Sermon Video

Monday, May 31, 2010

Discovering Jesus Pt 7 - John 2:1-11 - The Wedding at Cana


 The Wedding at Cana

John 2:1-11
30/05/2010

John 2:1a
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. [1]

Let’s familiarise ourselves with what is involved in a first-century Jewish wedding so we can imagine the story as it is described to us.  To get the most out of the information, keep in mind that the Church is described as the Bride of Christ.  It will bring a fresh appreciation to you of what that means.  If you also keep in mind Joseph’s engagement to Mary it will also give you good insight into the story of Jesus’ birth.

Jewish Weddings First-Century Style
 When a Jewish young man wished to marry a particular young woman, it was customary for the prospective groom's father first to approach the girl's father with the proposal of marriage.  The two men would discuss this possible union including the price offered by the groom for the bride.  If the girl's father agreed to the suggested amount, the two men sealed the agreement with a toast of wine. 
 The potential bride then entered the room whereupon the prospective groom proclaimed his love and asked her to be his bride.  If the young woman wished to be his wife, she accepted his proposal at this time.  The validation of the agreement made by the engaged couple was the presentation of a gift by the groom.  He offered it in the presence of at least two witnesses.  As he gave the gift, usually a ring, he said to his intended bride, "Behold you are consecrated unto me with this ring according to the laws of Moses and Israel."
 Arrangements were also made right then concerning the terms of the marriage.  A written contract recorded the dowry and terms of the marriage.  This binding document called a "ketubah" was kept in the bride's possession until the consummation of the marriage.  Finally, this first part of a two-part ceremony was concluded by the toast of a glass of wine.  The whole ceremony was called the "Shiddukhin," or engagement.
 The Bible refers to the status of the prospective bride and groom as "espousal" or "betrothal."  It meant that the two people were committed to each other as much as a married couple would be.  The only parts of the marriage not yet completed were the formal "nissuin" ceremony followed by their physical union.  This betrothal was considered so binding that the only way to break it was by an actual bill of divorcement. 
 The groom then departed, but not before he assured his bride with the promises of building a home for her and returning to complete the marriage ceremony.  He usually took a year to prepare her new home which often consisted of an addition built onto his own father's house.
 The bride was expected to remain true to her groom as she prepared herself and her trousseau.  She lived for the day of his return for her which would be heralded by a shout from the members of the wedding party and the loud blowing of a trumpet.  The impending return of her groom was to influence the bride's behavior during this interim espousal period.
 The typical Jewish wedding took place at night.  As soon as any members of the wedding spotted the moving torches signaling the groom's approach, their cry echoed through the streets, "The bridegroom is coming."  The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia tells us, "Mirth and gladness announced their approach to townspeople waiting in houses along the route to the bride's house."  Upon hearing the announcement, the excited bride would drop everything in order to slip into her wedding dress and complete her final personal preparations for marriage.
    Rather than the groom entering the bride's house, the bride came out to meet him.  The two, accompanied by their wedding party, returned together to the groom's home for the marriage ceremony.  Following the public ceremony, the newlyweds entered their bridal chamber to be intimate with each other for the first time.  After this union, the groom came out and announced to the wedding guests, "Our marriage is consummated."
     Upon receiving the glad news, the wedding party began a "festive" seven-day celebration.  The celebration lasted seven days only if this was the first marriage of a virgin girl.  During this time the bride and the groom stayed with each other in seclusion.  At the end of this time of privacy, the groom would present his unveiled bride to everyone in attendance.  The newlyweds then joined in the wedding feast with the guests. [i]
So that sets the scene for what has been going on up to this point.  Let’s continue the story.
Jesus’ mother was there,  2  and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  3  When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

Mary, Jesus and his disciples were there, probably other members of Jesus’ family were there also and members of at least some of the disciples’ families as well.  Cana was the hometown of the disciple Nathanael, so you would imagine his family at least may have been present.

So you have this wonderful celebration and social occasion happening, where people are spending time together enjoying the festivities.  It’s probably been going on for over a week now, since we read later on in the story that the bridegroom has rejoined the party after the period of seclusion which would normally be seven days.  The fact that they have run out of wine is actually a huge social embarrassment for the couple and their families.  It’s more than an embarrassment, it’s a scandal – it says that they did not value the marriage celebration highly enough to cater adequately for it.  They could even be fined in a Jewish court for the offense.

We don’t know why they ran out of wine – perhaps they were poor and just didn’t have the means to provide enough.  Perhaps they simply miscalculated the demand.  Perhaps Jesus and His disciples surprised them by being in the area and they were invited out of politeness.  (To say “Jesus you can come, but please don’t bring your followers with you” would not have been OK in that culture!)

Whatever the reason was, there was a definite problem here that needed a solution.

 4  “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
 5  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Is Mary being manipulative here?  It sounds like Jesus has said “No”, but Mary acts like Jesus has said “Yes”!

I don’t think it’s manipulation or bossiness coming through here.  I think Mary simply knows who Jesus is – she knows His heart and she knows His power.

Jesus has honestly said “Look mum, doing a miracle here doesn’t fit with my timeline of how I want to go about things.”  The gospels make it clear that Jesus had a very good understanding of how things needed to unfold in His ministry moving toward His death and resurrection.

But despite that, I think Mary understood that Jesus’ love for people was such that he was interested in the plight of this family and this newly married couple.  It seems like such a small thing to us, but Jesus knew the significance for them and decided to do what no-one else could.

