How should we respond to the cultural changes in Western society exemplified, for example, by the decision this week regarding marriage handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States? While delighting many, it is a decision that stands against, not just the Bible, but the natural order of the world. How, we ask ourselves, can we make our voice heard?
We tend to forget that the New Testament times were not dissimilar to our own. In his First Letter, Peter the Apostle, for example, was writing to followers of Jesus Christ who were suffering or about to suffer severe persecution for their faith. Their world was marked by narcissism and self-interest. Sexually decadent, it was an age of entertainment and alcohol.
People to whom Peter was writing were the victims of oppression. They were living under one of the most powerful and ruthless dictatorships in history, the Roman Empire. They had no vote and no free speech. Yet the gospel of Jesus Christ triumphed.
Let’s pause to consider what Jesus taught. In response to a question about marriage and divorce (Mark 10:6-8), he brought together Genesis 1:27: Male and female God created them, and Genesis 2:24: For this reason a man shall leave… and cleave to his wife (woman) and the two shall become one flesh. Jesus underlined the male-female nature of the marital/sexual bond.
OPPORTUNITY
So, how should we respond when we feel we have no power and no opportunity? In 1 Peter 2:12 we read:
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
With his words the day God visits us Peter is referring to the Day of Jesus’ return. On that day, he is saying, unbelievers who have slandered God’s people will glorify God.
OPPOSITION
Good conduct, godly behavior, will not often draw the applause of the crowds. We only need to reflect on the way Christians are mocked today, not just on television shows, but in the social media. Yet, Peter is saying, ‘stand firm with your new way of living. Yes, there will be times when you are slandered and falsely accused, but the very consistency of your life may result in the salvation of others.’
CHANGING LIVES FOR GOOD
Consciously following the prescriptions that the Lord Jesus has laid down for our lives is not only good for us, but our new way of living provides opportunity for people around us to discover God’s good news. Our changed and changing lives challenge others – not least when it comes to the matter of marriage.
Indeed, Peter goes on with a word to wives about the way they might reach unbelieving husbands:
so that… they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives – when they see your respectful and pure conduct (3:1-2).
Now, he is not saying people are converted by seeing the good works of God’s people. Back in 1:12 he states that we become God’s people only when we respond in repentance and faith to God’s gospel of grace. People glorify God (2:12) because they have seen the difference in the lives of God’s people and they’ve been drawn to the faith that has brought about that change.
THE CHALLENGE
The tough question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘What does my life look like to others?’ And if we are married, ‘What does my marriage look like to others?’
The author, Roald Dahl in, My Uncle Oswald, once wrote,
I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.
GOD IS PASSIONATE
In this season of Pentecost it is good to ask, What, if anything, is God passionate about?
We find a real clue in the events that developed on the Day of Pentecost following the first Easter, when, Dr. Luke tells us, the Spirit of God was poured out on the disciples. Despite the danger to their lives they went out on the streets of Jerusalem preaching. Men of Israel, Peter declared, Listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. …And you, …put him to death …but God raised him from the dead, … (Acts 2:22ff).
In his sermon that day, Peter was not introducing a religion or a set of rules, but a person. He did this by focusing on Jesus’ life and themiracles he performed – healing the sick, casting out evil spirits, stilling a storm, even raising the dead. While many today mock the idea of Jesus’ miracles, first century historians such as the Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote of Jesus as a ‘wonder worker’. Peter’s words reflect Jesus’ own words when he said: If I by the finger of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you.
Peter, logically and clearly, developed his major theme: Jesus, through his death and resurrection is, as King David had prophesied, uniquely both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Peter’s words that day about the cross and the reality of the resurrection lie at the heart of his message. Men had judged Jesus guilty and nailed him to a cross. God however, as the ultimate Supreme Court Judge, overturned that judgement and raised Jesus to life. And notice the response, which we read in Acts 2:37f: Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven;…’
CUT TO THE HEART
It was as though the eyes of Peter’s hearers had been closed as to who Jesus really was. Now, at a word they saw. Whereas they had mocked and jeered when Jesus had died, had laughed when they heard Jesus’ followers that morning, now they were cut to the heart. Three thousand responded to Peter’s call to repent and be baptised – thousands more than had given their lives to Jesus as the Christ during the course of his public ministry.
The Spirit had enabled the people to hear the disciples in their own native tongue earlier that day. Now, by implication, the Spirit was taking Peter’s words and opening their eyes to the truth that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lordwith whom we all have to do business.
It is extraordinary that the God of the universe is passionate about rescuing men and women who ignore him. Significantly, God calls on each of us who has turned to the Lord Jesus, to be partners with Him in his work of salvation. The question is, do we share God’s passion?
Most of us long for a better world –a world free from conflict and war, lying and cheating, corruption and injustice. We long for a world where there is justice and peace. But the reality is that in various ways and to various degrees, we become caught up in the ebb and flow of human conflict and injustice. ‘Can anyone be trusted?’ we ask. And indeed, because these human failings seem to have become endemic, we become cynical about law-makers, the opinion-makers, and the traditional church.
Where in the world today do we look for hope – to lawmakers, educators, or the courts? All these institutions can do great things, but if we’re honest we know they can only do so much. I want to suggest that because our real problem is our broken relationship with God, there is no real answer apart from the events of Good Friday and Easter day that we have touched on over the last weeks.
Consider the charge he left his disciples that we read about in Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. These words go to the heart of The Acts of the Apostles which we can sum up with the phrase: ‘The Hidden Rule of Christ’. Two things stand out: the limited agenda of the disciples, and the global agenda of Jesus.
The limited agenda of the disciples: Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? they asked. Jesus had been speaking about how the new age of God’s Messiah had dawned and how the promises of the prophets were being fulfilled. The disciples were excited about this and began thinking that at last Jesus was going to reveal his true power and position as Israel’s rightful king. They spoke of Jesus restoring the kingdom. Clearly they were thinking in political categories – the restoration of the monarchy.
They also referred to the kingdom of Israel. They were thinking in nationalistic terms: the power and position of Israel as a nation. They questioned whether this would happen soon. They were thinking that now Jesus was risen from the dead, his coming in kingly power and glory would soon take place.
We need to consider this.Many have thought in much the same categories as those first followers. Events in the Middle-East, especially if they involve Israel, always stir some people to open up the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation in the New, with a view to making predictions concerning the end times.
But look at Jesus’ response: He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. His words are a rebuke: ‘Friends,’ he is saying, ‘That’s not for you to know. That’s ‘Top Secret’! We need to remember this when people are getting excited with predictions about the end times: ‘You’re not to worry about that,’ says Jesus. ‘I have something much more important for you to do with your time and energy.’
Consider his agenda: You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Yes, it’s another agenda, but it’s his action plan for his followers. Their vision is short-sighted and parochial – limited to the nation of Israel. Jesus wanted them to lift their eyes to the needs of the world. ‘Listen,’ he is saying, ‘you’re being nationalistic and territorial. Come with me and see the big picture. The account and the implications of my death and resurrection must be told – first, here in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth.’
It is easy for us to be like the disciples and put all our energies into working at political solutions for the world’s ills. Yes, politics have their place, but God did not send a politician to rescue the world. He sent a Savior. What is more, the Savior, Jesus Christ, now calls us into partnership with him in his agenda that is spiritual in its focus (men and women need God’s gospel to touch and change their minds and souls), global in scope, and far-flung in time.
Yesterday’s New York Times (May 5, 2015) carried an article by Nicholas Wade, ‘A New Order to Life’s Origins’. The article focuses on a hypothesis of Dr John Sutherland, a chemist at the University of Cambridge, England, that life on earth has its origins in an asteroid bombardment from Jupiter and Saturn some 13.8 billion years ago. However, the article notes that other eminent scientists have serious questions about Dr Sutherland’s hypothesis.
My purpose here is not to discuss the merits or otherwise of the thesis (I am not a scientist), but to observe once again the scientific recognition of the extraordinary complexity that we find in the universe and in life on earth. Yet despite the disagreements amongst scientists, the opinion-shapers in the world of academia and in the social media consistently dismiss the Bible’s account of the origins and meaning of life. The public voice has been persistent: the Genesis account of creation must be dismissed – no further questions. What is overlooked is that Genesis makes no claim to be a scientific explanation. It is not interested in the ‘How’, but ‘Who?’ So, Psalm 19 speaks into our world with, The heavens declare the glory of God.
When we come to the New Testament it is significant that every outreach presentation is undergirded by the statement that Jesus rose physically from the dead. If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith, writes Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15.
Jesus’ resurrection is extraordinary.
But unusual things do happen. G.K. Chesterton applied words of Lord Byron to Christianity, Truth is stranger than fiction, he said, for fiction is the creation of the human mind and therefore congenial to it.
In Corinthians we read: He (Christ) was buried,… he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and… he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living…1 Corinthians 15:3ff
Christianity didn’t start because a group of fanatics had invented a story about their hero. It didn’t start because a group of philosophers had come to the same conclusions about life. And it didn’t start because a group of mystics shared the same vision about God. It began with a group of eye-witnesses – a company of very ordinary men and women who saw something very extraordinary happen. In a word it began with history.
The tomb of Jesus of Nazareth was empty, not because the body had been stolen, or because the disciples had removed it, or because Jesus had come out of a coma in the cool of the tomb, but because of a divine intervention. The late Dr. Pinchas Lapide, an eminent Jewish theologian, said this about Jesus’ resurrection: …In my opinion the resurrection belongs to the category of the truly real… A fact which indeed is withheld from objective science, photography, and a conceptual proof, but not from the believing scrutiny of history which more frequently leads to deeper insights.
Jesus’ resurrection is not a mythical story. It was the real God, breaking into real history at a particular place and a particular time. This is what makes Christian faith with all it says about God, you and me, and the meaning of life, credible. Christianity is real because it has the evidence of eye-witnesses.
Prayer
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all people. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your amazing love in the redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful, and that we may declare your praise not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
One of the significant disagreements within the Christian Church over the last five hundred years has been over the sacraments. The Catechism in the English (1662) Book of Common Prayer defines a sacrament as
an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ Himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.
It is a sign, a means, and a pledge.
It is a sign in that it represents or points to something beyond itself. While it is not the thing itself there is a similarity or a similitude between the sign and the thing signified. In the Lord’s Supper the similitude is in the nourishing, in that as bread nourishes our physical body, so Christ’s body broken feeds our soul.
Also, as the bread we eat in the Lord’s Supper is a sharing in one loaf of bread (we usually forget this today), so we who eat are one body in Christ – as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:17.
Furthermore, as we eat the bread and drink the wine, Christ through his Spirit, draws his people into his presence and into fellowship with him in heaven. It is something we can’t verbalize, but we partake of all the benefits he has won for us when his body was broken and his blood was shed at Calvary.
SACRAMENTS
The sacraments are linked to God’s Word. Without this they would be dumb signs. The sacraments visibly present the promises of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which we have heard. The sacraments make visible what is preached. Christ himself authorized this when he added his teaching and his promises, his word, to the physical elements of the bread and the wine in the Lord’s Supper, thus transforming the bread and the wine into a sacrament.
The sacrament is a means of grace. When, and only when, we believe the promise of the gospel do we spiritually benefit as we partake of the Lord’s Supper. In this instance, believing is seeing since we see the word of God’s promise as a visible word in the sacrament. The Lord’s Supper is an outward and visible guarantee or pledge of our faith in Christ. To paraphrase Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s words: ‘As the bread, which is only a signification and figure, is eaten, our souls are fed and nourished with the spiritual benefits of Christ’s flesh and blood to eternal life.
The sacrifice for sin is complete. None of this means the physical substance of the bread and wine changes (transubstantiation), nor does it mean that Christ is physically present in the elements. As God-man, he is in heaven. This is the reason we exhort each other to ‘Lift up our hearts’ – we are to lift them up to where Christ Jesus is, in heaven. Furthermore, the Letter to the Hebrews is clear that the priestly and sacrificial work of Christ has been completed once and for all time (Hebrews 10:11-14). There is no need, indeed it subverts the meaning of Jesus’ death at Calvary, to repeat, re-present, or re-offer the sacrifice of Christ in the Communion.
In his second prayer book (1552), which stands behind the English 1662 BCP, Thomas Cranmer was keen to remove all ambiguity and set out clearly God’s gospel. So he took out words calling out for the Spirit to come upon the elements (the epiclesis). Appropriately, a prayer for the Spirit to come upon God’s people is at the beginning of the service. He also removed words that gave any impression of our offering anything for our salvation.
When we come to the Lord’s Supper we remember with grateful hearts what Jesus did on our behalf when he was crucified. We benefit now when, by faith, we are nourished spiritually by Christ, being drawn into his presence and into a conscious and joyful fellowship with his people. Furthermore, as we eat the bread and drink of the cup we look ahead to the day when we shall eat and drink with Christ and his people when he comes in the glory of his kingdom.
No wonder Paul the Apostle commands us to prepare before coming to the Lord’s Table: Let everyone examine themselves, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup (1 Corinthians 11:28).
Research presented at the Anglican Connection Conference held at Beeson Divinity School last October revealed that average church attendance in the United States is less than twenty percent. This is less than half what research had indicated fifteen to twenty years ago. And indicators point to an ongoing downward trend over the next decade. One interesting statistic that emerged is the increasing number of people who profess to be Christian yet who see no need of church. How contrary this is to the picture we find in the Bible.
In 1 John 4:7 we read:
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
The phrase, love one another threads through the following verses. In verse 7 we are exhorted to love one another; in verse 11, we have a duty to love one another; and in verse 12, it becomes a test, ‘if we love one another…’ It echoes Jesus’ new command that all who follow him should ‘love another’ (John 13:34).
Why is it so important that we love one another? Why, by implication, should we be involved with others who profess to be Christian? Indeed, why should we be involved in church? John’s answer is bound up with the subject of last week’s Word – ‘Love’. ‘God’s love’.
AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY
John is saying in verse 7 that anyone who does not practice love in their relationships, especially their relationships with God’s people, does not know God. It is not enough simply to say we know God. Authentic Christianity is about living out the love of God within us.
Evidence of God’s love is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, John tells us. And he goes on to draw out the implications of this in 4:11: Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. The gift of God’s love lays an obligation on us.
No one who truly responds to what Jesus Christ did for them when he died on the cross can go back to a life dominated by Self. The implication is that just as God has made such a costly sacrifice for us, so too his people should be willing to make costly sacrifices for one another.
In this remarkable chapter John tells us why we are to love one another and, by implication, why we need to be involved in and committed to a church. God’s love that originates within himself, was supremely revealed when Jesus Christ, through his death, provided an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Further, God’s love is brought to perfection when it bears fruit in his people – in our relationships with one another: If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. Truly an amazing statement.
AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY
In this little passage we are challenged to ask to what extent God’s love is reflected in our relationships with others at the church we attend? Do we take a genuine interest in one another – including those who may not be the intelligent, the beautiful and the successful? God welcomes everyone. The question is, do we? Do we pray for and support one another, do we truly welcome newcomers, not just on their first Sunday but over the following weeks? Do we go to church thinking not about what we can get, but what we can give? To take up two Greek words translated by our English word love, eros won’t serve others, but agape will.
Church alive. Significantly, churches where these principles are taught and practiced are churches that come alive. They are churches that people want to attend, churches where people want to bring their friends. One of the big challenges of life today is loneliness – people are looking for genuine community. Will they find it at your church?
