Bible Readings
Nehmehiah 8:1-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-21
Luke 4:14-21
Sermon: Jesus sets the stage for God's mission for us
Up to now
We have been seeing how Jesus is slowly revealing himself to the world as the Messiah,
The saviour
not just for one group but the entire world
John the Baptist pointed us to Jesus as the One
And as Jesus was baptised….
God said to Him you are my Son with whom I am well pleased
And God’s Spirit descended on him
And last week we saw how Jesus turned water into wine
For the purpose of revealing God’s glory
And that God is about bringing long lasting joy to our lives
Joy that extends into eternity
And today’s Gospel reading continues revealing more about Jesus
And importantly more about how God goes about His mission
Our reading from Luke 4 in verse 14 begins with 3 significant factors
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
Three significant factors
Galilee: This is Gentile territory….
Very early on His ministry Jesus highlights that He is hear for all people
For both Jews and non Jews
We know from verse 15 he also came to preach to his own people
The Jewish people…
It is important to remember that true Christian mission is neither one group or another …but all
Being in mission means being in mission for those who are part of the church and for those who are not part of the church.
Christian mission involves reaching out to people outside the group and reaching out to people in the group…
Secondly The power of the Spirit….
.It is God’s Spirit that makes mission possible.
God’s Spirit is the essential ingredient for all Christians.
Without God’s Spirit there is no chance of Good News..
No chance of it being spread.
God’s Spirit means being influenced and directed by God…
And thirdly
News of Jesus spread throughout the countryside
People told others about Him….about what he was up to…
and what good he was doing….
And that continues to be the same
God’s plan to helping others experience God is for each one of us to share and reveal the good things about God to others.
What about you?
When was the last time you told people how good Jesus was?
What good you have experienced or heard about Jesus?
There is however something more significant from today’s reading
As Jesus went back to His home town Nazareth
He read the following at synagogue from Isaiah 61 and 58
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
This reading reveals a lot about God
It reveals how Jesus would go about His mission
And also how the mission God has given us should look.
God’s mission is about freeing people from the burden of sin.
And from worshipping gods that promise a lot but deliver nothing.
Unfortunately Western minds distort this passage
Western minds think that if we follow God we have freedom
and we can do whatever we want.
Well that’s not how the scriptures or how God sees freedom.
Freedom from the scriptures is about being free from the negative things that sin brings into our life.
This is not a new problem
When the reformation started to take off in the 1500s,
The reformers faced the same issue
As a result there is available a short publication written by Martin Luther called The Freedom of a Christian
Which goes into details of what free truly means from a biblical perspective..
Some passages that reveals God’s freedom for us include:
1 Corinthians 9:19
19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
Ephesians 3:7
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power
Phillipians 1:27-30
27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
In Romans 8 verse 1 and 2 we hear
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, a 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Being free from sin,
means we are free from having to go through the burden of paying for our sins
or having to worry whether our sins will prevent us from a life with God
It means we can be assured that we are loved by God.
It means really knowing that Jesus death on the cross is enough to pay the penalty for any sins you have committed.
And therefore you are free to use your life to help others experience and grow in this freedom
Sin can have terrible effects on people
Over January I got the opportunity to read the biography of Hansie Cronje
After he admitted to accepting money from bookies
For over 4 years His life was a misery
He was ashamed
He didn't know whether God could possibly love him
As a result he closed himself off to the world
Fortunately there were some people in his life that helped him deal with the sin
Helped him focus on what God had done for his sin
And when he understood this he started to return to wanting to relate to others
To wanting to help others
Understand the reality that God forgives sins changed his life.
And this is our mission
When Jesus says in Matthew 28
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in a the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We are being called to do what Jesus was involved in
God is saying to us go and
proclaim good news to the poor.