 6  Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
 
We have six stone jars, each holding about 100 litres of water.  To understand what they are for – what ceremonial washing is all about - we are going to read a passage from the gospel of Mark.

Mark 7:1-7
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and  2  saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed.  3  (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.  4  When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.  a )
 5  So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”
 6  He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7  They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’   8  You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”

So we have these stone jars are for holding the water used in ceremonial washing.  Normally there would be one of these in the kitchen or somewhere convenient so that people could wash their hands at the appropriate times.  The practice of hand-washing changed over the centuries and it is hard to say exactly how it was being carried out in Cana at this point in time.  We can assume that the people at this wedding would wash before and after each meal – this involved using a special cup to pour water from the stone jars over each hand in turn 3 times, making sure the hands did not touch one another and transfer any ritual impurity during the process.  Hands would be washed after ablutions, after sleeping for 20 minutes or more, after going to the marketplace or having any sort of contact with anyone or anything ritually unclean.  Having a houseful of guests for a week meant lots of handwashing going on, so the bridegroom had accumulated 6 of these great big stone jars in order to hold enough water.

 7  Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
 8  Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so,  9  and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside  10  and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
 11  This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

There’s a couple of things that I think are worth us thinking about together this morning as we look at these verses:

1.  Jesus revealed His glory in serving others well
We read in verse 11 that in this first miraculous sign that He performed, Jesus revealed His glory – His true divine nature.  His disciples saw this and put their faith in him.

Jesus wasn’t out to glorify Himself.  He wasn’t attempting to further His own agenda.  As we’ve seen in His comments to Mary, this wasn’t the best time for Him to be doing that.  But He revealed His glory in serving others.  Not only did He reveal His divine power to change water into wine, but He revealed His character of love for others in the reason that he changed water into wine.  It wasn’t just to make a good party better, but to rescue a family from stigma and even legal reprisals.  It was the best wedding present that couple received!

When Jesus serves, He serves well.  The wine He makes isn’t just passable.  It’s more than good enough to get the bridegroom off the hook.  It is first class.  I think this says something about the quality of service that we should offer also.

I believe we glorify God when we put our own agendas aside and serve others to the best of our ability out of a heart of love just like Jesus did. 

Back in New Testament times many Christians were slaves.  Slaves were very often treated poorly, and so it was difficult to serve out of love rather than out of fear.  When you serve out of love, you do your best for the people you serve.  When you serve out of fear, you only care about what they see or don’t see, and how well you get treated as a result.  Sadly, many of us fall into that mode of service also, more concerned about what others expect of us and what others see us doing. 

This is what Paul writes to slaves in Colossians 3:22-24

 22  Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.  23  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,  24  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

So whether you serve because you want to or because you have to, serve as though it is Jesus Christ you are serving.  Serve with all your heart knowing that God knows all that you do even if no-one else does.

Whether it’s your parents telling you what to do, or teachers, or your boss, or your customers, or the laws of our country or whatever & whoever else, do whatever you do with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for people.  Give your best every time, even when it doesn’t fit your plans.  Jesus did.

2. Jesus turned ritual into rejoicing!

Faced with the situation of needing to provide wine for the party, what does Jesus do?  He has the servants fill up the jars, and then turns the water for ceremonial washing into wine for joyful consumption!

As we’ve heard, ceremonial handwashing was a big deal for these people.  They felt it was important to maintain their personal holiness.  It was important in maintaining their identity as God’s people – not like those “unclean” Gentiles.

Is it a good idea to wash hands regularly and thoroughly?  Of course it is!  But Jesus is no respecter of our cultural sensitivities – even our religious ones.  Sometimes we need to be challenged as to whether our own religious habits are the commands of God or the traditions of men to borrow Jesus’ words from Mark 7:8.  We need to be continually coming back to the commands of God and asking Him to show us how to best obey them in the situations that we find ourselves in today, not just doing what people before us have done.

God has the right to transform our traditions!  We have traditions for good reasons, and it is foolish to discard them for no reason.  But when Jesus decides to change how things are done, we need to be willing to accept that change.

Some time after this celebration in Cana we read of Jesus attending another party.  This time the people in attendance were less reputable.

Luke 5:27-39
 27  After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,  28  and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
 29  Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  30  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
 31  Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  32  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus isn’t fitting the mould of what a religious leader should be like.  He has disciples, much like the other rabbi’s going around – many who belonged to the part of the Pharisees.  But Jesus and His disciples act differently, and many religious people don’t like it.

 33  They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
 34  Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?  35  But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
 36  He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.  37  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.  38  No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.  39  And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”

The parable of the wineskins contains a lot of practical wisdom.  Wineskins were made from animal skins sewn together that retained a lot of elasticity.  Grapes were harvested then trodden down in a winepress, then the grape juice was left to sit for 7 days or so to allow the sediment to settle on the bottom.  Then the juice was drawn out and poured into jars or wineskins to ferment.  Once a wineskin had been used several times it would become dry and stiff, and if it was filled with new wine it would burst when that wine fermented – it simply was not flexible and pliable enough to contain the growth that fermentation produces. 

I have seen many churches blown apart by trying to fit new growth into old vessels.  I have seen people choose to be inflexible, and I’ve seen people try to force issues despite that inflexibility, and the result is that both the existing church and the new work are ruined.

Jesus is doing a new work and he recognises that most people won’t like it!  His new work won’t fit into the existing traditions and structures. 

