Merredin Uniting Church

A little while ago Time Magazine ran a cover story entitled “The God Gene.” It was about research being done in over a dozen universities in the United States. Different researchers in different universities from California to New York are all looking into the same question: Does our DNA compel us to seek a higher power? The remarkable part of this study is that the researchers say “yes!”.

Does that surprise you? To be honest I was a bit surprised by, not so much by what the researchers found, but that they agreed that to some degree we are all looking for a higher power, someone else to be in control. We have a deep longing for there to be someone, something to guide our paths and to give us hope.
Blasé Pascal, a French philosopher, is known for his work in maths, and chemistry. At age 12, he had discovered the principles geometry and at 16 wrote “The Geometry of Conics”. He also invented the calculating machine and the theory of probability.

In his mid-thirties, Pascal became interested in religion. And he penned the theory that these scientists are trying to prove today. You have probably heard his theory without knowing where it came from. He wrote: “Within each one of us there is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill.” If that is true then everyone of us was made to seek out God.

Growing up in a church school I was taught indirectly what it meant to seek out God. I watched chaplains and priests profess with their lives that if you want to fill the God- Shaped vacuum in your life then what you need to do is find God’s will for your life and follow it perfectly. These people who had an early influence on my life taught me that I needed to lean on the perfect way of keeping God’s Law.
The problem I ran into was that I couldn’t keep the law perfectly. I really struggled to find God through trying to keep the rules and ended up never forming a relationship with Him. I now know that God uses the rules to bring us closer to Him and that only a personal relationship will fill the God shaped vacuum in your life.

To prove this I want to look at the most famous set of laws The 10 commandments in a way that we see the grace of God in every command.

We live in an age that has lost its way. Though we don’t condone murder or theft, we are debating whether it’s okay to lie and commit adultery. On a recent visit to the Melbourne Business School, the Principal of Wesley College wrote that they were teaching ethics to future CEO’s using Utilitarian, Aristotlean, Kantian and Natural Law Theory – where is the Biblical viewpoint?

In the introduction to her book, The Ten Commandments, Dr. Laura Schlessinger writes; “Each day we make many, seemingly minute decisions about things that don’t really seem earth shattering. So what if we broke a promise? So what if we find passion in another bed while we or they are still married? So what if we are too focused on work, TV, or clubs to spend time with our family? So what if religion is not a big deal in our lives? When one adds up all the so-what’s,” one ends up with a life without direction, meaning, purpose, value, integrity, or long-range joy.”

I doubt that you can find another passage in the Bible that so concisely, clearly and compassionately outlines the grace of God and the response to that grace human beings are called to make than the Ten Commandments.

Each week I want for you to hear all of them. So when we get together we will hear the whole law and then look into the relationship that comes from each law.

So lets read together Exodus 20:1-17.
And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

This morning I want to start by talking about the power of the Ten Commandments. Any document that has lasted as long and has exerted as much influence on humanity as this one must have something going for it.

1. They are rooted in a relationship.

Look at Exodus 19:4-5.
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
These are not arbitrary laws that require blind obedience to an invisible authoritarian. Vs.5 says, “If you keep my covenant.” A covenant is a sacred promise between two parties. You can have a contract without having a relationship. But you can’t have a covenant without one. The Ten Commandments are like a wedding vow in many ways.

God pledges his power and love and promises and presence to Israel. In turn, God expects Israel’s loyalty to himself and compassion toward others.

God didn’t simply jot down the Ten Commandments then answer Israel’s question, “Why should we do this?” by saying, “Because I told you so.” Often, God does tell his people to obey because, “I am the Lord.” But even then his commands are predicated on this relationship. The Ten Commandments are built on responsibility. God is as bound by them as we are.

That’s why, in part, the Ten Commandments don’t work with people who don’t have a relationship with God. Why should a person avoid stealing if he or she doesn’t acknowledge the God who said, “Thou shalt not steal.”? Why should a person honor their marriage commitments if they haven’t already made a commitment to the God who said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”?

The power of the Ten Commandments lies not in the fact that they are laws, but in that they are descriptions of how people live in relationship with God. It is true that they are law. But more than that, they are words that describe a relationship.

2. The Ten Commandments outline human response to the grace of God.

Exodus 19:1- 2 uses the word ” After” twice. In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on the very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

After what? Vs. 4 answers that question. “After I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.”

And Exodus 20:2 says “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

Before God ever commands them to do anything or to refrain from doing anything, he saves them. Moses did not show up in Egypt with two stone tablets and say, “If you guys will agree to obey all these commands, God will deliver you from Egyptian slavery.” He showed up and said, “God has heard your cry and has sent me to deliver you.” Then, and only then, did God outline the response Israel was to make.

