2 Peter – Innocent lives

2 Peter 3:10-18

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Luke 21:25-36

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Living in the light of eternity

At the end of August, I turned eighty-five. And for me, it was a time of reflection. First, gratitude for God's blessings on me, undeserved throughout my life. Wonderful time to say thank you. but also a time to reflect on my mortality.

Eighty-five, how many years have I got left? It reminded me a bit of Thomas Kemp's great hymn, where he says this,

Redeem thy mis-spent time that's past,
Live this day as if 'twere thy last;
T'improve thy talents take due care,
'Gainst the great day thy self prepare.

Very sobering words.

So to our New Testament lesson for today, the epistle from 2 Peter. Now I know you are doing this series, or have done it, in the benefice, and tonight is your last sermon on this letter. Just a little bit of background.

Peter is writing to followers of Jesus scattered throughout Asia Minor, which is now, of course, Western Turkey. He addresses them very warmly. Dear friends, he calls them. He knew them, probably. Now, he himself was soon to meet his end at the hands of Nero in Rome. So he knew all about getting ready for, if you like, the end. And he wants to encourage them to live in the light of eternity and be ready for that great day. We've heard it expressed in our two lessons today.

Now in this letter he particularly stresses the corruption of his society at the time. He speaks of scoffers, false teachers, corrupt dealers of sinful nature, people being slaves of depravity. Now it goes without saying that we live in a secular society, and I've sometimes said that certainly since the early 1960s, we are governed by the unholy trinity of materialism. This material world is all there is. There's no God, so invest in the now. Possessions, wealth and all the rest of it. Next, individualism. Not individuality, but individualism. What's right for you is right for you. What's right for me is right for me. Never mind anybody else. And then relativism. There are no absolutes. Just do as you please.

Well that's been around for some time and we're terribly aware of that pressure so in the light of all of that Peter says first of all make every effort. Before I retired I read a very helpful book called The Highway Code of Retirement it's by David Winter who was head of religious broadcasting at the BBC, got ordained later and died quite recently. And I got to know this lovely man. And he has the Ten Commandments of Retirement. And one of them is, keep self-effort going, keep disciplined in your life. Church going, serving others, all that sort of stuff. And I realised too that when I retired, I could easily have just become a bit slack in my devotional life. And I determined that I would continue reading the Bible every day and so on.

So Peter says, for example, in chapter 1, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, kindness, knowledge, self-control, service of others, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love. Make every effort. Don't give up. Be self-disciplined. And in our lesson for tonight, therefore, dear friends, once again, make every effort to be strong in your faith. Don't take God's love for granted. That's a good one. Self-discipline. Keep at it.

Next, he says, live in the light of the coming of the Lord. Now, how does God come to us? He comes through our friends, he comes in nature, he comes as we worship, he comes in all sorts of ways. C.S. Lewis once said God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us through our conscience, shouts to us through our pain. Suffering is God's loud speaker to rouse the deaf world. God is always coming to us and he speaks to us in so many ways. Live therefore in the light of eternity now.

As I was thinking about this, on holiday I read a wonderful book by John Stott The Incomparable Christ. In this book he shares about a number of people over the years who've been greatly influenced by Jesus in different ways. And one of them was the Earl of Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. He was born in 1801. His parents ignored him. He had a terrible childhood. But a wonderful nanny talked to him about Jesus and he started to have a faith as a young boy. He went to Harrow and there he had a very disturbing but life-changing experience. He saw a funeral procession of a pauper. The men who were carrying the coffin were drunk and they dropped the coffin and they laughed and swore. He was devastated when he saw that. And he decided to devote his life to caring for the poor. He entered Parliament, aged only 25, and he pioneered a whole lot of laws through Parliament. So, for example, the Coal Mines Act of 1842, reducing the hours that people worked in the coalfields, the Ten Hour Factory Act, similarly, the so-called Lunacy Act, where he made the treatment of people with psychiatric needs much more humane. He founded the Ragged School Union, and so on.

Now, what motivated him? Well, I'll tell you what it was. The second coming, the end, the second coming of Jesus. And I quote from his biographer. During 1830, he became firmly and virtually convinced of the second coming of Christ. It entered into all his thoughts and feelings, wrote Edwin Hodder. It stimulated him in the midst of all his labours. It gave tone and colour to all his hopes for the future. He was living in the light of eternity. A great, great man — the poor man's earl, I thought of him.

So, says Peter, live each day as if thy last. And then he says, thank God for those who have encouraged you in your journey of faith. And he ends his letter like that. He says, remember St. Paul, all his teaching. Thank God for people like that.

I wonder who's encouraged you in your journey of faith. I've had many encouragements. I came to a living faith when I was 16 on a boys' scripture union house party camp and I am so grateful for the leaders who encouraged me. I went to university; so grateful for the churches there and the people, fellow students, who encouraged me. I became ordained and had two wonderful training vicars on a council estate parish in Chatham. They were wonderful, they encouraged me in my faith. And then at the tender age of 40 I got married and I have a wonderful wife who encourages me. She's also my severest critic, I need that as well, but what an encourager that I have in her; and then my children and so on.

I'm also a member of a wonderful book group. We're about, we're seven men, all getting on a bit, retired clergy and others, and we meet every so often. We don't necessarily read Christian books and whoever chooses a book sends us questions beforehand and we meet together and we discuss it over a cup of tea and so on. But it's more than just a book group. It's a group of encouragement. And we've learnt to be vulnerable with each other and to share our joys and sorrows and to pray for one another. I personally find that incredibly encouraging. In fact, David Winter, Ten Commandments of Retirement, includes friendships. Friendships are so important when we don't have work colleagues. And I personally owe so much to people like that.

So it is that Peter, writing to these Christians, many of whom were facing persecution, says, first, let's live in the light of eternity, one day at a time. We don't know when actually we're going to leave this life behind. It can come any time. Second, let's resist the temptations of our secular world. Let's not compromise our faith. Let's be self-disciplined in our prayer, our study, and all the rest of it. And then, finally, let's thank God for all those who've encouraged us in our journey of faith. And let's be encouragers to one another. Amen.

2 Peter – The day of the Lord

2 Peter 3:1-9

The Day of the Lord

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9he Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Matthew 24:36-44

The Day and the Hour

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

To Be Continued…

We all know the rhythm, don’t we, of a good television series. One episode ends, the immediate problems resolve, the music begins and the credits roll. But that’s, of course, not the end of the story. The characters remain, the story continues, and often the next episode opens up something bigger than we first imagined.

And this is a helpful way to read the beginning of Acts. Luke wrote the first part of his report about Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, and we heard the ending of that as our first reading. And we might think, well, there we go, that’s the story done. Jesus has done his work. The credits roll.

But Acts opens by saying these amazing words: that actually Luke’s first book, the Gospel, was all about what Jesus began to do and teach. Acts shows us what Jesus then continues to do and to teach, no longer visibly in Galilee and in Jerusalem, but invisibly and powerfully from heaven, by his Spirit, through his witnesses, the apostles.

So Acts is not really the story of Peter and Paul and Barnabas and all the others, or even of the early church. At the deepest level, the book of Acts that we’re going to be studying in our sermon series for the next few weeks is the story of the ascended Lord Jesus continuing his mission by the Holy Spirit through ordinary people who bear witness to him.

So three things to think about this evening.

The continuing Christ.

Verse 1 of Acts 1 says, “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” And that’s amazing, isn’t it? Because it shows the earthly ministry of Jesus was only the beginning.

The ascension that we’re celebrating this evening doesn’t mean that Jesus has gone away into retirement, as it were. It means he’s gone to the throne. He’s continuing his work, orchestrating salvation, but from heaven. So really, Acts is not the Acts of the Apostles in the strictest sense. It’s a bit of a misnomer. It’s the acts of the ascended Christ through his apostles.

Imagine watching the opening episode of a great drama. The first episode introduces the characters, the conflict, the promise, the mission. And then, just as it ends, the words appear: “To be continued.” And that’s what Luke is doing. Acts is that continuation.

This matters for church and ministry even today. It shows us that we’re not caretakers of religious memory. We’re not kind of museum custodians. We serve the living, reigning Christ, who still speaks through his word.

Jesus began to do and teach amazing things in his life on earth. And that didn’t finish with the last chapter of Acts. It continues even today. Jesus still does his work through his church: in the preaching of the word, in gathering sinners, in building up our faith and in changing lives.

So when we pray, when we share the gospel with others, when we welcome people into church, when we study the Bible together, we’re not trying to keep a dying institution alive. We’re participating in the continuing mission of Jesus.

The confused commissionees.

That’s people who’ve been commissioned. That’s a real word, but it’s alliterative.

In verse 6, they say to Jesus,

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?”

And if you’ve been following Jesus’ mission, that should be a facepalm moment. You should be thinking, “Oh, disciples, have you really still not understood? Do you really still think that Jesus’ mission was about restoring the kingdom of Israel as a kind of military power against the Romans? Oh gosh, come on.” But actually, it’s not a stupid question, because the Old Testament really did promise restoration. Jesus really is the King. But the disciples still don’t fully grasp what his mission is all about.

And that shows us the missing piece is the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told them to wait for the promise of the Father. It shows they don’t merely need more information. They had more than enough knowledge. What they needed was illumination. They needed the Spirit to open their eyes and to fit them for the task.

It’s like a problem I increasingly have with long-sightedness. Is anybody else here long-sighted? These glasses will get increasingly thick as I get older, basically, which means my eyes will look all huge. So when I pick up a book without my glasses, I can see that there is writing on the page, but I can’t actually understand the specifics of what it’s about, because it’s all a big blur.

In the same way, the disciples knew that there is a kingdom of God, but they needed the glasses of the Spirit to enable them properly to understand its actual meaning. And it’s the same for us today. That’s humbling for us, because it shows we can be religious but still misunderstand Jesus’ mission, because it’s a blur. We’re not using the Holy Spirit to understand what the Bible says about him.

The disciples needed the Spirit not merely to make them bold, although they did need that, but to make their understanding clear. So our churches must not be driven by nostalgia or habit or institutional survival. We need to keep asking: what is the risen Jesus actually doing? What mission has he given us? What would it mean to be led by his Spirit rather than by our own assumptions? We need to make sure that we’re putting on the glasses of the Spirit when we read the Bible, when we think about the world around us, and praying that he would do that for us and for others. Because Jesus continues his mission by his Spirit, and that shows we mustn’t assume we naturally understand what he’s doing. We’ve got to depend on the Spirit to realign our vision with his kingdom.

The worldwide witnesses.

In verse 8, Jesus says,

“You will be my witnesses.”

And Jesus doesn’t answer their question, “Are you going to restore the kingdom?”, by giving them a date. He says it’s not for them to know exactly when that’s going to happen. But what they will know is that they’re about to receive power from on high through the Holy Spirit.

Don’t worry about the coming back of the kingdom, but do worry about this: your job is now to witness to me, beginning in Jerusalem, spreading out throughout the Mediterranean, and then, wonderfully, at the end of Acts it culminates in Paul preparing himself to go to Rome itself, the heart of imperial power, to witness to the emperor himself about Jesus. And notice what the disciples are witnesses to. They’re not witnesses to values, as if “try harder to be good” is Jesus’ central message. No, they’re witnesses to his person: Jesus’ life, Jesus’ death, his resurrection, his reign, his mercy, his salvation.

So think for a second what it means to be a witness in court. The witness isn’t there to entertain, to speculate, to impress. A witness is just there to say, “This is what I’ve seen. This is what I know. This is the truth I have to tell.” And as the church, we’re meant to be in the witness box, testifying to the world, not to look impressive but to be faithful in telling the truth about Jesus. And that gives us the shape of Christian ministry. We’re not called to be successful or popular or respectable or busy or useful. We’re called to be witnesses first and foremost.

That means church life must keep moving outward: from worship to witness, from fellowship together to mission, from receiving the gospel to speaking the gospel to others.

So this new series through Acts will encourage us to keep asking: how does the ascended Jesus bear witness to himself through his people today? How is he calling us to join in that here and now? And so the ascension is not Jesus leaving the mission behind. It’s Jesus taking the throne from which the mission goes forward.

And Acts begins with three great truths.

• Jesus has not stopped working. It’s the same today.

• Jesus’ disciples can’t do the work without the Spirit. It’s the same today.

• The church exists for one purpose, and that’s to witness to Christ.

And it’s the same today.

2 Peter – False teachers

2 Peter 2:12-22

But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.

They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech—who spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

Matthew 12:43-45

“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

2 Peter – False teachers

2 Peter 2:1-11

False Teachers and Their Destruction

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgement; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.

Matthew 7:15-23

A Tree and Its Fruit

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

2 Peter – The prophetic message

2 Peter 1:12-21

Prophesy and Scripture

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 17:1-9

The Transfiguration

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Our faith will be fruitful if we have been with Jesus through scripture and the Spirit

A few evenings ago, I was channel hopping and came across the BBC Proms concert – American Classics. I didn’t watch it all, but I did catch an astonishing performance of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. It’s memorable music with some unforgettable melodies. It’s also very complex rhythmically with lots of intricate percussion work woven through the rest of the instruments. As I listened, I kept thinking how easily the musicians could get it wrong as there were so many syncopations and dropped beats. And more remarkably the conductor - an American woman called Marin Alsop - conducted the whole piece with no score in front of her. The whole, complex piece was conducted from memory. She knew it inside out and back to front.

So perhaps we were not surprised to learn, in the interval blurb, that she was a prodigy of Bernstein himself. He had mentored her as a young conductor. We saw some still photos of her as a young woman, conducting with Leonard Bernstein standing behind her prompting and guiding as she played his music. No wonder she knew how the music should be performed - she knew its composer as a friend and guide. She delivered an outstanding performance, because she knew the writer. Her qualification was that she had been with Bernstein.

And there’s an interesting parallel here with St Peter. He was a great communicator for the Gospel, a great pastor and missionary to the Jewish people. God used him to build the very foundations of the Church. What was Peter’s qualification? That he had been with Jesus.

If you were with us last Sunday at Holy Ascension, you’ll know that we’ve started a new sermon series from the 2nd letter of Peter. Its author is the Apostle Simon Peter. The letter is addressed simply to those who have received a faith in Jesus Christ; it was probably intended for the fledgling churches in Asia Minor, what we know as modern-day Turkey, but it’s equally applicable to us in our context and our generation. And its purpose is to encourage church members to live faithful Christian lives: to show forth fruit from their faith by developing Christian character, growing in godliness and love.

There are also warnings about false teachers who would arise in their midst and rock people’s determination to live for Jesus - warnings not to be led astray into the unfaithful and loose lifestyle that they would promote. But more of that from Chapter 2 next week. So for now let’s take a closer look at what Paul has to say from today’s reading. I have 3 headings today we start by looking back briefly to last week’s sermon. Our first heading:

1. Reminders

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 2 Peter 1:12

What are these things he’s reminding them about? Well, he’s written about them in the preceding verses, and we thought about them last Sunday. We can summarise it like this:

You have been called by God - saved from your sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and now God invites you to live godly lives for him. The slate has been wiped clean, and now we must be productive and effective in our faith. We are to be a work in progress, growing in godliness.