At the wedding feast in Cana Jesus turns the water for ceremonial washing into wine for drinking.  I’m sure plenty of people were upset by that – I don’t know if they found another source or ritually pure water to wash with or whether they left the party because they didn’t like what it had become.  If I was there, I would have been upset by this turn of events too.  But I hope that I would have been receptive to what Jesus was doing and been able to join in with that.
What are the new things that Jesus is doing here?

What adjustments do we need to make in order to be receptive to what He is doing?

Will we be like a new wineskin with the flexibility to contain this new work, or will we decide to be inflexible?

Old wineskins were used for many purposes in Jesus’ day, just not for holding new wine.  Similarly God does entrust His new works to churches that will not be able to handle them. 

I don’t know about you, but I want to see revival.  I want to see God bring renewal in people’s lives and in homes and in this city and our nation.

But if we want to experience it we have to be willing to be stretched by it!  It’s starting even now, and it’s only going to increase.

The Action Plan!

So there’s two things to work on this week:

1. Serve wholeheartedly in all you do.  Remember it is Jesus you are serving.

2. Decide to be someone who will embrace and be stretched by God’s new work and not be someone trapped by inflexibility and a preference for the past.


[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.


[i] http://www.oasistradepost.com/Weddings_/weddings_.html

Monday, May 24, 2010

Pentecost Sunday - The Church You've Always Longed For

Pentecost Sunday 2010
The Church You’ve Always Longed For
Acts 2

 
What does the Church you’ve always longed for look like?
 Imagine it for just a moment!  What do you long for in a church family?  What have you experienced that has been great?  What things don't you want to be in a church family?  What does the ideal church look like to you?

A.        For many of us it’s the Acts 2 Church. 
What made the Acts 2 church so good?  It was that the Holy Spirit was at work powerfully in and through the believers.  That’s what Acts chapter 2 is all about, it’s like a field manual for people who  want to know what a healthy church looks like.
1.         The presence of the Holy Spirit changes people! (vv1-21)
What happened was dramatic – the Holy Spirit descended with a noise like the blowing of a violent wind and in what looked tongues of fire over each of the believers.  As He entered into each of the believers they began to speak in languages they had never learned.  Many Jews from all around the Roman Empire had come to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost.

(By the way this is also called “Shavuot” or the Feast of Weeks.  It’s the time when the Jewish people celebrated the giving of the Law at Mt Sinai, and also brought in the firstfruits of their harvest as an offering to God.  Don’t you love the significance of that?  As people celebrate the giving of the law God sends His Spirit, who is the One who helps us to live God’s way.  As people celebrate the harvest God has given them, God begins a new type of harvest – a harvest of souls for His Kingdom.  I love that!)

When people came to investigate the loud noise they heard Galileans speaking about God in the languages of their own countries, and it blows their minds!

We read in verses 12 & 13: Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.” 

Some people discerned that something supernatural was going on and wanted to know more, but others just ridiculed.  So Peter addresses both – he challenges the mockers and instructs the curious.  He first explains the significance of what the believers were doing according to the Scriptures they had at the time – the Old Testament.  Then he goes on to say “Men of Israel, listen to this…” (v22) and he proceeds to preach the gospel.  That’s the second sign of a healthy church.

2.         The gospel is preached (vv22-41)
This message that Peter preaches is a great example to anyone who wants to preach.  The Holy Spirit is at work in Peter to turn him from a denier of Christ to a preacher of Christ, and I want you to notice how Peter does that.

1.         He preaches from Scripture
2.         He explains what the Scriptures mean
3.         He applies the Scriptures to their current situation
4.         He gives clear instruction about how to respond

I love the way verse 40 says “With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them..” – you really see Peter’s heart for the people he is speaking to and you see how important it is for them to listen and respond.

Healthy churches are marked by clear, faithful preaching of the gospel and by a culture of response to the gospel. 

As we’ve covered what happened on day one we have to ask if this was supposed to set a pattern for what would happen afterward.  Should we hear a noise every time the Holy Spirit comes to live inside a person, should there be a tongue of fire alighting on them and should they speak in a language they’ve never learned?  If the answer is yes, then I’d say most of us are in trouble!  Yet there are people who see things happen in the book of Acts or in other books of the Bible and make them into rules – because something happened once or even many times then it should always happen.  Obviously that is faulty reasoning.

Let’s broaden our focus to look at how the last verses of Acts 2 describe the regular life of the early church to see how that helps us…

3.         The details may change but the pattern remains! (vv42-47)
We can see in verse 42 that the preaching and teaching of the gospel continued, and people were devoted to it.  So obviously point 2 still applies – the proclamation of the gospel and response to it continues to be a sign of a healthy church.  We read in verse 47 that God added to their number daily those who were being saved, which means that people were hearing the gospel and responding in repentance and faith.

The rest of the things that we read about in these verses fit into our first point – the presence of the Holy Spirit changes people.  But this time, the evidence of that change is different.  We read of people being devoted to fellowship with one another, eating together, remembering Christ and praying together.  We read about financial generosity toward one another and praising God together.  We read of miraculous signs being performed by the Apostles.  We don’t read about any more loud noises or tongues of fire or even speaking other languages, but clearly these Christians are showing evidence that the Holy Spirit is within them – their whole lives are being changed.  And people are noticing the difference that God is making in their lives, which is opening doors for the preaching of the gospel just like it did on day 1.

When the Holy Spirit works powerfully in a group of Christians like He did on Pentecost Sunday, the result is always transformed lives that reflect His presence and the preaching of the gospel.  The details might change – the preaching of the gospel for example might look more like a conversation over a cuppa than a challenge to a crowd, but the gospel will be proclaimed nonetheless.

