The Revealing of Jesus

Preacher: Gordon Hay

Verses: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 and John 1:29-42

What is the gospel message? Mark Dever has summarised it like this[1]:

        God is our holy Creator and righteous Judge;

        we have all sinned against Him, offending His holy character, alienating ourselves from Him, and exposing ourselves to His righteous anger;

        He has sent Christ to die the death that we deserved for our sins;

        that Christ’s death and resurrection is the only way to be reconciled to the one true God;

        we must respond to this Good News by repenting of our sins and believing in the Gospel if we would be forgiven by God, reconciled to Him, and saved from the wrath to come.

Last Sunday Lincon preached a powerful sermon on God’s amazing grace, drawing on Ephesians 3. How the mystery of Christ had been revealed by the Spirit and how, in Christ and through faith in him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence. How God’s grace is revealed in the Scriptures.

[1] “So how do we begin positively? For starters, put yourself in the background, and preach Christ crucified. Clarify what the true Gospel; is, what the required response is, and what it means to be a Christian. Make sure people know that God is our holy Creator and righteous Judge; that we have all sinned against Him, offending His holy character, alienating ourselves from Him, and exposing ourselves to His righteous anger; that He has sent Christ to die the death that we deserved for our sins; that Christ’s death and resurrection is the only way to be reconciled to the one true God; and that we must respond to this Good News by repenting of our sins and believing in the Gospel if we would be forgiven by God, reconciled to Him, and saved from the wrath to come. Make sure people know that they must persevere in a lifestyle of repentance and belief, displaying an increasingly loving and holy lifestyle that proves that we are His disciples. (John 15:8; cf. Matt 7:15-23; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13; 1 John 3:14; 4:8)” Extract from: The Deliberate Church: Mark Dever and Paul Alexander. P44, middle paragraph. 

The Mystery of Grace

Preacher: Lincon Hardouin

Verses: Isaiah 60:1-6 and Ephesians 3:1-12

We speak about grace on a regular basis, often in everyday conversation… I for one, know that it is one thing I truly hope for, for all people. It is the deepest longing and desire of my heart that all peoples would come to know and experience God’s grace. It is something I speak about often, something I pray for daily, yet there is one question which seems to come up all the time… What is grace? I am sure that we all look at grace in many different ways, defining grace as something specific depending on our own interpretations of scripture, on how it has been defined by others for us or possibly, depending on our own personal experiences. Some of the definitions I have come across include: 

·         Grace is the unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification – Ephesians 2:6, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God.” or 1 Peter 5:10, “And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 

·         Grace is the equivalent of mercy or pardon from ones sins – Ephesians 1:7-8, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us.”

v. I am the Resurrection and the Life

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: John 11:25

The raising of Lazarus from the dead is the climactic miracle of John’s gospel, the last of seven miracles inserted just before the beginning of the final week of Christ’s earthly ministry.  Moreover, it contains the fifth of seven ‘I am’ saying of Jesus viz. “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:26).  It also contains the shortest verse in Scripture: “Jesus wept” (v35).  As such it highlights both the divinity of Jesus, his power over life and death, as well as his humanity, his ability to grieve in the face of loss.

 Jesus was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (v34) in the face of death and loss.  The word in the original depicts the snorting of a horse at the prospect of battle or staggering under a heavy load.  Jesus was familiar with grief as we are, “A man of sorrow and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3).  As one commentator put it, “He gathered up into his personality, all the misery resulting from sin, represented in a dead man and broken-hearted people round him”.

"He would know... that she is a sinner"

Preacher: Lincon Hardouin

Verses: Luke 7:36-50

This is of course the second Sunday in advent. It is such an amazing time of the year, a time for family, a time for friends, a time to celebrate. With Christmas around the corner, I’m sure the preparations are well underway. Focusing on the family traditions, putting up the Christmas tree, getting all the Christmas shopping done, wondering about and planning the meal for Christmas day… What a wonderful time right. And in the midst of all the joy and the celebration, the one thing that is so often overlooked in today’s society, one person that we think about but not as we should, is the person of Jesus. Jesus, who should be the central focus during, at the very least, this time of the year, is sometimes nothing more than a periphery character, someone we glance at over there, while we focus on what is going on here. 

And this is somewhat true of what Luke records in this passage. There are three characters he mentions, there is Simon the Pharisee, the unnamed woman and then there is Jesus at the very centre of this moment. Luke, in recording this incredibly beautiful passage, makes a very important comparison or distinction between these two people, Simon the Pharisee and the unnamed sinful woman. One being self-righteous, seeking to analyse and understand the person of Jesus in the most logical way possible, but cannot see Him for who he truly is nor what He has truly come to achieve, the other, humble, seeking simply to worship Him, to glorify Him, to be in His presence.

iv. I am the Door

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: John 10:7

The children’s chorus I sang so many years ago is so appropriate when we consider Jesus’ statement “I am the door of the sheep” (v7)

                         There’s a way back to God

                        from the dark paths of sin

                        There’s a door that is open

                        And you may come in

                        At Calvary’s cross is where you begin

                        When you come as a sinner to Jesus.

