Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her.

She will not fall. God will help her at the break of day. Nations are in uproar.

Kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice. The earth melts.

(1:05 – 1:17)

The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.

(1:18 – 1:38)

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire.

He says, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

(1:40 – 5:15)

The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. So in this very short series that we’re doing, we’re asking the question, how much is the church worth? And we’re exploring the answer through three Psalms, Psalm 45, 46, and 48.

And while these are Old Testament songs, they speak of the called out people of God, which for our context is the body of believers united in Christ. And so for us, there’s so much to learn and apply today. Now last week, Colin helped us with Psalm 45 and he portrayed the church as a bride joined to her royal king.

And this week in Psalm 46, it reveals the church as God’s dwelling place, where God is the fortress of refuge for the faithful. And it’s a final assurance for the people of God, a security against all and whoever would oppose. And then next week in Psalm 48, just to encourage you to be along next week too, Psalm 48 will show us the church as a city witnessing to the beauty of God and the beauty of his people.

But let’s come to tonight and Psalm 46. And let me ask you regarding the church, whether it’s the local church here in Greenview or nationally across the UK or the church across the world, what frightens you most? What are you fearful of regarding the church now and future? Now I asked this question of some friends recently in a WhatsApp group that I’m part of, usually full of banter and lots of side jokes and so on, but it’s often laced with interest and concerns for the church. So here are some of the collated thoughts.

The church faces external forces seeking to marginalise or destroy it. Modern ideologies, secular narratives regarding gender, sexuality and truth exert a constant pressure through education, media and the workplace. In the social and professional cost of holding on to biblical convictions.

And that often leads to a fear of being excluded, being treated as less than. And then alongside that is the cold frameworks of materialism, humanism, aggressive religious worldviews that stand in direct opposition to the church. And perhaps a dangerous external threat too, a subtle seduction of worldly pleasure and sophistication that draws the church away from its primary devotion.

Well that was some of the external threats and fears. But internally the dangers are just as grave. Authority is weakening and as confidence in God’s word wavers.

Core orthodox historical doctrines are sidelined as problematic on the wrong side of history. The gospel is being reshaped by a pragmatism, social action and a moralism. Focussing on what works rather than what is true.

(5:18 – 5:47)

As discipleship and commitment wane, then the church risks becoming a mere service provider for consumers of church rather than a body of believers to love and serve one another. And an internal dilution creates a vacuum where false teachers arise, distorting the faith, dismantling the church from the inside out. And so the church stops relying on God.

(5:48 – 6:12)

It relies on itself and it stops praying. Well so much to fear, much that is chaotic and subversive, that threatens security, stability. But has it not always been so? And it’s not just the church that is affected.

(6:13 – 6:29)

The whole fabric of our world and its people are in the firing line too. There’s an infighting and a harm and a destruction happening across all our world. We remember that the devil is against God and all he has made.

(6:31 – 7:57)

Again, has it not always been so from the beginning? Yet what if the people of God were moved from fear and anxiety to an unshakeable confidence? Imagine a people of God rooted in God’s presence, nourished by joy and certain that everything against the church is ultimately defeated. This protective promise is available to us now and tonight we can see that even opposition serves God’s good purposes. It clears away the false.

It refocuses the church on what matters most because this psalm brings us back to that singular priority of God and his glory. Now what type of psalm is this? What was its intent in the original context? Well, it can be difficult to determine a precise historical event for this psalm. The text doesn’t name anything like that, a specific crisis.

However, scholars and historical traditions offer a couple of likely scenarios. So some will interpret the psalm as a response to the Assyrian empire’s siege of Jerusalem way back in 701 BC. We read of that in 2 Kings 18 or in 2 Chronicles 32.

(7:58 – 9:22)

And there King Sennacherib and his massive army of 185,000 warriors using psychological warfare, brutal threats to terrify the people of Judah. The warriors who had assailed the towns and the villages around before they got to Jerusalem and had cut off the people’s heads and catapulted them into the city of Jerusalem. But yet there, the deliverance of the city by an angel destroying the army.

Well, that can be thought to provide a strong parallel to this psalm’s themes. Or what about the deliverance under King Jehoshaphat? This is the victory of Judah over the Amorites and the Ammonites. It’s also recorded in 2 Chronicles, this in chapter 20.

And there the people of God were told, the battle is not yours, it’s God’s. Well, regardless of its origin, we can see this psalm’s message applying, yes, down through history, but also into our current moment and the future. It uses, yes, catastrophic imagery like mountains falling into the sea, because the psalm addresses any crisis where the earth gives way and kingdoms fall.

(9:23 – 12:34)

In a sense, it encompasses every sphere of existence, physical, bodily, social, political, spiritual, all is in view. But what Psalm 46 does for us is it focusses our attention on God, who is our fortress. And together we are in view.

God is our fortress. And we rightly exalt and praise this God, because his powerful presence preserves and defends his people. Neither the gates of hell, nor the hatred of the devil, nor the assaults of the worlds and its kingdoms, subtle or otherwise, will prevail.

So let us think about the assurance it gives to the people of God, collectively, but also individually. So first off, our assurance is in God and who he is. You see, this assurance begins with God himself.

This psalm repeatedly anchors the people of God’s confidence in the person of God and his character, weaving this truth throughout the psalm. God’s the central character. He’s named as the refuge, the strength, the ever-present help in verse 1. But he’s also the most high in verse 4, meaning he has supreme authority, sovereign over all creation.

This was a title that was used by Melchizedek and Abraham way back in Genesis 14. And it identifies then as God is the possessor of heaven and earth. It emphasises God’s dominion over all, that surpasses all other beings, gods and powers.

And then in verse 7, and repeated in verse 11, God is named as Lord Almighty, else should I. First introduced to us in Genesis 17, when God established his kingdom with Abraham, and this name signified God’s all-sufficiency. So whether providing for his people in impossible circumstances or overpowering obstacles to achieve his purposes, else should I as the God who is more than enough to meet every need. So when faced with fear or threats against the church or instinct, often is to look to ourselves, but rather this psalm is pointing us to have a different instinct and look to God.

The confidence and assurance of the people of God are not to stem from within themselves and their own strength and capability, but from the character of the God who acts for his people. It’s interesting, and I checked it again this afternoon, but praise is not mentioned in this psalm. Yet a faithful and truthful declaration of who God is, is an expression of praise.

(12:35 – 14:31)

And the praise that’s inherent within this psalm is to come from eyes of faith that’s fixed on God and who he is. You see, when God is the centre, then people will see the goodness and mercy of this God, no matter the circumstances. Warren Wearsby, I’m enjoying reading a lot of his stuff at the moment.

He writes that if we can see the circumstances of life as a window through which we see God, it can lead us to praise him. Whereas if we see circumstances simply as a mirror by which we see ourselves, we are prone to complaint. Well, let’s lift our eyes to praise this God, because our assurance in this God brings joy and security, which is our second point.

And we come into now verses two to six in particular, and we see trusting in this God, there are two results or outcomes. Firstly, joy, not fear. God promises that his people will not be overcome by chaos, whether psychological, physical, spiritual.

Even when circumstances are described as calamitous, so calamitous that the earth seems to give way and mountains quake, yet this God is not distant. He’s an ever-present help right in the middle of the trouble. And the result is that the people of God say, we will not fear.

It’s not a denial of the threat. It’s a statement rather of faith that says we face them with the God who is with us. Consider the nature of fear.

(14:33 – 15:52)

Where does it come from? The feelings and thoughts associated with fear, well, they don’t come from nowhere. They’re actually part of God’s good design for his people. In the beginning, God assigned humanity a specific role.

Genesis chapter two tells us that Adam was placed in the garden to work it, but also to keep it, to guard, to watch over, to maintain order. Right at the very beginning, God essentially designed humans to be watchmen, alert and ready to respond, knowing that the challenges his creation would face in a fallen world to come. God equipped humanity from the beginning to stand ready against a dark and a hostile environment that would be empowered by sin.

We call this vigilance. It’s like being on sentry duty. Vigilance is a good thing.

It’s the inner signal that says something’s not right. Step in, protect, care, reduce the harm. It ought us to move towards other, to act, to help and to protect.

(15:52 – 17:28)

It’s meant to enable us to engage, not withdraw and hide, but like all our emotions, vigilance can be distorted, transforming into a chronic fear and anxiety. And in a stressful world, our natural alertness can shift into a constant, exhaustive scanning of what-if scenarios where we become paralysed and perpetually on edge, perhaps obsessed with maintaining a control that was never ours to begin with. And the Bible addresses fear when we try to be vigilant apart from God.

Feeling threatened is natural, but we stumble when we turn inward instead of upward. When fear takes hold in the wrong ways and we realise we lack the resources to handle our circumstances, it’s a realisation that reveals our inherent limitations. But what do we do? Well, some respond by fighting and attempting to force control, while others flee and withdraw and avoid risk.

And though these reactions differ, actually they share the same root, which is fear. But faithful vigilance remains alert to dangers, but shifts its focus. And instead of asking, can I handle this? It asks, God, will you help me? It moves from self-protection to faith in action.

(17:29 – 18:21)

We’re still called to act and care, to guard, to be vigilant. But we faced uncertainty, entrusting ourselves to God, the God who is with us, the ever-present help in trouble. We turn to the Lord rather than to self.

Then the picture shifts from roaring waters to a river and streams. Verse four speaks of a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God. The people of God, it’s a beautiful contrast, isn’t it? The waters of chaos that seek to harm and destroy against the God’s river and streams that bring gladness, a very different outcome.

(18:23 – 18:59)

That’s what God brings to the people of God as they face fearful things. Reminds us what James says to the church in his letter to find joy in the varying difficulties and trials that come at us. Or Paul to the Philippian church as they face relational conflict, they’re to rejoice in the Lord.

Why? Because the Lord is near. Therefore don’t be anxious, but pray. They’re to look to and depend upon God who is near, who is with them.

(19:01 – 19:07)

And it’s not mere survival that is promised here. It’s a gladness. It’s from fear to joy.

(19:07 – 19:20)

God doesn’t just keep his people going. It’s not a be calm and carry on mentality. He gives them joy with his presence, even in the hard and the difficult.

(19:23 – 19:33)

But also secondly, there’s a security, not an instability. So this second outcome is stability. Now the threat is of a city under siege.

(19:34 – 20:10)

It’s a threat of structures falling down. And verse four promises that the city of God will not totter. It’s a great word that, isn’t it? Totter.

It will not fall. While the surrounding world may shake under immense pressure, the church, the people of God, won’t fall. It’s a protection that does not fail.

It’s a foundation that will not collapse. Under the weight of the external aggression. Why? Because the most high dwells.

(20:11 – 20:31)

Verse four, God is within our verse five. That’s the promise. That’s the reason the city does not totter.

It’s not strong walls, not clever leadership, but God’s presence. And again, we need to be clear. God’s presence doesn’t mean nothing will shake them.

(20:32 – 21:06)

The city of God will not ultimately be shaken loose. That’s the promise. It will not ultimately be overcome and destroyed.