Exodus 19:4-5 outlines this order perfectly. Vs. 4 says, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.”
Vs. 5 says, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” Deliverance first. Commandment second.

And you remember what happened just 40 days after they first received the commands? They decided to violate at least the first two of them by building the golden calf and having a pagan party. And what did God do? He forgave them and reissued the commands. That’s grace.

Paul in Romans, said that the law is good. The law doesn’t save us, it does however describe how saved people respond to the grace that saved them.

3. The Ten Commandments move faith from the abstract to specific behaviour.

If you were to do a nationwide survey and ask people, “Do you believe in God?” I’ll bet the numbers would surprise you. A huge percentage would say, “Yes, absolutely, I believe in God.” But then if you examined their lives you’d find that what they profess to believe and how they live show very little correlation. I can say to Margie, “I love you.” But if I never act out that love in specific, concrete behaviour, my words are empty.

Faith, like love, is too easily kept in the realm of theory. The Ten Commandments don’t allow us to claim belief in God without demonstrating that belief in concrete actions and behaviours. They require us to affirm our faith in the daily grind of living.

So instead of, “Do you believe in God?” the Ten Commandments ask us ten questions,

“Do you honor anything or anyone above the one true God?

Has God been replaced by something physical or material in your life?

Have you dishonored God’s name by using it in a frivolous manner?

Is your work more important than your relationship with God?

Do you honor your father and mother?

Do you value human life?

Have you kept your marriage vows?

Do you respect other’s rights of ownership?

Do you tell the truth?

Are you content with what you have or do you covet the possessions, relationships and successes of others?”

To God, our answers to those specific questions about behavior and morality demonstrate our belief.

4. They require personal responsibility for the well being of the community.

The “you” in all these commands is singular. One of the reasons, maybe one of the top three reasons, our world is in such a moral mess right now, can be summed up in these words; “It’s not my problem.” Really, it doesn’t make a big impact on my life if someone in Adelaide covets his neighbor’s way of life. If someone in Sydney lies about a business investment, big deal. If someone murders his business partner in Perth, that’s just too bad. Those sins don’t affect me; it’s not my problem. The problem is, though, that almost everybody feels that way. And sooner or later you are going to be lied to, or robbed.
When God came down to the mountain, hundreds of thousands of people were gathered around its base. He didn’t address the crowd, though. He addressed each and every individual. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me. You, standing there by that rock, and you over by that cedar tree, and you too, the one in the red turban who is thinking in his heart how glad he is all these other people are hearing all these commands. I’m talking to you!” There is a connection between personal responsibility and the welfare of the community. The Ten Commandments shout at the top of God’s voice, “It is your problem!”
Every lie you tell or tolerate, every covetous thought you allow to live longer than a flash, every secret lust, every act of dishonesty, all of them matter. And the only way we will see our nation healed is if we take the personal responsibility to make it a holier, healthier nation beginning with ourselves.

5. They illustrate the connection between our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with each other.

The first four commands describe our relationship with God. The last 6 describe our relationships with each other.

In Mark 12 Jesus answered a question about which was the greatest command. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this; Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” What Jesus did was summarise the Ten Commandments. Love God. Love your neighbour.

These days in our culture we’ve edited Jesus’ summation of the Ten Commandments from two down to one. As long as people love each other we’re happy. You can keep God, thanks. All you need is love. The problem is we can’t get everyone to love each other. You see God is love. You get rid of God, you lose love.

What sounds like a thoroughly New Testament teaching had its origin in the Ten Commandments You can’t have a healthy, holy relationship with humans without having a healthy, holy relationship with God.

Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14:22-33

For Moses and the Old Testament people, the life of righteousness was attained by keeping the law – “A man who does these things will live by them.”

Since Jesus came, we have a new way of righteousness – a righteousness which comes by faith. And it is a faith that takes its strength and comfort from the coming of Jesus, from His life lived on the earth, from the life given to atone for our sin, from His resurrection and from His promise to be with us always.

It is believing that God is God and that He has everything totally under control and desires only the best for those He loves. To love Him in return is to simply believe that.

But we struggle to come to terms with that. We always want to put in our own insurance – just in case, God can’t manage. We plan our own stop gaps and safety harnesses.

But then, ask yourself, who are you trusting? Is it not yourself?

What have you done recently that challenged your faith? Probably not much, because we don’t like actually to be challenged.

A STORY

A man was being chased by a lion. He ran as hard as he could until he was at the edge of a cliff with the lion in hot pursuit. The man looked over the edge of the cliff and saw a branch growing out of the side of the cliff a few feet down. He jumped down and grabbed the branch just as the lion reached the cliff. The lion growled viciously as the man sighed a great sigh of relief.