 Jesus’ great statement is made in the midst of opposition from the pharisees after the Feast of Tabernacles.  They took exception to Jesus healing a man born blind.  Some scholars argue it was made during the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) some three months later, celebrating the re-dedication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus after its desecration by the Greeks.  This context suggests that Jesus’ admonition about false shepherds is not directed to the pharisees alone but all false leaders who lead people astray.

iii. I am the Good Shepherd

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: John 10:11

Of all the ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus, ‘I Am the Good Shepherd’ is perhaps the most loved of all.  More often than not we use the word good in an offhand manner – ‘he is a good person’, ‘we had good time’.  I’m reminded of the film ‘As Good As It Gets’ when a far from good cranky script writer played by Jack Nicholson pays a long suffering waitress the ultimate compliment, “You make me want to be a better man”. 

Unlike English, Greek has two words for good.  The first speaks of moral goodness.  But as someone has observed, it is possible to be ‘morally repulsive’.  Some people are so upright and uptight that others are repelled rather than attracted by their ‘goodness’.  The second refers to authenticity – beautiful, winsome, lovely, attractive.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd in both senses of the word, not simply a good shepherd, one of many in a similar class, but the good shepherd unique, one and only.  Compared to Jesus we who are shepherds in a lesser sense, under shepherds if you will, scarcely seem to be that at all.  Who of us could call ourselves a good shepherd, let alone the good shepherd?  Yet intuitively we know Jesus to be both and we love him for it.

ii. I am the Light of the World

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: John 8:12

Late September 1991 the fishing boat Andrea Gail sailed from Gloucester, Massachusetts some 600kms into the Atlantic Ocean.  A cold front moving down from Canada combined with a large pressure system from the west together with the aftermath of hurricane Grace in the south east created the perfect storm.  Ferocious winds and huge waves reduced the boat to matchwood and the six crew members were lost at sea.  No doubt there had been prior perfect storms, but this was made famous by the book and film of the same title. 

Two thousand years ago Jesus faced his own perfect storm as various pressures from a human perspective converged on Jerusalem of his day.  The westerly gale was the new superpower Rome.  Julius Caesar had centralized power.  After his assassination he was divinised and his successors declared son of God and assumed the role of pontifex maximus (high priest).  Augustus Caesar ruled from 31BC to AD14.  After his death he too was declared divine and his successor Tiberius took the same titles.  The job of the Roman governor in Palestine was to keep the peace, administer justice, collect taxes and supress unrest.  This was the westerly gale, the first element in the perfect storm confronting Jesus.

The Dangers of the Idle

Preacher: Lincon Hardouin

Verses: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

When we think of the idea or the concept of being “idle”, as Paul warns against, what is the first thought that comes to mind? For many of us, simply put, it is a sense of laziness, one’s ability to sit and do nothing for an extended period of time, to put off work, to shun and shy away from one’s responsibilities, to procrastinate not for the sake of making an informed decision, but simply because “we don’t feel like doing it”.

 How often do we encounter problems or get into situations where we look at what’s going on and we say, “Well, someone else will deal with that, I’m too tired, or I don’t have the time to do this, or I simply don’t have the energy.” I know that I am guilty of this. For example, I have noticed that there are times where the street lights in my road are not working. Instead of me picking up the phone and calling the relevant people to report the issue, I often think to myself, well someone else will probably report the problem so why should I bother. We become so dependent on other people, leaving it up to them because we don’t feel like doing it, or we feel like it’s not our problem. And this is not simply a present reality problem, a problem that we only face within our day to day routines. We at times take this to the extreme, even within our Christianity and our faith. Does this sound familiar, “Well God is sovereign over all things, He is in control, therefore, I am going to sit back and let Him deal with it. He will bring me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it and I don’t have to do a single thing”?

i. I am the Bread of Life

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: John 6:35

Jesus never wrote a book.  Yet no other person in history has had more books written about them.  The closest we come to biography are the Gospel accounts.  Perhaps the closest we come to auto-biography are the seven “I am” statements of Jesus in John’s gospel which raised the ire of the religious leaders.  They regarded Jesus committing blasphemy, laying claim to the revelation of God’s great name “I am who I am” given to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14,15). 

Scholars have spent the last five thousand years trying to understand the meaning of “I am who I am” and there is still no consensus.  No doubt Moses spent the rest of his life trying to figure out exactly what it meant.  By asking God to reveal his name, Moses was seeking to understand the essence of God’s character, his quintessential being.  God’s name was more than a name.  It represented his very being, his entire character and attributes.  The mystery of an eternal, unchangeable God who does not owe his existence to anyone else, eternally present embracing the past and the future is beyond human comprehension.