So how do we see more of the Acts 2 Church in our church?  How can we see more evidence of the Holy Spirit within each one of us through radically transformed lives, and how can we see greater effectiveness in our preaching of the gospel?

B.         The power to be the church you’ve always longed for is within each of us

1.         It’s already happening, we just want to see more of it!
The more you get involved in the church the more you get blessed by seeing how God is at work in and through people.  We’ve been talking about stewardship recently, and the overriding principle is that with God has entrusted us with everything good in order to glorify Him, enjoy His blessing and be a blessing to others.  I see that happening all the time in lots of different ways.  That’s evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in people’s lives.  Different people tend to show it in different ways: for some people it’s a dedication to service and putting time and energy into doing that, for others there is a real generosity in financial giving, for others there’s a graciousness and a desire to quietly encourage, for some it’s in the way they are coping with difficult circumstances or coming alongside someone in need.  For some it’s the way they stand firm against temptation.  We could go on and on listing ways that people in our church are showing evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in them. 
I was blessed by the efforts of our mission committee in running the quiz night and the way that so many people contributed in so many different ways.  It’s happening, it’s great and I think we are only going to see more of it.  We are becoming the church that you long for because God is here and He is at work in us!  How can we experience more of His power in making this happen?...

2.         We access that power not by focusing within, but on letting the Holy Spirit focus us on Christ

There’s a whole bunch of Scriptures that teach us about this, but the best place to start is to go back to the time when Jesus was promising the Holy Spirit to His followers and explaining what the Holy Spirit would do.

We read in John 14:23-26
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
 “All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

The Apostles had first-hand teaching from Jesus.  The early Christians had it passed on to them verbally by the Apostles and we have it passed onto us in written form in the New Testament as the Apostles remembered and applied the teachings of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.  That same power working within us helps us to remember and apply all that Jesus has taught no matter what our circumstances might be.

That’s why what Chris taught us last week is so important – we need to invest time in listening to the Holy Spirit as He points us to Jesus.  The power is within us, but the focus is outside us – Jesus Christ and all that He has taught us.

One day every person will see Christ with their own eyes and will acknowledge Him as Lord.  The Holy Spirit helps us to see Christ through the eyes of faith and live with Him as Lord every day until He returns or we go to be with Him.

For the last month we’ve been considering the topic of stewardship – what we do with what we’ve been given.

Whether or not we become the church that we all long for really depends on what we do with what we’ve been taught as the Holy Spirit continues to remind us and challenge us to be obedient to Jesus.

Will you glorify God?  Will you enjoy His blessing and share that blessing with others?

If we get really serious about glorifying God and blessing others with our personal finances, we will enable this church as a whole to glorify God, enjoy His blessing together and be a blessing to others in ways that we have not been able to before.  God has given us all the resources we need, we just need to allow His Spirit to teach us and remind us how to use them.

The same is true for where we are investing our time, and in how we are investing in our relationships.  Give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to speak to you about these things.  Let Him help you put the teachings of Jesus into practice in your life and God will be glorified and we will all be blessed.  We will be the church that you long for.

Don’t make it someone else’s responsibility.  Don’t fall for that selfish consumerist idea of shopping around for a church that meets your needs but requires the least from you.  You won’t find God’s blessing that way.

Read Acts 2:42-47 again in your own time and ask God “What should this look like in my life?”  Then do it.

The only thing holding us back from being the church we all long for is our willingness to listen and obey.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Stewardship Pt 3 - Time

Stewardship of Time
17/05/2010
Chris Carrie


So many of us act like we either don’t think our time will ever end, and so we waste our lives away; or we try to cram so much into our week that we don’t take time out to relax & decide what’s truly important. If we really believed that our time on this Earth was limited, what are the major things that we’d make time for?

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Stewardship Pt 2 - Relationships


Stewardship pt 2 - Relationships
09/05/2010


Introduction – Stewardship as a way of life.

Happy Mother’s Day!!

It’s been great to reflect this morning on the significance of Mothers and Motherhood.  Like any relationship there is a huge spectrum of experiences and emotions that are attached to motherhood.

Today we are going to think about our relationships in the context of the Christian life principle of stewardship.  In other words, we are going to think about relationships as being a gift from God intended for His glory, for our good and the good of those around us. 

This has been the pattern of how God has dealt with humanity from day one.  We can look at a large number of examples, but probably the classic one is Abraham because God repeats His promise to him several times during the course of Abraham’s life. In Genesis 12:2 we read God’s words:
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”

As the nation that was set apart to God, their greatness and the impact they would have on the other nations of the world would serve to glorify God.

The same principle is stated in 1 Corinthians 10:31 where Christians are instructed “...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

So whenever we talk about stewardship we’re talking about the attitude that says “God has entrusted something to me for His glory, my good and the good of those around me”, and it is that attitude which drives our decision-making.

Back in Jesus’ day the Jewish people were guided in their decision making by a huge collection of laws and interpretations of laws.  Sometimes it wasn’t that clear exactly what the law required of a person because of the number of different interpretations that floated around.

One of the experts in the law tested Jesus with a question – among all these, which is the greatest commandment of the law?

Jesus responded:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ a 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ b 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [1]
(Matthew 22:37-40)

Jesus follows the same life principle that underlies stewardship!  First, love God with everything you have, then love your neighbour as yourself. 