Just then a mouse came out from a crevice and began to chew on the branch. The man looked down to what was a drop of a 500 metres and sure death and looked to the heavens and yelled out, “Dear God, if you are there, please help. I will do anything you ask but please help.”

Suddenly a voice came booming down from heaven, “You will do anything I ask?” it questioned.

The man shocked to hear a reply to his plea yelled back, “I will gladly do anything you ask, but please save me.”

The voice from heaven then replied, “There is one way to save you but it will take courage and faith.”

The branch began to weaken from the mouse and the lion was still growling a few feet above the man, “Please, Lord, tell me what I must do and I will do it. Your will is my will.”

The voice from heaven then said, “All right then, let go of the branch.”

The man looked down to a fall of a thousand feet and certain death. He looked up at the hungry lion a few feet away and he looked at the mouse still chewing on the branch. Then he looked up at the heavens and yelled, “Is there anyone else up there?”

The challenging of our faith comes in many forms.

-We are challenged when we take a step to publicly confess Jesus as Lord and to live for Him.

-We are challenged when we decide to have a daily quiet time.

-We are challenged when we decide to tithe 1/10 of our income.

-We are challenged when we decide to share our faith with other people.

In fact, unless our lives are totally boring, we are challenged every moment of our life to trust in the loving God of creation.

In our reading from Matthew 14 getting out of that boat was a challenge to Peter’s faith.

Today I want to encourage you to stretch your faith like that. It might be trusting God in the Ride for Life program. With your farm program, with your health, with your future plans.

There are two questions before us.

1. Why would we be reluctant to get out of the boat?
2. Why should we get out of the boat?

1. Why would we be reluctant to get out of the boat?

First because the boat represents a comfort zone. All of us have comfort zones. All of us have places and situations where we feel secure and we are reluctant leave those situations.

But unless we leave our comfort zone we will never grow. Its like a baby learning to walk – unless it is prepared to take the risk it will never learn to walk. And how excited we get when baby takes the first steps.

Until we leave our comfort zone we will not depend on Jesus.

Second, we are reluctant to get out of the boat because of fear. We fear what others might say. We fear failure. And in Peter’s case, he might have feared drowning.

The other day someone sent me an e-mail entitled “How to stay safe in the world.“

1. Avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents.

2. Do not stay home because 17% of all accidents occur in the home.

3. Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14% of all accidents occur to pedestrians.

4. Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water because 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation.

5. Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals. So…above all else, avoid hospitals.

BUT…you will be pleased to learn that only 0.001% of all deaths occur in worship services and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church!

Fear is the logic and natural response to the unknown. It keeps us safe but it also keeps us from new possibilities. We need to risk our faith against our fear.

Third, we are reluctant to get out of the boat because of doubt. Peter must have been thinking: “Did Jesus really call me?” “Is it really possible to walk on water?” After Peter had tried and failed Jesus said to him that the cause of his failure was, in fact, his doubt.

Our comfort zones, our fear and our doubt keep us paralysed in the boat. We are by nature frozen in place, unable to stretch our faith – to take the risk to trust that God might just be able to handle it.

The second question is however much more important than the first. The first question focuses on the negative – why we are reluctant to get out of the boat. The second focuses on the positive.

2. Why should we get out of the boat?

The first reason is very simple – risk leads to rewards. The person who risks nothing gains nothing. If we want to grow spiritually we have to take the risk of faith.

In my lifetime I have begun several new adventures: I studied economics first, and then packed it all up to do an MBA. I went back to the job market as a currency specialist. Then I started my own business managing currency risk. Then the ministry, and perhaps biggest of all, emigrating to Australia. In starting each of those adventures I was nervous. Each new adventure represented a risk. It represented a challenge I had never faced. I took the risk and in each situation I have felt rewarded because I took the risk.

Some wise person has said:

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out for another is to risk involvement

To expose feelings is to risk exposing, your true self

To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss

To love is to risk not being loved in return

To live is to risk dying

To hope is to risk despair

To try is to risk failure

But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing

They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live

Charmed by their attitudes they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom

Only a person who risks is free

A second reason to get out of the boat is that your faith will grow. Faith is similar to a muscle. A muscle will not stretch and grow until it is exercised. A muscle will not reach full strength until it is exercised.The New Testament instructs us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)

And then the third reason to get out of the boat is because Jesus is not in the boat but out there on the water. Jesus is not some mild mannered person who lived as a prisoner to his fears and within set comfort zones. He was an adventurer. He was always pressing the limits of His humanity.

When you allow yourself to be challenged in your faith you will meet Jesus in a way in which you have never before imagined.

Britain’s Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semi-finals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He was running the race of his life and could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring.

Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic events: As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,” he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race. Then a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him. It was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his son.