Month of Mission iv. What does a healthy Church look like?

Preacher: Lincon Hardouin

Verses: Ephesians 4:14-16 and Revelation 2:1-7

Paul Minear’s classic work “Images of the Church in the New Testament” refers to no less than ninety-six word pictures of the church.  We have already focused on Paul’s image of the church as a healthy body (Eph 4:7-16).  We will now highlight John’s emphasis on the church as loving community (1 John 4:7-9).  Paul spent three years at Ephesus grounding believers in the gospel.  Thereafter he wrote them a letter from prison in Rome in the early 60’s AD, prior to his martyrdom.  The apostle John remained in Jerusalem, moving to Ephesus shortly before the fall of Jerusalem and the desecration of the Temple.  The church at Ephesus under John served as a hub to reach the Roman province of Asia and he wrote his 3 letters there in the late 80’s.  They afford a fascinating insight to the situation which prevailed in Ephesus a generation after Paul’s ministry there in the early 50’s.

Month of Mission iii. The Purpose of the Church

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Ephesians 4:1-16

Paul Minear’s classic work “Images of the Church in the New Testament” refers to no less than ninety-six word pictures of the church.  We have already focused on Paul’s image of the church as a healthy body (Eph 4:7-16).  We will now highlight John’s emphasis on the church as loving community (1 John 4:7-9).  Paul spent three years at Ephesus grounding believers in the gospel.  Thereafter he wrote them a letter from prison in Rome in the early 60’s AD, prior to his martyrdom.  The apostle John remained in Jerusalem, moving to Ephesus shortly before the fall of Jerusalem and the desecration of the Temple.  The church at Ephesus under John served as a hub to reach the Roman province of Asia and he wrote his 3 letters there in the late 80’s.  They afford a fascinating insight to the situation which prevailed in Ephesus a generation after Paul’s ministry there in the early 50’s.

Month of Mission ii. God's Indescribable Gift(s)

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: 1 Cor 12:4-11, Phil 2:5-11 & 2 Cor 9:12-15

Grace by its very nature is a gift which we don’t deserve.  We are saved to serve.  We are saved by grace and we serve by grace.  God is both Creator and Saviour.  Common grace gives us natural gifts.  Saving grace gives us supernatural gifts, albeit with an overlap between the two.  By its very nature a gift is a spontaneous act of generosity and the gifts of the Spirit are no different. 

Some have argued that some of the gifts of the Spirit, especially the more spectacular ones, were confined to the age of the apostles.  One would have to argue along theological and historical grounds to sustain this point of view.  However, we must allow Scripture to speak with its own voice.  When we impose even a well-meaning grid causing the text to conform and confine to our particular perspective, we do a dis-service both to the Scriptures and the people of God.  But there is an equal and opposition reaction whereby the gifts of the Spirit become the central focus of the church and we become preoccupied with them rather than the giver.

Month of Mission i. The Ascended Christ Gifting His Church

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Ephesians 4:7-16

Letters written from prison are particularly poignant be they Dietrich Bonhoeffer writing to his fiancé shortly before his hanging at the hands of the Nazi’s, Alexander Solzhenitsyn imprisoned writing from the Gulag in Siberia or Bram Fischer, Afrikaner revolutionary serving a life sentence in Pretoria writing to his family not long after the tragic death of his wife Molly.  Perhaps the most moving from a Christian perspective are the prison letters of Paul not least Ephesians written in the early to mid-sixties AD from Rome whilst awaiting death at the hands of Nero. 

Ephesus was the centre of worship of the goddess Artemis (Diana) whose massive temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens, straddled the city.  Paul’s three-year ministry at Ephesus in AD 52-55 had impacted the sale of artefacts associated with the worship of Artemis resulting in a riot which caused Paul to leave for Macedonia.

Be still and know that I am God

Preacher: Gordon Hay

Verses: Psalm 46:10 (NIV) and Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

Psalm 46:10 New International Version (NIV)

10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

 Matthew 11:28-30 The Message (MSG)

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

 How many times have you been driving around looking for an address you have never visited and found yourself turning down the radio? I find myself doing this quite often, even with my GPS giving me turn-by-turn directions. Why do we do this? We are not looking for our destination with our ears. Or are we?

 In 2002 I contracted cerebral malaria. I spent some seven nights in hospital. The effect of the malaria and the medication caused my mind to travel to strange places, sometimes I was conscious, and sometimes unconscious, but experiencing hallucinations that were so real that I struggled to recognise reality. I would hear Sue’s footsteps coming down the passage. I knew what her footsteps sounded like. The door would open, she would pull up a chair and start talking. But when I opened my eyes to answer - there was no one in the room.

Repentance and Worship

Preacher: Lincon Hardouin

Verses: Joel 2:12-17

Joel 1:1-3, “The word of the Lord came to Joel, son of Pethuel. Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.” And what was that word? What were they supposed to hear, to listen to? What were they supposed to tell? Well, quite simply, and based on the very first chapter of this prophetic book, a catastrophe, unlike anything that generation had seen, was coming, it was impending doom, absolute destruction that could not be avoided. There was a warning sent from the Lord to His people, telling them that there would be an invasion of locusts, not simply a naturally occurring phenomenon, but rather an invasion sent by the Lord Himself, and once this invasion was over… there would be nothing left except their own grief, their own sorrow… their joy would be exchanged for mourning. This was the Lord’s divine and just punishment for a nation, His very own people, called by His own name, because of their unfaithfulness toward Him and their failure in upholding His Law.

The Parables of Jesus - iv. A Father and Two Sons

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Luke 15:11-32

Everyone loves a story and Jesus is a master storyteller.  Indeed, the parable of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the greatest story ever told, without parallel in its dramatic effect.  Its vivid storyline and riveting intrigue make it hard to forget as the listener is disarmed and persuaded, caught unawares as the habits of one’s heart are exposed and challenged. 

Jesus captured the imagination in an oral culture where many of his listeners could not read and had to rely on memorization in order to learn, hence the brief storyline: home, sick of home, homesick, home! with dramatic twists and turns in-between.

The Parables of Jesus - iii. The Kingdom of Heaven: Priceless

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Matthew 13:44-52

The parables of Jesus have rightly been described as Pictures of Revolution.  The message of the Kingdom of God is indeed revolutionary, unlike any human revolution promising Utopia and freedom, only to oppress those who stand in the way.  Jesus was a revolutionary far more radical than those who endeavoured to change society through force.  His method was one of persuasion through parables ticking away like a time bomb with explosive results.  His ‘stories of intent’ were designed to disarm his opponents on the one hand, and reveal the true nature of discipleship and radical repentance on the other.  The parables simultaneously conceal and reveal, exposing the habits of his hearers’ and readers’ hearts.

"Can these Dry Bones Live?"

Preacher: Lincon Hardouin

Verses: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Ezekiel’s message comes to the nation of Israel at a time of great confusion, political complexity and unrest. That is because at this time, Israel had already been taken into exile by the Babylonians and have been there for a significant amount of time. His prophecy was aimed at a people, a community, who were forcibly removed from their home, but more than simply addressing the issues of their physical hardships, those issues that affect their current physical reality, Ezekiel’s prophecy deals with a people, a community, who have broken faith with their God. And of course Ezekiel makes the reason for the exile clear. It is because of the faithlessness of the people towards God and their continued failure to live as God’s renewed humanity. Over and over again Israel has been warned about the coming judgement of God, they have been called to worship Him and no other god, they have been constantly called to repentance and they have not responded nor have they heeded God’s warning to them through the prophets… and now, more or less 5 years into the Babylonian exile, Israel is facing the consequences of their unfaithfulness.

The Parables of Jesus - ii. Seeds, Weeds and Explosive Growth

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Matthew 13:24-43

Jesus continues to tell three parables about the Kingdom of God: the wheat and the weeds with an explanation to follow, the mustard seed and yeast.  Whether Jesus told these parables in this precise order is a moot point.  Matthew writes to a predominantly Jewish order and he collates his material accordingly to stress the primacy of the Kingdom in Jesus’ teaching. 

The Kingdom cannot be equated with the church, a mistake Augustine made in his interpretation which led to very grave consequences.  The church in the Middle Ages became a coercive agency, relying on power and control.  Constantine, the first ‘Christian’ emperor of the Roman Empire established a state church.  He is reputed to have offered defeated opponents in war a choice, be baptised or be drowned!  Little wonder that the church became a compromised body with nominal allegiance by many.  The Crusades in attempting to impose Christianity by force on Islam had disastrous consequences, compounded by Islam’s equating the gospel with western culture.

The Parables of Jesus - i. How do we hear?

Preacher: Alan Cameron

Verses: Matthew 13:1-23

Jesus was a masterful teacher who captured the imagination of his hearers through the use of parables, described as stories with a sting in the tale, striking home unawares.  Filled with everyday illustrations, the surface meaning hides a sucker punch.  Whilst not unique to Jesus, parables in his hands have coined universal phrases like ‘turning the other cheek’, ‘going the extra mile’ and ‘being a Good Samaritan’ to name but a few.

 Context is vital to the right understanding of a story, not least a parable.  It may well have a disturbing, cutting edge especially if conflict and confrontation is in the air.  In this context Jesus’ enemies accuse him of being in league with Satan, and his immediate family are concerned about his mental state.  So faced with direct opposition on the one hand and familiarity bordering on contempt on the other, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower.