus – how did Jesus react to him? And what what kind of change did that reaction bring about in Zaccheus’ life. Most people would have disliked Zaccheus and he himself might have had a complex because of his height. Opinions about him were not good. But when Jesus saw him up in the tree He showed that he didn’t much care about opinions but he was concerned about the negative influence that they might have on Zaccheus’ life. So Jesus invited Himself to dinner – He broke down the prejudices and gave back to Zaccheus a value of life.

In turn Zaccheus gave back all the money that he had cheated out of other people and gave back value to their lives.

Living the life of Jesus is catching – it is the life we ought to be living.

How do we make plans?

Making plans for the future is always a tough one, especially in the context of eternity which is where our future has its culmination.

A friend of mine in South Africa put up a Facebook comment this week – he said, “If you have a vision for a year, plant wheat. If you have a vision for a decade, plant trees but if you have a vision for a lifetime, plant people!!!”

Our vision is for an eternal lifetime and our plans therefore have to do with God’s concern for people. The way in which we value people and care about them is vital. The way in which we deal with people in our ordinary every day lives tells a lot about how we are following Jesus and about our expectation of His imminent return.

You should never have any regrets about your relationships with others – this is an often overlooked aspect of the Christian life but it courses its way throughout the Scriptures and especially in the teachings of Jesus.

We are told that we should not even come to the Table of our Lord if our brother has anything against us, but that you should first go and make it right. Notice that its not even an option that you should have anything against your brother.

Plans and decisions should always, as Stephen Covey said in his book “Seven habits of highly effective people”, begin with the end in mind. He was talking about the immediate goal but as Christians we should be thinking of the imminence of the return of Jesus.

If you do not want to die with regrets then you mustn’t live with regrets, for the end might come suddenly.

If you have not already done so, then decide today, at the start of the new Christian year, to behave as in the light, to live your life according to the pattern of Jesus and to plan for the future by being care-fully aware of the implications of your decisions on yourselves and those around you.

Amen

Good day to you all. And Happy New Year …

New Year? Well yes … The Christian year starts today: Advent Sunday. This is not just about preparing for Christmas but about preparing for the coming of Christ into our lives. Yes, the birth of Jesus is celebrated at Christmas, but we are also expecting Jesus to come again (it might be sooner) and, perhaps more importantly we can focus on the fact that He has personally come into each one of our lives. When we take the step to accept Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, He comes to us and He radically changes our future. Advent is about our response to each of these events. How should our behaviour change, how should we live from now on and how will we make our decisions.

The sermon today is about these kind of responses : We put aside the deeds of darkness in order to be clothed in the armor of light – no longer seeking to gratify the desires of the sinful nature we behave decently, as in the daytime. We live as if we were modeling ourselves on the example of our Lord Jesus Christ (and that is a surprisingly pleasant way to live). And we make decisions for our life as if the return of Jesus were imminent – we become concerned about the really important issues in our life. If today were to be your final day on earth, what would you be doing, what would you be focussed on, what would be really important to you, and what regrets would you like to deal with. In the movie, “Bucket List”, two terminally ill men, played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson set out to do all the things they ever wanted to do before they “kick the bucket”. On their journey of doing great things they discover two even greater things – healing of their hurts and the meaning of joy in life. The message is simple. Too often we focus on the ordinary without paying attention to the power of relationship, with God and with others. It is in the latter that we find the real joy of living.

I feel very privileged to have been appointed as the Spiritual Director of the next Men’s Emmaus Walk to take place in Katanning from 8-11 September 2011. Many of us have been on the Emmaus Walk and I would encourage you to put your name forward to join the Team for either the Men’s or the Women’s Walks. Going on the walk for the first time as a Pilgrim is very special – it builds your faith and lifts your spirit, but being “on Team” is way beyond that. And I would really appreciate having some of our men on the team with me. Please let me know if you are interested. And if you haven’t been on a Walk yet (actually there is no walking involved, just a lot of food and fun!) you can speak to me as well.

Today marks the end of the Christian year. It ends in triumph. Not only has Jesus redeemed us from our sins, not only is He risen from the dead, not only has He ascended to the right hand of God but His mission has climaxed in a great finale. It is the celebration of Christ the King – He reigns in victory at the end of time: every issue has been dealt with, every wrong has been made right, every hurt has been healed, every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord of all.

Of course this has not all yet happened, but we are confident of its eventuality for we are a people of faith. The Kingdom has come – it is now, even though it is not yet. We trust in the Word of God, we know its truth – we know that Christ is King for He is Lord of our lives.

A feature of the sermon this morning is the name which is given to Jesus as He takes His place as King of kings and Lord of lords. Jeremiah, in chapter 23 verse 6 says that “the name by which He will be called is ‘The Lord Our Righteousness’”. Not, ‘the Lord is our righteousness’ for the verb is absent in the Hebrew. His name is Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord Our Righteousness. “Righteousness” is not really a good word in the translation but its the closest we can come in English. Directly translated the word means ‘straightness’ in the sense that we would talk of a ‘straight guy’ meaning someone who has no hidden agenda, who can be trusted and who is a really good friend. It was used in the context of community where someone promotes the well-being and peace of community. In the context of Jeremiah’s prophecy we see that Jesus comes into a destroyed and scattered community to bring them back into the place of peace and well-being. And He does it most remarkably at the Cross of Calvary. Between two criminals – a consequence of a destroyed and scattered community – He speaks peace. “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”. “Paradise” is a Persian word which describes a walled garden – perhaps not unlike our image of the Garden of Eden. The Creator enters into His creation, to restore the lost, to bring back the scattered and to heal those who are wounded. He takes them back to the place of beginnings, before the mess that it has become. He even brings salvation to those who mock Him about His ability to save Himself. Indeed He is Jehovah Tsidkenu.

Our celebration of Christ the King means also that we personally proclaim Jesus as Lord of our life. We yield the struggle to Him, we accept the grace which He gives and we commit ourselves to live the new life of the Spirit. Have you done that? Are you doing that? The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (the Jewish Feast of the Harvest) was to empower the followers of Christ to fulfill the mission of Christ. We begin by living our lives differently – no longer under our own steam but in a life entrusted to Jesus. We become, as Paul so eloquently put it, “convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:38,39)

This was confirmed for me again recently with the tragic death of Kylie Hartley on the Great Eastern Highway. I didn’t realize that I knew her until I tried to confirm an appointment we had for this week to speak about the baptism of her child. I am just so grateful that when she initially called me I was obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to speak to her about the meaning of baptism and of faith in Jesus. The Lord Our Righteousness loves each of us in a way that cannot separate us from Him.

Our God also answered our prayers regarding our as yet unborn grandson Micah. He was determined as having Down’s Syndrome but detailed tests this week have confirmed that this is no longer the case. Praise the God who loves us.

Scripture Texts: Jeremiah 23:1-6   Luke 23:33-43

A young lady busied herself getting ready for a date. This was not just dinner and a movie; he had planned dinner at an exclusive downtown restaurant with live music and dancing. Wanting to make it a really good evening she had taken the day off work. She cleaned her house; she went out that afternoon to have her hair done and get a manicure. When she got home she did her makeup, put on her best dress and was ready for his arrival. She waited patiently for him to arrive but after waiting over an hour she decided she had been stood up, so she took off her dress, let down her hair put on her pajamas, ordered a pizza and sat down to watch TV with her dog. Sometime later there was a knock at the door; it was her date. He looked at her surprised and said, “I thought I’d give some extra time to get ready, do you still want to go out?”

We live in interesting times …

We have waited so long for the return of Jesus that we’re not sure that its going to happen anymore and like most of the world have begun to make other plans.

But we must not give up on the promises of God.

I believe that one of the reasons that we lose hope in the return of Jesus is that we have a very limited view of God. We have man-sized Him … brought God down to our size and attributed Him with our limited abilities and confined Him within our attainable dreams.

One of my favorite Bible verses is from Ephesians 3:20 – it tells that God can do exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine.

Exceedingly more …

Abundantly more …

Than we could ever ask …

more than we could even imagine.

That puts God into the stratosphere. He is way past our limitations. He is bigger than this planet, bigger than our solar system – He holds the whole universe in the palm of His hand. There is nothing beyond His capability.

Sometimes we do grasp that idea; in a fleeting moment – looking at a new born baby or the wonder of the night sky, we are moved by the majesty of God.

And then, when He doesn’t accede to our requests, or answer our prayer, we wonder about God; and we wonder about ourselves.

Perhaps its too much for God to handle ..

Or is it our sin?

Are we doing something wrong?

Where have we failed?

Actually the only thing we have done wrong is that we still make God too small. We focus on His hugeness and His power but we fail to see His big heart of compassion.

We miss the idea that God desires only good for His people – that’s not only you and me, but also those who have yet to come to faith.

He wants relationship. He wants love. He wants us to call Him, “Abba” … father.

The story of the Prodigal Son is not just a sad story with a happy ending – its the story of our Father in heaven; and of His love for us. He lets us go our own way but He also waits for us to come home. He is standing at the gate, the calf is always fattened, the celebration is waiting for just one thing – for the son to come home!

If we want to understand God, then we need to understand His love for us. That love is God’s all-consuming passion. And no-one is so far away that God will not embrace them. It is the power of God as well as His passionate love for us that combine to make Him Lord of all.

Today is the Feast of Christ the King. Its a newish sort of celebration in the Christian Church having been introduced by Pope Pius in 1925 to overcome a growing secularism in society and to focus the world back onto the Lordship of Christ.

I like that.

And I like the fact also that it is the last celebration of the Christian Year. Through the year we celebrate the prophecies about the Christ, His birth, His ministry, His death and resurrection, His ascension and the empowering of Christian believers through the Holy Spirit to continue the mission of Christ. And then He is celebrated as King – when every knee is bowed and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This is the climax: this is victory over sin and death, Satan and demons, misery and poverty. This is Kingdom come!

This is God’s power and love combined.

This is when we celebrate the glory of God – that He is Jehovah Tsidkenu (or more correctly YHVH tzd*qnu) – God our Righteousness.

We have no righteousness of our own. We have failed in every way – we could not ever have any righteousness of our own. We live with hidden agendas, grudges, sin, failure – you name it, we cannot avoid them.

God understands that – He knows it, for He knows us intimately.

In His victory at the Cross, He not only died for our sin – He became our righteousness. Now this is not the same as God is our righteousness, as if He is our ransom payer.

No, more than that. The idea that Jeremiah is trying to get across (and he repeats it in Chapter 33) is that this righteousness happens only together with God – us in Him and He in us.

There is a covenant here in which God yields Himself to us and we yield ourselves to God. Neither God nor us can create this righteousness without the other. God doesn’t need it, for He already has it; we need it but can never achieve it. The bond of love is necessary. God has that – For God so loved the world that He gave His Son.

The interesting times we live are a challenge as to whether we are ready to receive God’s love. We think we have everything but in truth, without God’s love we have nothing.

God’s desire is to embrace us, to fill us with His Spirit, to overwhelm us with His love – but He holds back, He gives us extra time to get ready. He longs for us to be open to Him, to trust Him and to accept the gift of life which He has for us.

At the Cross, Jesus spoke first – “Father, forgive them.” It is the initiative of God before we even begin to think about Him.

There are some who only care what they can get out of it – they gamble for His clothes. The same is true of many people in the world today.

There are some who watch – some uncertain, others in mocking denial of His offer of forgiveness. We dare not mock the offer of forgiveness and we cannot waver in uncertainty.

But there is one who knows his sin, and who is convicted of his failure – he looks to God.

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

He looks at the powerlessness of God in the face of man’s hate – Christ on the Cross; and he understands that it is God’s love which has rendered Him powerless. The Son of God is in submission to man’s cruelest injustice in order that His love would be victorious.

“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Today we are together.

Today we return like prodigals into waiting arms of the Father.

Today, you, and I, will know the fullness of God’s love.

Today, the Kingdom has come!

Don’t give up on God’s love for you.

Embrace it with all your heart and soul and He will fill you with His Spirit:

you will prophesy His words,

you will dream His dreams,

you will share His vision,

and you will be saved – you will be with Him in Paradise – today!

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

Our account from Luke’s Gospel takes us into the first day or two of the final week of Jesus’ life, before He is crucified.

He knows what lies ahead, He has tried to outline and explain it to His disciples but it is not something that they want to hear. They are fearful of the negative and cannot see the positive.

Indeed, we also do not want to hear that the world, as we know it, may end. We are pessimistic about change. But life will never always go on in the same way. It hasn’t so far and there is no compelling reason for us to believe that everything will now suddenly freeze into the present.

There will continue to be change.

Of course, there are some things which will not change but these are themselves drivers of change – wars, revolutions, earthquakes, famines and pestilences; persecution, hatred, prejudice, and betrayal. They knew them at the time of Jesus (and before!) and we still know them today. But that does not mean that change is always disastrous – we can be optimistic in our hope.

The reading begins with the disciples looking at the Temple. It was built of gigantic white stones carved out of the limestone quarries nearby. The stone were huge: 12 metres by 6 metres by 4 metres – that’s big, half the size this building. And the stones had beautiful carvings of grapes and vine leaves – the symbols of Israel.

As they walk by the disciples remarked on the beauty of the Temple. In a few days, Jesus will comment also as He looks at the carved vine. He will say, “I am the Vine, and you are the branches. Abide in me and you will bear much fruit.” There is a deeply profound lesson in those words. In abiding we will find the true hope of Christ’s Promise.

In our text Jesus predicts a time, some forty years later, in which the Temple will be destroyed. Indeed, as He predicted, every one of the giant stones will be overturned in the search for the gold which had run into the pointing between the stones when the Temple was burned down by the Roman General Titus in 70AD. In that kind of crisis the future is only secure when we abide in Jesus – but more of that another time.

For the disciples His prophecy might have raised thoughts of the inauguration of the Messianic Kingdom, as foretold by earlier prophets.

But Jesus is not alluding to that great event when He will come again in glory to usher in a new heaven and a new earth. That will happen … for now it is enough to know that the birth pangs are about to take place – the end will not come right away.

And like the labour of a woman in birth there will be much agony and pain before the new life is ushered in to a new world.

He speaks about it: “Many will come claiming ‘I am he’. There will be wars and revolutions, earthquakes, famines and pestilences; persecution, hatred, prejudice, and betrayal.”

But in His description of the events which will be like the birth pangs of the Kingdom, Jesus also offers guidance on how to cope with the struggle of the birthing of new life. And these are relevant for us today in a world that is increasingly confused and doubtful of the claims of Jesus; a world that is full of natural and man made disaster, and in which religions war against each other in their claims to be the sole truth

Do not be deceived

Do not be afraid

Do not be distracted

By standing firm you will gain life – even now this new life is yours.

In verse v8 Jesus says, “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.”

There is no doubt in this present age that there are many springing up to make claims to better wisdom and understanding of spiritual things. They might not claim to be God but they offer what they claim is a better way to God or a better understanding of God. There is a tremendous potential for people to be deceived, even in the church. Remember that it was in the Garden of God that Satan came to deceive Adam and Eve.

What are the checks? David Jeremiah in his book “Until He comes” gives us some clues.

First, they will dispute God’s Word. Many people, even in the church, do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Like Satan they will cast doubt on the truth of God’s Word … “Did He really say that you shall not eat of every tree in the garden …”

Second, they will deny the Word of God.  In the Garden Satan scoffed at God’s Word, “You will not surely die …” The road from doubt in the Word of God to denial of its truth is pretty short.

Third, comes the displacement of God’s Word. Satan tells Eve that if she eats of the forbidden fruit, her eyes will be opened and she will be like God. She will not need God anymore.

Is this not what we are doing in essence with the so-called modern guidelines framed within secular constitutions and human rights charters?

Do not be deceived – the only way to keep our balance in this confusing world is to know and obey the Scriptures.

Then in v9 Jesus says, “When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened.”

It is easy to become fearful of the imminence of the end times when we see what is going on around us. What can we do about it – We have people who hide away in survivalist communes, there are people who withdraw in other ways, fearful of the future. But Jesus makes it clear – these things will happen, they have always happened and they will continue to happen – your task is simply to stand firm in your faith.

Elsewhere Jesus admitted that even He did not know when the end would come – how can we then make any predictions or strive to read the future in the signs of the times?

In numerous places throughout the Bible we see the words “Stand firm, do not be afraid.” Indeed, God is on our side – He has already come to rescue us in Jesus. Jesus’ parting word before His ascension was “Shalom” – know God’s peace and be at peace in every circumstance.

And then, finally Jesus says in v19, “By standing firm you will gain life.”

Despite the attempts at deception, the warring situations all around; despite the betrayal and rejection of you: “Stand firm!”

Do not be distracted by anything – Keep your eyes on Jesus and you will gain (or have) the life which is the reason  why He came and died.

The life which Jesus promised does not come only when we die; it is not only realised when He comes again. It is now – By standing firm you will gain life … you will find it now. The Kingdom is already here, we might not see it but in His birth, in His death, in His resurrection and in His ascension, Christ has already claimed the victory – we too must take hold of this new life – now!