“Yes, I do,” said Derek.

“Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.”

And they did. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in his father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane all the way to the end, as the crowd gaped, then rose and applauded.

Derek didn’t walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

That’s what God does for us when we place our trust in Him. When we are experiencing pain and we’re struggling to finish the race, we can be confident that we have a loving Father who won’t let us do it alone. He left His place in heaven to come alongside us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. “I am with you always,” says Jesus to His followers, “to the very end of the age.”

Jesus is out there and He is gracious. Jesus will allow you to be stretched. You might fail. You might sink. So what? When you fail, Jesus is there with outstretched hand waiting to pick you up. Do not be afraid! Do not hold back! The challenge you face today may be the greatest thing you ever face.

Romans 8:26-39

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and He called it all good. On the sixth day He made man in His image and He said that it was very good.

We skip forward two chapters and we have a mess. The man and woman have rebelled against God and they are cast out of the Garden. It is no longer very good. Its not even good – its a disaster.

Throughout the history which began that day, God was trying to restore man to the “very good” place again. Its been a struggle between man’s rebellious nature and God’s infinite grace. This is the story of the Bible. Those who point to the angry God of the Bible do not understand His grace. They do not understand the struggle of His enduring love. Through boats and battles, judges, prophets and kings God has tested His patience against the rebellious freewill of man.

Man has to choose to love God. Love must be a free choice or it is not love at all. And that love must be without boundaries, without cost, without compromise. Eventually, because He loved the world so much, God sent His Son into the world so that everyone who believes in Him (loves Him of his own freewill) would not perish but would have everlasting life – a life of sublime contentment in the amazing love of God which begins now and will last for eternity.

God knows us and He has a plan for us. His purpose has been since before time began – it was something He predestined, or, if we want to avoid all the difficult connotations of that word .. it was something He predetermined, way back on Day 6 of creation.

All our destinies are predetermined – God’s clear intention is that we be conformed to the likeness of His Son. (8:29) And that at the end, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

But this process of conformation is quite difficult, which is the reason for Paul’s letter to the Romans. He is trying to explain God’s intention, how we fit into that intention, why we are too weak to do it ourselves and how God has therefore, in the Holy Spirit, made it possible for us to be changed.

Our text in Romans begins …”In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.”

“In the same way” as what? Good question.

We have to go back earlier in the chapter to see that Creation has been groaning as it waited to be liberated from its bondage to decay and to be brought into the glorious freedom that has been determined for the children of God.

“In the same way” the Spirit intercedes for us with groans which words cannot express and we ourselves groan inwardly as we await our adoption as sons and our own liberation from bondage.

Its a struggle of monumental proportions, but God is on our side.

He wants us to be conformed into the image of His Son. He wants us to be “very good” again. Jesus is our model and our teacher. He does not condemn us in the struggle. Indeed, He helps us against the struggles we face – trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and the sword.

And as Paul says to us, “I am 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.”

Jesus loved to teach by means of parables. The point of the parables was to tell an oblique story; a story which could only be properly understood by those who had ears to hear. There had to be a desire to comprehend and to respond.

The response required was repentance – a turning away from the rebellious or sinful nature and a turning towards God’s intention for us. Repentance is much more than simply managing our sin. It is an acceptance of the fact that we have rebelled against God’s purpose and it is a re-submission of ourselves into the purpose of God – that we have been created to be God’s friends and the stewards of His creation. It is submitting ourselves to God so that we can be conformed into the likeness of His Son, by the Spirit who helps and intercedes for us.

Now the parables of Jesus are mostly about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is a difficult concept for us to grasp but in simple form it implies a situation in which God’s will is done.

So, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer it is “Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.”

It is the coming of God’s will into our hearts and lives. It is a rejection of our former rebelliousness. It is living in the whole love of God.

In our text in Matthew we have five parables which tell us three things about how God’s Kingdom comes.

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

First, in the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast, we see that this Kingdom is constantly growing. The smallest seed becomes the largest tree in the garden. A small amount of yeast works all the way through the dough.

Through the Law and the Prophets and finally in Jesus, the seed has been planted; the yeast is in the dough.

It might not seem like much is happening when we look around the world today but the Kingdom is growing. You don’t see the seed growing, or the yeast working its way through the dough but if you look away and then look back you see that something has happened. God is at work, He is bringing His Kingdom into being. Slowly and steadily His will is being done on the earth as it is in heaven.

Your heart and mine have been changed and are continually changing. We are salt and light in the world and planting seeds and yeast in other peoples hearts.

Second, in the Parable of the Treasure hidden in the Field and the Parable of the Pearl we see the challenge of our response to this coming Kingdom.

A man finds treasure in the field and he goes away and sells everything he has in order to buy that field.