And Peter will keep on reminding them of these things, he says, while he has breath in his lungs, because they are so important.  He wants to be sure they have these principles set solid as the foundation of their faith. He writes

I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 2 Peter 1:13-14

Peter knows his own death is imminent - indeed just a little while after writing this letter he would be martyred in the terrible persecutions of the Roman Emperor Nero.

Peter is anxious that the fledgling Christians shouldn’t be seduced by false teaching. For the arguments were persuasive and dangerous. False teachers were promoting immorality as if it were of no consequence, and weaker Christians were at risk of being led astray. Their false theology was based on cleverly invented stories, writes Peter, even to the point of denying Jesus.

So, if the Christians are to keep their doctrine and their lifestyles pure, why should they listen to Peter rather than the new teachers? What is the basis of Peter’s authority? Two things, so two more headings: his encounters with Jesus; and the testimony of the scriptures.

2. Encounters

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. 2 Peter 1:16-18

He’s referring to the Transfiguration on the Mountain where Moses and Elijah appeared alongside Jesus.

Peter had been with Jesus. He had of course spent three years with Jesus as his disciple; but for Peter the pinnacle was the experience of the Transfiguration. God’s voice: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” was for Peter the confirmation of Jesus’ authority and the truth of his message.

Peter had seen the evidence  first hand of Jesus’ divinity - that he was God in human form. And that was a transformational experience. It was akin, I suppose, to Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road - seeing Jesus’ majesty, hearing his voice and being changed from persecutor of the church to growing into one of its most important leaders.

There’s something about being with Jesus that does that to people - when they glimpse his majesty and glory they are changed forever. Peter was changed - Paul was changed - and you and I can also be changed. When we have an encounter with Jesus personally, life changes. Some have said it’s like life has gone from black & white to colour.

And that change is mediated through his Holy Spirit - when we hand our lives over to Jesus, his Spirit comes into our hearts to bind us to him, and to start that process of change and renewal from the inside out.

We too can be with Jesus.

Peter knew that, and the early Christians knew that. But for Peter there was a second source of authority: the testimony of the scriptures

3. Scriptures

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:19-21

Peter is saying that the scriptures - the prophesies that foretold the coming of Jesus, and his nature as Messiah - dovetail with what Peter and those early Christians had experienced. The false teachers were in effect ditching scriptures in favour of their own scripts - coming up with their own explanations as to why morality wasn’t important. And don’t we see that sadly in our day - church leaders who brush aside scriptural teachings as being ‘out of touch with modern society’ or who even deny fundamental tenets of the faith like the resurrection and the virgin birth.

Peter will have some pretty strong words for those men in chapter 2 and no doubt he would have pretty strong words for their equivalents in our day.

But the scriptures are to be foundational - we meet there with Jesus, and by his Spirit he opens the scriptures that we might understand. Why? Because the whole canon of scripture is there to point us to Jesus. He is the focal point, the culmination, the consummation of all that the prophets spoke. And so, says Peter, v19,

you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place.

I wonder, how do you view scripture? Is the bible a dusty book that sits unopened on your shelf? A text written in Jacobean language that mystifies you more than moves you?

Oliver and I frequently champion our home groups, gatherings where we look at biblical passages and chew them over to increase our understanding as we learn together. I currently lead two - one in Westcote and one in Icomb - and I am sure those who attend will agree that we never cease to marvel at the scriptures - we even get excited about them - as we grow in our understanding.

And my prayer as I facilitate those groups is that we won’t just grow in understanding, but also in godliness.

But you don’t have to join a group to read the bible. You can read it in the privacy of your own home. If you have never really done that before , you may need help - in which case ask, and I can give you some pointers. And if you find the language confusing, there’s a number of modern-language translations that make the scriptures so much more accessible.

I picked up a new car this week. It’s a complex self-charging hybrid and when I lifted the bonnet I was amazed at the mass of cables and tubes that I saw. With such advanced mechanics, long gone are the days when you bought a Haynes workshop manual to go with your car. You may remember them - they contained everything you needed to know about how to keep your car on the road when there were things that needed attention.

Similarly, the bible is like a Haynes manual - it’s the workshop manual for mankind. Our handy guide to how we work and how we relate to our Creator. Now if you own a Volkswagen or an Audi, you would hope that the manual would be in English rather than German. If you own a Nissan or a Honda, that it would be in English rather than in Japanese. Because workshop manuals need to be clear, in a language we can easily access - and likewise the bible.

So, choose a version you can understand. If you’re good at Jacobean English, go for the King James Version; if you’re better at contemporary English, our church New International Versions may well suit you better. Or use both if you prefer. Or others.

But can I urge you to pick up a bible and read it? Just read a little every day. Start with the New Testament which you will probably find easier than the Old. Maybe a Gospel like the Gospel of Mark, which will enthral you.

Because this book is not just a collection of sayings and dogma. This is the inspired Word of God. As Peter tells us

Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21

It is God the Holy Spirit who lies behind the texts that we read. Written by men but breathed by the Spirit. And those texts are to be for us

a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. v19

Who is the morning star? That’s Jesus; and these are the texts and the wisdom that will keep us close to him until the final day dawns - the Great Day of Judgement, when Jesus will take us to be with him for all eternity.

These scriptures enable us to grow in our relationship with Jesus - as we combine them with prayer and worship, they are our lifeline until that time.

So, there we are - Reminders, Encounters, Scriptures.

Over the years I have met, from time to time, people whose faith overflows into their lives. People who are fruitful for Jesus - who live godly and productive lives displaying all those wonderful fruits of the Spirit. Somebody once said that they are people who have been with Jesus. Marin Alsop performed West Side Story impeccably because she had been with Bernstein. Peter was fruitful as an apostle for Jesus, because he had been with Him.

So, what of us? Will people see your faith and its fruit and wonder if you too have been with Jesus?

2 Peter – Growing in goodness

2 Peter 1:1-11

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Making One’s Calling and Election Sure

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

John 15:1-11

The Vine and the Branches

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

We aim to live godly lives because we have a personal relationship with Him

Today we begin a new sermon series from the second letter of St Peter. This is of course Simon Peter the fisherman, son of John, brother of Andrew, whom Jesus nicknamed ‘Peter’ because he was to be the rock on which the church would be built.

It’s that same Peter who was impetuous, turbulent, brave, cowardly, rash and yet also wise; the same Peter who famously denied his Lord three times after the arrest at Gethsemane; and yet was wonderfully restored on a beach at a fish barbecue by the risen Jesus himself who charged him to ‘feed my sheep’.

It’s that same Peter who stood boldly in the heart of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and proclaimed to the crowds the resurrection of Jesus, with the exhortation to

‘repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins’.

It’s that same Peter who was a leader in the Jerusalem church for some 30 years, and a missionary to Palestine and probably to parts of Asia Minor beyond. Peter who was eventually martyred under the Emperor Nero in his mid-60s.

And in the years shortly before his death, he wrote two pastoral letters or Epistles. The first was addressed to the churches in Asia Minor - modern-day Turkey - and is an encouragement to those Gentile and Jewish Christians to keep faithful in the face of persecutions and pressures from outside the church.

His second letter was probably intended for that same readership but is more concerned about pressures arising from within the church - from false teachers and those who would distort the truth of the Gospel for their own advantages.

So join us over these next few weeks as we take a closer look at what Peter had to say for his readers back then, and how we might learn from those same teachings in our context, in our day. Today we’re concerning ourselves with just the first 11 verses of 2 Peter, which you can find on page 1222 in the church bibles. You might find it helpful to follow with me. And for today I have just two headings: Knowledge, and Fruitfulness.

1. Knowledge

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 1:1-3

When I was working as a GP I had a patient called Tessa. She was in her 70s, a native of Cork in southern Ireland. And she had surely kissed the Blarney Stone more than once as she could certainly talk for Ireland. She was housebound, and for the most part also bed-bound. So she would summon me from time to time when she had medical issues to her little bungalow which was decked out in a slightly Bohemian style with velvet drapes and rich furnishings.

I knew I had to allocate at least an hour to those visits because she would talk, and talk, and talk. Because Tessa was a Jehovah’s Witness. And being housebound and therefore unable to go knocking on doors to witness to Jehovah, she would do it from the comfort of her bed. With any poor unsuspecting visitor!

We had some good chats, and I became quite fond of her. And one day we were talking about the possibility of a personal relationship with God in Jesus. She flung her hands up in horror. ‘What a load of nonsense. Of course you can’t have a personal relationship with Jehovah!’ she cried. ‘He’s far too great, far too remote to be accessible personally. No, we obey him. We can’t know him’.

How wrong she was, and how tragic, for someone who in her own way had such a robust belief. Because the bible tells the story from start to finish about how God relates to humankind, and most importantly relates to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, God-made-man.

And in our bible passage today this is where Peter begins his letter - our relationship with God. And what is the basis of our relationship with God in Jesus? It’s our knowledge of God. Peter writes that we have

everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him

Now in a way Tessa was right that God is too great, too remote for us to access him. We call that his transcendence. But in Jesus he became a man like us, so we could relate to him - and do so personally, individually. We call that his immanence.

We’ve just had a very old friend to stay - he and I have been friends since we were teenage undergraduates. I’ve known him longer than I’ve known my wife. And of course, I know about him - his job, his family, his likes and his dislikes - but I also know him, personally. I understand him. I read him. He understands and reads me. You might say it’s a kind of heart knowledge in addition to the head knowledge.

Remarkably, we can have heart knowledge of God in Jesus. This goes beyond the head knowledge of knowing about him.

Now in Peter’s day this was an important distinction, because heresies were just beginning to bubble up about secret knowledge. False teachers were saying that you needed special knowledge to be a Christian, to which they held the secrets and therefore also power over their people. And the trouble was, that shifted priority around secret knowledge began to dominate the ethical outlook of some Christians - it was less important how you lived morally, so long as you had found this special enlightenment. And Peter is at pains as this letter kicks off to overturn that notion.

So how do we know God in Jesus? It’s nothing to do with secret knowledge - we come to know him

who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Here’s the point: he called us to know him. He called us through his glory - his character, the splendour of his nature, his very essence of wonder and majesty; and through his goodness - the outworking of his character in his dealings with mankind. God is a missionary God who reaches out to you and me and countless others before and after us. That’s his goodness. It’s his initiative in calling us.

And it’s always been that way - he called to Adam as he walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day; he called Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, the prophets, the disciples. The nation of Israel. The people of God. He called you and me.

His calling doesn’t depend on who we were or even how we behaved. He called people while they were still ignorant and living in sin. He didn’t call anyone through their own merit. He calls people not because of what they are, but what they can be, in relationship with him. And Peter goes on to underscore this.

Through these (that’s his glory and his goodness) he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. v4

Again, it’s God’s initiative - his promises of new life and the gift of the Holy Spirit enable him to work with us to overcome those evil desires and their corrupting influence.

We participate in his divine nature. That doesn’t mean that we somehow become divine, that would be ridiculous - but we become linked to him spiritually, by the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, dwelling in our hearts and giving us (v3)

everything we need for life and godliness.

That’s where our heart knowledge of God resides. And that knowledge, through his Spirit, empowers us to become more like Jesus.

It’s really important to understand this order of things. God calls us, pardons us and saves us through what Jesus accomplished on the cross - so that we might then live a life of godliness for him. He never called us because we were godly. We don’t find salvation because we live well. If it were true that we earned our salvation by how well we lived, if we could find God through our own efforts, then Christ’s work on the cross would have been in vain. That is the ultimate heresy, but how prevalent we find that misunderstanding today. But, having been saved, entirely through the work of Jesus on the cross, we will of course want to live lives pleasing to God. And that’s my second heading:

2. Fruitfulness

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. v 5-8

The false teachers played down the importance of godly living: they even suggested that their version of salvation permitted a much freer, libertarian lifestyle.

So, Peter reminds his readers of the importance of godly living, which is about knowledge of God, goodness, self-control, perseverance, kindness and love. He lists these virtues in much the same way as Paul also lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The lists are very similar. These are the characteristics we should expect to see developing in our lives as Christians - they are not a pick and mix list, but rather a set of virtues that we should be developing. All are equally important in our lives.

And they are very everyday things. Last week I had one of those days when everything went wrong - I spent ages talking to online chat bots and then to real people on help lines, and the frustration grew. I got angry. But as I did so I was aware that my behaviour needed to reflect my Christian faith. And it’s not easy when your blood is up to exercise goodness, self-control, perseverance, kindness, love. But it matters. These are the fruits that Jesus looks for in our lives. He expects them in my life, and he expects them in yours.

If we don’t see these things developing as we grow in the Christian faith then something is wrong - indeed, it means, says Peter, that we are blind, we’ve forgotten that our sins have been cleansed. We’ve forgotten how much God has done for us in giving his only Son to take away our sins.

But let’s remind ourselves again of this fundamental truth: that we never work towards godliness to earn God’s approval. We work towards godliness because we have God’s approval. Let’s not forget, in St Paul’s words, that

while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

So, there we are - Knowledge and Fruitfulness.

But we need to finish. And we do so with Peter’s final sentences in this section:

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. v 10-11

Our changed lives will be evidence that our calling and salvation are sure. You and I are still a work in progress - this side of heaven there will be some victory over sin, some godly living, some softening of our hardened hearts. We shall never achieve it all in this life, even with the power of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, because our sinful nature is still there fighting against the path of godliness that we so want to tread. But let us be eager to live for him. For we have the blessing of a personal relationship with God in Christ. He knows us, and we know him. We know his comfort, his peace, and his joy, And it’s heart knowledge as well as head knowledge because our spirits are bound to his through the Holy Spirit.

I am sad that Tessa could never see this - and she died some years ago, still, to my knowledge, declaring that a personal relationship with God was impossible.

But as we grasp what Peter taught, what the bible as a whole teaches about our relationship with God in Jesus, let us rejoice as we live for him now, as we allow him to remake us from the inside out, and anticipate that rich welcome that will be ours into his eternal kingdom when our days are done.

John’s Passion - Jesus Arrested

Isaiah 53:4–7

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

John 18:1-14

Jesus Arrested

When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”

And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

“I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

Jesus Taken to Annas

Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.

The authority, compassion and obedience of Jesus deliver salvation to all

There are some words that, to my mind, are very much over-used these days, to the point that we have lost the real sense of their meaning. One of my particular bête noirs is the word 'iconic'. The true meaning relates to an image that transports us in our minds – think of the religious icons of Russian orthodoxy. But it's been diluted down and is used now of anything that's impressive – from the 'iconic Atlantic highway' of southern Ireland to some iconic radio show or an iconic goal in football. Can a goal in football really transport us in our minds?

Another word similarly over-used is the word passion. It seems you can't have a hobby or an interest any more – it must be a passion. I have a passion for baking, a passion for gardening, a passion for fashion. The other day I was driving behind a lorry on the motorway with the sign 'Fred Bloggs haulier – logistics is our passion'.

But let's not forget the origin of the word passion. It's from the Latin word passionem, meaning suffering. Over the centuries the meaning has adapted, such that the proper sense now is of an overwhelming feeling – a passion masters the mind, so that the person becomes seemingly its instrument. There's almost a painful subjection to the feeling or emotion.

We can understand that in the sense of romantic passion – it overwhelms the heart and will. Sometimes love hurts. But when someone says they have a passion for growing vegetables, we need to ask ... is it really a passion? Or is it simply a hobby?

Today we begin a new sermon series that is about passion in its truest, original sense – the Passion of Jesus, as recorded in the gospel of John.

The word passion was coined by the French way back in the 10th Century specifically to denote the sufferings of Christ and later extended to express the sufferings of Christian martyrs. And from it we derive words like compassion – the feeling of sorrow or tenderness for one who is suffering.

And John leads us through Christ's passion, his sufferings, across two chapters in his gospel, which we shall be studying in instalments over the next seven weeks. We'll see how his passion reveals his character – his majesty, his love, his obedience, his victory – as well as the salvation that he won for us through his suffering.

This is a passion that occurred 2000 years ago, but whose impact is still as fresh and vital as the day the drama was cast. And today we begin with the overture to his suffering – the arrest in Gethsemane.

Gethsemane was a garden about a mile outside the centre of Jerusalem, across the Kidron valley on the side of the Mount of Olives. We don't know who owned it, but Jesus and his disciples knew the place well. On that Maundy Thursday evening it would have provided welcome tranquillity after the crush of Jerusalem city which was packed out with pilgrims celebrating the Passover.

From the other gospels we know that Jesus retired there with his closest friends to pray; John omits this hour of prayer and just cuts to the chase – his betrayal and arrest. So, what do we learn is this first instalment of the Passion of Jesus? Three things:

1. The authority of Jesus

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?" "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. John 18:4

Judas the traitor has arrived with a posse – the Temple Guard, and with them a detachment of Roman soldiers. The authorities had seen how the crowds had responded to this man on Palm Sunday just a few days ago. The soldiers were in town as they usually were at times of public gatherings when nationalist sentiment might flare into violence – so they were taking no chances. They came to arrest this unarmed man with the full might and authority of the Temple and the Roman Garrison. But their confidence and their pumped-up authority soon melted away before the authority of Jesus. At their first encounter, they drew back and fell to the ground. Why did they do that? Well, it's highly significant how the conversation went.

"Who is it you want?" asks Jesus. "Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said.

In fact in the Greek he simply says 'I am'. And the grammar is emphatic: I AM! John repeats the phrase three times in his account to emphasize its importance. In a sense Jesus' reply is ambiguous: he could just be saying, yes, that's me... but equally it would not have been lost on the Jewish members of the arrest party that this was exactly how God named himself in Exodus 3:14, where we read this:

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Whether it was the name, or just the dignity and authority of Jesus' presence, the men drew back and fell to the ground. They realized they were in the presence of no ordinary man.

And John testifies further to his authority in verse 4 – we read that Jesus knew all that was about to happen, and he took the initiative – he went out to meet the detachment of soldiers and to enquire who they wanted, knowing full well who they had come for. Jesus, remarkably, was fully in control of the events of that fateful evening.

And Jesus remains in control of the events that affect our lives today. Perhaps sometimes we fear that our prayers fall on deaf ears, or that the forces of evil are just too strong for the forces of good. We despair at the fate of our world, our loved ones, our own predicaments. But be assured, Jesus always has the authority – he is sovereign over the events of the world now, just as he was then.

But we cannot always understand his ways. His disciples – Peter especially – could not understand why he seemed to be giving up without a fight and even drew his own sword; but Jesus' plans were greater than Peter could ever conceive. Jesus would bring a far better and greater outcome from this torrid evening, that would be a blessing for the entire world for all time. And when we are struggling, we too must place our trust in the authority of Jesus – for in the words of St Paul,

...we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

2. The compassion of Jesus

Again he asked them, "Who is it you want?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." "I told you that I am he," Jesus answered. "If you are looking for me, then let these men go." This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me." John 18:7

Even at the point of highest tension, Jesus does not forget his disciples – charging the arrest party to let these men go. They must come to no harm, for he had prayed in the previous chapter before they set out for Gethsemane that God would protect his followers. And his compassion even extends to the man whose ear Peter rashly cut with his sword – healing it on the spot.

Jesus' compassion extends further than anything you or I might feel. Remember he wept over Jerusalem; he wept for his friend Lazarus. He is the good shepherd who is committed to his sheep. Wherever the metaphorical wolf might attack in our lives – in feelings of fear, or guilt, or inadequacy, or failure, Jesus commands: 'let my disciple go'.

As he drew the enmity of the arrest party fully upon himself, so that his disciples might go free, he provided a picture of the whole work of salvation. The culmination of this terrible 24 hours was to be his own execution – taking our place, absorbing our guilt and all its implications, that we might also go free.

3. The obedience of Jesus

They brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people. John 18:13-14

Caiaphas had unknowingly prophesied the fate of Jesus – that one man die for the people. John explains this in Chapter 11 of his Gospel – in the aftermath of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the Jewish authorities became excitable about where this would all end.

Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. John 11:49

Caiaphas didn't realize the cosmic implication of his prophesy. He just saw it in political terms – a way to avoid Rome coming down heavily on the Jewish nation. But what he unwittingly outlines was the salvation plan of God – that this one man, Jesus, would indeed die in the place of the children of God, to bring them together, to grant them forgiveness and eternal life. To atone for their sin and to grant them salvation.

Praise God for his words – spoken in ignorance, and yet offering blessing and hope even to us who sit here today. For Jesus did not shrink from obedience to that mission of atonement. He spoke these words to Peter:

"Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" John 18:11

What was that cup that he needed to drink? It was the cup of judgment. In the words of our psalm

it is God who judges: ...In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs. Psalm 75:7

Jesus did not shrink from drinking that cup, taking upon himself the punishment, the judgement that should have been ours. And he would drink it down to its very dregs, to the point that 'I thirst' became 'It is finished'.

The passion of Jesus is a dreadful thing – and yet also a glorious thing. Love hurts – and Jesus' love for humanity hurt to the point of death. In the words we heard from the prophet Isaiah:

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5

By his wounds we are healed. Do you know that in your heart? Can you say with me:

I will sing the wondrous story
Of the Christ who died for me
How He left the realms of glory
For the cross of Calvary

Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
Of the Christ who died for me
Sing it with the saints in glory
Gathered by the crystal sea

Episodes from Acts - Cornelius

Acts 10:1-6, 39-48

Cornelius Calls for Peter

1At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

4Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

5The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

Peter at Cornelius’ House

39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

47Then Peter said, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptised with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48So he ordered that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Matthew 8:5–13

The Faith of the Centurion

5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering.”

7Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

8The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

The Gospel unites all who look to Christ to deal with their sin

One of the unexpected delights of the Christian Faith for me has been coming to an understanding of the global nature of the church. As a young medical student, I spent some time on placement in South Africa and became part of a lively suburban church there; it was still in the days of apartheid so, of necessity, it was an all-white church. But I was also invited to join a special evening meeting of the Nurses’ Christian Fellowship at the hospital where I was working. It was a mission hospital so most of the nurses were black Africans. Unfortunately, the evening wasn’t quite as uplifting as I had expected as the guest speaker gave an extraordinarily long talk - entirely in Zulu. To this day I have absolutely no idea what he was on about.

Over the years I have met enthusiastic and spirit-filled Christians from across the world - from Malaysia, South Africa, America, Portugal, Austria, France, Ghana, Jamaica. And the thing that strikes me about them is what we sometimes call the ‘bond of faith’ - it’s as if we already knew them when we first met them. We know where they’re coming from in terms of faith and world view. That’s often displayed as a warmth of character and an openness in friendship - what Paul referred to in Phil 2 as:

being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind

That spirit of trust, love, and unity is very special amongst Christians from across the globe.

But it wasn’t always that way - St Peter had to be educated about that, as we find in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

You see, the early church started off exclusively Jewish. At Pentecost, we read that the Holy Spirit was poured out on Jews. Luke tells us that those in Jerusalem were God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven, both Jews by birth, and converts to Judaism. Pentecost was essentially a Jewish event.

But God never meant the Gospel to stay restricted to the Jews. And as the gospel of Jesus Christ spread, it spread first among the Jews, Acts 2; and then to the Samaritans (who you might say were cousins of the Jewish faith) in Acts 8; and now, in Acts 10, to the Gentiles. And actually, Jesus had already charged his apostles with this three-fold mission in Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

You’ll know by now that we’re following a sermon series on various characters in the Acts of the Apostles - and today we come to Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, who with his family was the first Gentile convert to be recorded in the New Testament. So let’s see what happened and what we might learn for our own times. 3 headings

1. An opening of the mind

Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. Acts 10:34-35

We didn’t read the whole story of what happened between Cornelius and Peter, simply because it runs for some 48 verses. What we missed out was Peter’s vision which comes in the middle of the passage.

You see, just as Cornelius in Caesarea had his afternoon vision from God telling him to send for Simon Peter, who was 40 miles away in Joppa, so Peter had his own vision. His came the following day. It was noon, and Peter was up on the roof of the house in Joppa. He was hungry and he was waiting to be called down for lunch. And we read that in his vision,

He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." Acts 10:11-15

This happened three times. Peter was puzzled by what it meant, but then Cornelius’ men arrived and knocked on the door. At that point Peter had a second vision telling him to go with them to Caesarea. And as he arrived there, the penny dropped for Peter - that he was to preach to this Gentile centurion and his family and to share the gospel with them. As Peter himself says in v28

"You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean".

And so, as we heard from our reading, Peter explained the good news of Jesus Christ, culminating in the key line:

All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." 10:43

Peter found himself pushing against an open door - Cornelius and all his household believed and came to faith in Christ there and then. They became the first Gentile Christians. So what changed in their belief?

2. An opening of the heart

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. Acts 10:1-2

Cornelius was a good man. He wasn’t a Jew, but equally he doesn’t appear to have worshipped the plethora of gods that were popular with Romans at that time. He was a monotheistic God-fearer, but still, in the eyes of the Jews, a pagan. And his vision came at 3pm - the time of Temple worship for the Jews. We presume Cornelius was praying as he received his vision. He was terrified, but he need not have been - for the angel tells him that

... his prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 10:4

The language echoes sacrifice and incense - that God is pleased with Cornelius’ devotion and that he will be rewarded. And the reward? That he shall hear what Peter has to say.

And, as we know, Cornelius came to faith through Peter’s message - he and his whole household had their own experience of the Holy Spirit and were baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. But the key point here is that Cornelius has moved from a faith that was about doing to a faith that was about believing. His devotion previously had been all about prayer and giving alms; his motivation was about fearing God.

What does fearing God mean in this context? It’s not about being frightened of God - rather, it’s about being aware of our standing before God. It’s about realizing his holiness and our sinfulness. Realizing how far short we fall from his standards. Cornelius knew that. But he didn’t know what to do about it - he thought he could make up the shortfall by good works and charitable acts.

And that’s the outlook that many share - it’s the outlook of traditional Judaism; and it’s the outlook of Islam. One of the endearing qualities of a true Muslim such as those I have known is their humility - that gentle humility borne of an awareness of their standing before God.

And along with Cornelius, our Muslim friends hope to deal with their sin and shortcomings in the same ways - by prayer (5 times a day); by giving alms; and of course supplemented by pilgrimage to Mecca, and by the annual Ramadan fast. Just as with Cornelius, it’s a faith of doing - always hoping that your actions are good enough.

But what Peter taught - and what the Christian gospel is all about - is that this devotion can never be enough, such is the gulf between us and God. We can never work our way to God by good works. But in Christ there is a solution:

.. the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name." 10:43

Forgiveness is the unearned, free gift of Jesus - we look to him to make up the shortfall by his death in our place on the cross. It is he who takes the punishment that should have been ours - he who takes the sting of guilt and death. Suddenly for Cornelius it made sense - he could never be good enough for the God he feared, but Jesus was good enough in his place. His heart - and the hearts of his whole household - were opened and they believed.

3. An opening for the Spirit.

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came down on all those who were listening to his message. The Jewish believers who had come from Joppa with Peter were amazed that God had poured out his gift of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speaking in strange tongues and praising God’s greatness. Peter spoke up: "These people have received the Holy Spirit, just as we also did". Acts 10:44-47

It was Pentecost Sunday all over again. And I think that’s very deliberate on God’s part - for this fresh outpouring of the Spirit confirmed that this gospel is for Gentile as well as Jew - uncircumcised and circumcised - all are equal in God’s sight. The Gentiles were having their own Pentecost experience. And actually, something similar happened to the Samaritan believers earlier in Acts.

So should we expect similar manifestations to happen routinely when people come to faith in Christ? Or was this just a one-off gift of the Spirit to demonstrate this sort of stepwise expansion of the Gospel?

I’m just reading a biography of the preacher George Whitefield, who was a Gloucester lad who was central in the great Evangelical Awakening that swept the UK in the 1740s. Whitefield found himself preaching to huge crowds in the open air - upwards of 20,000 or more - and similar Pentecost experiences happened at many of his addresses as people responded in faith.

Two other preachers who were closely involved in that same awakening were John and Charles Wesley, Anglican ministers whose teachings eventually gave birth to the Methodist Church. Listen to this account from Charles Wesley’s diary for March 1740. You might recognize the place names where Wesley was preaching:

Saturday March 29th, 1740. I came to Westcot; found Mr. Morgan hungering and thirsting for righteousness. They desired me to expound the lesson, St. Paul’s Epistle to Philemon… the Spirit was present in his demonstration. Brother Maxfield felt it; and told me, he knew Mrs. M. had received the blessing.

The following day Idbury church and churchyard were full. I showed them wherein holiness consisted; answered their objections, dividing to them the word of truth, both law and Gospel. Many were pierced to the dividing asunder their soul and spirit. One woman the commandment plainly slew; and she was carried off in a fit. O that all hardened sinners were so wounded in spirit! We hasted back to Westcot; where I preached the pure Gospel from the good Samaritan. Surely he was in the midst, pouring in his oil and wine. I adjourned to Mr. Morgan’s. His house was crowded as a Minister’s ought to be.

We can’t prescribe how the Spirit will be dispensed; but clearly these Pentecost experiences still happen from time to time when God has work to do, even in places like Idbury and Westcote! They aren’t just something confined to the Acts of the Apostles. But however, the Spirit is manifest - with spectacle and drama, or with a quiet warmth in the heart, be assured He is poured out on all who receive Christ.

The conversion of Cornelius was the first step in the spread of the Gospel across the whole Gentile world. And it lays the foundation for the world-wide church, being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind

It showed that for those early believers on Pentecost Sunday, for those first Samaritan believers, for Cornelius and his family and the Gentiles who followed on; for Wesley’s congregations in Idbury and Westcote in 1740; and for us in our day, the prophesy of Joel is still fulfilled:

"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved Joel 2:28-32

Episodes from Acts - Saul’s Conversion

Acts 9:1-19

Saul’s Conversion

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptised, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Luke 19:1–10

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

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 We need to glimpse God’s sovereignty and respond in obedience

From time to time we come across in life people who are single-minded in all they do. Sometimes that’s in a good way – I once worked for a consultant surgeon who was utterly committed to his work, utterly committed to his patients. He was quite hard to keep up with, because he expected the same single-minded outlook from his team.

Someone once asked him how he dealt with the stress of life as a surgeon – his answer was that the only time he really felt stressed was when he was running two international medical conferences simultaneously! His single-minded approach to his work was hugely appreciated by his patients.

But sometimes people are single-minded in a less good way. I came across people in prison who were single-minded in their hatred of others – mostly based on religion or skin colour. And those types still sadly often appear on our TV news footage at so-called protests with their faces covered, and evil in their heart. Those men are hard nuts to crack, so deep is their hatred and their prejudice

And Saul of Tarsus was one of those men who was also single-minded, but in a bad way. For he saw it as his sole mission in life to persecute the Christian Church. And he did it with vigour and with emotion – he was really invested in what he was doing, really committed to his twisted cause.

We first met Saul in Acts 7:58, when he was described as a young man, who was looking after the coats of the men who were stoning Stephen to death. And we know from 8:1 that he approved of what they were doing. Then a few verses later, we read that a great persecution broke out against the Jerusalem church and the apostles were scattered – and we read this in Acts 8:3

But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

And then we pick up in chapter 9 with today’s reading:

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Acts 9:1-2

The irony was that Saul had no jurisdiction in Damascus – for Damascus was a self-governing city some 150 miles from Jerusalem. He had absolutely no right to be trying to police the church there, and yet that did not stop him. Saul was utterly single-minded in his desire to stamp out this new movement, this ‘Way’ as it was called. Why might that be? The nearest we get to finding out is Saul’s own account of his upbringing in Philippians 3:4:

I [was] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

He was a Pharisee – a strict, orthodox Jew. He was doing this for the sake of orthodox Judaism – he truly believed he was serving God. But he was soon to learn differently. Within a day or two his life was to be turned upside down. Before long his life was so changed that he would be moved to write this:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. Philippians 3:7-8

So, let’s reflect for a few moments on what happened to Saul – what it tells us about God, and what we might learn for ourselves. It’s a familiar story, but let’s see if something new arises as we think through this passage. I have just two headings: sovereignty and obedience

1. Sovereignty

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Acts 9:3-8

The last thing Saul was expecting was to be met head-on by Jesus on the Damascus road.

And it wasn’t a casual encounter: Saul was met with the full authority of heaven. The blinding light is a typical way that scripture describes the appearances of God or of the angels – and Saul immediately knew he was glimpsing the throne-room of God. He addressed the apparition as ‘Lord’ – the Greek word is Adonai, a title most commonly used of God – he knew he was in the presence of the Almighty.

Interestingly linguistically Adonai is a plural word – so it means literally My Lords, but it’s a grammatical device that doesn’t mean more than one Lord, but something more like ‘Lord above all Lords’. So, it’s quite clear that Saul knew he was in the presence of God himself.

So did he have a choice about how to respond? Could he have said, thanks but no thanks? In theory he could. For the apparition answers, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what to do. He could have said No.

But realistically I don’t think Saul had any choice in the matter. He was commanded by Jesus whom he encountered there and then as he lay blinded in the dirt on the road. He could do nothing but obey, such was the overwhelming sovereign impact of God in his life in that very moment.

Isn’t it the case that we often have a rather more watered-down attitude to God? We so easily see God as just a heavenly buddy, or as a sort of ‘my Jesus, my boyfriend’ character. Or worse, as a sort of good-luck talisman. I rather think we need a fresh grasp of the sovereignty of God – I speak for myself here.

In the Westcote home group we’re just working our way through the book of Job. Job, you’ll remember, was a very rich man who had lost absolutely everything at the instigation of the Devil, who reckoned he would curse God to his face given the depth of his suffering. But Job never does so: as the book proceeds, he finds an ever-more lofty understanding of God and his sovereignty. He says this:

The Lord moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble. He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. Job 9:5-8

And his thoughts culminate in this wonderful verse: Job 19:25-27

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; How my heart yearns within me!

Job had a right view of God: someone whom he held in great awe; but someone whom he also yearned to see in the afterlife of eternity. Saul glimpsed that same sovereign God: and Saul obeyed.

2. Obedience

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. Acts 9:10-15

Ananias was understandably a little wary of Saul – his reputation had preceded him. This is a very dangerous man that you want me to visit, Lord, says Ananias! But God is quite clear – Ananias is to be the first Christian to welcome Saul, and indeed not only will he restore Saul’s sight, but he will call him ‘brother’ and also baptise him. Wow – that’s quite some mission. Why does God choose Ananias? We don’t know; but I guess it boiled down to a question of obedience. God knew he could trust Ananias.

I’m just reading the biography of George Whitefield, who was an ordained Church of England Minister, one of the evangelical preachers along with John and Charles Wesley in the so-called Great Awakening of the 1740s in England, Scotland and Wales. He was a Gloucester boy – his family kept the Bell Inn right in the centre of town. He was converted in his early 20’s and at the height of his preaching ministry he was just 27 or 28 years old – preaching outdoors to gatherings of up to 30,000 people. He had a remarkably audible voice – said to be like a bell sounding – but his main quality was obedience – he constantly sought to be obedient to the call of God, whatever that might be.

He put that obedience before all things – even his relationships and his love-life – and God used him mightily along with John and Charles Wesley in the mass revival of the church. Many thousands found faith for the first time through his ministry – although the established church despised his zeal and enthusiasm. Thousands were converted to faith – Whitefield saw the sovereignty of God displayed week by week as he obeyed God’s calling to preach.

It was that obedience which God used to further his purposes in Whitefield’s day. It was the obedience of Ananias that God used to further his purposes with Saul of Tarsus. And in time it was the obedience of newly-converted Saul, whom of course the apostles re-named Paul, that enabled the gospel to spread far and wide among the Gentiles in those early decades of the Christian Church. And exposed Paul to suffering in his turn.

Sovereignty and obedience.

So, what of us? We don’t tend to see Jesus in flashes of blinding light. We don’t often get glimpses of the sovereign plans of God. And yet be assured God has plans for us – for our communities, our churches, even for our own humble lives. We must pray that we keep a godly perspective on life: for when we glimpse his sovereignty then we are prompted towards obedience. And obedience to his call is what Jesus most desires: that we fulfill our place in his church, that we play our part in his mission to our communities. That we serve him in whatever way he calls us.

And that is a calling for all of us – we each have a place to fill in God’s great economy. From the least to the greatest, every Christian is called to serve the living Lord Jesus, wherever that might lead us. And like Paul, that may lead us into difficult places: but it may also lead us into great blessing. Are you up for that?

Let’s pray that we glimpse his sovereignty; and let’s pray that he then grants you and me obedient hearts.

Episodes from Acts - Philip and the Ethiopian

Acts 8:26-40

Philip and the Ethiopian

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptised?” [Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may. The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Mark 1:1-9

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the desert,
Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”

And so John came, baptising in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan.

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Baptism signifies that the God-shaped void in our lives is being filled by Jesus

It’s a real joy to welcome Moses and his family and friends to this special baptismal Benefice service this morning. From our bible accounts we of course immediately think of another Moses floating in a basket amongst the bullrushes in the river Nile – but today we’re dealing with a rather different episode in water – the water of baptism.

Baptism features prominently in our scriptures, and in our two readings we’ve seen two different perspectives on baptism. We’ve read Mark’s account of the masses who came out to the desert to be baptised by John in the river Jordan; meanwhile our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles related the account of one man’s experience of baptism, happening not in the River Nile, or the River Jordan, but in an unnamed roadside stream or pool somewhere between Jerusalem and Gaza.

And today we’ll come shortly to baptise this Moses: not in a river, nor in a stream, but in water from an ancient font that’s half a millennium old, where countless others have been baptised down the centuries. So as we prepare to do so, let’s see what we might learn from our two readings.

I just have two headings this morning: something missing; something changing

Something missing

On his way [Philip] met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet … Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Acts 8:27-31

Our Ethiopian was a long way from home – around 2,500km, probably over a month’s journey in his chariot. He was a powerful and important man, in charge of the Treasury of Candace, Queen Mother of Ethiopia who effectively ruled the country. Why had he come to Jerusalem? To worship, we read. He lacked for nothing (well, he was a Eunuch, so almost nothing). He was rich and powerful. He had servants and a chariot. So, what was going on?

Well, quite simply, he was searching for something that was missing in his life. He was searching for God. He’d been up to the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem, and on the way home we find him on the desert road heading towards Gaza, and his search continues: he’s sitting reading and puzzling over his bible in his chariot.

Now let’s not imagine this to be a fast, Ben Hur style racing chariot – it’s more likely an oxcart, nicely styled, no doubt, ponderously making its way at little more than a walking place along the desert road. And our Ethiopian is confused – he doesn’t understand what he’s reading in his bible, and he’s frustrated. He wants to understand. And, prompted by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Philip comes to his aid. Overhearing him reading out loud, he runs alongside his chariot and asks him if he understands what he’s reading. The Ethiopian exclaims: ‘how can I understand unless someone explains it to me?’

So, Philip climbs up alongside him to unfold the scriptures. But more particularly, to explain how this particular famous passage is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We know from the scripture quoted that the Ethiopian was reading from the Old Testament prophesy of Isaiah, which explains how mankind’s greatest problem – yours and my greatest problem – is our sin; our rebellion against God.

If we were to turn up that passage ourselves, we would read this:

.. he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:5-7

The Ethiopian didn’t understand who the ‘he’ was, being referred to here. Well, as Philip explained, it’s none other than Jesus Christ. The passage prophesies how Jesus would bear our sin in his own body on the cross; that he would receive the punishment for sin that was due to us. How by his wounds we are healed – our sins forgiven, our relationship with God restored. Those are timeless truths.

Someone once said that we all have a God-shaped void in our lives. St Augustine wrote of God way back in 400AD

“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”

That’s what the Ethiopian man recognised. His heart was restless, he was searching for spiritual understanding that the religions of his own country did not supply; he had recognised that God-shaped void in his heart, and he longed to fill it. He knew something was missing from his life, despite his great wealth and power. And as Philip explained the good news of Jesus Christ to him, sitting by his side in that rattling chariot on a dusty desert road, he finally understood that in Jesus, his needs were supplied. The missing piece was found. The void could be filled. So, what happened next?

2. Something changing

[Philip] told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Acts 8:35-38

Our Ethiopian wanted to do something to mark his new understanding. In that moment he had found faith in Jesus Christ, assurance that in Christ his sins were forgiven, and that he was put right with God. So … Let me be baptised, he cries.

Because baptism is the Christian sacrament, instituted by Jesus himself, to mark the passage from darkness to light – from old to new, from faithless to faithful. Baptism is a mark of a turning point – a point of change where something new is beginning. In our reading from Mark’s gospel, baptism was a sign of renewal: that the Jews themselves were experiencing a revival – confessing their sins in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah in their midst. But as John the Baptist declared,

“After me will come one more powerful than I, [that’s Jesus] the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:7-8

Something was changing for those Jews as they came out to be baptised to mark their desire to draw closer to God and find forgiveness for their sins.

Likewise for our Ethiopian: he wanted to mark this discovery of faith in his life. Something major was changing for him. His life would never be the same again.

Two headings: something missing, something changing. What then of young Moses – how does all this matter to him? Well, that God shaped void is present in all of us from birth – whether or not we recognize it. And it’s a void none of the material things of this life can fill – not riches, not power, not status. It’s a universal problem we all face.

Our Moses doesn’t know that yet, because he’s too young – and so very wisely his parents have brought him to baptism in order to set him on the right path, to claim those promises of forgiveness and new life that Jesus offers in baptism. We make those promises in the baptismal vows on his behalf, trusting that as he grows, he too will come to know and to trust Jesus in his life, to find that God-shaped void is filled.

So it’s important that you as parents and godparents especially help and guide him in his spiritual journey. As he grows older there will be times when, like our Ethiopian man, he doesn’t understand – so it will be your job, and the job of the church community wherever he finds himself in the future, to help explain and lead him, just as Philip did that day sitting in the chariot.

Because this is serious stuff; this is, as the Ethiopian and many since him have discovered, life-changing stuff. For the good news that Philip explained to that Ethiopian man 2000 years ago in a desert on the way to Gaza, is still true for us in our time.

For you and me here today, Jesus still deals with our sin by his sacrifice for us, once for all on the cross. That’s the missing piece of the jigsaw: the Ethiopian’s, and yours and mine also. Have we taken hold of that gift for ourselves? Have we found Jesus in our own lives?

Because this is about filling that God-shaped void in our lives. About discovering, with St Augustine, that our hearts truly are restless, until we find our rest in Him.

And it’s baptism which signifies that this is the journey which little Moses, and we, have begun.

’

Episodes from Acts - Stephen

Acts 7:48-60

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:

“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things?’

“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

John 16:1-4

“All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

---

The Fact That Divides

We’re continuing our journey through episodes in the book of Acts, and the incident between Stephen and the Sanhedrin was a clash of two groups of people. In fact, these are the only two groups of people into which humanity can fall: those who are Jesus’s people, and those who are not Jesus’s people.

So we are going to look at two things this morning: first, the fact that divides Stephen and the Sanhedrin; and secondly, the response that divides them.

The fact that divides Stephen and the Sanhedrin.

Our reading from Acts was recalling the end of a long sermon given by Stephen, recounting the whole history of God’s dealings with his people. And Stephen ends with a brazen condemnation of the Sanhedrin — that is, the religious leaders of the time. He says:

“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: you always resist the Holy Spirit!”

And the reaction of the Sanhedrin at this point is, understandably, fury. But then Stephen goes one step further when he looks up to heaven and says:

“I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

And when they hear this, the reaction of the Sanhedrin crosses over from fury to murder. Before, they were really angry. But now they have gone beyond anger. They are so overcome with rage that the only thing they can do is instantly kill Stephen.

So what is it about Stephen’s words that flips a switch in their hearts and minds? Let us look again at what he says:

“I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Of course, the Son of Man is Jesus. And for Stephen, the fact that Jesus is standing at the right hand of God is the best possible news. It means that Jesus — in whom Stephen has put all his hope and all his trust — is not only utterly vindicated by God, but is reigning in power in heaven.

And this Son of Man language is also important because it reflects a prophecy from the Old Testament book of Daniel, in which Daniel sees God giving all authority in heaven and earth to this human-divine figure called the Son of Man. Stephen is saying: Jesus is that Son of Man. Jesus is the one who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. And for Stephen, this is amazing, because he has tied his entire identity — his whole life, with all its hopes and dreams — to whether Jesus really is who he claimed to be.

Imagine being so confident in a particular racehorse that you bet every single penny you own on that one horse. Nothing left in the bank. Nothing left in savings. You have staked everything on this one horse winning the Gold Cup. Now imagine the level of personal investment you would feel in whether that horse actually wins. You have bet your whole life on it. And now imagine the elation you would feel when you see that your confidence was well grounded — as the horse wins the race by a mile. That is the level of investment Stephen felt in Jesus.

So imagine how elated he felt when he saw with his waking eyes the fact that Jesus had won. And every true Christian feels this level of investment in Jesus. His people cannot be indifferent about his identity and victory. A true Christian is someone who has staked their whole life on whether Jesus really is who he says he is. So every Christian can feel elated at Stephen’s words of vindication.

But these words of Stephen are the worst possible news for the Sanhedrin. In the inverse way to Stephen, they have staked everything on Jesus not being who he says he is. If Jesus really is God’s judge, then they did the worst conceivable thing in killing him. If Jesus really is the Daniel Son of Man, then their whole religious system collapses. If Jesus’s followers are vindicated, then the Sanhedrin have been wrong their whole lives.

The response that divides Stephen and the Sanhedrin.

Now imagine with me a mother and her child. This mother pours her whole life into her child — all her time, effort, money, and reason for living. And then imagine that child becomes a teenager, runs away from home, and deliberately goes against everything the mother taught them. How can the mother not descend into the deepest kind of fury — the collapse of everything she has staked her whole life on?

For the Sanhedrin, if Stephen is right, the result is not simply an alternative or interesting worldview. The result is a complete negation and dismissal of everything they have built their lives upon.

But here is the thing. Remember at the start I said Stephen and the Sanhedrin represent the only two possible reactions to the news that Jesus reigns in heaven. Often, in our minds, we imagine a third category. We think to ourselves: “Well, those nasty, vindictive, fundamentalist Sanhedrin — I would never react like that. They are the baddies.”

But in reality, the Sanhedrin were in a better position than most people, because they rightly perceived the implications for them of the fact that Jesus reigns in heaven. That fact profoundly contradicts the foundation upon which most people build their whole lives.

Because if Jesus really is reigning in heaven, then there is a final judgement. And it will not be on the basis of good deeds versus bad deeds, but on the basis of whether we truly love him or not.

And if Jesus really is reigning in heaven, then he is what we should be living for — not our families, not our community, not even our church.

If we are making anything other than him the deepest reason for living, that is not simply mistaken. It is the deepest kind of rebellion against him.

So Jesus reigning in heaven was the fact that divided Stephen and the Sanhedrin. But their responses divide them too. Let us look at Stephen’s final response to his vision. His last words are extraordinary:

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How on earth can Stephen say this of the people who are murdering him?

Well, if Jesus is the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father, then being lifted up into the closest proximity to God in heaven is not about whether you are a good person or a bad person. It is about having Jesus as your advocate. Stephen knows that his salvation is not because he is good, but because Jesus has had mercy on him. And so he can look even at those who are stoning him to death and pray that they too might receive Jesus’s mercy.

But conversely, for the Sanhedrin, if Jesus the Son of Man really is standing at the right hand of the Father, then proximity to God is not about being good or bad, but about having Jesus as your advocate. And for them, as we have seen, this is the worst possible news.

Because they have spent their whole lives trying to climb the ladder — trying to draw near to God through their own efforts, through being good, and most importantly, through being better than other people.

So, when Stephen challenges this, they have a choice. Kill their own self-identity and let Stephen and Jesus be right — or kill Stephen and let their own self-identity be right.

And each one of us faces exactly the same choice. We cannot become true followers of Jesus until we have killed our own sense of self-identity: all the things we are proud of; all the things we have built our lives upon; our deep-down sense that we are decent, respectable people. If that makes us uncomfortable, then that is probably a good thing. Because the Holy Spirit may well be working in us, helping us to lay our whole lives at the foot of the cross.

And if you can say: “I have been through the discomfort of killing my self-identity. I have staked my whole life on Jesus.”, then praise the Lord. You too will one day see him, as Stephen did, ready to receive you into eternal bliss.

Episodes from Acts - Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine. ”

John 16:12-15

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

---

“You Will Receive Power and Be My Witnesses”

I don’t know about you, but I love films like The Lord of the Rings. I love the book, I love the films, and one of the great things about them is that it is really easy to tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.

If you’re an orc, you’re a bad guy. If you’re an elf, you’re a good guy. And guess what happens at the end? The good guys win, there is a wonderful victory, and everyone lives happily ever after.

But there is something deeply frustrating about that, isn’t there? Because that is not what real life is like. Real life is much more difficult and much trickier than that. It is a lot harder to tell who the good guys and bad guys are. There is not often that wonderful fairy-tale ending. It can be frustrating watching films or reading books like that and thinking, That’s just not real life.

And when we read the book of Acts, we can sometimes feel something similar. We read about amazing miracles, thousands of people coming to faith after one sermon — that might happen this evening, we’ll wait and see! We read of extraordinary miracles taking place, and even joy when the apostles were imprisoned and put to death. And we look at our own day and think, That’s a bit frustrating, because life just doesn’t seem like that for us.

So we are going to look at three things from our passage describing that first Pentecost together, to see how the Holy Spirit might begin to do something similar in our own day.

All together in one place.

In chapter 2, verse 1, it says:

“When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were together in one place.”

So — they were all together in one place.

God is, of course, everywhere. But there are situations where he is especially present to bless his people. That was the case in Eden. We are told that Adam and Eve walked in the presence of God in the Garden. But when they sinned, his special presence departed. Much of the beginning of the Old Testament is about preparing for God once more to dwell among his people — first in the tabernacle, then in the temple. But again, the Lord’s people turned away from him, and his special presence to bless departed.

The amazing thing about Pentecost is that this is round three. This is when God’s Spirit returns to bless powerfully — never, ever to leave again.

The Bible calls Christians God’s temple because we are all bricks, as it were, in the spiritual temple of God. God’s temple today is not a place; it is a people. And it is the Holy Spirit in us that makes us that temple. If you read the book of Kings, you will see that God’s presence did not appear in the temple until King Solomon had finished putting every stone in place. So it is no surprise that the first time the Holy Spirit came to dwell in believers was when they were all together — all the living bricks of this new temple united.

Near where I grew up in Wales was a place we often took visitors — a huge hydroelectric dam with a beautiful reservoir behind it high in the mountains. Would the water company have begun filling up the reservoir if the dam wall were incomplete? Of course not. Every brick had to be in place. Then — boom — the power starts flowing.

Perhaps we wonder why the Spirit seems less powerfully at work today than he was in the time of the apostles. But the book of Acts consistently links the unity of believers with the Spirit doing amazing things.

Of course, we cannot force the Spirit to do anything. But equally, we should not expect him to work wonders in our day if we are not unified as believers. This is why our first Sunday benefice service is so important. It is not just a pleasant opportunity to catch up with people. It is exactly the sort of place where the Spirit is at work — when we, as a body of believers, are all together in one place.

So, we have seen unity as one way the Spirit works powerfully.

The images of wind and fire.

We are told:

“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house.”

And then:

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire.”

These physical manifestations of the Spirit at Pentecost are not merely special effects. They are not God showing off. They are crucial symbols of the power of the Spirit.

Wind and fire are elements of nature that provide power, aren’t they? Wind powered ships in the ancient world. Fire heats houses and cooks food.

These images tell us something profound about the Holy Spirit: like wind and fire, he provides power for the church.

That is a good thing. He is capable of surging his power into us as Christians, especially when we are all together working for the gospel. He provides power over sin, despair, fear, and doubt. But like wind and fire, he is not to be trifled with.

I think there are two opposite mistakes we can make when it comes to the Holy Spirit. The first is not to plug into his power at all. This is like somebody refusing to use any source of naturally generated power. No wind power. No fire. No solar. No nuclear. Instead, they say, “I shall power my house with my own exercise bike.” Perhaps the village as well!

But of course, you cannot do that. It is ridiculous. We all rely on power generated beyond ourselves.

And the opposite error is to think of the Holy Spirit as an endless power source we can simply switch on and off at will: “Zap — power — boom — healing!”

Now, no offence, but if some of our friends across the pond can occasionally lean towards that second error, we are certainly guilty of the first. We ask: Why does the Holy Spirit not seem to do those amazing things now as in the book of Acts?Perhaps much of the answer is that we are trying to power our spiritual lives ourselves rather than plugging into what the Spirit can do.

What does that look like? First, expecting him to do amazing things. He can still heal today. He can still do miracles. Secondly, asking for his help. After all, he is a person. Unlike wind and fire, he is not an impersonal force. He is the third person of the Trinity. And thirdly — perhaps most difficultly — not being afraid of losing control.

This is the big one, isn’t it? We do not like handing over the steering wheel of our lives to somebody else. We fear what might happen if we really allow the Holy Spirit to empower us.

But that is a bit like saying: “Well, either I generate electricity on my own exercise bike, or else Chernobyl will happen.”

There is a happy middle ground — letting the Spirit empower our ministry and lives.

So, we have seen the Spirit works through unity, and through these images of wind and fire.

Tongues.

We are told:

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Why do you think the first sign of the Holy Spirit coming in power was the ability to speak in lots of different languages? To answer that, we go back to Acts chapter 1, verse 8 — really the motto verse for the whole book of Acts. Jesus says:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

You see; the Spirit came with an express purpose: to empower the early church to bear witness to Jesus throughout the whole world.

Think of a charity set up for one purpose — perhaps famine relief. Over time, perhaps, it becomes involved with all sorts of fashionable causes: climate change, social justice, gender issues. This is known as mission drift. And it nearly always results in donations declining, because people want their money to support the purpose the charity actually exists for.

We still ask ourselves: Why does the Holy Spirit not seem to work as powerfully now as he did in Acts?

Well, think of the Holy Spirit not only as the major donor but the only donor of spiritual power to the church. The Spirit gives power to the church for the purpose it exists for — witnessing to Jesus Christ and him crucified.

So, we should not be surprised if, when the church experiences mission drift, the Spirit appears less interested in donations.

Climate change? Important.
Saving the parish? Important.
Fundraising? Important.
Regular communion? Important.

But if those things become so central that they distract us from the church’s primary purpose — bearing witness to Jesus — we cannot be surprised if the Spirit’s power is less tangibly at work in our day.

Conversely, when we begin to make witnessing to Jesus our personal and communal priority, we may expect to see the Spirit provide power in extraordinary ways.

I will end by relating something that happened last weekend. I was at a men’s conference at which our own Stephen Blake was speaking. He was talking about his time as a prison chaplain at Long Lartin prison — a very difficult place. High security. Men who had committed truly heinous crimes. It was difficult because, as a chaplain, he could not be seen to be proselytising or converting anyone.

And yet he said something remarkable. Every week, miracles happened. Every week, some murderer came to faith. Every week, someone shared the gospel with another inmate, and three more men came to faith. Every week, impossible obstacles seemed to stand in the way — and yet the gospel advanced.

Why is it that miracles happen in Long Lartin, and yet we do not seem to see them happening so often in our own lives? Could it be our expectations? Could it be that the Spirit provides power when we are outside our comfort zone?

I have certainly experienced that. When I was training as a vicar, on mission, the Holy Spirit seemed to do amazing things in the most uncomfortable situations. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The Holy Spirit will be with us when we fly the flag for Jesus — when we courageously share our faith, and when we fulfil the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. So let us pray that the Holy Spirit would give us that strength, even in our own day.

Episodes from Acts - Matthias

Acts 1:12-26

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus— he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.”

(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms,
“‘May his place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in it,’
and,
“‘May another take his place of leadership.’

Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

Luke 22:24-30

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

---

The apostles, and we, are to witness simply to what we have seen in Jesus

Judas Iscariot cuts a tragic figure in the gospel narratives. We don’t know much about him, except that his father was called Simon and his surname suggests he probably came from Kerioth, a town down in the far south of Israel, in contrast to Jesus’ other Galilean disciples.

We don’t know how or when Jesus called Judas to follow him; he must have had potential in Jesus’ eyes. But soon it became apparent that there was something lacking in his devotion; he was the group’s treasurer, but John tells us that he would steal from the purse; and he is only ever recorded addressing Jesus as ‘Rabbi’, never ‘Lord’ like his colleagues.

And that lack of devotion turned into treachery, after the incident of the woman pouring expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet - it seems that was the final straw that prompted Judas to betray Jesus.

And let’s remember that was an act of choice - the Scriptures tell us that he was prompted by the Devil, never persuaded nor propelled. It was his choice to turn his back on Jesus and sell him over to the authorities.

Judas’ fate was gruesome - the detail is confused, for in today’s Acts passage by Luke he falls headlong and manages somehow to disembowel himself in a field; in Matthew he goes away and hangs himself.

We can’t explain that variance, but it’s not important, for his work was done - he had betrayed the Lord and sealed his own fate, while unwittingly providing for us and all Creation the path to salvation and forgiveness, to eternal life and to immeasurable blessing.

He was a man who walked with Jesus yet never knew him. His heart was hardened. He was a man who was lost - a son of perdition.

His death left a void in the lives of the disciples. So, let’s think that through for a few minutes. Just two headings this morning - and the first is: vacancy.

1. Vacancy

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus—he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” Acts 1:15-17

It was around 6 weeks or so since the crucifixion. The disciples had lived through the immeasurable emotional turmoil of the loss of their beloved Lord, then discovering he had risen back to life, and then the excitement of being part of his ongoing ministry for 40 days until he ascended back to heaven, as recorded in the first half of Chapter 1 of Acts.

And I detect a real sense of bewilderment and sadness about the fate of Judas in Peter’s words - he was one of our number and shared in this ministry. It’s as if Peter still couldn’t quite believe what Judas did.

The early church - the disciples and their associates - had continued to meet together in prayer to worship the Lord and seek out his will for them. Peter reflects further with the group on the inevitability of the betrayal, taking a reference from Psalm 69, a psalm about King David’s own betrayal by an enemy, linking it with another verse from Psalm 109:

“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and ‘May another take his place of leadership’” Acts 1:20

Their prayerful reflection brings Peter to a conclusion: that Judas’ vacated place in the Twelve needs to be filled by another.

There are three good reasons for why this is so:

• First, the choice of Twelve as the number of disciples is highly significant, mirroring the 12 founding tribes of Israel, descended from Jacob’s 12 sons. Just as the nation was established through those 12 sons, so the new Israel, the spiritual Israel, was to be founded on these 12 disciples. 12 was the full tally.

• Secondly, the 12 are to have a role in the final Day of Judgment, as we heard in our gospel reading. Jesus told the disciples:

I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 22:29-30

It’s not clear quite what that means, but it is clear that the 12 tribes of Israel will somehow be assigned the 12 disciples as their judges.

• Thirdly, there is work to be done: Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8 was that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came on them; and they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

They needed the full complement of disciples to proceed with that momentous task.

And so they nominated two men, Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias; and they prayed and cast lots for God to show them his choice. We may raise an eyebrow over the casting of lots; but there was a long Old Testament biblical tradition of casting pebbles or sticks to find God’s will.

But interestingly this is the last time in the scriptures that such casting of lots is ever mentioned - the reason being of course that within a few days the Holy Spirit was to be given universally to the early Church, and to all those ever since who have yielded their heart to Jesus.

From now on, such external mechanisms are no longer needed, for God speaks by his Spirit to our hearts and guides us in his will and his ways. As the book of Hebrews reminds us:

No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. Hebrews 8:11

So the choice was made - and Matthias was appointed. The group was once more complete, in readiness for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them at Pentecost.

But we need to go back just a little and ask, why these two men? What was their qualification to become the missing member of the Twelve?

2. Qualification

Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” Acts 1:21-22

It needed to be someone who had been part of the movement from the very beginning - someone who had witnessed the baptism of Jesus three years previously, been with him throughout his ministry up to his death; and then was still part of the band who saw first-hand the risen Jesus.

It’s likely both of these men were part of the larger group of followers known as the seventy two that Jesus sent out in twos to go ahead of him to every town and place on his route (Luke 10).

They were both men who knew the Lord first hand; who had experienced the miracles, heard the teaching and finally saw the resurrected Jesus for themselves.

So they were well-qualified for this new role, which Jesus commanded in Acts 1:8, as we have already heard:

‘.. you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The 12 Disciples - the word means one who follows - had become the 12 Apostles - the word means one who is sent.

And this qualification is important, not just for those twelve men, but also for us in our time. Because their primary qualification to be Apostles was simply that they knew Jesus.

These were not theologians, they were not rabbis, they were not intellectuals or philosophers or mystics - they were just men who had been with Jesus.

In a few weeks’ time I have the dubious privilege of doing Jury Service. I have two weeks set aside when I may be sitting in Oxford Crown Court hearing the testimony of witnesses. (Or, more likely, sitting around in a waiting room while they decide whether or not they need me!)

But the point is, the people standing in the box giving evidence will be simply there to tell the story of what they saw and heard. It’s not for them to decide whether the accused is guilty or not. They just tell what they know.

And it’s just the same with Christian witness. You and I are probably not called to be theologians, philosophers, experts in religion or mystics - we are called, just like those apostles, simply to tell what we know, what we have seen and heard.

It is not our job to convert people or persuade people - that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. He does the converting. We simply tell what we know - what we have seen and heard.

And for the Christian that story of course will be about Jesus - about the Lord who has won our heart. About the Lord who died and rose again for us, who forgave our many sins, who gives peace in our hearts, who gives us hope for the future.

The Lord whom sometimes we doubt, who often we fail, the Lord for whom our hearts are often lukewarm.

Our witness must be honest, with all its uncertainties. We don’t invent things we don’t feel, for anyone hearing our testimony may see straight through us if we lie about what we know.

But let’s begin at least where we are. As the man said in Mark’s gospel, Lord, I believe: help me in my unbelief. And the more time we spend with Jesus - in worship, through communion, by opening our scriptures, and in prayer - so the more we will get to know him. And the more it will be evident to those with eyes to see, that we have been with Jesus.

I trust the knowledge of Jesus in your heart is something you treasure, something that is important to you. I trust that you enjoy being with him. If so, it is something also that you must be ready to share with others.

We may be asked any sort of question - these days it’s mostly likely to be something along the lines of - Why do you go to church? Isn’t religion just a load of nonsense? Isn’t it irrelevant?

To which our answer is not an intellectual justification of faith - but simply an account of what we know, what we have seen and heard through being with Jesus.

And that’s all he expects of us.

Do you find that daunting? Take heart from the man born blind in John 9:24. The Pharisees challenged him about Jesus. We read this:-

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man Jesus is a sinner.”
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see! “

Episodes from Acts - Ascension

From Ascension to Mission

We all know the rhythm of a good television series, don’t we?

One episode ends, the immediate problems are resolved, the music begins, and the credits roll. But that is not, of course, the end of the story. The characters remain, the story continues, and often the next episode opens up something bigger than we first imagined.

And this is a helpful way to read the beginning of Acts.

Luke wrote the first part of his report about Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, and we heard the ending of that as our first reading. We might think, “Well, there we go — story done. Jesus has done his work, the credits roll.”

But Acts opens by saying these amazing words: that Luke’s first book, the Gospel, was all about what Jesus began to do and teach. Acts shows us what Jesus then continues to do and teach — no longer visibly in Galilee and Jerusalem, but invisibly and powerfully from heaven, by his Spirit, through his witnesses, the apostles.

Acts is not really the story of Peter and Paul and Barnabas and all the others — or even of the early church. At the deepest level, the book of Acts, which we’re going to be studying in our sermon series over the next few weeks, is the story of the ascended Lord Jesus continuing his mission by the Holy Spirit through ordinary people who bear witness to him.

There are three things for us to think about this evening.

The continuing Christ

Acts chapter 1 says that Luke’s first book recorded all that Jesus began to do and teach. And that’s amazing, isn’t it? Because it shows that the earthly ministry of Jesus was only the beginning.

The ascension that we’re celebrating this evening does not mean that Jesus has gone away into retirement, as it were. It means he has gone to the throne. He is continuing his work, orchestrating salvation — but now from heaven.

So really, Acts is not the Acts of the Apostles in the strictest sense. That title is actually a bit of a misnomer. It is the acts of the ascended Christ through his apostles.

Imagine watching the opening episode of a great drama. The first episode introduces the characters, the conflict, the promise, the mission. And then, just as it ends, the words appear:
To be continued… That is what Luke is doing: Acts is the continuation.

And this matters for church and ministry today, because it shows us that we are not caretakers of religious memory. We are not museum custodians. We serve the living, reigning Christ, who still speaks through his word. Jesus began to do and teach amazing things during his earthly life, and that did not finish with the last chapter of Acts. It continues even today.

Jesus still does his work through his church — in the preaching of the word, in gathering sinners, in building up our faith, and in changing lives.

So when we pray, when we share the gospel with others, when we welcome people into church, when we study the Bible together, we are not trying to keep a dying institution alive. We are participating in the continuing mission of Jesus.

The confused commissioned

In verse 6, the disciples say to Jesus:

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

And if you have been following Jesus’ mission through the Gospels, that should really be a face-palm moment. You think, “Oh disciples — have you really still not understood? Do you really still think Jesus’ mission is about restoring Israel as a kind of military power against the Romans?”

And yet, actually, it is not a stupid question because the Old Testament really did promise restoration. Jesus really is the king. But the disciples still do not fully grasp what his mission is really about. And this shows us that the missing piece is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had told them to wait for the promise of the Father. It shows they did not merely need more information — they already had more than enough knowledge. What they needed was illumination. They needed the Spirit to open their eyes and fit them for the task.

It is a bit like a problem I increasingly have with long-sightedness. Is anybody else here long-sighted? These glasses are only going to get thicker as I get older — that’s what it means — and my eyes will end up looking huge! When I pick up a book without my glasses, I can see there is writing on the page, but I cannot understand the specifics of what it says because it is all one big blur.

In the same way, the disciples knew there was a kingdom of God, but they needed the glasses of the Spirit to enable them to understand what it actually meant. And it is the same for us today.

That is humbling for us, because it shows we can be religious and still misunderstand Jesus’ mission. It can all remain blurry. We are not naturally able to understand what God is doing unless the Holy Spirit helps us understand what the Bible says about him. The disciples needed the Spirit not merely to make them bold — though they certainly did need that — but to make their understanding clear.

So our churches must not be driven by nostalgia, habit, or institutional survival. We need constantly to ask:

What is the risen Jesus actually doing?
What mission has he given us?
What would it mean to be led by his Spirit rather than by our own assumptions?

We need to make sure that we are putting on the glasses of the Spirit whenever we read the Bible, whenever we think about the world around us, and praying that he would do this for us and for others. Because Jesus continues his mission by his Spirit, and that means we must not assume we naturally understand what he is doing. We have to depend on the Spirit to realign our vision with his kingdom.

The world-wide witnesses

In verse 8, Jesus says:

“You will be my witnesses.”

Notice that Jesus does not answer the disciples’ question about restoring the kingdom by giving them a date. He says:

“It is not for you to know the times or dates.”

In effect, he says: “Don’t worry about exactly when the kingdom will come in fullness. But do concern yourselves with this — you are about to receive power from on high through the Holy Spirit. Your task now is to bear witness to me.”

Beginning in Jerusalem, then spreading out through Judea and Samaria, throughout the Mediterranean world — and wonderfully, by the end of Acts, Paul is preparing to go to Rome itself, the very heart of imperial power, to bear witness before the emperor.

And notice what the disciples are witnesses to. They are not witnesses to vague values — as if Jesus’ central message were simply try harder to be good.

No. They are witnesses to a person:

Jesus’ life.
Jesus’ death.
His resurrection.
His reign.
His mercy.
His salvation.

Think for a moment about what it means to be a witness in court. A witness is not there to entertain, speculate, impress, or show off. A witness simply says:

“This is what I have seen.”
“This is what I know.”
“This is the truth I must tell.”

And as the church, we too are meant to stand in the witness box before the world — not to look impressive, but to be faithful in telling the truth about Jesus. That gives us the shape of Christian ministry. We are not called to be successful, popular, respectable, busy, or useful. We are called first and foremost to be witnesses.

That means church life must always move outward — from worship to witness, from fellowship together to mission, from receiving the gospel to speaking the gospel to others.

So this new series through Acts should encourage us to keep asking:

• How does the ascended Jesus bear witness to himself through his people today?

• How is he calling us to join in that work here and now?

The ascension is not Jesus leaving the mission behind. It is Jesus taking the throne from which the mission goes forward.

Acts begins with three great truths:

First, Jesus has not stopped working — and that is still true today.

Secondly, Jesus’ disciples cannot do his work without the Spirit — and that is still true today.

And thirdly, the church exists for one purpose: to bear witness to Christ — and that is still true today.

So let us now turn to the Lord in prayer, asking that he would help us to do this: to open our eyes to his truth, and to give us the same boldness that he gave to the disciples. Amen.

Acts 1:1-11

Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Luke 24:45-53

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

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Psalms of Ascent - Psalm 124

Psalm 124

If the Lord had not been on our side—
let Israel say—

if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,

when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;

the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5the raging waters would have swept us away.

Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Mark 4:35–41

Jesus Calms the Storm

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

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Our Help Is in the Name of the Lord

We have been in a sermon series on the so-called Psalms of Ascent, and we’ve heard Psalm 124 this evening in that series of psalms. The Psalms of Ascent are about a journey from a low place to a high place.

In ancient times, when the psalm was written, that would have been a physical journey from the lowlands of Israel, where most of God’s people lived, up into the hill country where Jerusalem was. Then, once you got into Jerusalem, there was another hill to get up — the Temple Mount — and once you were in the temple, you had to walk up some stairs to get to the place of worship. And so that was the ascent which inspired these psalms.

It’s not just physical, though. It is also a symbolic journey of ascent, because ascent — going upwards — symbolises the journey of our Christian lives, as we move from the exile of sin and return to heaven and grow in holiness.

Now, apart from the Bible, I think probably no book has had as profound an effect on English Christianity as this book, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. The story describes the journey of the main character, Christian, through this life, always heading towards Mount Zion — that is, heaven.

And in this story, the journey of Christian the pilgrim is not straightforward. He gets into a number of threatening and dangerous situations. Psalm 124 is so important because it shows us that our Christian journey is not meant to all be plain sailing.

The psalm describes a time when God’s people Israel were attacked — probably ambushed on their way somewhere. Nobody is completely sure of the event this refers to, but the type of event is clear: a sudden military disaster.

Having described this attack as like almost drowning in overwhelming water, the psalm gives all the praise to God for the deliverance of his people. Clearly, the ambush by Israel’s enemies did not succeed, and God’s people were saved.

And so the psalm reminds us that the shape of the Christian life is not just a constant, smooth upward trajectory. It’s more like a square root symbol, if you can imagine that from maths. There is always a dip down before there is a higher ending.

The Pilgrim’s Progress describes many such instances. The vivid language of raging water in our psalm is used to describe the attack that God’s people suffered, and I think it enables us to relate to the psalm more easily.

Because I expect few of us will ever experience an actual military ambush. But we will experience moments when something in our lives feels like an ambush — a sudden illness, a stressful situation at work, or difficulties in family life.

Then we really can relate to the language of the psalm. It feels like the stress of the situation is water overwhelming us. It feels hard to keep one’s footing on the riverbed. The current seems so strong, and we wonder: Where is God in all this? Why is he not sorting the situation out right now?

In The Pilgrim’s Progress, the main character Christian experiences, at one point in the story, an amazing vision of what heaven is like. It comforts him so much to see this light in the distance.

But shortly after that, he is compelled to descend into the Valley of Humiliation — a word which, in John Bunyan’s time, did not mean humiliation in the sense of embarrassment, but being brought very low. Exactly what we have been thinking about — the lowest point of that square root sign, when we feel at our worst.

And for Christian in the book, to make matters worse, while he is in this valley he is accosted by the evil spirit Apollyon. Apollyon tries to tempt Christian into trusting him, and when Christian resists, the evil angel breaks out into a grievous rage and wrestles Christian to the ground.

We are told this:

Then said Apollyon, “I am sure of thee now,” and with that he had almost pressed Christian to death, so that he began to despair of life. But as God would have it, while Apollyon was fetching of his last blow, thereby to make a full end of this good man, Christian nimbly stretched out his hand for his sword, and caught it, saying, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise.” And with that gave him a deadly thrust, which made him give back, as one that had received his mortal wound. Christian perceiving that, made at him again, saying, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” And with that, Apollyon spread forth his dragon wings and sped him away. Then Christian saw him no more.

So in this direst moment, Christian reminds himself of the words of the prophet Micah:

When I fall, I shall arise.

This is that square-root shape. Yes, we go down, but the Lord will bring us up again. This is the shape of the Christian life.

Not that God always immediately rescues us from overwhelming circumstances, but that sooner or later, we shall arise. Overwhelming situations may be short, they may be long, they may continue even unto death.

I myself have been through dark times when I felt overwhelmed, when I felt like God had abandoned me. And yet, to quote Psalm 40:

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

When we arise, like in our psalm, we will then praise the Lord who made heaven and earth for his deliverance.

Psalm 40, which I just quoted, mentions the pit of destruction. And indeed, it was out of the City of Destruction that Christian first set forth in Bunyan’s book.

So the first overwhelming situation we each need to make sure we have been lifted from is the pit of spiritual death. All who have not, like Christian in the story, laid their sin at the foot of the cross are spiritually dead.

Jesus’ most important message was the one with which we began our service:

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

To repent means to turn around towards God and away from ourselves. And it is to go through humiliation, because it is to turn away from trying to control our own lives. It is to agree with God that we are by nature sinners deserving his wrath. It is to accept that the only way to the heavenly city is to let Jesus pull us from the pit, since only he can remove from our backs the weight of sin that keeps us there.

And it does not seem like a pit when you are in it. It just feels like normal life.

At the start of the story, when Christian is still in the City of Destruction, he says, “I want to leave on a journey.” And his friends and family say, “What are you doing? What are you on about? Stay here. Stay with us. Don’t worry about that journey.”

But once you are out, you realise it is the difference between prison and freedom.

Every person who has been born again and become a true Christian will say that the humiliation was worth it a million times over.

Now I am free and truly alive.

So we need to make sure we have been lifted from that pit. If you are not sure whether you have been lifted from it, now is the time to be sure. Do not return home unsure. None of us knows when we will face our maker and judge.

But for those who have been lifted from this pit and are now on the journey to Mount Zion, there will be setbacks in our faith. There will be overwhelming situations.

But this we can always say, as Christian did:

O mine enemy, when I fall, I shall arise.

For:

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For our final arrival in eternal glory is not dependent on our strength and effort. It is guaranteed through the conqueror of sin and death, and he has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us.

Of us, he said:

I will lose none of those the Father has given me.

The wonderful thing about this is that it shows our arising after overwhelming situations is not dependent on our courage — or even on the strength of our faith.

I can personally testify that one can feel abandoned by God and utterly forsaken, and yet still be lifted up.

As our psalm said:

Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

So whatever you are facing right now, or will face, remember this:

• Jesus holds on to you — not the other way around.

• And nobody can snatch you from his all-powerful hand.

And so let us pray that he would give us grace truly to believe that with our whole hearts.

Psalms of Ascent - Psalm 123

Psalm 123

I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he shows us his mercy.

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.

We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.

Luke 18:9–14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

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If you were to ask me who my all-time hero is, I would say the great Victorian preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon – often just referred to as Spurgeon.

The story of his conversion is a remarkable one. As a young man, he was deeply troubled. He had a real sense of his own guilt. He was restless, and he was unable to find peace with God. One Sunday, in the middle of a snowstorm, he couldn’t get to his usual church, and so he turned aside into a small chapel. He was pretty much the only one there. The preacher was speaking on this text from Isaiah:

Look unto me, and be ye saved.

Much to Spurgeon’s annoyance, the preacher kept repeating, “Look and be saved! Look and be saved!”

Then at one point during the sermon, he simply looked at Spurgeon – this unknown teenager who had wandered in from the snowstorm – and said: “Young man, you look very miserable. And you always will be miserable, miserable in life and miserable in death, unless you obey my text. But if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.” And then he said it again: “Look, look, look. You have nothing to do but look and live.”

And in that moment, Spurgeon later said, it was like a light broke into his life – not because he had finally improved himself, not because he had figured everything out, but because he had stopped looking at himself and looked to Christ.

From that point on, it was ever Spurgeon’s joy to be photographed pointing upwards. I love those photos of him as a young man in his early twenties, preaching at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, always pointing upwards, as if to say, “Look up. Don’t look at me. Look up and live.”

Isn’t it wonderful that that phrase, which once irked him – Look and be saved – is what he wanted evermore to preach? And our psalm begins with exactly this notion. In verse 1 the psalmist says:

I lift my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.

So first, let’s consider this idea of lifting our eyes to God – of looking to him and living. Because, basically, the point of every sermon is this: lift your eyes to God.

But our problem here is twofold. First, that we hardly ever look at God. Secondly, that sometimes we can’t see him even if we try. So let’s think about that second problem first. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians:

The unconverted person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. They are a load of nonsense to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Think about this. How does a colour-blind person know that they are colour-blind? The fact is, you can’t tell from inside your own sense of sight, can you? Because it just looks normal to you. You discover it through comments from others, perhaps through practical mishaps, or perhaps by taking the Ishihara test – those circles made up of red and green dots, where the number appears only if you can distinguish between the colours. If you can’t see the number, you’re colour-blind. So it would be pointless to say to someone who is red-green colour-blind, “Just try harder – tell me what number you see.” They can’t see it. They cannot distinguish the colours.

In exactly the same way, if someone is spiritually blind – that is, unconverted – it is pointless to say to them, “Just look up at the one true God,” because they cannot distinguish between the God of the Bible and anything else people might worship. We need the Holy Spirit to switch our spiritual vision back on through conversion. And then we can see what God is really like. And when we do, we realise how different he is – not just one option among many, but utterly unique.

But then we come to the second problem: even when we can see, we so rarely look. By “looking at God,” I mean spending time thinking about him – directing our attention to him.

I wonder, if we could have a printed breakdown of the subjects of our thoughts over the course of a single day, what would be at the top of the list? And where would God appear? Let’s remind ourselves of what that blunt preacher said to young Spurgeon: “You will always be miserable, miserable in life and miserable in death, unless you obey my text.”

Much of our misery comes from dwelling on things that are not God – and therefore cannot ultimately help us. That is why we need to set aside time each day to pray and to read the Bible. It is why regular Bible study with other Christians matters so much.

And this brings us to verse 2 of the psalm:

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he shows us mercy.

Having thought about what it means to lift our eyes to God, we now see something else here: patience. Because looking to God does not always solve our problems instantly. He is the master, and we are his servants – not the other way round. The psalmist shows us the kind of patient attentiveness we need. He keeps looking – until the Lord shows mercy.

That word mercy is crucial. It can also be translated “favour” or “grace.” It means an unmerited gift. God is not a vending machine where we insert obedience and receive a predictable level of blessing in return. We do not deserve any blessing at all. So we cannot demand when it comes or what form it takes. Instead, we are to keep our eyes fixed on him – waiting for his mercy.

And this leads us into the final part of the psalm, where the psalmist cries out:

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.
We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.

Here we see the kind of mercy the psalmist longs for: deliverance from contempt. The word used here conveys scorn – a belittling attitude that places the speaker above others. And this is something Christians will always experience in this life. From the world, with its dismissive labels:

“Oh, you’re a fundamentalist.”
“You’re one of those evangelicals.”
“You’re naïve, outdated, judgmental.”

You only have to turn on the television to hear this kind of language. And from the evil one, who whispers:

“You’re too sinful to be forgiven.”
“You’re not a real Christian.”
“You’ll never make it.”

So what is the answer? We return to verse 1: “Look.” Look to the one enthroned in heaven.

First, make sure you are born again – that you have put your trust in Jesus to forgive your sins by his death on the cross. That was the whole point of our gospel reading. Two people appear before God. One says, “Thank you, God, that I am so good.” The other can hardly look up and says, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

When we recognise ourselves as helpless sinners needing forgiveness, God opens our eyes to his glory. And once we know him, we must keep looking to him.

When the world mocks us, we look to the King of the universe – the source of all beauty, goodness, and joy. When the evil one accuses us, we look to Jesus on the cross – the Lamb of God who takes away our sin.

So this week, when you are distressed – perhaps criticised for your faith, perhaps weighed down by your sin – pray:

I lift my eyes to you,
to you who sit enthroned in heaven.

And I’ll end with words from a well-known hymn:

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Saviour,
and life more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in his wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace.

Psalms of Ascent Psalm 122

Psalm 122

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Our feet are standing
in your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.

That is where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,

to praise the name of the Lord
according to the statute given to Israel.

There the thrones for judgement stand,
the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”

For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

John 2:13–17

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Psalms of Ascent - Psalm 121

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

IsAiah 25:6-9

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.

7On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;
8he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tear
from all faces;

he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.

The Lord has spoken.

In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.

This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Matthew 6:25–34

Do Not Worry

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

---

We began last week a series on the Psalms of Ascent. This is a group of psalms towards the end of the book, and they are what might be called the Psalms of Pilgrimage. They are the Psalms of Ascent — psalms of going up.

This group of psalms was possibly sung by pilgrims on their journey towards Jerusalem. They may even have been chanted by Joseph and Mary on that memorable journey to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old. These are the psalms of going up — a favourite phrase among the Jews: Shall we go up to Jerusalem? Even in December they would say, Next year, up to Jerusalem. So these are the Psalms of Ascent.

There have been many paraphrases of this psalm. It is one of the best known, one of the most loved psalms of the whole collection:

Unto the hills do I lift up my longing eyes;
O whence for me shall my salvation come?
For God does both come and be my certain aid.

I will lift up my eyes unto the hills.
From where does my help come?

It is a question mark. People usually read it and think that our help comes from the hills. But no — the psalmist is questioning: Where does my help come from?

What do the hills mean to you? Are they the wonder of nature? Are they photographically beautiful? Do you have an urge — or perhaps in the old days some of us had the urge — to climb and conquer the hills? There is that famous quote: Why do you climb Everest? — Because it’s there.

Do the hills represent shelter? Or a looming, frightening menace? They can hold danger. They can hold warnings of bad weather. In primitive times they were thought to harbour evil spirits, and so they became sites of sacrifice — to go to the top of the hill to appease the spirits believed to live there.

I lived in the Lake District for three years, many years ago, and I loved to walk and climb in those hills. They were a solace, and sometimes a terror — particularly in storms when lightning came down. But they were always beautiful, and they always seemed so calm. I loved the hills.

But there is a story of a Dutch couple who decided to visit Switzerland. So, as Dutch couples do, they got their mobile home out and drove across to Switzerland. Two days later they went home, and everybody said, “Why have you stayed so little time in Switzerland?” And they replied, “Well, we didn’t like it. We couldn’t see the view because all those mountains were in the way.”

I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?

For the psalmist, the hills were neither a refuge nor a relief. He looks beyond them. They may be a symbol or a promise, but he knows that his Creator — my help — comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, the maker of those hills.

He will not let your foot slip;
he who watches over you will not slumber.

Mountains and hills can be treacherous. A journey through them needs planning and guidance. On more than one occasion I have been involved in a mountain rescue of somebody who slipped down a cliff face and had to be rescued. They can be dangerous.

So the pilgrims, on their way up to Jerusalem, had the assurance of God’s guidance and care. There were robbers and bandits lurking in the hills. Pagan rituals were still going on. The hills attracted people to the high places. And in that empty land, when Israel had been sent into exile in Babylon, others came in and took over with their religions. They went into the hills and offered their sacrifices.

The pilgrims indeed needed someone to look over them — someone who would neither slumber, doze off, nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you.
The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

Imagine that. You can claim the Lord God as your parasol. He will keep you shaded in his sight. Never fear — he is close at your right hand, even in the night-time, when you might be moonstruck.

In ancient times it was thought that the moon caused irrational fears, night anxieties, and nightmares. So the care of the Lord was constant — even under the light of the moon.

He will watch over our lives.
The Lord will watch over your coming and your going, both now and forevermore.

In verse 7 it says:

The Lord will keep you from all harm.

There is a parallel here with the Lord’s Prayer:

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah, the prophet sees these hills and mountains now in a benign light, and all threat of darkness has vanished as God prepares spiritual blessings and salvation for all the people.

This is further underlined by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

O you of little faith, do not worry. Your heavenly Father knows your need.

Do not worry. If you look carefully, that phrase is repeated six times.

Do not worry, everybody. Worldly care, anxiety, doubt — our human condition — leave them all to him.

Cast your care on the Lord, for he cares for you.

Thus Psalm 121 becomes a dialogue for our times too. We, like the psalm writer, turn from the uncertain security of the hills to the Lord, who reassures us of his constancy. For he is the ultimate provider. He is the God of power, the all-sufficient one, who watches over us.

We have no need to look to the hills, even in their natural beauty. In this imagery the hills represent shelter — but for us, it is the Lord.

However, in certain parts of the world, the symbol of the hills is still there. We were in Peru a few years ago, in a small town in the foothills of the Andes. They had held a big religious festival and gone into the cathedral for Mass, and we were very impressed by this. Then our guide said to us, “Yes — but as sunset approaches, the same congregation will go up into the hills to watch the sun go down, and they will offer praise and worship to the spirits who live there.”

So for some, the hills still hold meaning — but not the meaning of the Lord, our maker.

However, in many ways our own hills are often the safe things that we surround our lives with, aren’t they? Our hills might be self-reliance, influence, insurance, financial security, keeping healthy and fit — the power we hope to have over our lives. We become so self-controlled that our hope in God the maker becomes diminished. We look instead to the hills for our help.

But is this self-reliance totally reliable? Are we prepared for the breakdown of our physical strength, of our material security? Do our hills block the view of God — like that Dutch couple, unable to see their ideal view?

My help comes from the Lord.

He is watching over us. It is an emphatic statement. But in our impatient lives we may be tempted to doubt this. Yet God, in his own time and in his own way, holds our life in his hands, for he has promised us a comforter and a protector through his Holy Spirit. Impatience and worry will not add a single hour to our lives, Jesus warns the crowd in his sermon. Worldly cares — and in our present time, mental health pressures — will wear us down. They bring limitations to the life God wants us to live.

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

How true that is for us. Christ has summed up our human existence in two lines:

Do not worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day, we know, has trouble of its own. So in this troubled, worrying world:

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, because he watches over us.

Five times this phrase appears: He watches over you. It is repeated again and again. Like a shepherd guarding his flock, he does not doze off, lose focus, or grow weary. As those pilgrims tramped through dry, hot, dusty places, God shaded them.

So too, when we are weary on the hot and dry stretches of our own life’s journey — when we are burdened by the world’s needs — we can find shelter and refreshment in a God who watches over our lives. He will prevent us, through the rough passages of life, from taking a tumble — either spiritually or mentally. For we do indeed have to negotiate a slippery world. We may even be diverted along a hilly path of our own making.

Ultimately, our spiritual journey — our pilgrimage — is under God’s protection, as we continue ever onward and ever upward. And we can say with confidence:

My help comes from the Lord, now and forevermore.

Psalms of Ascent - Psalm 121

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Matthew 6:25–34

Do Not Worry

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Our pilgrimage, watched over by God, is through this life to eternity.

Over the years I have had an ongoing battle in my head with what we call 'catastrophising' - that cognitive Achilles heel of getting stuck in negative thinking and expecting the worst to happen.

It's quite irrational, of course - but it's a common personality trait and you may well find yourself sometimes doing the same.

So for instance, when I was working in the very secure prison environment, each day on my arrival I would have an irrational fear that I would be turned away at the gate and my security clearance revoked, for some imaginary misdemeanour.

When I worked for the NHS, it would be about missing life-threatening conditions in my patients, which would probably lead to me being struck off.

And even now, in retirement, I still find it a temptation - if I pass a speed camera, I nervously check my speed and even though I'm within the limit I'm still sure that I probably wasn't for the few seconds I was in the camera's field of view.

Yes, it's completely irrational. But then, as someone once said, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get me!

But sometimes our fears are justified. As a young man I once walked blissfully through a rough area of South Africa after dark, on the edge of a black township, unaware that as a white boy that was quite a dangerous thing to do. When I got back to where I was staying people were horrified at what I had done - they seemed to think it remarkable that I hadn't been robbed or worse.

Maybe the answer is that we need to weigh up our circumstances and make a sensible rather than irrational evaluation of the dangers. In modern health & safety parlance, it's all about risk-assessment.

The writer of our psalm seems to be doing just that - making a risk assessment.

You'll know if you were with us at Holy Ascension last week that we're following a short sermon series on a collection of Psalms known as the 'psalms of ascent' - psalms that were used by pilgrims on their way to the Temple in Jerusalem for the major festivals.

The 'ascent' might have been up from the countryside to the hills of Jerusalem; or through the city to the Temple mount; or even the final ascent up the stairway to the Temple entrance.

Last Sunday Oliver led us through Psalm 120 and its concept of peace - shalom - both in our circumstances now and also in our future hope of peace for all eternity; and today we're considering Psalm 121 which focuses on the dangers our pilgrims might encounter on their journey.

So, let's see what we can learn - let's investigate the risk assessment that our psalmist makes as he embarks on his own pilgrimage

1. Orientation

I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

The KJV mistranslates this verse, as 'the hills from whence cometh my help'. But actually, it's a question - and the answer lies beyond those hills, to the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

We're not told which hills the pilgrim is considering. Hills were often places of danger in the middle east - they provided shelter for robbers and rebels, so the psalmist might be looking anxiously at those hills as he passes by.

But I think it's more likely that he's being inspired by the hills, especially if he's considering the countryside around Jerusalem, and Mount Zion itself on which the Temple rested.

I find there's something about mountains that helps me reset my perspective on life - if I'm in the Alps or in the Lake District the mountains towering over me seem to put the silly worries and catastrophes of my earthly life into perspective.

And it's the same for our psalmist - the majesty of the hills reminds him of who created them - and he lifts his heart in a song of praise to the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

For that's from where his help truly comes. That's his anchor point, his orientation as the psalm continues.

And it continues with the implications of his help being anchored in the LORD. He spells out three implications about God over the next three pairs of verses:

2. God is Watchful

He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:3-4

Did you notice we've gone from the first person - 'I' to the second person 'You'?

Our psalm reads a bit like a dialogue, possibly intended to be recited back and forth between different groups of pilgrims like a “question and answer” poem. Our first two verses are sung by one group, to set the scene - and then others come back with the implications.

And there's a theme that runs through all three of the implications, which is about watching. So here's the first example - God will not let your foot slip, for he watches over you, as he watches over Israel. He does not slumber nor sleep.

We're only too familiar with the account of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane who rebuked his disciples that they couldn't even keep watch for just an hour while he prayed.

You probably find the same in your own prayer life - how difficult it can be to concentrate. How flimsy our prayers can be. We are so easily distracted and led astray by our random thoughts.

But not so God. He is on duty 24/7 - he doesn't doze, he watches over us.

I love to pray in the middle of the night. You know, those times when you wake at 3am with stuff on your mind - and somehow that's when prayers come clearest for me. Maybe I have this idea that I'm the only one awake so I have more bandwidth in my connection with God!

But actually, the psalmist David found exactly the same:

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Psalms 63:6-7

Singing in your prayers in the middle of the night may not endear you to your spouse but the point is, God is always available - always there to listen to us and always present to watch over us. Day and Night. And verse 3, He will not let your foot slip - not even where the way is treacherous.

3. God is Unfailing

The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.Psalm 121:5-6

Pilgrimage journeys in the middle east can be hot and sticky. I'm always dismayed to read about the number of people who die each year on the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca - in 2024 some 1,300 pilgrims died enroute, mostly from heat exhaustion.

But here God is promising something remarkable - that he will himself be the pilgrim's shade, protecting against the sun by day and the moon by night. Again, we're reminded the LORD will watch over him.

And the sun and moon are metaphors for everything that might distress or threaten the pilgrim, day and night. God makes a similar promise to the Israelites in the Book of Isaiah

They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. Isaiah 49:10

But there's a problem: experience suggests this isn't always the case. Doesn't this all sound too good to be true? Don't Christians get persecuted and suffer terribly at the hands of others - in so many countries of our world? How then are we to understand these verses?

4. God is Eternal

The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Psalm 121:7-8

It's that word watch again - he will watch over your life.

It's plainly not the case that as Christians we don't experience difficulties from time to time.

But God never promised an absence of trials and tribulations - the psalmist David wrote about such times:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalms 23:4

Perhaps God doesn't promise an absence of evil, but rather that we be equipped by him to deal with it.

And if we are inclined to say psalm 121 cannot be true because we do experience harm, then maybe the answer is that we need to have a broader perspective.

We so easily focus on this brief life, which pales into the blink of an eye alongside the perspective of eternity.

And maybe that's where the promise lies - as he watches over our coming and going, both now and evermore. The psalm is saying that our eternal future is secure, because God will guide us safely through this life - be that life short or long - into the peace and rest of eternity with him. As St Paul said:

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 1 Cor 15:19

And that's where we need to have our focus. For our eternal security is in the God who watches over us - whose protection is unfailing and eternal - and it is achieved through the ministry of Jesus Christ.

I had a minor cancer scare last summer, and as I catastrophised that this was probably going to mean my exit from this life, I was reminded of St Paul's words in Philippians 3:14 - that:

God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

For it was Christ who brought me into a living relationship with God - because he was prepared to take the punishment for sin that should have been mine and bear it on his shoulders to a ghastly and defiling death on the cross.

And he carried your sin too. But death could not hold him - for the LORD did not let his foot slip, he was his shade against the sun and moon and he saw over his life in all its comings and goings - until he defeated all these old enemies of death and evil by rising again to life for all eternity. Paul again:

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Cor 15:19-22

And that is the ultimate risk assessment that we need to carry in our hearts - that whatever we go through in this life, whatever perils and trials we may face, God is indeed watching over us - watchful, unfailing, eternal - to bring us safely home to be with him, through the merits of Jesus and his death on the cross.

Catastrophising? Yes, we're probably all prone to that from time to time. But the answer is that whatever we endure here, in hardship, illness, fear and death - there is a safe harbour awaiting us where we shall live in peace and dwell in adoration forever and ever.

And that's our real pilgrimage journey - through this life to eternity.

Psalms of Ascent - Psalm 120

Psalm 120

I call on the Lord in my distress,
and he answers me.

Save me, O Lord, from lying lips
and from deceitful tongues.

What will he do to you,
and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?

He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom tree.

Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!

Too long have I lived
among those who hate peace.

I am a man of peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.

Matthew 10:16–22

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

“Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

---

We are beginning a new series now on the Psalms of Ascent, or Songs of Ascent. They are a collection of psalms associated with the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the main festivals of the Jewish calendar.

The ascent—the going up—in mind here might be going up from the low country around Jerusalem to the hill country in which Jerusalem is situated. It might also refer to walking up the Temple Mount once you get to Jerusalem. It might even refer to walking up the steps of the Temple that the priests used when they went to perform the sacrifices.

But whatever its exact historical context, the main theme of these psalms is starting somewhere low and ending up somewhere high.

Psalm 120 is the first of these Psalms of Ascent. The key verse, I think, for us this morning is verse 7 of the psalm, which says:

I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

So there are two things for us to think about from this psalm this morning: first of all, longing for peace, and secondly, looking forward to peace.

Longing for peace

Before we dive in and think a bit more about that, we need to understand what the psalmist means by peace. The Hebrew word, of course, as many of us know, is shalom.

Shalom means a lack of serious lack, if you see what I mean. To put it another way, it means a healthy, complete, and harmonious unit—whether that unit is one’s inner life, one’s body, perhaps society, or even the whole human race functioning harmoniously. The great high priestly blessing given by God to Aaron in the book of Numbers says this:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.

And we retain the central place of peace in blessing at the end of our services, when the priest says:

The peace of God, which passes all understanding…

Yes, the lack of war is part of it, but shalom is more than that. It is the lack of long-standing grudges, for example. It is the lack of deceitfulness, lack of envy, lack of misunderstanding. And it is this that the psalmist longs for.

Remember, the Songs of Ascent are all about the journey to Jerusalem, and the name of the city means the city of shalom — Yerushalayim. So the psalmist longs not only for the literal city of Jerusalem, but for the broader place of peace in all of life. But this is certainly not where the psalmist finds himself. Look at verse 1. He says:

I call on the Lord in my distress.

That word distress means a tight, constricting place — a feeling of being forced into a situation you can’t escape from. Then look at verse 2:

Save me, Lord, from lying lips and deceitful tongues.

The psalmist longs for the harmonious integrity and truth-speaking that come along with shalom, and yet everyone around him seems fine with constant lying. Then look at verse 5:

Woe is me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar.

Now Meshech and Kedar were pagan tribes, not only geographically far from Jerusalem but also culturally far from the central place of Israel’s worship.

Perhaps the psalmist was literally living among these pagan tribes, these foreign people. But it is more likely he was living in Israel, yet it felt to him as though he might as well have been living in Meshech because of the behaviour of the people around him. Then look at verses 6 and 7:

Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am a man of peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

Again, this need not be literal war, but rather widespread opposition to a shalom way of life. And the whole point of this psalm appearing at the start of the Psalms of Ascent is to give voice to a feeling of dissatisfaction with the world around us — and a longing for that place, that city of peace.

So I wonder: do we feel distress at the lack of shalom around us?

Our news outlets and headlines are full of distressing stories about the lack of peace in our world, in our country, even in the Church of England. But I doubt many of us would describe it as a deep, constricting distress like the psalmist. I think the key thing here is what we deep down feel is the standard.

I felt deep distress when I lived in Russia, because lying, corruption, and distrust were standard. Russians did not feel the same level of distress, because they accepted that standard. That was just the way life was. In the same way, we will not deeply long for shalom in our world, in our country, in our villages, or in our church if deep down we have accepted a lower standard. That is why we need to keep reading our Bibles, why we need to keep going to home groups to read our Bibles together — to remind ourselves of the standard of shalom that God expects.

We looked recently in our sermon series at Acts chapter 2, where we were told that the early church:

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.

That is the standard that God sets for the church. C.S. Lewis put it like this: we are often like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he can't imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday by the seaside. We are far too easily pleased, said Lewis. We won't long for the city of peace if we have accepted a lower standard of what shalom really means—the healthy, complete and utterly harmonious functioning of the family, the church and the world.

Perhaps this morning you are in fact keenly feeling a dysfunction, perhaps in your family, perhaps in your own body. Perhaps there's a situation in the news which is really disturbing you. Psalm 120 allows us to give voice to that pain, to say woe is me that I have to live in such a situation. It doesn't require us to put a brave face on it, but it does require us not to wallow in it, but to look forward to a better future.

And so now, secondly, let's look at what the psalmist says about looking forward to peace. So returning to verse 1, we see that at the outset the psalmist trusts and hopes that his distress will not be permanent.

I call on the Lord in my distress and he answers me.

And then as we look through the rest of the psalm, notice that the resolution to his problems is framed as being in the future in verses 3 and 4.

What will he do to you. Deceitful time.
He will punish you.

You may be thinking, well, hold on, wait a second. How is the solution to a belligerent mindset punishment with sharp arrows and burning coals? Well, the word punish isn't actually in the original. The idea is this. What is the comeuppance for lying and deceiving? Nothing good, says the psalmist. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. A culture of lying, deceiving, refusing to make peace may benefit those who practice these things for a bit. But sooner or later, the lying, the deceiving, the belligerence will hurt those who practice it too.

And we must not think this is some kind of karma, some kind of impersonal law of nature that what goes around comes around. Our Bibles include the words, he will punish you for a reason. The psalmist has cried out to the Lord, save me from deceit. and the salvation of peace, of shalom, will come when justice is carried out.

Think back to Russia. Why is it that they all just accept that you have to pay the university if you want good grades for your kids, or that it's part of life to pay protection money to the mafia? Why do they just shrug? Because these people get away with it and they're never justly punished. Sadly, it's human nature to get away with it as much as you can before justice is brought to bear.

I think of Neville Chamberlain and his famous declaration that he has secured peace for our time after the Munich agreement with the Nazis. But now we know, and many at the time knew full well that the Nazis were lying. They were seeing how much they could get away with.

Churchill was no saint, but he knew that when it comes to deep evil, shalom peace requires justice being seen to be carried out. Because remember, shalom means a healthy, complete, and harmonious unit. And sometimes this requires the removal of whatever is preventing such health and harmony.

So at this point, we need to consider several things. First of all, we were created to be in a healthy, complete and harmonious whole with other humans and with God. But sin entered in and it threatens to prevent such health and harmony between us, between other people, between us and God. Therefore, sin had to be removed.

Like the Nazis, it had to be seen to be publicly brought to justice and defeated. So for God, there were two options. Bring sinful humans to justice or take the punishment upon himself. And he chose the latter on the cross.

Christianity is all about peace. It's all about shalom with God. It's about the fact that we were the ones who have lied about God and refused his offers of peace. He was a man of peace and we instead preferred war with him.

So the central question of Christianity is this, are you at peace with God? Do you admit that you are by nature his enemy? Do you accept that peace is only possible on his terms, because only he can secure it? So each of us must ask ourselves that question this morning.

We must also remember the Psalms of Ascent are about movement from a low place up to a high place, from disharmony to harmony, peace and shalom. Psalm 120 is a freeze frame of being in that low place, when the high place of shalom seems a long way off.

Perhaps that is you this morning, feeling not at all in a place of harmony, but longing for it. whether in your body, in your family, or in the world. Psalm 120 reminds us, God will. God will bring shalom. He's promised it. He's God, so he will do it. He will bring us to the eternal Jerusalem, the heavenly city of everlasting peace. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

So this morning, let us be those who long for peace, who long for the completeness of perfect shalom. Let us not be content with a lower standard. Let's make sure we're not those who have lying tongues or who prefer to keep conflict going rather than to resolve it. And let us make sure we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. And let us hold to our sure and certain expectation that one day we will enter into our master's rest, where sorrow and sighing will flee away, and he will wipe every tear from our eyes.