Even when everything around feels uncertain, there’s a promised stability and security. And it’s a help that comes like the dawn after the dark of the night. In verse five, that’s when we see things in a better light as we move from darkness to light.

(21:07 – 21:48)

And you know, we see this contrast between two cities presented in the Bible, but also in this Psalm. Step back a bit and see that the Bible presents a powerful contrast between the city of man and the city of God. Two distinct cultures shaped by two distinct hearts.

We first encounter the city of man through Cain. It begins in sin and fear and self-protection. Cain, remember, built his city to secure himself after murdering his brother and fearing others’ vengeance.

(21:49 – 23:59)

And at its core, the city is driven by a fear of death and a craving for control, using its walls to shut out the threats from outside. But over time, this culture produces a culture of pride, violence, epitomised by Lamech. He boasted of escalating retaliation and celebrated vengeance as the norm.

Yet even the Bible shows us God’s gracious provision. For in the city of man, a gracious tension exists. It’s not purely evil, it’s the birthplace of music and tools and culture.

And it reveals to us an important truth that whilst human cities can produce beauty and progress, the Bible shows us that when built on sinful, rebellious hearts that turn from God, that inevitably drift towards self-exaltation and oppression of others and all its effects on self and others, and that’s to be contrasted with the city of God, which reflects an entirely different reality. A foundation is trust in God’s presence rather than fear. And it’s walls built, instead of walls built for hoarding or exclusion or coercion, it’s pictured as a place of where life flows outward like a river, bringing a blessing to others.

It’s a culture defined by peace and love and generosity towards each other. And we see a glimpse of this in the city of Jerusalem under King David, where God’s presence brought a measure of peace and abundance to the people of God. But that city was quickly corrupted when David and subsequent kings succumbed to the same sin that shaped Cain.

(24:01 – 25:51)

And so it reveals to us the fundamental problem is not the city itself, but the human heart. But even then throughout scripture, the prophets hold on to hope, pointing to a future where God establishes a city of peace and justice, free from sin, free from fear and death. A city where God will dwell with his people.

A presence that’s deepened throughout history, from the garden and the tabernacle to the temple, and finally to Jesus who is God with us. He establishes the true city, a built not by force or political power, but by a people led by the spirit of God, the same spirit who lives in and flows through his people like this life giving river. But notice too in verse six, the psalmist tells us that the nations themselves are raging in uproar.

The other kingdoms are caught up in this rage and uproar and they are falling too because it reminds us that the city of man itself is also under threat. The widest society and people. It’s the ultimate consequences of people who are driven by sinful hearts.

And it’s not hard for us to imagine this today as it has been since humanity was moved out of that original garden city. Conflict, unrest, job uncertainty, economic turmoil, environmental crisis and so on and on and on. The world and its kingdoms are tottering.

(25:52 – 26:49)

And we can think of institutions and social norms that rather than being based on God and all his wisdom are based on the autonomy of man. And so we see the demise of a social order and an increase in corruption and fraud, societies on the edge and on and on and into this world God speaks. He lifts his voice and the earth melts.

To the world, to the nations, to the kingdoms, to the city of man, God speaks and it melts. And so in verse eight to 10, the focus shifts, the momentum moves to God and his glory over all of nations. And it begins with an invitation.

(26:50 – 29:29)

Come and see what the Lord has done. In other words, take a good look at God’s works. And this invitation is for everyone.

For the nations and all that would oppose God as well as the people of God who are experiencing the faith-shaking realities of opposition and threat. We are all to look carefully at what God is doing and has done and will do. And what do we see? We see he brings peace.

He makes war cease to the ends of the earth, verse nine. That’s the promise. And it encompasses the whole of the earth.

It includes peace for the city of God but it’s also a universal peace. It’s a peace for all nations and all kingdoms, for everything. But notice this peace comes through judgement, verse eight.

God brings an end to threats and wars and conflicts and so on by confronting and removing the evil that fuels it. The world will be forcibly disarmed. And even though the outcome is deeply good, the process is severe.

They are described as desolations, sobering, shocking even. God breaks the bow, shatters the spear, burns the shields. God does not merely manage conflict.

He dismantles it by destroying the very tools that people have used for their own power, their own ends, their own means, their own control. And this is the decisive end to the cycle of threat of violence. It’s not a temporary pause.

God will act with holy force against everything that brings harm, oppression to his city and throughout the world. And beyond achieving peace, God’s ultimate purpose is his glory. Look at verse 10.

Be still and know that I am God. You know this is often quoted as a gentle comfort to believers, usually on some mug or a tea towel. But it’s not a call for quiet.

There is a comfort in it, yes. But it’s not a there, there, everything will be all right. It’s a strength because the primary tone of this is authoritative.

(29:30 – 30:38)

It is stop, enough. And it’s addressed to anything and everyone, nations and individuals opposing God’s rule. To those who threaten and attack his people, God commands stop.

Lay down your weapons. Cease your rebellion. And to his people, the command is equally sharp.

It is stop striving. It’s a rebuke to self-reliance, a warning his people not to seek refuge in their own strength or attempts to be a vigilant apart from him. And God’s voice is the voice we are to hear and obey and ultimately fear.

He is the sovereign ruler who declares, I will be exalted. And the noise of human aggression and disorder will not last forever. It will inevitably give way to a world filled with the honour and exaltation of the Lord where every heart recognises that he alone is God.

(30:43 – 31:42)

So as we bring things to a finish, as we underline some of these key truths, let’s remind ourselves of the repeated refrain that identifies this God as the God of Jacob. It’s a startling name. I don’t know how much you know or remember about Jacob.

He was deceitful, unstable, flighty, selfish, self-dependent, scheming, seeking control. Yet we are being encouraged that God is not just a fortress for the sorted, the spiritual elite, but God is for all the Jacobs of the church who like him wrestle with all their sin, all their temperaments, personalities and frailty just like he did. I find that deeply encouraging.

(31:44 – 32:34)

So let us remind ourselves that the church is worth so much that the Lord provides protection. He is the mighty fortress offering refuge from and help in facing worldly threats and ultimate enemies, sin and death itself. But on the confession of Jesus Christ, Jesus as Christ and Lord, the church receives an unshakeable identity that though the earthly cities may crumble, the gates of hell will not overcome.

Crucially we are not the fortress. Our role is not to fix the world in our power, but to pray for leaders and stand for what is right. We face danger not by our own strength and ingenuity, but by standing strong in the Lord and in his mighty power equipped with the armour that he provides.

(32:35 – 32:53)

And the church is worth so much that God gives his presence. And we know that this has been given to the church ultimately in the giving of his only begotten son, the word made flesh, God with us, Emmanuel. And the Lord did not merely observe our chaos, he entered it.

(32:53 – 33:31)

God became man, God with us, to share our nature, human experience and following his resurrection and ascension, Jesus sent his spirit to dwell within his people to make his home with us, ensuring God’s presence remains a living internal reality. Yes, we can feel isolated and abandoned by God in tight places, yet as Paul puts it, the Lord is near, therefore don’t be anxious. And we remember as Jesus promised, I am with you always even to the end of the age we are not forsaken.

(33:33 – 34:07)

How much is the church worth? So much so that God brings them joy, a gladness that can lift people up and onwards, that brings refreshing and nourishment we need for living. This living water that’s been given to us by his spirit provides an unfailing stream of grace that enables us to rejoice in the Lord in this complex and oppositional world. Jesus wanted his joy to be made complete in his disciples, remember in John chapter 15.

(34:07 – 38:03)

And it’s his spirit that produces a fruit of joy that blesses all of us who belong to the Lord. And we are joyful because Jesus and truth have been revealed. Like the light at the dawn of day, the revelation of Jesus expels the darkness, it brings us the light of salvation so that Peter could write.

Though you’ve not seen Jesus, you love him and even though you do not see Jesus now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the result, the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. For the church is worth so much that the Lord Almighty removes all destructive forces and systems and defeats all sin and brings us peace. God has restrained evil, granted peace, down throughout history at certain times and in certain places and they are a foreshadow of a final and complete peace and a complete victory when all conflict has ended.

When he speaks that word of justice and melts the chaotic voices of the nations, the accusations of Satan, the chaotic voices of our own sinful thoughts and at his voice the world will dissolve and the Lord will reign and he will be exalted. This stillness commanded in this psalm calls us to abandon self-reliance. We are to trust in and rest in the work that has already been secured on our behalf in the finished work of the cross.

We’re no longer enemies and it directs how we’re to live together in unity. No dividing walls of hostility between his people and we’re not to fight like the world fights. We’re not called to win by control and force.

Instead we’re called to something harder and deeper to be peacemakers, people of peace and reconciliation in a world of conflict. For God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors.

Yes we are to resist evil. Yes we are to stand firm but we do it a different way. Trusting in the Lord, not taking things into our own hands as if it’s all dependent on us.

It’s a real fight but we do it reflecting who God is and that he is the ultimate peacemaker. And in the final analysis the glory and worth of the church is nothing compared to the worth and the glory of the Lord himself. He will be exalted above all and in all.

He is God and we are not and we know that the exaltation of Christ is his rightful place at the right hand of the Father in heaven. For God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And that’s a good place to end. All glory and honour to him. Let’s pray.

Father we do thank you that your word shows us what you are like, who you are like. You are our God, our great God. Increase our trust and faith and dependency in you.

(38:03 – 38:13)

Thank you that you sent your son Emmanuel, God with us. He is the victor. He is one at all.

(38:15 – 38:18)

To him be the glory. Amen.

The post The Fortress of the Faithfull – Psalm 46 appeared first on Greenview Church.

Simon Peter, Thomas, also known as Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. I’m going out to fish, Simon Peter told them, and they said, we’ll go with you. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. He called out to them, friends, haven’t you any fish? No, they answered. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.

When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it is the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him, for he had taken it off and jumped into the water.

The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred metres. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.

So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast.

None of the disciples dared ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Well, we’ve reached the final chapter of the gospel of John, but I need to tell you that not everyone likes this chapter. There are some critics of the Bible and some of them call themselves Bible scholars, and some of them would tell us that John 21 is not only an anticlimax, but also that it is a pointless addition to the book. We just don’t need chapter 21.

(2:57 – 3:11)

Admittedly, John chapter 20 is a climax, the last chapter we looked at. John 20 is the summit of the gospel. It’s the peak of all John is saying.

(3:12 – 3:39)

For instance, it contains the climactic events of the gospel, Jesus’ resurrection. It also contains the climactic confession when Thomas sees the risen Jesus and says, my Lord and my God. And if that were not enough, it also contains the climactic purpose of the gospel in the last two verses, which we read at the start today.

(3:41 – 4:03)

These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. That easily could have been the ending of John. John could have planted the full stop and put down his quill, but he didn’t.

(4:04 – 6:20)

And he didn’t, I think, for at least three reasons. Number one, John wanted to echo his main themes again. All the main themes of this gospel—revelation, testimony, faith, the provision of life—are all echoed here in chapter 21.