A merchant is looking for fine pearls. When he finds one of great value he sells everything he has and buys that pearl.

The treasure and the pearl represent the kingdom – which, according to the simplified definition which I gave earlier is the coming of God’s will into our hearts and lives. It is God’s will prevailing on the earth. It is us being conformed into the likeness of Christ.

Selling everything you have represents the rejection of your former rebelliousness in order to live in the whole love of God. It is worth everything you have ever held dear.

I could preach 50 000 sermons on this subject and they would all say the same thing – by the wrong choices we make, by the negative attitudes we have, by our sins and our sinful nature, we keep ourselves from the whole will of God. We keep ourselves in the disaster zone; no longer “very good”. We subvert the process of allowing God to transform us into the likeness of His Son by the intervention of the Holy Spirit.

The challenge for those who choose to follow God is how much we are prepared to change, how much we are prepared to step away from in order for the transforming Spirit to be at work in our lives and this is the point of the last parable in this sequence.

In the Parable of the Net, the net is let down into the lake and it catches all kinds of fish. The fishermen collect the good fish into baskets and throw the bad away. It is a parable about the judgement – not about the judgement of sin but about those who have allowed themselves to be conformed into the likeness of God’s Son and those who have not. At the heart of this judgement is our submission to compromise.

As we saw in the earlier two parables, submission to the Kingdom is worth everything you have. We cannot serve both God and Mammon – you will end up loving one and rejecting the other.

The decision to love God must be with all your heart and mind and spirit – only then can He transform you into the likeness of His Son.

At the end of time – when all is said and done, the extent to which you have submitted yourself will determine whether you are classed among the wicked or the righteous. And whichever choice you have made – its all or nothing – every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Kingdom.

He will reign in righteousness. He will be Lord of All and those who have “sold” out on everything else will find themselves fully in the Presence of God in all His glory.

And because faith brings the future into the present – this can be a reality even today.

Let He who has ears, hear what the Spirit says to the Church!

Let me tell you the story of young King Josiah:

Josiah was raised in an ungodly home. His evil and idolatrous father King Amon was assassinated when Josiah was just 8 years old and Josiah inherited the throne.

Do you remember when you were 8 years old? All I can remember was that I was in Year 3 and my teacher Mrs Houston liked me a lot. But she wouldn’t have made me Prime Minister of South Africa in 1958.

I would have decreed that from that day forward no kids would have had to eat vegetables (especially spinach). I would have signed into law (with a large printed signature) that kids did not have to have bed times. I would have decreed that girls had to stay away from boys and I would have ordered that when the circus came to town it would be a holiday.

Do you get my point? An 8 year old is in no way ready to be the king of a nation. When I was 8, I couldn’t even remember where I left my bicycle let alone even think about affairs of state. In fact when I was 8 I wasn’t even sure which country I lived in.

So young King Josiah was raised by Hilkiah the High Priest and his family until he was ready to be king. The affairs of state were left to the palace officials while King Josiah grew up.
It was probably because he was adopted by Hilkiah and raised in a priest’s home that he developed a love for God.

The spiritual and moral conditions of Judah had been in rapid decline. Northern Israel had already been carried into captivity by the Assyrians, and God had plainly told Judah that the same would happen to them if they didn’t repent. Yet the Kings and the people of Judah ignored God’s warnings and went on living in immorality and sin.

At the age of 26 King Josiah ordered that money be collected for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. It had fallen into disrepair after years of neglect. During the remodeling project, Hilkiah the High Priest found a copy of the first 5 books of the Bible and immediately sent it to King Josiah. The first 5 books of the Bible known as the Pentateuch or “the Book of the Law” was in essence the Jewish Bible of the time. Unfortunately, no-one had read it for years. So for the first time in his life this Godly King heard the Word of God read to him.

He was so moved by the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number and Deuteronomy that he tore his robes, humbled himself and wept in the presence of the Lord.
He then sent his officials to find a prophet to inquire of the Lord as to what to do. His officials were able to locate a prophetess named Huldah. Her message from the Lord confirmed that God was indeed going to bring disaster on the land and people, but he would give King Josiah peace during his reign because he had had a responsive heart when he heard the Word of the Lord read to him. Revival came and people recommitted their hearts and lives to God.

After this renewal, King Josiah set about ripping down pagan altars, burning occultic shrines, and killing the occultic priests. He removed the vile articles made for Baal and Asherah worship from the Temple grounds. He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes which were located in the Temple of the Lord. King Josiah cleaned up the house.

The last thing he did was to re-institute the observance of the Passover. Not only had the Bible been neglected, but they even neglected to observe this primary Jewish religious holiday.

2 Kings 23:22 says, “Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, has any such Passover been observed.” It had been 750 years since the Jews had properly celebrated the Passover.

This would be equivalent to the Christian Church not celebrating communion since 1261.

Josiah was a godly king. It is said of him, “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did – with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”
Through the acts of one righteous man a nation was given a reprieve from sure destruction at the hands of a fierce and angry God.

There are many examples in history where the acts of one person changed the course of history. When you realize you can change the world, you’ll never be the same.
If one righteous man can bring revival to a whole nation, imagine what a whole church full of Spirit filled believers can do to their city, state, nation and the world.
So, what can we learn about revival from King Josiah’s life?
There are 6 principles of revival here:
1. The conditions for a revival must be present.
2. We must rediscover the Word of God.
3. We must fall under conviction for our sin.
4. We must seek after God.
5. We must repent of our sin.
6. We must rediscover our spiritual heritage.

1. The conditions for a revival must be present.

Jewish society had sunk to the lowest levels of moral depravity and God was ready to destroy them. Looking around our society today we are forced to the same conclusion.

At a conference I attended some years back it was predicted that more than 4 million people would die in South Africa in 2010, most of them by HIV/Aids – a condition that can be reversed by a return to good moral sexual standards. It is likely that more than half of these will go to hell. Is that too strong a statement? Only half of the population profess Christ as Saviour and Lord.

And in Australia less than ten per cent of the adult population of South Africa believe they will go to heaven when they die because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. A considerably more think that they will go to heaven because they are good people … but, as Angus Buchan says, “Good people don’t go to heaven, believers do.” That means that more than 90 per cent of the adult population may be headed for eternal damnation.

By and large born again Christians think and behave no differently from non-Christians in today’s culture. George Barna in his book, “The Second coming of the Church” examined a large number of different measures of behavior between Christians and non-Christians and concluded that in the aspects of lifestyle where Christians can have their greatest impact on the lives of non-Christians, there are no statistically significant differences between the two segments. Here are some examples.

Behavior Born Again Non-Christian
Watched MTV in the past week 19% 24%
Have been divorced 27% 23%
Watched PG-13 or R rated movie
in the past 3 months 76% 87%
Watched an X-rated movie

in the past  3 months 9% 16%

61% of Americans say there is no such thing as the Holy Spirit and about the same number say there is no such thing as Satan (and that includes professing Christians).

In a book I listened to on my way back from Perth yesterday Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiracy) says that only one out of every four adults – and even fewer teenagers – believe that there is such a thing as absolute moral truth. The Bible is relegated to nothing more than a book of riveting stories and helpful suggestions. Now follow the logic with me: Without absolute moral truth, there can be no right and wrong. Without right and wrong, there is no such thing as sin. Without sin, there can be no such thing as judgment and no such thing as condemnation. If there is no condemnation, there is no need for a Savior.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture, we are in spiritual darkness and if ever there was a time for revival, it is now! We must be ready. And we must share the good news of the Kingdom of God and salvation in Christ Jesus.

2. We must rediscover the Word of God.

The Jewish people of King Josiah’s day not only didn’t read the Bible, they had misplaced it. Most everyone here hopefully know exactly where their Bible is. If you don’t know where your Bible is – its been too long since you last read it.
Do you know the average Christian spends more time watching television in one night than he or she spends reading the Bible in an entire week?
When everybody knows where they left their television set, but not everybody knows where they left their Bible – something’s wrong.
Spiritual decline occurs when God’s Word is denied or neglected; revival occurs when His Word is heard, understood and applied. The Bible and spiritual vitality are inseparable.

The Bible is a powerful tool of revival. As the book of Hebrews declares, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Heb. 4:12-13)

If we are to prepare for revival we’ve got to get back to the basics and start reading our Bibles again.
3. We must fall under conviction for our sin.

What did Josiah do after the Bible was read to him? (He tore his robes, humbled himself and wept) This was an act of true contrition of heart – a true confession of sin. Josiah did what everyone who experiences revival does, he wept over the condition of his wicked soul, and the souls of his people. He fell under conviction of sin even though he was already a godly man.

This revival started when one man encountered the living Word of God. We cannot have a mass revival without first having an individual revival.
Each one of us INDIVIDUALLY must become broken and totally dependent on God’s mercy if we want to see a great revival sweep over us. We must get to the place where we have a broken and contrite heart, for God delights in you when you allow the Holy Spirit to do the work of conviction of sin in your heart.
Every revival throughout history has started with one or a few individuals confessing their sins before the Lord and seeking his forgiveness.

4. We must seek after God.

Once King Josiah confessed his sin and the sin of his people, he immediately sent his men to find a prophet of the Lord to inquire of the Lord what to do next. His officials found the prophetess Huldah who prophesied that judgment was coming, but because of King Josiah’s response of contrition, God promised to delay His impending judgement until after King Josiah’s death.
Like King Josiah, we must be God seekers. We need to get hungry for God. We need to become desperate for God and the things of God. We need to fall on our faces before God and seek him.
We need to rediscover the prophetic ministry which has been absent from many of our churches for so long.
God is near to us right now, in fact the Holy Spirit is hovering over us right now – prepared to meet us – prepared to pour Himself into our lives. Indeed, times of refreshing are most prevalent when the days are darkest, for God does not desire destruction but restoration.

We need to take to heart the words of the Prophet Isaiah to, “seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while he is near.” (Isa. 55:6)

5. We must repent of our sin.

A Sunday School teacher once asked her class if anyone could give her the definition of sin. One little boy stood up and said, “It is an abomination to God and an ever-present help in the time of trouble.”
We, like that boy, somehow want our cake and eat it too. We want to both repent of our sin and hold on to it at the same time. It doesn’t work that way, it can’t work that way. We have to become serious about repentance of our sins.
Repentance means taking action to turn away from your sin. It is making a 180 degree turn away from sin.

When King Josiah realized how serious the sins of his people were he immediately began to do something about it. He called everyone together in Jerusalem, read the Word to them and then had an altar call. He recommitted his life to God through promising to uphold the covenant and laws of the Lord, and the people did the same.
As part of the repentance King Josiah tore down the pagan altars, killed the leaders of the occult and re-instituted proper worship of God in the Temple at Jerusalem.
In the same way we must be careful to examine our hearts and lives to see if there is any hidden sin there. We must ask the Holy Spirit to identify our sins to us – so we can confess, repent and be clean from sin. There is nothing better than to have a pure heart before God. Like King Josiah, we may need to “clean up the house”. We may need to physically throw away our “stuff” that causes us to sin.

What have you got in your house that needs to go?

7. We must rediscover our spiritual heritage.

For King Josiah and the Jewish people it was the re-institution of the Passover celebration. The Passover celebration is significant because it served as a form of worship that reminded them that God delivered them out of Bondage in Egypt. As they ate the Passover meal together, everything had a symbolic meaning. In fact the Passover meal points to Jesus as the ultimate savior of the world, for He is our Passover Lamb whose blood has been painted on the door-posts of our hearts. Because of his blood we are free from the bondage of death and have life everlasting with Jesus.

Remember it was during the celebration of the Passover meal that Jesus gave the disciples instructions to celebrate communion.
From the time of King Josiah the Passover had been neglected for 750 years. It’s hard to imagine, but even King David probably did not celebrate the Passover because he apparently didn’t know about it. The Passover had not been properly celebrated since the time of the Judges.
In the same way the doctrines of the church fall into neglect when they are not practiced.
In many churches, baptism is just something we do to children. Parents nowadays want to leave their children to “make up their own minds about God” – that, I think, says terrible things about their own faith in the Lord. (Do they really believe?) Marriage is now simply an arrangement that can be dumped as soon as it becomes uncomfortable. The Bible is simply a book on the shelf. Prayer is only for desperate people. Communion just makes the service too long. And hymn singing is an embarrassment.
If we neglect the wonderful things from our rich spiritual heritage, we will fail to pass them on to the next generation and we run the risk of losing our spiritual heritage all together.

So what we’ve learned about Revival:

1. The conditions for a revival must be present.
2. We must rediscover the Word of God.
3. We must fall under conviction for our sin.
4. We must seek after God.
5. We must repent of our sin.
6. We must rediscover our spiritual heritage.

Joel 2 is often a focus at Pentecost celebration because it speaks of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But before that particular text, the prophet sets some conditions which we often neglect. Listen now to verses12-17.

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
Gather the people, consecrate the assembly;
Bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, “Save your people, O Lord”

I want you all to pray this prayer along with me.

O God, I recognize that I am a sinner,
that I stand in peril of suffering eternity in hell.
Please forgive me of my sins.
Jesus, come into my heart and be Lord of my life.
I renounce my old way of life and now confess you as my Lord and savior.
Thank you for loving me and dying on the cross for me.
Holy Spirit, please lead and direct my life from now on. Open the Bible to my understanding, teach me how to pray and show me how to live my life to the honour of Your Name.

We pray also for our nation. We pray for spiritual restoration and moral renewal. We ask that you would remove from office those who will not seek the righteous life, just as Josiah removed all that which was vile and unclean. We pray that you would raise up Godly leaders in this land to direct us in the way of Godly Peace and Righteousness.

Amen

Genesis 25:19-34

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

There was Abraham, the father of nations.

He had two sons: Ishmael was the older and Isaac was the younger.