Go proclaim freedom for the prisoners
Go and help the blind see
Go and set the oppressed free,
Go and proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
The only difference between us and Jesus
Is that we do this in Jesus name
Using the authority that He has given us
In other words we are to
introduce and help others to grow in a life of God’s freedom
That is what making disciples is about
Now this is not always easy week
It is very rewarding….
but it means us being willing to get involved in difficulties,
to listen to problems
to put in effort when things are not going well
It means giving when disasters like the Haiti earthquake occur
It means volunteering for ministry areas,
because there is a need not just because you feel comfortable or it suits you.
So what does this being freed mean for you and me
First of all I would like you to consider yourself.
What sins are burdening you?
What sins are preventing you from getting on with God’s mission?
Maybe its a love of something that leads you away from God!!!
Maybe its some sins you have committed that your scared others may reveal.
Maybe it sins that have been committed against you?
Lets stop and spend some time in prayer.
(Prayer time asking for the burden of sins to be lifted from us and that we clearly see we are forgiven.)
For some people they may need further help in dealing with their sins.
There maybe consequences, or other worries.
Please talk this other with another Christian or make an appointment to see myself.
Secondly
Who do you know who is burdened?
Who needs God’s Good News.
Maybe it is someone who feels let down by life.
Who thinks there is no future.
Perhaps they haven’t been financially blessed.
Or have made some stupid decisions.
Maybe they struggle with life.
Maybe they struggle with relationships…they don’t want people too close.
Maybe they push people away.
Remember if you know anyone who needs to hear and experiences God’s Good News
they are in your life for a reason
They are there so you can proclaim good news to the poor.
You can proclaim freedom for the prisoners
You can help the blind to see,
You can set the oppressed free,
And proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
Now it wont necessarily be easy
But aren’t you going to enjoy being with them in heaven.
As a result of them experiencing and receiving God’s Good News of freedom from sin.
And when we get involved in doing God’s mission
Bringing Good News to others
God and His kingdom becomes not some distant reality
Not something that people have to wait to experience
But it begins as verse 21 says….TODAY
Right now!!
Amen
Saturday, January 30, 2010
2010 Jan 17 Worship and Sermon
Bible Readings
Isaiah 62:1-5
1 Cor 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
Sermon: Jesus is revealled as the one through some signs
Throughout our life we rely a lot on signs
Signs play an essential role in our life
They always point to something
They point to something far more important than themselves
For instance as we drive towards Melbourne we will see a sign pointing to Melbourne
The sign is not Melbourne….but it tells us which way to Melbourne
When we feel our head hurts or our tummy rumbles this is often a sign something is wrong
When our belt buckle moves to the next spot,
this maybe a sign we need to do something about our weight
When a family member or friend won’t talk to us,
this is a sign that reveals something is wrong
We need to explore what is wrong
When the fire alarm makes that piercing noise,
it could mean we need to get out of the house
or that dad has burnt the toast again
Constantly in our lives
We rely on signs to reveal something to us
Often we need to check out what the signs mean
Sometimes we notice the signs and sometimes we don’t
And in the gospel reading from John today we hear
11What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples put their faith in him.
The turning of water into wine was not a magic trick to entertain audiences at the wedding
or church members for years to come
But this event was a sign revealing the glory of God
And within this reading there are also a number of signs that reveal more about Jesus and about us.
Something we will not pick up unless we delve deeper into scripture is the timing of the event
This event took place on the third day…
Jesus was at a wedding with his disciples and his mother
When we dive deeper into scripture we discover that the third day is mentioned at least 40 times in the old and new testament
On many occasions throughout scripture the mention of the third day is connected with the fact that God’s presence is clearer,
in other words God’s presence becomes clearer not straight away but after a passage of time
From
Hosea 6:2 we hear “After two days he will revive us and on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence.”
In Esther chapters 4 through to 8 we are told that Esther fasted for three days…
then went to the king seeking to rescue the Jewish people
In the book of Jonah, Jonah is in the belly of the fish for three days before he is spat out
And in the New Testament we constantly here that the resurrection of Jesus took place after 3 days…
Listen to 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance a: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Every Easter we highlight the importance of the third day….
when we attend both the Good Friday and Easter Sunday service,
we get a clearer picture of what is involved in God’s presence being visible to us.