John wants to give us a little encore of the main themes. But secondly, not only is he echoing the main themes, he is also tying up the loose ends. Of course, when you watch a film or you read a book, very often it doesn’t end on the finale.

Usually, you get to the finale scene, but usually there’s another scene or a final chapter. Why do they do that? They do that in order to tie up the loose ends of the story. And actually, when they don’t do it, I sometimes feel annoyed.

I think, what happened to them next? And John is tying up some loose ends. In particular, what happened to Peter, the three-times denier? And what happened to John, the author of the gospel? And indeed, what happened to these apostles full stop? So, it echoes the main themes, it ties up the loose ends, but it also builds a bridge into the next stage of history. Just as we have in Matthew’s gospel and in Luke’s gospel, John’s finishing with a bridge-building chapter into the book of Acts, into the mission of the church.

Now, John 21 is a very different looking sort of Great Commission to Matthew, for example. But I think this is John’s version of it with a particular focus on Peter. So, without any hesitation, we should like this chapter, and indeed, I hope we will love this chapter as we go through it.

(6:21 – 6:34)

It’s really just one incident. We’re going to be covering it over two sermons this week and then in a fortnight’s time. It all happens on the Sea of Galilee in a boat and on a beach.

(6:35 – 7:15)

Let’s retrace the first part of the story with three points to help us. So, here’s the first point this morning. Without Jesus, catching nothing.

Without Jesus, catching nothing. It is sometime after the events of chapter 20, an indeterminate time, and the setting has now shifted from Jerusalem in the south to Galilee in the north. We’re back at the disciples’ old stomping ground, where they had seen so much of Jesus’ miracles and done so much with Him.

(7:16 – 10:45)

Interestingly, just seven of the disciples are present. Three of them are mentioned by name, two of them are broadly identified, and two of them John just doesn’t care enough to tell us who they were. On one particular day, Peter announces that he’s going fishing.

And you see here something, I think, of Peter’s influence. Part of why I think Peter became a very significant leader in the early church was because of his personality. He announces that he’s going fishing, and the next thing you know, the six others have jumped in the boat behind him.

Now, it’s worth saying at this point that opinions have varied over whether the disciples should have gone fishing. Were they right or were they wrong to fish? Some take the view that the disciples were sinning by going out to fish, that they were abandoning being disciples, that they were sort of going back to their old way of life, and that they were ignoring entirely the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. The trouble with that view is what we know from other gospels, and the fact that Jesus Himself had told them to return to Galilee.

They’re at the Sea of Galilee in obedience to Jesus. And when the disciples later realise this is Jesus, you will notice they immediately come to Him. One of them even swims to Him.

These are hardly the signs of disciples running away from Christ. What is more likely going on is simply this, that the disciples have gone to where Jesus told them to go, but they are waiting for Jesus to arrive. And Peter wants to do something productive, as we should all do with our time.

And as one commentator points out, even disciples who have witnessed the resurrection need to eat. And so, they get into a boat and they go out to fish. And what happens next? Well, not a lot.

Despite a whole night of work, an entire night of labour, they catch the total of absolutely nothing. Now, I doubt that John is making a point of this here, but it struck me that this illustrates another point that we see in Scripture, a principle taught in Proverbs and confirmed in Ecclesiastes. And it’s this, that you can be diligent in your work, and you should be diligent in your work, but you can be diligent and come up with the sum result of nothing.

In life under the sun, in a world of fallenness and futility, you can work hard and still fail the exam, still catch nothing in the net, still lose the job that you’ve worked so hard within. They work all night, but they catch nothing. And now the morning is dawning.

(10:46 – 14:04)

They’re about 100 metres from the shore, and there’s a stranger on the shore. The reader gets the scoop immediately that it is Jesus. But the disciples don’t recognise Him for some reason or other.

But the fact that they didn’t recognise Jesus allows this incident to become another moment of revelation in a gospel that’s all about revealing Jesus’ identity. So, it’s a really good thing that they didn’t recognise Him. The stranger shouts to the boat, “‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ To which they cry back dejectedly, “‘No.'” Now, there’s an interesting little connection here, I think.

Maybe I’m spotting something that isn’t here. But if we’ve been paying attention to John’s gospel, there’s just a little thing that comes to mind here. Because back in chapter 15, in John 15, when Jesus was equipping these very apostles for this very time, when Jesus was teaching them how to live in this period post the resurrection, He said, “‘Remain in Me as I remain in you.'” The key to serving Jesus after He has risen will be to remain in Him.

And then Jesus went on to say this in John 15. He said, “‘No branch can bear fruit by itself. Apart from Me, you can do nothing.'” What could they do apart from Jesus? Nothing.

What did they catch in the net, having fished all night? Nothing. It’s a subtle link, maybe an interesting link to notice, that at this key meeting with the future leaders of the church, ready to go out on mission, something happens here to illustrate that without Jesus, they will be fruitless. No Jesus, no catch.

The presence and power of Jesus is required for the success of His disciples. After He ascends to heaven, Jesus will send the Holy Spirit, who will mediate the presence of Jesus, His presence and power, so that as they work and witness for Him, the disciples won’t accomplish nothing, but they will be able to accomplish anything. Brothers and sisters, this truth is still in play.

Yes, we need activity. We must be busy in our boats. We shouldn’t be idling our way to heaven as if there is no work for Jesus to be done.

(14:04 – 19:05)

If we’re not in the boats, we’re not going to be catching any fish. But without the power of Jesus, our every net will be empty. Christians, have you noticed this? Christians, individual Christians who aren’t just busy but fruitful, understand this principle.

They are people of prayer, and they are people of deep reliance on Jesus, deep faith in Jesus. Churches, churches that are growing numerically and spiritually, understand this principle. Do we? Without Jesus, no catch.

But then secondly, with Jesus, a miraculous catch. This is where the story turns next. Not just a catch of fish, but with Jesus’ help, an extraordinary catch.

Having heard of their dire situation, the stranger instructs the disciples to do something, to try something. They are to throw their net on the right side of the boat. And not only that, they’re confidently told that there are fish there.

I mean, who could possibly know this? I mean, I realise in modern fishing they’ve got sonars and things, they know exactly. But in the ancient, in these days, on the Lake of Galilee, who would have known what was under the veil of the water? Well, as we’ve seen in John, Jesus knows things that nobody else knows. And they listen to the stranger.

How much more should we listen to Jesus, by the way, if we listen to strangers? And all the time we go online, don’t we? We listen to strangers, experts in this and that, and we follow religiously their advice. It’s a good thing that they followed this person’s advice, but if we listen to strangers, we should listen all the more to Jesus. And so, they listen to him.

They decide to give it a go. And to their shock and jaw-dropping amazement, the nets begin to pull. And within a few more seconds, they’re straining to the point of near breaking.

This is not just a few fish or some fish, but a net full of fish. Indeed, seven of them struggle, John says, to lift it into the boat. And so, the picture is that they actually drag it along behind the boat.

And at this point, the penny drops for one of the disciples, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Who’s that? That’s John, the author of the gospel. John twigs that it was Jesus.

Just as he was the first to twig that Jesus had risen from the dead in John 20. It’s the Lord, he says. It must be.

And no sooner had John said it, than Peter acted on it. There’s so much good stuff here, isn’t there? It’s worth noting that there are different sorts of people in the kingdom of Christ. I mean, John and Peter were like chalk and cheese, weren’t they, from the descriptions we see of them? Complete opposites to one another.

John was a thoughtful, perceptive type. John was usually the one who knew things first. Peter, on the other hand, was the guy who did things first.

And there’s a place for both within the kingdom. Peter rushes to action. He’s not even going to wait for the boat to come in.

He’s going to jump into the water. And in a really curious detail, it might seem to us, he wraps his outer garment around himself before he jumps in. Like, what’s that all about? Probably what’s going on there is that this was for modesty reasons.

Because back in those days, I mean, it’s a very hot climate, right? We’re in the Middle East here. And it was a very tiring job in the heat of the Middle East. And so, fishermen would have been fairly stripped down in what they were wearing.

And therefore, Peter wants to put something on so that when he meets the Lord, he honours the Lord. And so, he puts on a bit more clothing, and then he dives in impulsively. After my sermon on Easter Sunday morning, I would receive from a number of you, thank you for sending, a number of memes about Peter and John running to the tomb.

(19:06 – 25:02)

I didn’t realise this, there’s gazillions of memes about John beating Peter there. Well, this time around, Peter will not finish last. He swims ashore, and the boat slowly comes in behind him.

And you will see, if we just skip forward a little to verse 11, that after it lands, Peter returns to the boat. We actually learned something else about Peter here, which is just incidental. He must have been incredibly strong, because earlier, all the disciples were struggling to lift it into the boat.

And it says here that Peter dragged the net ashore, seemingly on his own. And so, he drags this huge net in. It has a massive number of fish.

In fact, we know the exact number. There was 153 fish. Now, that’s a lot of potential fish suppers.

It’s a remarkable catch for this day. And a question that’s often asked is, is there any meaning to this particular number, 153? John does love a bit of symbolism. So, is there some kind of symbolism in 153? Now, there’s actually lots of theories about this.

And usually, when there’s tonnes of theories, it also means it’s just not very clear that there is a meaning we can all agree on. There’s all sorts of stuff about triangular numbers, and how 153 is a triangular number, and 17’s the root, and stuff about Hebrew letters and numerology. There actually is, if you are curious about this, there is a very fascinating theory about how 153 links to Ezekiel chapter 47.

Just Google that later. Out of all the theories, I think it is the most interesting. But I keep circling around to thinking, what would the original readers of John have made of 153? Presumably, many of the original readers didn’t know Hebrew.

They didn’t understand Hebrew numerology, and so on. Would they have had any chance of grasping this subtle meaning? What is absolutely clear, and what cannot be missed, is that there was a whole load of fish. And when you think about it, fishermen count fish, don’t they? I mean, they had to count the fish so that they could divide up the profits.

And if this was their biggest catch ever, which I assume it was, then of course they would have counted them. And so 153 tells us an eyewitness detail of an extraordinary catch. And yet, verse 11, even with so many, the net did not break.

A little thing you should know about John, the writer. John, by occupation, had been a fisherman. So he had no doubt seen many nets breaking.

He had spent much time in his life mending nets, nets that had broken with far fewer fish in it than this. The detail sticks in his head, that this was not just a miraculous catch, but also a miraculous keeping of the catch. There could be symbolism in that, possibly, given that we are in the commissioning section of John, his version of Matthew 28, given that the whole of John’s gospel speaks of usually actually sheep being brought into a fold that’s then very safe.

There could be a symbolism here, that the net of God’s grace is able to catch and keep all those who believe in Jesus. One of the great themes of John is that those who are given eternal life will never perish. We actually heard that in John 6, not one of them will be lost, Jesus said.

The net won’t break. Or as he puts it elsewhere in John, none of them will be snatched out of my hand. If you’re in the net of salvation, you can’t be lost.