Isaac, the son of Sarah, was the one blessed by God because He was God’s promise. Ishmael was born because Abram and Sarah thought they could help God fulfil His promise through Sarah’s servant girl Hagar.

Isaac had two sons as well. They were twins. The first born was Esau. Jacob was born second. Before they were born, God had said that each would father two nations and that the older would serve the younger. Jacob, the younger, was God’s choice. Esau the older brother did not especially value his birthright as the first born and he exchanged it with his brother for a bowl of stew.

Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, was not a particularly nice man. His name Jacob means “grasper” or “deceiver” and that’s how he lived his life. He grasped his older brother birthright and he deceived his father in law when he was caring for the flocks of sheep. He created ill-feeling wherever he went until He encountered God one night at Pniel on the Jabbok river. He wrestled with the Lord through the night and God changed his name to Israel – the one who wrestles with God.

But through that encounter, Jacob’s life was changed and so was the future of the people of Israel.

Time and again in the Scriptures we see this pattern. There is the first, and there is the second. Ishmael and Isaac; Esau and Jacob; the first Adam and the second Adam. Adam and Christ. Jew and Christian. The Old Testament and the New.

I don’t know why this is, but it is a pattern. It is as if we see a decay that is replaced by something new.

When I look at the church today, I wonder if we have not drifted too far from where Jesus wants us to be.

The same thing happened in the Old Testament. God established the creation; man sinned, decay crept in. Then Noah and the flood.

The legacy of Abraham was all but swallowed up by the bondage in Egypt after the death of Joseph.

The new law of Moses was meant to create a freedom to live in the light, led by a faithful God – it became its own bondage as the ten commandments given by God were extended to become the hundreds of rules devised by man.

The faith of Joshua, Caleb and David was lost to the man size kingdom of King Solomon and eventually that too was swallowed up in the exile.

God began again with Ezra and Nehemiah and that revival ended in 400 years of silence from God in the period between the testaments.

Then Jesus came – A new beginning in which God Himself launched the new Kingdom which will not fail. He has empowered His church by the Holy Spirit; He directs our failure through revival.

We ARE far from where Jesus wants us to be.

We have turned the church into a building, a minister and a Sunday Service. The new life of the Spirit has become an organisation and we somehow think that we can organise our way out of it. If only we had …. a better preacher, more modern music, a better program, a youth group ….. you can fill in the blank spaces yourself.

But at the heart of the Church of Jesus Christ is the call to be a witness to the resurrection – to new life; to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins – a turning away from the road that goes nowhere; and the offer of a relationship with the living God in fellowship with His people.

New Life, New Direction, New Relationships.

It seems to me that this has been the way in which God has always worked in the past, and the way in which He is now working through His Son, and through the Church – the Body of Christ through the empowering of the Spirit.

There is no other plan except the one given us in the New Testament Scriptures.

There are no other directions than the ones which Jesus gave – He clothed the Church (us) with power from on high to be a witness to the resurrection and to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Luke 24:46-49)

The early Church understood that this meant that they had to reach out into an unbelieving world in such a way that they too could come into the salvation and new life which is offered in the Cross and the Resurrection.

They had to do it in such a way that they were always in the world, with the world, serving the world. They were rarely confrontational. Instead they invited people into their homes and shared meals with them – and as they did that, they shared the new life and the new hope which they had discovered.

In the Parable of the seed we see that it is only the seed which falls into the good soil which produces the crop.

The seed on the hard ground is snatched away by the evil one.

The seed which falls in the rocky places bursts forth but then withers as the enthusiasm falters and the seed which falls amongst the weeds is smothered by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth.

Jesus told us that this parable was about the message of the Kingdom. Most often we interpret it as the way in which people accept the offer of salvation.

There are people who become deceived by the devil.

There are people who are too shallow and there are people who are too worried about this life and its pleasures.

The truth is that there are people like that – but they are often forced into situations like that simply by living in the world and not being offered any other alternative. They don’t hear about new life in Christ, they aren’t aware of the forgiveness offered.

Next Saturday morning we will have our Planning Day. I don’t expect that we are going to come away with new programs or plans for the church – but I do hope we will come away with a new understanding of God’s heart for His creation.

I think that one of the ways in which we could interpret the parable is that we could well be called to prepare the soil in people’s hearts so that it IS good, and DOES receive the message of the Gospel.

How we do that needs for us to reflect in a new way on what Jesus wanted us to be as His Church – as the Body of Christ on the earth. To use a new popular saying – He wants us to become a Fresh Expression of His Church.

The people of Merredin are not going to flock to the church simply because we open the doors on Sunday morning but they might find new grace if we break the ground for them. How can we NOW be witnesses to the resurrection and preachers of repentance? How do we NOW make disciples?