Also in our lives we can not always see God at work until a passage of time has passed
Often God is at work, however it takes time for us to see Him at work and how He went about His work
Three days indicates God’s presence is about to be seen by some one or some people
Another sign we will miss unless we delve deeper into scripture is the importance of wine in the lives of people of Jesus time and culture
Scripture indicates good and bad uses of wine.
Using wine at celebrations is one of the good uses.
An abundant supply of wine indicated a blessing from God
From Genesis 27, verse 28
28 May God give you of heaven’s dew
and of earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
And when used with God’s favour wine also points to joy,
From Ecclesiastes 9, verse 7
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours what you do.
With these to things in mind…
Put yourself in the picture of the wedding at Cana
And the wine had run out
Imagine if you were the bride or groom
It is an embarrassment
Now we are not told why the wine ran out
And it is not important
It could have been the fault of the family organising the wine through bad planning or being misers..
thinking that each person should drink half a glass of wine only
Maybe the guests were wine gluttons
Maybe there were unexpected guests, gatecrashers
Perhaps those serving the wine had decided to take some of the wine for their own personal use
The reality is we don’t know why it ran out
But we do know that it was gone
And that this is a problem
And we do know that only Jesus intervened to address the problem
Now think about your life
Particularly when problems occur
The problems in our lives…are the result of sin
Sin that we have committed or sin others have committed that affect us.
And often they are both.
And one of the consequences of sin,
whether we have committed it or someone else has
is that we are embarrassed or feel ashamed
because it highlights our weaknesses, our inadequacies.
Sin often shows the areas in our life where we are inadequate
But like the gospel reading of the wine running out
when we put God in the picture a solution is revealed.
Without Jesus the family and their friends at the wedding would have been stuck with the problem of no wine,
and their joy would have been short lived.
Likewise in our lives without Jesus life, death and resurrection
we would be stuck in this life, with no possibility of a future joy in heaven
And we would be without the Holy Spirit giving us gifts as we as we find in 1 Corinthians 12
and guiding us through God’s Word and God’s community commonly called the church,
we would have no hope of discovering what gives us true and long lasting joy now and in the future
Interestingly Jesus also reveals something more about the way God works
A sign of the way God works
Jesus doesn’t just give the wedding party any old wine
because they had run out the wedding party probably would have been satisfied with some wine,
even if it was a bit ordinary,
But that is not God’s way
Jesus gives them the best wine of the event, from verse 10 we hear
Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.
Many people are looking to God to help them today
They want instant help from God
God does help us deal with our everyday issues,
Sometimes in the way we like…
sometimes in ways we have never thought of.
But we need to remember that the joy he brings to our life now
is only a small reflection of the joy he will bring to our lives in the future
it is there to help us see the future
As God reminds us through St Paul’s letter to the Colossians in chapter 2, and as he reminds us in the final chapters of Revelations
The joy and the good we experience now is only a minute reflection of our life to come
Jesus has prepared something a lot better for us than this earth
Its God’s way to save the best to last
Think about the best time you have ever had a times it by 1000 and that is still only a small reflection of the time to come
Whatever you experience now….
God promises eternal life will be far superior
A final sign we can see from today’s reading is that of Mary
Mary is portrayed as many things in scripture
A faithful servant willing to do whatever God asks
In today’s gospel reading we can pick up two signs from Mary that help us as we live our lives
As we interact with others, and be God’s missionaries in the world.
The first comes from verse 3
When the wine was gone,
Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
Now there is much debate amongst scholars about this comment from Mary and Jesus’ reaction
But what can’t be debated is that Mary brought the problems of someone else to Jesus attention
And you to can do the exactly the same thing, in your prayers
Often we pray only for those things that directly concern us
But each one of us is called also to pray for others….
In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that we are constantly to remember others in our prayers
When you notice someone in trouble, experiencing difficulties
Be like Mary and bring this trouble to Jesus
The other thing Mary does is that she points people to Jesus for advice and help
Listen again to verse 5
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Many people are either keen to give advice or to say nothing
But when was the last time you said to someone
Let’s go to Jesus and see what he says
When was the last time you listened to Jesus
To get God’s perspective on the way life should be
The way you should approach issues and problems in your life
Mary understood that only Jesus can provide the solution
So she directed people to Jesus
And we can do the same…
Through how we live
and by helping our friends and family explore the pages of scripture
We help them gain Jesus’ insight for our life now and in the future
And in doing so we become like Mary
Signs pointing to God’s generosity, God’s way of life, God’s forgiveness and who God is
Today’s reading from John has many signs about who Jesus is and who we are
It highlights and reinforces that Jesus is God, the Messiah, the chosen one
That God is about bringing long lasting joy to people’s lives
That God deals with our problems, even smallish problems like running out of wine
And that God is focussed on our future
But it also suggests there is a time of waiting for us to see God’s work fully in our lives
Amen
Isaiah 62:1-5
1 Cor 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
Sermon: Jesus is revealled as the one through some signs
Throughout our life we rely a lot on signs
Signs play an essential role in our life
They always point to something
They point to something far more important than themselves
For instance as we drive towards Melbourne we will see a sign pointing to Melbourne
The sign is not Melbourne….but it tells us which way to Melbourne
When we feel our head hurts or our tummy rumbles this is often a sign something is wrong
When our belt buckle moves to the next spot,
this maybe a sign we need to do something about our weight
When a family member or friend won’t talk to us,
this is a sign that reveals something is wrong
We need to explore what is wrong
When the fire alarm makes that piercing noise,
it could mean we need to get out of the house
or that dad has burnt the toast again
Constantly in our lives
We rely on signs to reveal something to us
Often we need to check out what the signs mean
Sometimes we notice the signs and sometimes we don’t
And in the gospel reading from John today we hear
11What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples put their faith in him.
The turning of water into wine was not a magic trick to entertain audiences at the wedding
or church members for years to come
But this event was a sign revealing the glory of God
And within this reading there are also a number of signs that reveal more about Jesus and about us.
Something we will not pick up unless we delve deeper into scripture is the timing of the event
This event took place on the third day…
Jesus was at a wedding with his disciples and his mother
When we dive deeper into scripture we discover that the third day is mentioned at least 40 times in the old and new testament
On many occasions throughout scripture the mention of the third day is connected with the fact that God’s presence is clearer,
in other words God’s presence becomes clearer not straight away but after a passage of time
From
Hosea 6:2 we hear “After two days he will revive us and on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence.”
In Esther chapters 4 through to 8 we are told that Esther fasted for three days…
then went to the king seeking to rescue the Jewish people
In the book of Jonah, Jonah is in the belly of the fish for three days before he is spat out
And in the New Testament we constantly here that the resurrection of Jesus took place after 3 days…
Listen to 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance a: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Every Easter we highlight the importance of the third day….
when we attend both the Good Friday and Easter Sunday service,
we get a clearer picture of what is involved in God’s presence being visible to us.
Also in our lives we can not always see God at work until a passage of time has passed
Often God is at work, however it takes time for us to see Him at work and how He went about His work
Three days indicates God’s presence is about to be seen by some one or some people
Another sign we will miss unless we delve deeper into scripture is the importance of wine in the lives of people of Jesus time and culture
Scripture indicates good and bad uses of wine.
Using wine at celebrations is one of the good uses.
An abundant supply of wine indicated a blessing from God
From Genesis 27, verse 28
28 May God give you of heaven’s dew
and of earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
And when used with God’s favour wine also points to joy,
From Ecclesiastes 9, verse 7
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours what you do.
With these to things in mind…
Put yourself in the picture of the wedding at Cana
And the wine had run out
Imagine if you were the bride or groom
It is an embarrassment
Now we are not told why the wine ran out
And it is not important
It could have been the fault of the family organising the wine through bad planning or being misers..
thinking that each person should drink half a glass of wine only
Maybe the guests were wine gluttons
Maybe there were unexpected guests, gatecrashers
Perhaps those serving the wine had decided to take some of the wine for their own personal use
The reality is we don’t know why it ran out
But we do know that it was gone
And that this is a problem
And we do know that only Jesus intervened to address the problem
Now think about your life
Particularly when problems occur
The problems in our lives…are the result of sin
Sin that we have committed or sin others have committed that affect us.
And often they are both.
And one of the consequences of sin,
whether we have committed it or someone else has
is that we are embarrassed or feel ashamed
because it highlights our weaknesses, our inadequacies.
Sin often shows the areas in our life where we are inadequate
But like the gospel reading of the wine running out
when we put God in the picture a solution is revealed.
Without Jesus the family and their friends at the wedding would have been stuck with the problem of no wine,
and their joy would have been short lived.
Likewise in our lives without Jesus life, death and resurrection
we would be stuck in this life, with no possibility of a future joy in heaven
And we would be without the Holy Spirit giving us gifts as we as we find in 1 Corinthians 12
and guiding us through God’s Word and God’s community commonly called the church,
we would have no hope of discovering what gives us true and long lasting joy now and in the future
Interestingly Jesus also reveals something more about the way God works
A sign of the way God works
Jesus doesn’t just give the wedding party any old wine
because they had run out the wedding party probably would have been satisfied with some wine,
even if it was a bit ordinary,
But that is not God’s way
Jesus gives them the best wine of the event, from verse 10 we hear
Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.
Many people are looking to God to help them today
They want instant help from God
God does help us deal with our everyday issues,
Sometimes in the way we like…
sometimes in ways we have never thought of.
But we need to remember that the joy he brings to our life now
is only a small reflection of the joy he will bring to our lives in the future
it is there to help us see the future
As God reminds us through St Paul’s letter to the Colossians in chapter 2, and as he reminds us in the final chapters of Revelations
The joy and the good we experience now is only a minute reflection of our life to come
Jesus has prepared something a lot better for us than this earth
Its God’s way to save the best to last
Think about the best time you have ever had a times it by 1000 and that is still only a small reflection of the time to come
Whatever you experience now….
God promises eternal life will be far superior
A final sign we can see from today’s reading is that of Mary
Mary is portrayed as many things in scripture
A faithful servant willing to do whatever God asks
In today’s gospel reading we can pick up two signs from Mary that help us as we live our lives
As we interact with others, and be God’s missionaries in the world.
The first comes from verse 3
When the wine was gone,
Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
Now there is much debate amongst scholars about this comment from Mary and Jesus’ reaction
But what can’t be debated is that Mary brought the problems of someone else to Jesus attention
And you to can do the exactly the same thing, in your prayers
Often we pray only for those things that directly concern us
But each one of us is called also to pray for others….
In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that we are constantly to remember others in our prayers
When you notice someone in trouble, experiencing difficulties
Be like Mary and bring this trouble to Jesus
The other thing Mary does is that she points people to Jesus for advice and help
Listen again to verse 5
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Many people are either keen to give advice or to say nothing
But when was the last time you said to someone
Let’s go to Jesus and see what he says
When was the last time you listened to Jesus
To get God’s perspective on the way life should be
The way you should approach issues and problems in your life
Mary understood that only Jesus can provide the solution
So she directed people to Jesus
And we can do the same…
Through how we live
and by helping our friends and family explore the pages of scripture
We help them gain Jesus’ insight for our life now and in the future
And in doing so we become like Mary
Signs pointing to God’s generosity, God’s way of life, God’s forgiveness and who God is
Today’s reading from John has many signs about who Jesus is and who we are
It highlights and reinforces that Jesus is God, the Messiah, the chosen one
That God is about bringing long lasting joy to people’s lives
That God deals with our problems, even smallish problems like running out of wine
And that God is focussed on our future
But it also suggests there is a time of waiting for us to see God’s work fully in our lives
Amen
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