There’s no holes in it. But what’s really clear is that all of this happened with Jesus. When they fished alone, as skilled as they were, no catch.

When they fished with Jesus, when they obeyed what He said, the catch was miraculous. And I think, therefore, that we need to ask ourselves the question, do we trust in what Jesus can do? Not just trusting, in fact, in what Jesus can do, but in what Jesus can do through ordinary people like these disciples, and like you, and like me? Because that’s another step up again, isn’t it? You can believe God can do great things through great people, but do we believe He can do great things through ordinary folk like these folk? There’s a story about the Victorian preacher, Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was asked by a younger preacher about whether he should expect conversions in most of his sermons.

And Spurgeon asked the young man, he said, do you expect conversions when you preach? And the young man thought he was being very humble, and he said, no, no, Mr. Spurgeon, I don’t expect conversions regularly. And Spurgeon replied, young man, that is the problem. That’s a danger for all of us, isn’t it? Not just for those of us who preach.

(25:03 – 25:54)

Of shrinking God down to our small expectations. We may have low expectations of ourselves. We should have low expectations of ourselves.

But we can have great expectations of Jesus and what He can do through us. So the catch has been hauled in, but the story is not quite over. Because now from the boat, we come in the end to the beach, and we come to our final point, our third point this morning.

Our third point is the feast that followed the fishing. The feast that followed the fishing. And this is a breakfast, obviously, but it’s not just any old breakfast.

(25:55 – 26:10)

It’s a breakfast with purposes and intent. It’s a breakfast to reassure and a breakfast to remind. So on the one hand, this breakfast reassures the disciples’ faith.

(26:12 – 27:42)

Verse 1 says that Jesus appeared again to His disciples, and in verse 14, which is the book end of the passage, John says, this was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples, after He was raised from the dead. So this is not just a miraculous catch. It’s not just a delicious breakfast.

It’s also an appearance. All of this is an appearance, the third appearance of the risen Christ to them as a group. In Jewish thinking, things that are sure often come in thirds.

You’ll see this particularly in the Old Testament, that God will often say things three times, or something will happen three times, because three times is the absolute confirmation that something is sure. And so Jesus appears the third time. And in some ways, this third appearance is even more compelling than the last two, because this is not in the immediacy of the aftermath of the trauma of Jesus’ death.

And this, unlike the previous two appearances, is not at night in a torch-lit room. This third appearance is in the broad daylight. It’s in a familiar location and in the context of breakfast.

(27:43 – 29:19)

I mean, if I wanted to be really sure that Jesus was alive, I think I’d be quite happy if someone offered me, do you want a breakfast with Jesus? Would that suffice? I mean, I think I would take that rather than another brief encounter. I reckon that by the end of that, I could be sure or not that it was true. And you know later in the book of Acts, we might just have not noticed this detail, but actually when Peter is explaining why he came to believe Jesus was alive, he says in Acts 10.41 that we ate and drank with Him.

This was one of the compelling bits of evidence for Peter that Jesus was alive. So, this is the final compelling appearance to reassure the disciples’ faith for good. And you’ll see that there in verse 10, that none of the disciples dared ask Him, who are You? And notice that it wasn’t that they were just nervous.

You know, they weren’t just sort of nervous to ask Him because they were scared of Him or He was going to say something awful. The reason they didn’t ask Him, they didn’t dare ask Him, was because they knew it was the Lord. The evidence in front of them was so compelling that they didn’t dare ask the question, are You the Lord? See, sometimes people think that these disciples were easy believers, that they were unsophisticated walkovers, but the truth is they needed much convincing.

(29:21 – 32:12)

They were just bowled over by irrefutable evidence. This should give us great reassurance that the first eyewitnesses weren’t duped by questionable, brief, and pretty non-robust appearances. We can’t be directly assured as they were, but we can be reassured by their reassurance, if that makes sense.

These doubting, sceptical men had their every question silenced by an avalanche of evidence. And so, the feast that followed the fishing, on the one hand, reassured the disciples’ faith and settled it, but did you notice that there was another reason for it? Did you notice that when Peter reaches the shore and when he goes back to the boat and he hauls in the many fish, it’s not because Jesus doesn’t have any fish. Notice, Jesus was already preparing a breakfast for them when they landed of fish and bread.

He didn’t need their fish. The feast on the beach is a reminder to them that Jesus is their ultimate provider, as He is our ultimate provider. Before the cross, you may remember, Jesus took the role of servant.

He washed His disciples’ feet. And you might think then that after the cross, after Jesus is raised from the dead in glory and power, that Jesus would be above serving the disciples any longer. Isn’t He now the risen, ascended Lord? Surely now, serving will be one way in Jesus’ direction.

But after the resurrection, Jesus is still serving. He’s not foot-washing. He’s the cook.

And this is even more remarkable given that the disciples have hauled in 153 fish, yet Jesus doesn’t need their fish. He already has His own. He’s got them on the barbecue.

On a human level, it’s a lovely act of care for a group of tired men who have been up all night. But on a spiritual level, Jesus is showing them and us that Jesus provides for us before we provide and produce for Him. In the image of John 6, Jesus is always the bread of life.

(32:13 – 33:20)

And in the image of John 10, Jesus is always the good shepherd who provides for the needs of His sheep, spiritually and in every other way. In a chapter that has an application towards mission, we mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that Jesus is a graceless taskmaster trying to squeeze the last bit of work out of us. One of the great dangers of many people who are zealous to serve Jesus, and that’s a good thing.

It’s a good thing to serve Jesus. But it can easily morph into seeing ourselves as the spiritual providers for other people. And when that happens, when we lose sight of the provision that we are receiving over and above anything else, we start to get exhausted, and even we become resentful, because we lose sight of the fact that we are fundamentally recipients, not producers and providers.

(33:22 – 33:53)

Peter will soon be asked to feed the sheep. We’ll see that next time. But before he feeds the sheep, Jesus feeds Peter.

And yet verse 10 does follow, doesn’t it? Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you have just caught. That’s a generous way to put it, isn’t it? Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught. Did they really catch the fish? Yes, they did.

(33:54 – 34:31)

With Jesus’ enormous help. Jesus is the ultimate provider, but He does then include us in His great fishing expedition of mission, and He provides for us as we do that work. The first half of John 21 is very reassuring.

It reassures us that we don’t live our lives on our own if we are believers in Jesus. I wonder if you are a believer in Jesus today, because otherwise none of this ultimately can be true for you. But if you are, then you don’t serve Him alone.

(34:33 – 35:40)

And there’s a great reassurance here for your faith. These appearances were compelling, compelling. And it also reminds us that when we bring our full nets to Jesus, He’s already got the barbecue going.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank You that You are the great provider. You give us life and breath and everything else.

We are debtors to You. You are no man’s debtor. We pray that we would see ourselves as recipients of the bread of life, those who have the privilege of being fed spiritually by the Lord Jesus and provided for in every way.

Help us then to take up that privilege of serving Him, of casting the net according to His instruction. For we ask it for His glory and in His name. Amen.

The post Learning to Fish with Jesus – John 21v1–14 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:31 – 0:59)

Anything from priceless jewels, to priceless relationships, to maybe priceless resources that make the world go round, to precious places. But I wonder if any of us would have thought to answer that question, what’s the most valuable thing in the world with the church? The church. The most valuable thing on planet Earth is the church.

(1:00 – 1:26)

In one of the Psalms we’re going to look at in this series, God’s old covenant people, the forerunner of the church, is called the joy of the whole Earth. The Psalm says that the greatest thing on Earth, the greatest joy on Earth, is the city of God. In other words, the people in whom God dwells.

(1:27 – 1:45)

The world may dismiss the church as unimportant. The individual Christian may sometimes make the mistake of undervaluing the church, of seeing her as somewhat important. But God sees the church in a different way.

(1:46 – 1:57)

It is infinitely precious. Why? Because it is the bride of a great king. Psalm 45.

(1:59 – 2:12)

Because it is the fortress of a great God. Psalm 46. And because it displays the glory of God, the splendour of God to the whole Earth.

(2:13 – 2:33)

Psalm 48. Whatever valuation we put on the church, my prayer is that it will go up through the course of this short series together. So let’s turn, if you would with me, to Psalm 45 for the first study.

(2:34 – 2:53)

Psalm 45. And just as you find that psalm, a little note that Psalms 42 to 49 are actually a collection of psalms. They were written by the sons of Korah, who, as far as we know, were sort of the worship team in the Old Testament temple.

(2:53 – 3:08)

And they wrote a number of hymns, and we’ve got them in this section, 42 to 49. So we should bear in mind as we go through 45, 46, 48, there are some connections between these psalms. And we will notice them in weeks to come.

(3:09 – 3:34)

Let’s read Psalm 45. For the director of music, to the tune of lilies, of the sons of Korah, a maschil, a wedding song. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is the pen of a skilful writer.

(3:35 – 3:59)

You are the most excellent of men, and your lips have been anointed with grace since God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one, clothe yourself with splendour and majesty. In your majesty, ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility, and justice.

(4:00 – 4:13)

Let your right hand achieve awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies. Let the nations fall beneath your feet.

(4:15 – 4:28)

Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever. A sceptre of justice will be the sceptre of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness.

(4:29 – 4:48)

Therefore, God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From palaces adorned with ivory, the music of the strings makes you glad.

(4:49 – 5:04)

Daughters of kings are among your honoured women. At your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir. Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention.

(5:05 – 5:15)

Forget your people and your father’s house. Let the king be enthralled by your beauty. Honour him, for he is your Lord.

(5:16 – 5:25)

The city of Tyre will come with a gift. People of wealth will seek your favour. All glorious is the princess within her chamber.

(5:26 – 5:35)

Her gown is interwoven with gold. In embroidered garments, she is led to the king. Her virgin companions follow her, those brought to be with her.

(5:36 – 5:49)

Led in with joy and gladness, they enter the palace of the king. Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You will make them princes throughout the land.

(5:50 – 6:10)

I will perpetuate your memory through all generations. Therefore, the nations will praise you forever and ever. This is God’s word, and it’s obviously a wedding song.

(6:11 – 6:25)

That’s what the inscription tells us. But it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t a song for any wedding. You’ll see in verse five, it’s a song for a king’s wedding.

(6:26 – 6:47)

And not only that, it’s not only a song for a king’s wedding, but it’s a song for a divine king’s wedding. Because notice that this king is referred to in verse seven as God. Your throne, O God’s, will last forever.

(6:49 – 7:07)

Putting my cards immediately on the table, I think this psalm is undoubtedly messianic. In other words, that it points in a very direct way to Jesus. Yes, it may have had an original setting.

(7:07 – 7:31)

We don’t know, but it may have been used at weddings of kings in the line of David. And yes, it is clear that in some respects it reminds us of these kings. But it is clear as you read this psalm that it points to a greater son of David, a divine son of David.

(7:32 – 8:05)

One whose reign will last forever and would take to himself the bride of God’s people. See, we must understand that when Paul in Ephesians chapter five reaches for the image of the church as the bride and reaches for the image of Christ as the husband, he’s not inventing a new image. He is saying that Jesus is the fulfilment of passages like Psalm 45.

(8:06 – 8:25)

And so as we go through this psalm, I’m gonna be unashamedly interpreting it in a Christian context. The glory of the groom is the glory of Christ. The majesty of the bride is the majesty of the church.

(8:26 – 8:45)

And the legacy of it all, the divine sons that we’re gonna look at is what the gospel itself produces. Now, just notice as we look at it, that the sons of Korah are the authors. And they are writing this psalm verse one for the king.

(8:46 – 8:59)

And what they write is not only musical, it is heartfelt and it is skilful. I don’t know if any of you write worship songs. I don’t know if any of you have aspirations to do so.

(9:00 – 9:18)

But this would be a good summary of what a worship song should be. Musical, heartfelt, skilful, excellent in its lyrics. The sons of Korah then begin by focussing on the groom in verses two to nine.

(9:19 – 9:33)

They celebrate the glory of the groom. Now, even in modern weddings, this kind of happens. Yes, the bride is glorious, but the groom gets his moment too.

(9:33 – 9:43)

He turns up early. He stands up at the front of the church. And I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but he never turns up in his white T-shirt and his tracky bottoms.

(9:45 – 9:58)

There is a glory to the groom that all can see. And I think we could summarise the attributes of this groom in three simple ways. He stands out from the crowd.

(9:59 – 10:12)

He succeeds over his enemies. And his sceptre will last forever. So he stands out, doesn’t he? He stands out in his attractiveness, verse two.

(10:13 – 10:21)

That’s what it means there when it says he’s the most excellent of men. It’s a word about physical appearance. And the graciousness of his words.

(10:23 – 10:50)

Now, we all probably know that according to Isaiah, there was nothing in Jesus’ appearance, his physical appearance, that made him stand out from any other human being. But there absolutely was an attractiveness about Jesus. There absolutely was an inner excellence that radiated from him and that was magnetic.

(10:50 – 11:19)

You see that in the gospels, don’t you? The crowds of people flock to Jesus and they hang on his every word. Luke 4 says that all spoke well of him and were amazed at the graciousness of his words. Jesus stands out from the crowd, but he also then succeeds over his enemies.

(11:20 – 11:51)

Verses three to five show us that this is not a typical wedding. I doubt you’ve ever been at a wedding where the pastor in his address to the groom describes him as a mighty one, but that’s what we see here. And he doesn’t normally say to the groom to get on his gear and get on the back of his horse and ride forth victoriously and pierce the hearts of his enemies with arrows.

(11:52 – 12:14)

This is a prayer that a king will defeat his every foe. Now, normally that would be the defeating of a nation here or there, maybe the Philistines, the Amorites, a few people groups here and there. But this king is going to achieve a worldwide victory.

(12:15 – 12:33)

Notice that verse five. Let the nations fall beneath your feet. Jesus, of course, in Revelation is spoken of as a rider on a war horse.

(12:34 – 12:45)

What does that mean? It means that Jesus is a conquering king. Yes, he’s a servant king. We often think about that, but he’s also a conquering king.

(12:45 – 13:32)

And yes, he overcomes the devil and he overcomes death and he overcomes a whole number of enemies, but it also includes his victory over the nations. Whether those nations come under Jesus’ feet in the begrudging submission of Philippians chapter two or whether they fall under his feet willingly as, I think it’s Augustine who suggests this, as the arrows of conviction pierce their heart and bring about that falling in humility. One way or another, all will fall before the king.

(13:33 – 13:51)

He will succeed over his enemies. And as we finish this wonderful picture of his glory, we see that his sceptre, his kingship, will last forever. Verse six is one of the most remarkable verses in the whole of the Old Testament.

(13:53 – 14:00)

Notice that it continues. This is really important. It continues to be directly addressed to the king.

(14:01 – 14:07)

It’s what you call vocative speech. It’s directed to him. You this, you that from verses one to five.

(14:07 – 14:22)

Verse six just continues. It’s addressing the king and it says, your throne, O God, will last forever. What a thing to say to any human king.

(14:23 – 14:43)

This is the point in the psalm where it clearly moves way beyond any sort of Davidic Old Testament fulfilment. This is one of the points where it’s not even what we might call layered prophecy, where there was a fulfilment in the Old Testament and then there’s a further fulfilment in the new. No, this is a prophecy that cuts immediately through.

(14:43 – 15:04)

We suddenly glimpse the future and we see the son of David who is the ultimate son. Hebrews chapter one confirms this. It actually quotes from Psalm 45 verse six and it tells us that this verse is about God’s son.

(15:05 – 15:47)

He is the king of kings, the eternal king, who having conquered his enemies, I bet this has come before, will then reign forever with justice and righteousness. And get this, this is so good. There’s this little comment about his robes, right? This is him waiting for the wedding to begin and he’s wearing his beautiful robes and he’s in this lovely palace with ivory and there’s musicians playing the music and all of that, but it says there that his robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes.

(15:48 – 16:14)

And if you’ve been in John’s gospel, that must be setting off a few bulbs in your head because myrrh and aloes have links to suffering and also to the burial and resurrection of Jesus. You see, Jesus’ ultimate victory and rule only comes about because of the cross and resurrection. What a glorious groom.

(16:15 – 16:36)

In a sense, before we get to the glory of the church, we’ve got to see the glory of the king of the church, the Christ of the church, because it’s from his glory that we derive, if you like, our dependent glory. Well, now in the bride comes, verses 10 to 15. We swivel our heads, we see the majesty of the bride.

(16:38 – 17:00)

Notice something unusual about her. Notice that this bride is a Gentile bride, i.e. not a Jewish bride. That’s almost certainly the implication of verse 10, where she is told to forget her people and her father’s household.

(17:01 – 17:12)

This is the very sort of phraseology that’s used in the story of Ruth. This wouldn’t be said to a Jew. There’s a difference between leaving your father’s house and forgetting it and forsaking it.

(17:12 – 17:28)

She was told to forget all about the foreign gods and to show her new allegiance to the God of Israel. There’s another hint of it also in verse 12. You’ll notice there that a gift comes from Tyre for the bride and the groom.

(17:30 – 17:43)

Maybe Tyre was the pagan city that she came from, perhaps. Maybe that’s why there’s a gift coming from there. Certainly we know that Solomon sometimes married wives from Phoenicia, that area.

(17:46 – 18:08)

What exactly is this telling us? What this beautifully shows is that King Jesus is taking a bride from the nations of the world. The conqueror of the nations is taking a bride from the nations. The bridesmaids in verse nine are daughters of other kings.

(18:08 – 18:21)

They’re kind of multinational. She’s a Gentile bride, and yet she is majestic. Just as the groom was looking sparkling and marvellous, so is she.

(18:22 – 18:26)

She’s wearing a dress. This might not mean a lot to us. I had to look this up, the gold of Ophir.

(18:27 – 18:42)

They reckon that this was probably the most expensive gold of the day in the world at the time. This bride, verse 11, yes, she has to honour the king. She has to submit to him.

(18:43 – 19:12)

But corresponding with that submission, we see verse 11, that the king is enthralled with her, and that all the wealth he possesses, verse 12, flows to her. What is his becomes hers. Tyre, which was the epitome of wealth in those days, is bringing this luxurious gift to the bride and the groom.

(19:12 – 19:36)

The picture here is that all the blessings the king receives become the blessings of the bride. It’s a wonderful picture, isn’t it, of the church? Again, this is Paul’s whole thing in Ephesians 5, isn’t it? That all that is Christ’s becomes the church’s. The church not radiant in itself becomes a radiant church.

(19:37 – 19:56)

The church that is wrinkled in itself becomes a church without wrinkle or blemish. The church that is unholy becomes holy because Christ is holy. All the wealth of Christ becomes our wealth through marriage to him.

(19:57 – 20:17)

Not because of anything we’ve done in ourselves, but because of who we are married to. In the grace of God. Well, it’s a beautiful picture, and it has one little final capping off to it, verses 16 and 17, which point to the legacy of the marriage.

(20:18 – 20:38)

You’ve got the groom, you’ve got the bride, and then you’ve got, well, what’s gonna come out of this relationship? And the answer is princes and praise. Princes, verse 16, your sons will take the place of your fathers. You will make them princes throughout the land.

(20:39 – 20:57)

So there’s gonna be children born, and within those children, there’s going to be sons who will become princes. And the significance of that is in those days that the princes would become the inheritors of the kingdom normally.

(20:59 – 21:18)

Of course, that’s taken forward, and we see that in the gospel. That whether we are male or female, we are being born again into the position of being sons of God. Which historically meant that you inherited everything, everything if you were the oldest son.

(21:19 – 21:43)

All that your kingly father owned became yours, and you became just like him. That is indeed what the gospel does, isn’t it? That those who were paupers become sons and daughters, and all that Jesus is becomes ours. What’s the result of that? Well, it’s the praise of verse 17.

(21:45 – 22:03)

The sons of Korah finished by saying to the king, I will perpetuate your memory through all generations. I wonder if in part, this is simply through writing the song. That would help the king’s greatness to be remembered by writing this psalm.

(22:06 – 22:24)

Ultimately, the end result of the gospel is the praise of God and the glory of God’s name. That is the ultimate end of the gospel of grace, isn’t it? So that’s the psalm. It’s a brilliant psalm.

(22:25 – 22:49)

I’ve run through it fairly quickly. Let me just make two simple applications as we finish, but I hope by God’s help, these will land with us. Number one, in light of all this, don’t undervalue the church of Jesus Christ, because the church is the bride of the most excellent king.

(22:51 – 23:11)

Yes, this side of heaven, the church has its faults. We know that so well, but it is the precious bride of Christ, and we should value it as the most precious thing besides Christ in our lives. I was thinking about this before we did this series.

(23:12 – 23:18)

I think most of us do value the church. I assume we do. I assume it’s why we’re at some level part of one.

(23:20 – 23:51)

I just think in my own life that too often, the church has been somewhat valuable rather than being seen as exceedingly precious. What we often hear nowadays is people’s negativity about the church. I remember hearing some years ago, an older gentleman saying to me, and it scared the life out of me when he said it, because I thought of all the times I’ve grumbled about the church, but he said, be very careful what you say about Christ’s bride.

(23:53 – 24:07)

That was a good word that as a younger man, particularly, I needed to hear. We can be honest about the church. We can face the reality of our disappointments, but do not undervalue the church of Jesus Christ.

(24:09 – 24:28)

Timothy Dwight was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He was also one of the early presidents of Yale, and he wrote a song about the church. I came across it in my mid-20s, and I remember thinking it was a really strange song.

(24:29 – 24:36)

This is what he said. I love your church, O God. On earth, you’re blessed abode.

(24:37 – 24:44)

The people are redeemer saved with his own precious blood. I thought that’s a lovely little verse about the church. That’s great.

(24:44 – 24:59)

He’s gonna stop there, but no, he doesn’t. He goes on for about another 17 verses. The second verse says, listen to this, beyond my highest joys, I prize your people’s ways.

(24:59 – 25:11)

The sweet communion, solemn vows, the hymns of love and praise. This is a guy of status and position. This guy is the head of Harvard, of Yale, in his day job.

(25:12 – 25:40)

And he says, above and beyond the joys of all of that, he loves the ways of God’s church. And I was reflecting on it again this week, and I was wondering if I had the skill to write a hymn, and I don’t, I wonder if I would want to write that hymn. Would you? Because we value the church as that precious.

(25:43 – 25:53)

It’s a challenge, isn’t it? If we value it as that precious, we might then sing another verse he wrote. In love, my tears shall fall. In love, my prayers ascend.

(25:54 – 26:05)

To serve your church, my toils be given, till toils and cares shall end. First application. Second application, as we finish.

(26:07 – 26:19)

Remember the cost of enjoying the blessings of the church. Remember the cost of enjoying the blessings of the church. The bride had to give up her old religion.

(26:20 – 26:49)

And in the same way, the New Testament emphasises that the church needs to forsake the idols of the world if we would cling to Jesus Christ alone as our devoted husband. There’s a forsaking that comes with faith. Our new connection with Jesus necessitates a disconnection with our old idols and our old gods.

(26:51 – 27:14)

I wonder if you would be able to identify what your old loyalties are. The old loyalties that you feel tempted to go back to. What’s going to help you keep forsaking those old loyalties? It’s your new relationship, isn’t it? Surely.

(27:15 – 27:43)

To use a human illustration, the old boyfriends, the old exes are long forgotten when the bride commits to her husband, or at least they should be. And so it is for us. If we keep Jesus front and centre, if we see the glory of the groom, then we’re not going to be looking sideways back to the things that once charmed us.

(27:44 – 28:03)

The church is incomparably valuable. It’s the bride of the eternal king. And not only is it the bride, but as we’ll see next week, it is also the city of the king, which actually in the Bible is not such a big move, is it? From a bride to a city.

(28:04 – 28:14)

But that’s next week, God willing. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for all we’ve considered so far tonight.

(28:15 – 28:34)

We pray that you would just remind us once again of the incredible value that you’ve placed on us as your people. Help us then to esteem not only Christ, but your ways among us. Help us to see all that you’re doing.

(28:35 – 28:45)

Help us to see every little glimmer of Christ-likeness in one another. And let us give you the praise for it. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray.

(28:46 – 28:46)

Amen.

The post How Much is the Church Worth – Psalm 45 appeared first on Greenview Church.

Thank you for staying with it. Here, after this long climb in chapter 20, we reach the summit. Now, you may say, well, surely we reached the summit last week, David.

(0:24 – 0:36)

Surely the resurrection has to be the summit of John’s Gospel. But actually, this is the summit. In a sense, that was like the summit before the summit.

(0:36 – 0:57)

You know, when you’re climbing and you get to that hill and you think you’ve reached the top and then you get to that point and there’s another summit beyond. Now, that is the case because John isn’t just constructing an historical account. If all he was doing was giving us facts, then the fact of the resurrection would definitely be the summit.

(0:58 – 1:09)

There wouldn’t be anything beyond that. Jesus is alive. But we already know that John isn’t just in the business of giving us historical facts.

(1:10 – 1:33)

He is constructing a theological roadmap to show us the true identity of Jesus and how that identity changes everything. So, having described what happened in the resurrection, he’s given us the ‘what?’. Now, John gives us the ‘so what?’.

(1:34 – 1:49)

The meaning of the resurrection. And the way he does that is very interesting. He gives us three encounters, three pen pictures of individuals and groups with the risen Lord Jesus.

(1:50 – 2:06)

So, what we’re going to do this morning is look at three close encounters of the risen kind. Mary Magdalene, the disciples, and Thomas. Individuals who experienced three of the most common struggles known to humanity.

(2:08 – 2:27)

Despair, anxiety, and scepticism. Let’s look then at our first encounter with Mary in verses 11 to 18. And we’re thinking here about how the resurrected Jesus deals with despair.

(2:27 – 2:42)

And we begin with Mary at the tomb. She is a picture of absolute despair. Verse 11, you’ll see her there standing outside the tomb weeping because the body of Jesus is missing.

(2:43 – 3:21)

And two angels are there who ask her why she’s crying. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I saw two angels standing beside an empty tomb, I might actually ask some further questions about them. I might think this is a bit odd.

I might think this is in a different category from the normal. But John doesn’t record that Mary really thought that was anything outrageous at all, strangely. The reason being she doesn’t at this point have a category marked resurrection.

(3:24 – 3:46)

Why would she? Dead people don’t live again. And we’ve already been told by John in verse 9 that the disciples still didn’t understand the resurrection. So in verse 15, when she sees Jesus, she doesn’t have him in the resurrection category at all.

(3:46 – 4:06)

She has him in a category marked gardener. Now, that looks like a passing comment from John, doesn’t it? Do you notice there she thought he was the gardener. But we know in John’s gospel that John doesn’t do passing comments.

(4:07 – 4:41)

We know that nothing in John is a passing comment. And here is another example in John’s writings of people misunderstanding what is really going on and speaking better than they know. Now, we’ve seen this multiple times already in John’s gospel, haven’t we? Caiaphas in chapter 18, the high priest speaks better than he knows when he says, it’s expedient that one man should die for the people.

(4:43 – 5:09)

Well, he spoke better than he knew, didn’t he? And Pilate in chapter 19, when he wrote on the sign that was put above the cross, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. He spoke better than he knew. So how is Mary speaking or thinking better than she knows? By putting Jesus in the gardener category.

(5:10 – 5:42)

Well, it’s interesting, isn’t it, that the two furthest reaching events in human history took place in two gardens, didn’t they? Come with me to the first garden. Adam was given life in that garden and he was given the role of gardener. He was given God’s creation to curate, to look after.

(5:43 – 6:09)

To take care of, to tend. But that gardener ripped up God’s blueprint and roadmap for humanity and plunged the human race into chaos and catastrophe and brought God’s judgement on the world by thinking he could do a better job on his own. He brought sin into God’s perfect creation.

(6:10 – 6:27)

Now fast forward to verse 15 of John 20, and here’s another man who looks like the gardener. His name’s Jesus. Paul calls him the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15.

(6:28 – 6:46)

He looks just like Adam and just like Adam, he’s been given life in a garden. But this isn’t any life. This is resurrection life.

(6:48 – 7:05)

Jesus is God’s new gardener, do you see? The curator of a far greater piece of real estate than Mary could ever have possibly imagined. The new creation. God’s eternal kingdom.

(7:07 – 7:43)

And in this garden, this resurrection garden, Jesus has restored everything that Adam lost in the first garden. And then Jesus calls her name Mary. And I remember once as a wee boy of about seven being on holiday in Southport, the greatest treat of the holiday on the first Monday morning was to go to Southport Funfair.

(7:44 – 7:55)

I got lost. I was terrified. I was wandering around all these stalls and and rides crying for what seemed to me like hours.

(7:56 – 8:17)

It was probably about three minutes. And then I heard my dad’s voice calling my name. It would be hard to describe the relief and joy I felt at that moment in those circumstances.

(8:18 – 8:51)

But that is as nothing compared to the relief and joy that Mary experienced when she heard the risen Lord calling her by name. Now John’s already told us the significance of this in chapter 10 of his gospel. In verse 3 there in chapter 10, we’re told that Jesus the Good Shepherd calls his sheep by their name.

(8:51 – 9:13)

His sheep hear his voice, John has told us, and he calls his own sheep by name. And here is Mary hearing her name as a sheep of the Great Shepherd. And when Mary hears the resurrected Jesus speaking her name, the glory of that new creation breaks through her despair.

(9:13 – 9:49)

And she realises in that moment, above all others in her life, that she is known and loved by the risen Lord Jesus. He’s conquered the grave and all she needs now and always is there in him. He’s her hope.

He’s her safe place. And notice in verse 17, she wants to hold on to him and never let him go. She never wants to be separated from him again.

(9:51 – 10:06)

But notice Jesus’ response. Because the risen Lord isn’t just for one person, do you see? Not just for one person to enjoy and hold on to and keep close. Mary can’t have Jesus all to herself.

(10:06 – 10:43)

When Jesus returns to heaven, she and the other disciples and all believers through history, including us here this morning, will have the permanent presence of that same resurrected Jesus by his spirit. And that’s transformative in Mary’s life. No longer is she moping around the tomb, but she finds energy to go off and tell the others.

(10:45 – 11:06)

But we know from Mark 16 that they didn’t believe her because their fear was greater than her faith. And that brings us to our second encounter, the disciples themselves. We pick them up in verse 19.

(11:08 – 11:26)

John moves from a public garden to a private locked room. And here we find the disciples huddled together with the doors locked, John tells us, for fear of the Jewish leaders. Fear, you see, is a prison.

(11:28 – 11:39)

These men had seen Jesus perform miracles. They’d even seen him raising Lazarus from the dead. Yet here they are, paralysed by fear.

(11:42 – 11:56)

Their fear was understandable, I guess. If the authorities had killed their master, their rabbi, they were likely next. But notice what Jesus does.

(11:57 – 12:09)

This is interesting. He doesn’t knock the door. A knock at the door in those circumstances wouldn’t have helped with fear, would it? It would probably have felt a bit like the night of the long knives for the disciples.

(12:10 – 12:22)

It would have raised their anxiety levels rather than solved them. But Jesus doesn’t knock the door. John tells us he simply appears.

(12:24 – 12:44)

C.S. Lewis memorably says in his book Miracles, it’s not that the ghost-like resurrection body of Jesus was less solid than the walls, but that the walls were less solid than his resurrection body. I love that. I love that.

(12:44 – 13:01)

To a resurrection body, it is the wall of the locked room that is unsubstantial, you see. The new creation is a higher level of reality when compared with our world. We think this is ultimate reality.

(13:02 – 13:30)

It’s not. These are the shadow lands. John wants us to know how Jesus, the trailblazer for the new creation, deals with anxiety and fear, and he does it by bringing into that position of fear the substance, the eternal substance of a new reality that will last forever and never fade.

(13:32 – 13:45)

And so he tells us in verse 9 that Jesus stands among them supernaturally and makes a pronouncement. Peace be with you. He pronounces God’s shalom on his people.

(13:47 – 14:24)

Now, where have we seen peace being pronounced on God’s people before? Well, we find it in Numbers Ch6 v24–25, and we hear it often at weddings. There’s a wedding coming up, not in the too distant future, in this very place, and I dare say, if I was a man who wagered on such things, I’m not, but if I were, I dare say that this verse may well be pronounced on that occasion. We’re familiar with it, aren’t we? Numbers Ch6 v24–25, “The Lord bless you and keep you.

(14:25 – 14:41)

The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace.”, shalom. And who’s pronouncing the shalom in number 6? Well, it’s the high priest. It’s Aaron.

(14:42 – 15:21)

And we know that peace with God, pronounced by Aaron, the high priest, followed sacrifice, followed the day of atonement, followed the day when sin was put aside and atoned for, and peace was secured for the people for another year. So here is Jesus standing before the people of God, just like Aaron, the high priest did. But Jesus isn’t only the great high priest who makes the sacrifice, he’s the sacrifice itself.

(15:22 – 16:23)

And now he comes with his offering accepted, raised by his Father through the power of the Spirit, the atoning work done forever, and as the great high priest of the new covenant, he stands among his terrified, fearful people and pronounces peace, shalom. Not just a fragile, fearful ceasefire between us and God, but proper peace, well-being, approval, acceptance, reconciliation, relationship, intimacy,  belonging, safety. You see, Jesus doesn’t deal with the disciples’ anxieties by removing them from the situation that they’re in.

(16:25 – 16:48)

The Jewish leaders are still out there, bloodthirsty and hungry for blood. Jesus transforms their situation by entering their situation and bringing his peace into it. Because the greatest threat they faced wasn’t the Jewish leaders, it was death itself.

(16:49 – 16:59)

It’s the greatest threat we all face, it’s our greatest fear. And rightly so, it’s an enemy in God’s creation. We’re right to be afraid of it.

(17:00 – 17:26)

And the judgement of God beyond, and that wasn’t just their greatest threat, that’s the greatest threat you face this morning too. But the resurrected Jesus speaks God’s shalom into every heart locked in that room of anxiety, fearful of an unknown future. And he can do that for you this morning.

(17:27 – 17:48)

If you’re here with a heart paralysed by fear, locked in to anxiety, he can walk through the walls you’ve built to protect yourself. No one else maybe knows, but he does. And he sees and he can walk through those walls because he’s more real than they are.

(17:49 – 17:59)

And he can come to you this morning with a word of peace. Peace bought by his own blood. Notice verse 20.

(18:00 – 18:18)

He showed them his hands and his side. Because peace with God comes at a price, it is expensive. Paul tells us in Colossians 1 that Jesus made peace by the blood of his cross.

(18:21 – 18:44)

And so that peace is costly. But notice too in verse 20 there, it’s also transformative. In the authorised version that I grew up with as a wee boy and in the ESV, if you have that version there, you’ll see that the verse is translated, then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

(18:46 – 19:15)

The NIV says overjoyed. But John is the master of understatement, isn’t he? He’d have made a good West of Scotland man, John, I think. You know, so John, how did the disciples react when they realised that Jesus was really alive? Like when he arrived in the room, you know, tell us, how did they react? And John thinks for a minute and strokes his beard and he says, yeah, yeah, they were glad.

(19:18 – 19:23)

That’s a good word, glad. Glad will do. Dr. Luke’s a bit more descriptive.

(19:23 – 19:41)

He says in his carefully researched account that the disciples were so overwhelmed with joy that they disbelieved for joy. They were so happy they couldn’t believe it. But the word John uses here is, it’s actually a much more robust word than it first appears.

(19:42 – 19:59)

Glad’s doing it a bit of a disservice really. It’s a similar word that John’s already used in chapter 16, 22, when he predicts his resurrection and their response. Because Jesus has already seen this moment and he’s told them about it in advance.

(20:00 – 20:32)

In chapter 16, 22, Jesus has said, “So, also you will have sorrow now but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Verse 20 here is the fulfilment of that promise that Jesus made in chapter 16. No one will take your joy from you. John wants us to notice the transforming nature of this peace that he comes to bring.

(20:32 – 21:02)

When we meet the disciples in verse 19, they’re locked away in fear. By verse 23, when Jesus speaks peace to them a second time in verse 21, they’re sent out into the world that’s still threatening to kill them, proclaiming forgiveness of sins in the power of the spirit of the risen Jesus. And who cares what happens to their life? Thomas, in fact, whom we’ll meet in a minute, ended up in India martyred for his faith.

(21:07 – 21:44)

You see, when you meet the risen Jesus and hear his peace spoken into your circumstances, not only is your relationship with God restored through his death, you don’t need to be afraid of anything or anyone ever again. Stuart Townend got it 100% right when he wrote in his great hymn, There is a Hope. When the world has plunged me in its deepest pit, I find the Saviour there.

(21:45 – 22:08)

Through present sufferings, future’s fear, He whispers “courage” in my ear. For I am safe in everlasting arms, and they will lead me home. And so we come to Thomas.

(22:11 – 22:32)

He’s often called Doubting Thomas, but he’s simply a disappointed sceptic. And there are plenty of them around. How can I believe unless I see? Thomas does not want to be scammed.

(22:34 – 22:47)

He is suspicious of fake news. He wants the BBC verified version of the news, please. He wants to touch the wounds.

(22:49 – 23:21)

He wants confirmation. And his story is included here because it illustrates in a single incident, the journey from misunderstanding and unbelief about who Jesus is, to full belief in him as Lord and God. Right through his biography of Jesus, John has shown us, and he’s been at pains to show us, how hard it is for people to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

(23:24 – 23:35)

Frequently, he illustrates people’s struggles by framing them as misunderstandings. They’re often expressed as questions in John’s gospel. The new birth conversation with Nicodemus.

(23:35 – 24:05)

Remember that back in chapter 3? How can a man be born when he’s old? The living water conversation with the women at the well in John 4. Sir, you’ve got nothing to draw water with and the well’s deep. Where do you get living water? And the bread of life conversation with the disciples in chapter 6. Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. And you’re providing better bread than that.

(24:07 – 24:31)

You see, John is showing us over and over and over and over, how Jesus’ true identity was misunderstood. And remember that the object of his writing is to prove to us that Jesus is the Son of God. So when we get to the Thomas story, we’ve arrived at the climax of this biography, of this roadmap.

(24:32 – 24:49)

This is it. Here we are. John wants us to see that the greatest spiritual reality, the fact that Jesus is the Son of the living God, is proved by the physical reality of his resurrection.

(24:51 – 25:17)

Far from being harsh on Thomas, Jesus, in his immense grace, waits a week. I often wonder, you know, what went on in Thomas’ mind during that week when he wasn’t there, and what was going on in his mind? Anyway, we don’t know, so we mustn’t speculate. But then Jesus appears again, specifically for Thomas, with the same greeting, Peace be with you.

(25:18 – 25:32)

And he invites Thomas to touch his wounds. Do you notice in verse 27, John’s very specific. Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side.

(25:34 – 25:53)

Now, the significance of Jesus asking Thomas to put his hand into his side wound is really important here. Because we’ve seen Jesus’ side wound before. John has made a big deal of it back in chapter 19.

(25:55 – 26:37)

Verse 33 of 19, John records when they, the soldiers, came to Jesus, saw he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once came out blood and water. Then, John adds in verse 35 of chapter 19, and it’s very interesting that in the middle of a crucifixion narrative, John would break the narrative to add this little bit. He who saw it, that’s John himself, bore witness, his testimony is true, and he knows he’s telling the truth, that you also may believe.

(26:37 – 27:09)

There’s something about the side wound and believing that are linked together, do you see? So why does John tell us this immediately after telling us that Jesus was dead and has been stabbed in the side with a spear? Well, we all know that crucified victims had hand wounds and foot wounds, and all of them had hand wounds and foot wounds. They all had holes in their hands and their feet. Many of them also had leg wounds, of course, if they’d had them broken.

(27:10 – 27:23)

But the one thing crucified people didn’t have was a side wound. That wasn’t a crucifixion wound. That was totally unique.

(27:25 – 27:39)

John knows it’s unique, which is why he tells us so much about it, and why he’s at great pains to tell us that it’s true, because people say, well, John, you know, crucified people don’t have side wounds. No, I saw the soldier piercing with the side. I’m telling you it’s true.

(27:39 – 28:16)

I was there and I saw it, do you see? And now we see why he spent so much time on that. Because if Jesus simply only had hand and foot wounds, he was no different from any other crucified victim, and it might just have been possible that he swooned on the cross, didn’t really die, got put in the tomb, and came out alive because he’d never been dead. Hand and foot wounds wouldn’t have been enough on their own to prove a resurrection, but a side wound.

(28:19 – 28:44)

Nobody’s surviving that, and only Jesus had one of them. And that wound was proof that Jesus really died, and therefore, to Thomas, it was now proof that Jesus was really risen from the dead, do you see? Jesus doesn’t tell Thomas to just have blind faith. He provides the evidence, and that evidence clenches the deal that John has already told us about in chapter 19.

(28:44 – 29:02)

I’m telling you this so that you can believe. Thomas’s response is incredibly important. Notice, he doesn’t just say, ah, right enough, all right, you’re alive, who knew? Silly me.

(29:05 – 29:15)

His response is really incredible. Verse 28. This is the climax of John’s gospel right here.

(29:18 – 29:40)

I’m not being melodramatic or trying to overplay this, but this is hair on the back of your neck significant. Thomas says to Jesus, my Lord and my God. He personally confesses the deity of Jesus.

(29:42 – 29:56)

And vitally, Jesus doesn’t correct him. Look what Jesus says. In verse 28, Thomas says, my Lord and my God.

(29:56 – 30:20)

And in verse 29, Jesus said, because you have seen me, you have believed. Now, if Jesus was just a good teacher, someone who taught good stuff, and he was a highly moral individual, surely he would have corrected Thomas right here. He would surely have said, well, Thomas, it’s nice of you to say that.

(30:21 – 30:38)

I appreciate your sentiment, but actually, I’m just a good teacher. But Jesus doesn’t do that. He accepts the worship due to God alone, because he is God.

(30:41 – 31:09)

And there in that little word, and, we have the whole of the mystery solved. Never was that little conjunction more important than it is here, my Lord and my God. Jehovah’s Witnesses, of course, they want to take and out of that and put a comma in, and make like Thomas was giving some kind of expletive.

(31:10 – 31:40)

Don’t think that works well in the text or the original. But if you don’t believe Jesus is God, you have to find some way of explaining away the and, you see, because that and links the lordship of Jesus with the deity of Jesus. And you can’t have Jesus as Lord in any sense, unless you have him as God of all and the one whom you worship as God.

(31:41 – 32:06)

And so Thomas’s response is the climax of the whole gospel. He sees Jesus, he touches the death wounds in Jesus’ resurrected body, and he falls before him in a life transformed from scepticism to saving faith. This is the first personal confession of the theology that John began his gospel with in verse one of chapter one.

(32:08 – 32:40)

Do you remember where we began? The word was with God and the word was God. And here John’s saying, now people understand that the word is God. Jesus is Lord because he is God, not simply because he’s a charismatic leader or a great teacher.

(32:40 – 32:59)

And this is where everything John has been writing so far is leading. And so we come to verse 30 and 31 as we close. These couple of verses, verse 31 probably is, probably the most quoted verse in John’s gospel in our series.