Loving God means that we seek His good, His glory in all that we do – that’s our number one priority.  We glorify God.  Secondly we love others and ourselves.

There was a saying when I grew up that the secret to a life of joy was found in the letters – J O Y – Jesus, Others then You.  That’s a great little saying, but it’s not always correct.  Yes, Jesus must always come first, but there are times when the needs of others comes before ours and there are times when we must put our needs before the needs of others. 

Jesus tells us to love others as ourselves, not more than ourselves.  Similarly in Philippians 2:4 we are told “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

In that passage we read of how Jesus took the nature of a servant, even to the point of dying on the cross for us.  This is a key issue.  The Bible tells us that Jesus did this to glorify God the Father through His obedience and what it would achieve (eg. Php 2:11, Jn 12:27-28).  It tells us that Jesus died for our good, so that we could be forgiven, justified, adopted, sanctified and glorified (eg Rom 5&6).  It tells us that Jesus also died on the cross for His own good – for the joy set before Him as Hebrews 12 describes it.  A lot of people neglect this biblical truth.  His death on the cross is what will see Him re-established as Lord over all creation and will accomplish His desire of an eternal love relationship with us. 

Remember Jesus is the one who showed us how to relate to God and also how God relates to us – He was fully God and fully human, and so He shows us God and shows us how to be fully human as God intended us to be.

So Jesus is our example of how to love God with everything and to love others as ourselves.  He shows us how to glorify God, experience God’s blessing and be a channel of blessing to others.

With that in mind let’s turn to 1 Peter 4:7

7 The end of all things is near.
Remember the lesson of Esau last week?  Don’t let temporary desires or circumstances distract you from what is truly valuable.  A Christian lives by faith for God’s eternal kingdom, but the things we can see around us and the desires that we feel inside us push us toward what is temporary and often contrary to God’s best for us.

I hope you know well the parable of the talents, found in Matthew chapter 25.  The point of that parable is simple – God has entrusted each of us with different things, and when He comes to judge the world He will ask us what we have done with what He entrusted to us.

Peter, who listened to that parable, now writes that the end is near – how near no-one knows, but in God’s eternal timeline it is very close.  A few thousand years here and there mean nothing in God’s timeline, but the point is that none of us know when the end of this age will come, so be ready.

Think about what God has entrusted to you, and how you will account for it when that day comes.

What has God entrusted to you?

Well, you have material possessions, as we talked briefly about last week.  You have money and you have stuff – how are you using them for the glory of God, your good and the good of others?

You have the message of the gospel which brings salvation to all who believe it – how are you sharing that message for the glory of God, your good and the good of others?

You have skills, abilities, experience, knowledge, wisdom – how are you using them to the glory of God, your good and the good of others?

You have time – how are you using it to the glory of God, your good and the good of others?  Chris will give us some biblical wisdom on that next week!

And you have relationships – that’s what we’re going to focus our attention on today.  How are we using the relationships that we’ve been entrusted with to the glory of God, our good and the good of others?

Obviously the Bible contains a huge amount of practical instruction about specific types of relationships, specific situations within relationships and specific attitudes and behaviours that affect relationships which we need to pay attention to.  We won’t cover all of that today, but we will cover some key principles to help us as we think of relationships generally.

The first issue we are going to cover is a question:

Are all relationships entrusted to us by God?

As technology has advanced our ability to stay connected and get connected to other people has become enormous, and enormously complicated.  We can travel over vast distances and communicate through all sorts of media, so relationships don’t naturally become greater or lesser priorities as much as they used to.  Even when people move away we can see them and talk to them and message them and keep up with how they’re feeling on Facebook!  We tend to have more and shallower relationships.  So which relationships are we supposed to be investing in and which ones should we let slide? 

There is also the unpleasant reality that not all relationships are healthy or helpful.  Some relationships are in fact abusive.  We don’t often talk about such emotionally raw stuff in church services – we leave it for specific counselling situations.  But unfortunately that means that too many people don’t know what the Bible says about such things.

In some Christian circles there has been a warped teaching which promotes constant selflessness as the antidote to selfishness.  So you have people becoming doormats and accepting all sorts of abuse and exploitation as though it were God’s will for them.  They are told that accepting God’s sovereignty means putting up with whatever rubbish others dish out to them and trusting God to change things if He wants to.  The misread Jesus’ instruction in the sermon on the Mount to turn the other cheek, carry the load and extra mile and give to whoever asks as setting a pattern of acceptance of abuse.  It’s not.  It sounds a bit like it is when you first read through that section in Matthew 5, but a basic study of the passage, the historical context and the whole counsel of Scripture soon correct that misunderstanding.

Churches that warp the teaching of Scripture in that way have high incidence of domestic and organisational abuse going on, because they set people up to suffer it needlessly.  Personally, I think that ticks God off because it slanders His name and is not good for anyone.

If you have ever been taught that the Bible commands us to put up with abusive relationships I want you to know how sorry I am that that has happened and for whatever effect that has had on you or ones you care about. 

As Christians we will at times suffer for God’s glory, our eternal good and the good of others.  That does not mean that all suffering is to God’s glory, our good and the good of others.  Sometimes the Church just needs to stand up against the things that God is against.

I would be happy to study and discuss these issues in more depth with anyone who would like to do that.

Verse 7 continues…

Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

We’ve talked about this principle and this verse before, but today we’ll focus on how it applies to relationships.

Doe anyone remember the episode of King David and Bathsheba?  It is a tragic story of lust, adultery and murder.  We don’t know a lot about Bathsheba except that she was very beautiful (2 Sam. 11:2).  It was natural for David to desire her, but it was not appropriate.  David was overcome by natural desires.  He did not think clearly or exercise self-control, and so initiated a relationship with Bathsheba that should never have begun.  The results were extremely painful.

I’ve seen this same situation play out time and time again in the lives of Christians who have sought relationships that were not glorifying to God in the belief that they would still be good for them and possibly for the other person.  It doesn’t work that way.  Just because you feel drawn to a particular type of relationship with someone does not mean that it should happen.

I have seen many examples of people who have followed their desires like David on this occasion and like Esau last week, and have paid a terrible price.

There will be times when you will be tempted to enter into a relationship that is no appropriate for you.  You will be tempted to form a romantic connection with someone you should not connect to in that way.  You will be tempted to try fit in with a person or group by behaving in ways you should not.  You will feel pulled by people who want things from you that are not in God’s plan for you.  Not all relationships are gifts from God for you to use for His glory, your good and the good of others.  Don’t grasp at straws trying to find reasons why those relationships could be good, let them go.  Don’t end up paying an unnecessary price.

Often there is a clear biblical principle that you can use to guide your actions.  That’s where knowing the bible well yourself and talking to others about these issues is so important.

Sometimes though it’s not so clear which relationships you should be working at and which are a lesser priority.  Do we decide on the basis of how much we enjoy the other person?  Do we decide on the basis of how much we think they need us?  Do we decide on the basis of how much good we think we can do?  Do we decide on the basis of how guilty someone makes us feel if we don’t call or visit?

There are a huge number of variables here, and making the right decisions is tough!

But the verse isn’t finished
be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

If we want to know which relationships God is entrusting to us for His glory, our good and the good of others, the answer is to pray with a clear mind and self control.  So often we ask God to fulfil our own desires – to give us what we want or feel we need - and we get frustrated and disillusioned when He doesn’t do it.  We need self control to pray for His will and not our own.  So often people are confused about what they are praying for and need to be clear minded and confident in what they are asking God.

God will speak to us through His Word, through His people, through His Spirit and through circumstances in order to guide us as long as we have a prayerful attitude in order to receive that guidance.

Discerning God’s will in the area of our relationships is probably the most consistently challenging that I have come across.  There’s so much emotion, so many desires, fears, guilt and so on attached to relationships that it’s tough to be self-controlled, clear-minded and pray; but we need to do that with God’s help.

OK, so we’ve thought about relationships as being something entrusted to us by God, and we’ve discussed the importance of letting God determine who we are in relationship with and how we should be relating to them.

I want to spend just a few moments now looking at

The Goal of All Human Relationships

In the parable of the talents the goal was pretty clear – multiply the investment.  One guy started with 5 and earned 5 more, one guy started with 2 and earned 2 more.  The last servant started with one talent and did nothing with it, and his master was not impressed.

If God has given us some relationships, what does He want us to do with them?  Make more relationships?  That’s not it.

Let’s go back to the first sermon I delivered this year.  We discovered that God’s desire for all people is that they become disciples of Christ – followers of Jesus and members of His family.  He wants people to grow in their relationship with Christ so that they will be completely filled with His goodness.  That’s the goal of all human relationships.

Paul said in Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ”.[2]

That’s the goal!  We have different ways of working toward that goal, but that’s the goal we are all aiming for in all our relationships.

In 1 Peter 4:10-11 we read:
10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen

With your Spouse – the goal is to make a disciple, presenting him or her perfect in Christ.
With your Parenting – the goal is to make disciples, presenting your children perfect in Christ.
With your Church – the goal is to make disciples, presenting your fellow believers perfect in Christ.
With your Workmates – the goal is to make disciples, presenting them perfect in Christ
With your Friends – the goal is to make disciples, presenting them perfect in Christ
With others that God brings across your path - the goal is to make disciples, presenting them perfect in Christ

We’ve got to remind ourselves of this priority all the time, because our own sinful desires and the circumstances we face will always pull us in other directions.

We will want to be liked.  We will want to be accepted.  We will want to feel needed.  We will fear confrontation or rejection.  We will fear ridicule.  We will fear pushing others away.

I want you to be confident that God has given you the resources you need to make an impact in your relationships.  He’s given you His Spirit.  He’s given you the Church.  He’s given you the knowledge of the truth.  He’s given you gifts and talents and personality and so many other things.  Use them for His glory.  Seek first His Kingdom. 

When you get to heaven, you won’t be as concerned about whether people liked you or respected you or needed you as you are now.  You won’t be afraid of the things you are afraid of now.  You will see that what really mattered was how people prepared for eternity and how you were a part of that process for them.

Everyone has free will, we cannot force anyone nor should we try to manipulate anyone into accepting Jesus and living for Him.

But let’s use what we’ve been given to make sure we are doing everything we can to meet the goal of making disciples.  It’s the best way to glorify God and be a blessing to others and ourselves.



 a Deut. 6:5
 b Lev. 19:18
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mt 22:37). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Col 1:28). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Angels and Demons


Many people in our materialistic society either deny the existance of spiritual beings or have a warped (often comical) view of who and what they are.  In this message at our Sunday evening SEEK service Associate Pastor Chris Carrie gives a biblical overview of the reality of spiritual beings, their nature and activities, clearing up many misconceptions in the process.

Stewardship Pt 1 - Money and Stuff


 Stewardship pt 1 - Money and Stuff!

Hebrews 12:14-29
02/05/2010

What it is that has our hearts and controls our actions?

Today we begin a series on the topic of stewardship.  Stewardship is the concept of looking after something that has been entrusted to us but which belongs to someone else.  As Christians we believe that everything was created by Christ and for Christ (Col 1:16).  When we call Jesus Lord we mean that He is Lord over everything – including our money and our stuff; our relationships and our time.  Each of these things actually belong to God, and so we need to pay attention to what He says about what we do with them.

The Bible actually contains a huge quantity of practical teaching about this – far more than what we can cover over the next few weeks.  What we are going to focus on is developing the right Christian attitudes that will prepare you to receive and follow God’s leading for you in your stewardship of money and stuff.

Having said that, I now want you to put money and stuff at the back of your minds for a while.  The passage that we are studying has a much bigger focus, and once we have allowed God to speak to us through it, we’ll be able to start thinking about money and stuff in the right way.

Hebrews 12:14-29
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Remember that phrase!  It is a key idea which we will come to understand better as we look at the rest of the passage.

This letter was written to Jews, who had a good understanding of the history of their people and what we now call the Old Testament.  One of the things that God was doing as He inspired the writer of this letter was to help Jews understand how Jesus was the fulfillment of everything that happened up until His arrival.  This letter helped Jewish Christians to understand how their former religion of Judaism carried over into their new faith of Christianity.  It helped them understand what practices of Judaism – including the laws we read about in the Old Testament - were still relevant, which had changed and which had been made completely obsolete by Jesus.

Sometimes people get a bit confused in the area of managing money and stuff when it comes to the Old Testament laws that speak about this subject – especially the subject of “tithing”.  Understanding the letter to the Hebrews is a big help when it comes to making a biblical decision about that issue.

However, the really important issue when it comes to Stewardship of Money and Stuff is not how the Old Testament principle of tithing carries over into Christianity, but this principle that “without holiness no-one will see the Lord”.

Doesn’t make sense to you yet?  Don’t worry, it will!  Let’s read on...

 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

We’re not going to study everything in this passage, just what’s relevant to our topic today.  Let’s focus on Esau.  You remember the story…

Esau was the firstborn son of Isaac.  There was nothing he needed to do in order to earn his position, he had it by virtue of his birth.  He had the blessing.  He had the promise of wealth and authority.
But Esau was a man driven by his gut-level desires.  He comes in one day after being out in the open country and he was famished.  His brother Jacob has cooked some stew and Esau wants it, so Jacob offers it to him on the condition that Esau sell him the birthright – the position of being firstborn son.

Amazingly Esau accepts.  I don’t know if that was out of stupidity or extreme cockiness that he didn’t think his father would give Jacob the blessing anyway, since Isaac loved Esau more.

But Jacob is successful in getting the blessing and position of firstborn son from Esau.  Esau traded great wealth, status and authority as the head of a prosperous and powerful family, because he wanted some hot stew.  He’d been given something of great and lasting value and he traded it for something insignificant and temporary, and we are told to not make that same mistake.

When Esau realized his error he tried to take back his decision, but it was too late.  He’d had his fill of stew, but he would never inherit his father’s blessing and all that went along with it.  It was tragic.

Keep that in mind as we continue in the passage…

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

One time at youth group we had a whole bunch of kids running around in the hall making a lot of noise and being silly, and there was some rough play and a risk of someone getting hurt so I needed to have everyone stop immediately and listen to instructions.  I would normally have a whistle with me but I didn’t on this occasion so instead I let out an almighty yell “LISTEN”.  It was so loud that I surprised myself, and you should have seen the wide eyes that turned toward me as the kids all froze in shock!  After that I could speak in a normal voice and we went on to play some fun games and have a really great time.

The experience of the Israelites at Mt Sinai was a little like my almighty yell but on a much more impressive scale.  The kids who heard my yell were surprised and shocked for a moment that soon passed.  Those who heard God’s voice were absolutely terrified, and they begged Moses to be their go-between lest the voice of God should destroy them!

I want you to picture this scene as we hear it described from Exodus chapter 19
16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, 19 and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

God calls Moses up the mountain, and then sends him back down to the people with some more instructions for them.  Then God addresses the whole nation and gives them what we now call the ten commandments. 

The nation of Israel has been in Egypt for roughly 400 years.  Over that time you can imagine that many of the religious ideas and cultural practices of the Egyptians have become part of Israelite culture and thinking too.  Now as God has rescued them from slavery in Egypt, He introduces Himself to them at Mt Sinai and tells them how to live as His people.

Can you imagine hearing the voice of God as it thunders out from this mountain covered in smoke and darkness and trembling violently?  “Awesome” doesn’t begin to describe it!

They are so overwhelmed that they send Moses back to be the messenger, the go-between between them and God.  Moses stays up on the mountain for forty days and nights as God gives him the laws and instructions that the people need in order to follow God as His special people.

However before that happens there’s a really interesting event. 

Read: Exodus 24

Remember our key idea – without holiness no-one will see the Lord.

Ever since Adam and Eve sinned against God there had been a barrier between humanity and God.  Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden where they used to walk with God, and from then on people were not allowed to see Him.

But these 70-odd men got to see the Lord – why?  Because as a nation they had promised to obey everything God has commanded them.  They had set themselves apart as a group completely devoted to God – that’s what holiness means.  They would stop sinning and live by God’s standards.  They had made a covenant to do this – a covenant put into place through the sacrifice of 12 bulls and the sprinkling of the blood, the blood of the covenant.

But after hearing God’s voice and even seeing His glory…. the sacred cow!!  They go and break the very first two commandments God gave them! (Read Exodus 32 if you don't know the story).

Did God know that was going to happen?  Of course He did!  Then why did He let those leaders see Him, if He knew they were not going to keep their promises to be holy?

The answer is found in the blood of the covenant.  God knew that despite their best intentions and strongest agreements, despite His clear laws, people would keep on sinning.  The sprinkling of the blood was a sign pointing forward to the fact that God Himself would have to come into this world as one of us in order to take the penalty for our sins and win the victory on our behalf over sin.  We could not make ourselves holy, He would have to do it for us.  Over a thousand years later Jesus did exactly that, and that’s what we read about in the next section of Hebrews 12…

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Remember Mt Sinai – pretty awesome spectacle, but the whole “we promise to be holy” thing never worked out!  Mt Zion is a completely different scene.  It’s not the physical place being talked about hear but a heavenly one – the city of God.  Instead of God coming down to meet us at Mt Sinai we have been invited to come and meet Him in Heaven, with thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.  That phrase “joyful assembly” is a really interesting one.  You might think of it as a happy church service, but it’s much more than that.  The phrase is used of a victory celebration, such as would be held for an athlete who won the Olympic Games.  It’s referring to the full-on party in Heaven that celebrates the victory Jesus has one on our behalf.

So picture these two contrasting mountains – one which is terrifying and which represents an agreement by which people can be right with God – they can be holy – by obeying all of God’s commands.  The other mountain is the site of a heavenly city where there is joyful celebration of the fact that people can be made right with God by accepting His forgiveness, earned for us through the death of Jesus Christ for our sins.  We no longer have to obey God’s commands in order to be holy, rather we obey God’s commands because we have been made holy.  And because we have been made holy we get to see and know God.

We’ve come to the church of the firstborn – those who have received the blessing not because we earned it but because we’ve been born into it – we’ve been given new life in Jesus.
But let’s remember Esau, who was a firstborn who traded his inheritance for insignificant, short term rewards.  It’s not likely that any of us would consider a hot stew to be more important than being part of God’s heavenly kingdom, but is it possible that there are other types of insignificant, temporary things that become more important to us than what is truly valuable and eternal?  Is it possible that our priorities could get similarly out of whack?  Listen to this warning…

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”[1]

This section talks of judgement.  Even though the Israelites saw the awesome spectacle and heard the booming voice of God, they turned away from Him time and time again.  The result for them was judgement.  People died because of disobedience.

Our God is still a consuming fire.  He still burns against evil and will destroy it in all it’s forms, but He is holding off that judgement for the sake of those who will turn to Him and receive forgiveness before it is too late.  He doesn’t want anyone to end up like Esau who had to live with the consequences of his foolish decision.  He doesn’t want anyone to be so wrapped up in the insignificant, temporary stuff of this life that they trade in their inheritance in the next life.  But eventually judgement will come and we must be ready.

In the meantime, since we are receiving an eternal kingdom let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.  This is where we come back to the issue of stewardship.  The Bible teaches us that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).  He has given us everything we need for this life and the next, and He has given us instructions on what we are to do with what He has given us.

What will your attitude be toward the money and stuff that God has entrusted to you?  Are you thankful for what you have been given or are you envious of those who have more?  Are you worshipping God reverently in how you use what you have been given, or is your money and stuff set aside for your own purposes?

Without holiness no-one will see the Lord.  Holiness is to be completely set aside for Him for His exclusive use.  Does the word “Holy” fit with your attitude, you lifestyle and your stuff?

Of course we fall short of that standard, and through Jesus we have forgiveness and restoration.  But if you want to see and know God in your everyday life – to really experience life as a follower of Christ – holiness is the standard.  This is how Jesus said it in Matthew 6:24

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Have you set yourself apart to serve God, or are you serving money and stuff (which is really just serving your own selfish desires)?

There’s a heart attitude that needs to be examined here.

Jesus came across a guy once who seemed keen to be right with God.  But Jesus recognised that there was something of even greater importance to this man – his wealth.  When Jesus challenged him to give up his wealth in order to follow him the man went away sad – he could not bring himself to do it.  How about you?  Does Jesus have the right to command anything of you, even to take away all of your money and stuff?  Until the answer is “Yes”, you are not worshipping God acceptably with reverence and awe, but you have become an idolator.
Conclusion
As I mentioned at the start of the message, there are so many great passages in the Bible that give us practical instruction about how to honour God with the money and stuff He has entrusted to us.

The danger is that we will treat those passages as rules which - just like the Israelites – we will fail to obey and then we just carry around a sense of guilt and the area of money and stuff is one that we sort of leave God out of. 

What I hope you have the chance to do today is remind yourself of the big picture.  Remind yourself of who and what you really live for.  Remind yourself who has given you everything you have, and why He has done so.

I hate the fact that as Christians we often say we live for eternity yet in many cases our personal budgets don’t show a lot of difference between us and those who live for what is temporary.  Doesn’t that strike you as odd?  I wonder if you were to sit and go through your financial habits today what God would say to you?  That’s a challenge I hope you take up.

Let me close with the words of Jesus, from Matthew 6:19-21

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This is the kingdom that cannot be shaken that we read about in Hebrews.  Is that where your heart is today?  Is that where you have come to: the Heavenly city and the church of the firstborn in eternal celebration of what Jesus has done for us?  I hope so.


[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan..