Merredin Uniting Church

Exodus 17:1-7

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-15

Several years ago, soon after I first became a Christ Follower, I read a book by Watchman Nee entitled “Sit, Walk, Stand”. If I remember correctly, he said that many young Christians want to stand in glory before they have walked in the light. And in order to walk in the light, he said, we must first sit at the feet of Jesus. He was saying that there is a sequence to our followership – first, we must sit at the feet of the Lord. Then we can walk in the Light and finally we will stand in Glory – at attention before our God.

You might have noticed that our theme this morning is very much about “standing”. Not standing in Glory but standing firm in the grace of God.

Just as Watchman Nee suggested a sequence of Sit, Walk, Stand, so too, does Paul in our text from Romans 5. Our hope is in the glory of God and so we rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character, hope.

He has just been speaking about Abraham’s trust in God for a son – “when his body was as good as dead, he did not waver regarding the promise of God but was fully persuaded that God had power to do what He promised.”

It was a certain hope … in fact Paul says, “against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.”

Paul presents us with a journey which we must take in order to attain this hope.

It is a journey of perseverance from our present suffering. And as we take that journey, we build character, and from that character, hope becomes firmly fixed in our life and our attitude. Suffering, Perseverance, Character, Hope.

Most of us have not suffered to the extent that the people of Africa have suffered with hunger, poverty and death. Few of us can understand the kind of suffering which brings people to rise up against their unjust and cruel government. We will never understand the suffering of slavery or forced segregation.

But just by living in this world, away from God, we suffer.

We struggle with our own sin, with the impact on us of the sin of others.

We struggle with our doubts in the “dark nights of our soul” when God seems so far way.

We struggle with a confusion of choices in this modern world. We struggle when we have sought to impart good and Christian values to our children, and they choose to ignore us.

We struggle when crisis hits us and when we face up to death.

Life is a struggle – plain and simple.

But says that as we persevere through the crisis of our suffering so we build character. Eugene Peterson, in his commentary on the book of Jeremiah calls this kind of perseverance, a “long obedience in the same direction”. It is holding on to that which we believe, despite all signs to the contrary which are evidenced in the state of our suffering.

I think that when we understand what the word “character” means, we may also begin to understand what Paul means by “suffering” and by “persevering”.

The word in Greek is “do-ci-may”, which means that it is a distinctive mark of genuineness, quality or ownership.

We sometimes say that we must “build character”, or that someone is a “real character”. This has nothing to do with reputation, or uprightness of being.

Character is a particular “brand” we have which distinctively marks us. A person with “bad character” is someone who chooses to mark his life with bad things; a person of “good character” is someone who chooses to mark his life with good things.

In Paul’s day the word was used for the mark which was put on jewellery, coins and documents to signify that they were genuine.

I guess that Paul wanted us to understand that perseverance through our suffering “brands” us in a particular way to mark our relationship with Jesus.

The way in which we respond to sin, unrighteousness and injustice moulds our character in Christ.

The way in which we respond to disappointments and hardship determines our character.

The way in which we hold on to the promise of God in the face of all these things marks us as faithful Followers.

Abraham is the example which Paul uses. Called out of his homeland, he journeys to a new land. In a dispute with his relative, Lot, he allows Lot to choose the more productive part of the land, and doesn’t complain when he gets the desert. He trusts God’s promise of offspring even in his advanced years, and is then prepared even to put this child to death at God’s request. It was a test of Abraham’s character -and it was credited to him as righteousness. His “character”, his “do-ci-may”, was genuine in his unwavering trust in God.

This contrasts starkly with the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites when they had no water in the desert; and with the woman from Samaria, who had to go out in the midday sun to collect water from Jacob’s well. She had been scorned by her community because of her lifestyle (she had had 5 husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband) and so she simply withdrew from them. She had given up on them because of the struggle she had in finding real love.

Suffering will come – its part of living our life in this world. Remember that I spoke a few weeks ago about the consequence of original sin – that sin in the Garden of Eden separated us from God. But God does not want to be separated from us.

He came to rescue the Israelites from their suffering in Egypt but they only complained that He had not done enough – they did not persevere – they found no character – they did not realise their hope.

Jesus came to the woman at the Well – He offered her recognition, He encouraged her to persevere with God – He gave her living water. She found her character again – the mark of her genuine faith – and she went back to the people who had scorned her, and brought them back to faith too.

Where are you in your life?

Troubled … suffering … feeling far from God?

Are you persevering despite all of that?

Are you pushing on … standing firm in grace?

Is your “character”,  your “do-ci-may”, identifying you as one who has an unwavering trust in God?

Are you rejoicing in hope because you have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ?

These are signs to a world which is uncertain about why it exists and how it is going to cope with that uncertainty.

Let your light – your character – so shine before men that they will see your good works and so glorify your Father in heaven.

Stand firm in the grace of God. Amen

A couple of weeks ago, at the start of Lent, I wrote about using this season of 40 days to re-examine my misgivings about this particular season in the life of the church, and to use it as a time of spiritual reflection. Well, so far, I have been greatly uplifted in my faith and walk with the Lord. As part of my reflection I have been using Theresa of Avila?s devotions on the “Interior Castle”. She was a 13th century nun who lived her life deeply connected to God through the Holy Spirit. She writes of the struggle of drawing into the “Interior Castle” of the Spirit and of how the world, the flesh and the devil conspire to keep us from fully entering in. She shares from her own experience of how she was able to succeed in her endeavors. Connected to this have been the Lectionary Scriptures set for each Sunday?s preaching. Seemingly disconnected incidents and writings in the Bible draw together to help us find strength in our spiritual walk.

Today is no exception. We have the complaints of the Israelites about the lack of water in their journey from Egypt. Then there is the woman at the Well of Samaria, out in the midday sun to fetch water on her own, because she is scorned by the rest of the community. And it culminates with Paul?s gushing exultation and call for rejoicing because we have endured and found hope in the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. This is what it is all about – persevering through the suffering until we the hope is real.

There are some very special events taking place this week ….

1. RIDE FOR LIFE – we are into the second weekend. The course is intended to teach life skills and confidence, with helpers there to also give spiritual guidance. This year we are trying to undergird the project in prayer and there is a prayer roster in the tea room for you to sign up as a pray-er. Please commit yourself to this prayer need.

2. YOUTHCARE – It?s the AGM on Tuesday evening and the election of office bearers. By default I became the Chairman when Paul Cannon moved to Boyup Brook but I have already indicated that I do not wish to continue in that position. I feel that my time is short and I need to expend my energy much more in the life of the Parish. Please pray that another chairperson is found.

3. FOUNDATIONS FOR FARMING – On Wednesday, Brian Oldrieve and Craig Deall will be visiting Merredin to speak of the exciting transformation taking place in Zimbabwe, using sustainable agriculture as a model to
transform the lives of individuals and communities. They will speak to farmers in the afternoon at the Smith?s farm. In the evening they will speak on a Trumpet Call to the Nations at the Church of Christ.

4. MUKINBUDIN – On Thursday we have the first Muka Corner Closet of the year. This is a kind of op shop/community tea which is held once a month at the Uniting Church. It is a very special time for the community to interact together. We will also have the first of our planned midweek Communion Services at 12.30pm – a short and informal communion service with a message from God?s Word. The week after we will start with a monthly Bible Study in Mukinbudin to be held on the first Tuesday of the month at 4.30pm.

5. MERREDIN UNITED IN PRAYER – the second of these events takes place on Thursday at the Catholic Church. It is a completely interdenominational endeavor to draw Christians together for prayer and perhaps to experience a different tradition in praying. I encourage you to go along.

6. THE MARRIAGE COURSE – The present course is almost finished and I think that the participants have not only enjoyed a weekly “dinner date” with their spouse but have benefitted from some very sound teaching on
marriage and relationships in general. We are planning to run another course later in the year. Please let me know if you are interested in attending.

7. The GREAT EASTERN WHEATBELT GATHERING happens in Merredin on May 21st with some top speakers from Perth. We will be looking for billets and plates of eats. More detail next week.

8. FIRST THIRD MINISTRY CONFERENCE at Noranda on May 28th. This is not just about ministering to children but about changing our mindset. As we get older we become set in our routines & traditions. In doing that we get out of touch with the generation which follows ours. In today?s fast paced world, the stodginess of our faith expressions can seem boring and irrelevant to the new generation. Come along for a change of mind.

God bless, David

The Season of Lent has always troubled me. In my early days in an Anglican boarding school we were encouraged to “give up” something. I gave up pumpkin but I always felt guilty about that because I didn’t like it anyway. Later on when I gave my life to Christ it was in a Presbyterian Church who followed Calvin’s rejection of Lent as a papal oddity. When I was called to the Presbyterian Church in Howick, South Africa, I found many former Anglicans in the congregation who had introduced the sombreness of Lent into the congregation’s traditions – there were, for example, no flowers in church during the season. That changed pretty quickly after I arrived. Now I find myself in the Uniting Church with strong Methodist leanings (Wesley favoured Lent as a season of spiritual reflection) and I am surrounded by many friends, colleagues and mentors who are much focussed on this season. So I have decided to use the preaching lectionary for Lent as a guide for a re-examination of my misgivings. (Looking ahead in the readings, I find it seems to follow Wesley’s desire for a season of reflection on our faith.)

I was particularly inspired by the readings for today. We start with the Genesis account of God’s plans for mankind and the fall into sin. Then we have a section from Paul’s opus (The letter to the Romans) in which he speaks of grace and the gift of righteousness in the context of the original sin of Adam and our ongoing everyday sins. He says that by the one trespass (of Adam) there was condemnation for all but by the one righteous act (of Christ) there is justification and life for all, and, from the one disobedience came many sinners but from the one act of obedience, many are made righteous. It is a very powerful summary of the basic doctrines of our faith – sin, grace, righteousness, justification.

But our faith must be put into practice. Christ, having effected our justification requires us to build on what He has done. This does not mean that we justify ourselves (Jesus has already done that!) but that our choice must now be for the Life which God intended for us in the beginning. Adam made the choice for the Knowledge of good and evil (ie the option to make his own decisions and find his own way through life). That was “the sin” – it separated us from God and meant that we have floundered in our attempt to live the “right life” ever since. Jesus gives us a new start by not only wiping out the original sin of Adam but also its consequence – the sins which followed.

In the Temptation (our gospel reading today, and after which Lent is modelled) Jesus shows us how to build on what He has done. We take God at His Word and we trust Him to lead and guide us. Jesus’ responses to Satan in the Temptation all come from Moses’ guidelines of how the people of God are to live once they enter into the Promised Land. Jesus, in His atonement, has opened the way for us to enter the “Promised Land” too. The guidelines of Scripture are the way we do it. It is an earnest call for us to follow God’s Way (the Way of Life) rather than the way of the world (through the Knowledge of good and evil).

This whole process was wonderfully exemplified this week when Juergen Iburg was baptized into Christ . (He has given me permission to tell the story.) Juergen has been ministered to by many Christians over the years and is a devoted reader of the Scriptures. A few weeks ago he felt convicted over baptism. He asked his sister in Germany to enquire as to whether he has been baptized. It turned out that he had an unorthodox “baptismal” rite in Nazi Germany before the war. From his reading of the Scriptures and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, he  spoke to me about being baptized. On Wednesday this week (it was Ash Wednesday and the first day of Lent) he and Betty came to the church and Steve Higgins and I ministered the sacrament of baptism in a very special time of celebration.

Juergen knew the grace and forgiveness of God, and was trying to follow Jesus as best he knew how. And then in a personal moment the Lord called him to a new beginning, to be symbolized in baptism. He was shy about doing it in a worship service but he knew that this new beginning for him must be made public, hence my telling of the event at his bidding. We rejoice with you, Juergen, you now have a new life in Christ and we bless you in His Name.

Next weekend, many of our young people will be heading off to Perth for the KCO (KUCA) Camp. Please pray for them.

Also, the Ride for Life program begins on Saturday. It is planned to have a prayer watch during the time that the program is on. There is a sign-up sheet in the Tea Room – I encourage you to sign up. Pray for God’s guidance for Kevin and his team; pray that the participants would be open to change in their life and that they would be kept safe.

God bless you all

Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, 25-3:7

Romans 5:12-19

Matthew 4:1-11

In the beginning there were two choices – the glorious way of life which God intended; and the selfish way of man. We have called the first of these two choices: Life, and second, the Knowledge of good and evil.

While man lived in the way of God, he lived without shame and his relationship with God was intimate and edifying. This was Life.

But it was very tempting to choose the other way – the way of Knowledge of good and evil.

The other way seemed good for food, pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom. It seemed to be an easy way of finding satisfaction.

The problem was that these two choices were mutually exclusive. You couldn’t have both ways – it was one or the other. God’s way or the other way.

And the moment the first people chose the other way – the way which seems so normal in the world today – they lost their innocence. Shame became a part of life because failure in anything meant that you needed to hide away from others. Your life and your choices became a potential embarrassment before other people. It was cover up time.

From then on, we began to live privately. We began to hide much of our life from others, and from God.

We had made the choice to follow our own decisions about what was right and what was wrong, and the consequence of that decision-making process was that we lost our relationship and friendship with God.

We lived instead in the complicated place of our mind, juggling the desire for our own satisfaction with the way of God and often finding them completely incompatible.

This is how it has been with each person since.  Some have tried to live life as it should be lived, but with great difficulty; and others have simply given up, choosing only to live “the other way” – in a life of dissipation and disregard for God. It is the way of the sinful nature rather than the way of the Spirit.

The issue here is that we have been burdened with the consequence of what is known as original sin, the first sin: the choice away from God and towards our own preferences.

It is so very important for us to understand the significance of this first sin – the sin related to us in Genesis Chapter 3. This first sin is the primary cause of our separation from God. Because of this separation from God, we have not known how to live our lives well and have often made mistakes. We have lived in death. All our subsequent wrong choices have become the sins of our life.

It is sin (singular – the original sin) which has separated us from God, and our sins (plural and subsequent) have followed as a consequence of that separation.

God’s intention however has always been to restore us to the point where our relationship with Him is returned to what it was before the first sin. The story of the Bible is the account of how God has sought to do this.

The Flood, and a new beginning with Noah;

the calling of Abraham, and a new beginning through his descendants;

Moses and the Law;

Joshua and the Promised Land;

King David and the Kingdom of God;

the challenges of the prophets;

restoration of the Temple after exile in Babylon;

and finally in Jesus.

None of these were random events, or knee jerk reactions. Each was the step in the process of an infinite God reconciling Himself to finite man.

Its a long and beautiful story of God’s love affair with us despite our stubbornness and rebellion. It is not over, but the solution has been provided in the death and resurrection of Christ and in the commissioning of the Church by the outpouring of the Spirit.

Paul wrestles with this in our text from Romans today …

There was the trespass … original sin: the choice to ignore God and to seek satisfaction instead by selfish choices.

The trespass, that is, the first sin, brought death into the world.

Then came the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The grace dealt with the original sin – through the atonement of His death, Jesus dealt with our separation from God.

But, praise God who does all things well, that grace came with the gift.

It is the gift which brings righteousness into our lives.

The gift is the “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17) and it deals with the many trespasses which followed “the trespass” of Adam – the original sin which separated us from God.

And so, with both our original separation restored, and our many trespasses dealt with, we find ourselves now justified in the eyes of God.

The door is open, we are invited to enter in to the Presence of God. God’s love has called us back.

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

But its not as simple as that, is it?

A love affair need two people to participate. God’s love has never waned, ours did. In the course of our history, we have loved “the other way”. It still has an attraction for us, we are addicted to the selfish way, we are caught up in the spider web of our sinful nature.

That’s why Jesus said that we need to be born again. We have to rediscover this love, open ourselves again to God’s heart, yield ourselves afresh to His invitation.

We call this the step of faith. It is a decision. In Jesus we are being invited to make the choice again – the glorious way of life which God intended, or the selfish way of man. It is a decision between Life, and the Knowledge of good and evil.

In His humanity, Jesus also faced this choice. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He spent 40 days enduring this temptation – it wasn’t about food, or testing God, or the power of self.

It was the original simple choice between Life, and the Knowledge of good and evil. God’s way or the other way.

And in this season of Lent, we are called to make this choice as well.

In every temptation, Jesus countered the offer of the devil with the words of warning which Moses spoke in Deuteronomy as he prepared the people to enter into the Promised Land.

If you are hungry, turn these stones into bread … And Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.”

If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for God will command His angels to protect you … And Jesus said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

If you bow down to me, I will give you the world … And Jesus said, “it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

Jesus chose Life over the offers of Satan. He had to be obedient to His Father for grace to prevail and for the gift to have validity.

And the same is true for us.

We show our returned love to God through our renewed allegiance to Him. We put aside the other choice, and choose instead the Life which God offers us in Christ Jesus, redeemed and forgiven, we start afresh, we are born again.

Did you notice that Satan could not turn the stones into bread himself? He could not provide the protection for Jesus if He had leapt from the highest point of the Temple.

But the devil could offer something – he could give away the world, because that is his dominion – not by right, but by our default.

Jesus’ claim is that God has the real dominion over the world and He has come to take it back from Satan. His intention is to restore it back to the people made in His image “as it was in the beginning, so that it shall be so for ever more.”

At the end of His speech in Deuteronomy, as he prepared the people to enter the Promised Land, Moses said this, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life.”

Will you do that today? Will you choose Life? Will you take the offer of God’s love; the grace given in Christ Jesus in His atoning death; and the gift of righteousness – and choose Life over death? Prosperity over destruction? Obedience to God over selfish choices? Pray with me now …

Today is Transfiguration Sunday. Its the last Sunday of the Epiphany Season and the Sunday before we begin the season of Lent. The Christian Year follows the life of Christ and reminds us, not only of His Life, but also that we are to follow in His Way and to know His Truth. So Advent was the start – the expectation of the coming of Christ; then Christmas, followed by Epiphany. The word means “manifestation” or “the sudden realization of a larger meaning of something”. It is usually used in the sense of the revelation of the meaning of Christ’s coming to us. The culmination of Epiphany is Transfiguration Sunday, when Jesus is “transfigured” on the mountain top – He becomes more than the disciples, or we, had ever realized. He is not only human, He is divine!

Lent is the preparation for Easter – usually a sombre time of reflection, prayer and fasting. However, it need not be so. The word “Lent” refers to the season of Spring which is a time of new growth. Then its Easter; and the celebration of Christ’s Death (for our salvation) and Resurrection (new beginnings). Pentecost, which is a season of harvest comes next; and the focus turns to the mission of the church. The last feast day is Christ the King, when, after the church has completed its mission, we celebrate the Lordship of Christ.

I have stood on the Mount of Transfiguration in Israel (Mount Tabor) looking over the Valley of Megiddo (Armageddon). Its probably not the mountain on which the Transfiguration took place, but there is a sense of Presence there. The disappointing thing was that a church has been built there with two towers, one for Moses and one for Elijah, with the church for Jesus in between. You will remember that it was the foolish offer of Peter to put up three shelters when Jesus was transfigured before them and they saw Moses and Elijah with Him. It really is so hard for us to grasp the “otherness” of Jesus – that He is God with us. One of the joys of the celebration of the Transfiguration, is that it does give us this glimpse into this other world where human and divine, flesh and spirit, dead and living meet. The Almighty has stood upon the earth, the Creator has entered into His creation – we are on Holy Ground!

At SNAC two weeks ago we were given opportunity to write some poetry beginning with the words, “When Christ shall come …” Here are the last set of poems:

When Christ shall come

His glory will shine

His peace will reign

His work will be done

When Christ shall come

We shall be set free

We shall be made whole

We shall have come home

When Christ shall come

He’ll be seen by everyone

Shouts of joy

for every girl and boy

In His own time

Everything will be just fine

So back to the Bible

Its for your survival