(33:00 – 33:27)

We keep referring to it over and over again, because it’s John’s propositional statement for his thesis. Now, if you’ve ever written a thesis, you’ll know that you usually put your propositional statement at the beginning to tell people upfront what your study’s about. John puts his propositional statement here, verse 31, right after Thomas’s great confession of the deity of Jesus.

(33:28 – 33:58)

And that’s because everything he’s put together so far is so that in the words of verse 31, you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. That’s the blessing that Jesus promises. In verse 29, do you notice? Life in his name for those who haven’t seen but have believed.

(33:58 – 34:05)

And that includes you this morning. That’s you right here. You’re in this verse.

(34:05 – 34:35)

Jesus was speaking about you. You don’t have the physical wounds to touch, but you have the signs written in this book with the resurrection as the ultimate sign. You have the words and the faith of Thomas who didn’t believe at first but was transformed to the point where he was prepared to lose his life in India as a martyr for the faith.

(34:35 – 34:47)

Interestingly, stabbed with a spear. How ironic. A spear wound caused him to believe and a spear wound took his own life.

(34:48 – 35:02)

These men’s lives were transformed. Only the resurrection of Jesus Christ can do that in a person’s life. It’s not just a miracle to admire, you see.

(35:04 – 35:29)

There’s a so what for you. It’s a reality to experience because like Mary, the risen Lord Jesus is here this morning calling your name. Like the disciples, he’s standing here in the midst of us, offering his peace into the locked room of your fear and anxiety.

(35:30 – 36:05)

Like Thomas, he’s inviting your questions and he’s offering the evidence of his resurrection as the answer to them all. So this morning, will this be the morning when you stop doubting and start believing? Begin that journey by kneeling before him this morning and acknowledging him like Thomas as my Lord and my God. Amen.

The post Close Encounters of the Risen Kind – John 20v11–31 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:39 – 1:05)

They’re wanting the full fat, supernatural version of Christianity, and they’re going to churches that preach that message. Well, as I read that comment, I thought, that’s exactly what we have in John. The whole gospel of John is basically full fat, supernatural Christianity.

(1:06 – 1:37)

From the announcement in the prologue that Jesus is human and divine, to structuring the whole gospel around a series of miracles, and to the grand finale this morning, where we find an empty tomb and a game-changing resurrection. This is more than morals and life hacks. It’s life-changing truth of the most supernatural kind.

(1:39 – 2:17)

And yet, as we start our study this morning, it doesn’t really look like that, does it? The end of chapter 19, far from looking supernatural, looks frankly to be the end of Jesus’ story. The Jesus who had claimed so much, the Jesus who had done so much, has breathed his final breath upon a Roman cross. And as Jesus hangs there lifeless, you could well be forgiven for thinking that God isn’t up to much here.

(2:18 – 2:36)

But you see, as the burial now follows, we’re going to discover something quite different to that. That God is actually at work. That God is working in the hearts of two unlikely men.

(2:38 – 2:57)

My message this morning is going to have two parts to it, two halves. The first part is chapter 19, if you have your Bible open again, chapter 19, verses 38 to 42. I’m titling this, Secret Faith Emerges, Jesus is Worth It.

(2:57 – 3:24)

Secret Faith Emerges, Jesus is Worth It. You see, a question now arises, what will happen to Jesus’ dead body? Jesus hangs limp on the cross. Where will his remains be buried after he is taken down? The most likely outcome is that Jesus will be buried with criminals.

(3:25 – 3:41)

We know from ancient sources that this is what the Jews would normally do in these cases. They would bury the condemned in a dishonourable mass grave with other criminals. But this does not happen in the case of Jesus.

(3:43 – 4:05)

It doesn’t happen because God intervenes. It doesn’t happen because a man emerges from the shadows, Joseph of Arimathea, a man of some prominence. We know from elsewhere that Joseph was a religious Jewish leader.

(4:06 – 4:26)

He was also a man of great financial means. But what John tells us about him is actually something far more personal. Verse 38, Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.

(4:28 – 4:44)

At some point, not recorded, Joseph had decided to follow Jesus. But he hadn’t done this publicly, only privately. You may have heard of undercover cops.

(4:45 – 5:01)

Joseph was an undercover Christian. And actually, when you think about it, he maybe seemed to have good reason to be so. I’m sure this is something that all of us here, even the strongest Christians here, can relate to.

(5:02 – 5:36)

Have you ever found yourself fellow Christian? Acting like an undercover Christian. Have you ever found yourself in some situation, maybe foistered on you suddenly, where you find that you actually keep your faith under wraps? You keep your faith and your thoughts and your views and your values, your Christian views and values under the wrapping, rather than being open. It happens to us, doesn’t it? Because like Joseph, we fear people.

(5:37 – 5:56)

And why do we fear people? The reason we fear people is because of the consequences they can exert upon us. Because of the losses that can come from the consequences. You see, had Joseph’s faith become known, he could have lost absolutely everything.

(5:58 – 6:11)

He was a member of the Sanhedrin Jewish Council. Along with that came prestige and wealth and a bunch of other things. This very same council had just been the driving force behind the death of Jesus.

(6:13 – 6:38)

Had Joseph admitted to following Jesus, he could have lost his reputation, his position, and even perhaps his life. And yet with all this on the line, Joseph decides to go public. It couldn’t be more public as he visits the governor’s palace.

(6:40 – 7:05)

And he uses his status, no ordinary person could have done this, but because he’s this high status man, he uses it to gain access to Pilate. And he makes a formal request to the Roman governor to become the custodian of the body of Jesus. This was in no way guaranteed that Pilate would agree to this.

(7:06 – 7:38)

But in the goodness of God and under the sovereignty of God, Pilate consented. Joseph now returns hurriedly to Golgotha and publicly, publicly, besides a busy road, on a thoroughfare into the city of Jerusalem, Joseph comes to retrieve the body of Jesus. And Joseph is not alone.

(7:39 – 7:57)

Because with Joseph is somebody equally surprising. It’s Nicodemus. Can you believe it? This is the man who John reminds us we met in chapter three of the gospel.

(7:57 – 8:16)

Nicodemus is the man who had come to visit Jesus at night. He was like Joseph, a member of the Jewish hierarchy. This Nicodemus, just like Joseph, is now making his faith in Jesus public.

(8:17 – 8:33)

The first time he came to Jesus at night, but this time he comes to Jesus in broad daylight. And so they take the body down and they wrap the body. This is what they did.

(8:33 – 8:56)

They had strips of linen, long strips, and they would wrap the body round and round with the strips of linen, cocooning the body of Jesus. And as they did this, this is what they did in those days, particularly in the hot Middle East. As they wrapped the body, they would insert into each of the folds an amount of spices.

(8:57 – 9:13)

For reasons of fragrance. They would sprinkle these spices within each layer as they wrapped it round and round. But what is so distinctive about this with Jesus is the huge amount of spices that were used.

(9:14 – 9:30)

75 pounds of spices. Historians estimate that in a normal Jewish burial, most people were poor remember, they probably used somewhere between one and two pounds of spices. It’s all that people could afford.

(9:30 – 9:47)

This is many, many times the normal amount. One writer says this amount of spices was fitting for a king, for the burial of a king. And that’s exactly what this was.

(9:49 – 10:10)

There was a garden nearby, just a stone’s throw away from the cross. Just by the way, and I’m sure this will get picked up more in the next week, but gardens play a significant role in the Bible. And gardens play a significant role in this gospel.

(10:11 – 10:19)

More on that next week probably. But there’s a garden there. And the Sabbath was fast approaching.

(10:20 – 10:36)

And darkness was about to fall. With minutes to spare, Jesus’ body is carried and laid in a new tomb. Now, what’s the significance of the new tomb? Every detail here matters.

(10:37 – 11:09)

Just as the spices, the amount signifies honour, so the new tomb signifies honour being given to Jesus. The Jesus who was arrested in a garden before his death, dishonourably accused, is now honoured in a garden after his death. The Jesus who had died without dignity is now buried with dignity.

(11:11 – 11:28)

Because Joseph and Nicodemus understand the value and worth of Jesus. You see, that’s the thing. That is the thing that can turn a secret faith into a public faith.

(11:29 – 11:53)

When the penny finally drops that Jesus is worth more than anything you might lose for following him. As I said earlier, this is something we all battle with. For some of us, it’s more of an initial battle to get out of the traps, to get off the starting line.

(11:54 – 12:09)

To not just pluck up the courage to believe, but to pluck up the courage to believe in a way that is known. And for others, it’s an ongoing struggle. It’s an intermittent battle.

(12:11 – 12:30)

It’s easy when we’re here in church, isn’t it? We’re all singing the resurrection hymns together. But there are those moments of Peter-like, remember from the last chapter, Peter-like denial and Peter-like hesitation. Because to admit the faith we have will cost us just too much.

(12:32 – 12:53)

When we feel that hesitation, and we will feel it, what we must bear in mind is this. That whatever losses come, the gain of knowing Jesus is utterly and completely worth the loss. Jesus is worth it.

(12:54 – 13:07)

He is pile the spices in worth it. He is put him in a new tomb worth it. He is, I don’t care who’s watching, worth it.

(13:08 – 13:22)

Let me ask you an honest question. Let’s just level here this morning. How much is Jesus worth to you? Is he worth, here’s three options.

(13:25 – 13:43)

Nothing, something, everything. Being a disciple of Jesus at the end and at the heart is really about what you value. It’s about who you value.

(13:43 – 14:14)

It’s not about just a bunch of stuff you’ve got to do in life. Discipleship is making the inner determination of the hymn we sometimes sing. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride.

(14:17 – 14:47)

Have you counted your richest gain a loss for the sake of knowing Jesus and following Jesus? It’s good stuff this, isn’t it? Secret faith emerges. Jesus is worth it. But of course a critic could scoff at all this and say, what foolishness, what nonsense, what sentimentality.

(14:49 – 15:23)

Yes, these men went public for their faith but they gave up all of this for Jesus presumably in the years that followed, for what? Why are they dedicating themselves to someone who is dead and buried? It’s a very good question, isn’t it? We could think all of that except for the second point that follows. So here’s our second point. After secret faith emerges, secondly, seeing faith begins.

(15:24 – 15:40)

Seeing faith begins. And the point here is that Jesus is alive. Now, I’ll explain in a moment what I mean by seeing faith.

(15:41 – 15:55)

But let’s just follow the story a bit further. Sabbath passes, Saturday runs its course and chapter 20 begins. It’s the first day of a new week which by the way has a kind of symbolic significance.

(15:55 – 16:18)

This is a new start for the whole of humanity. And while it was still dark, now let me just pause in this for a second. This is very striking, isn’t it? Especially when we woke up this morning and you thought, what time is it? Like it’s still, it’s almost dark outside at half eight in the morning with all the rain.

(16:19 – 16:32)

It’s interesting when you read the Gospels, of course, it ends with darkness. It ends with darkness. Jesus is put in the tomb just as the sun is setting and the night comes and the Sabbath begins.

(16:32 – 16:41)

And we just skip over the Saturday in John’s Gospel. I think there’s a kind of symbolism in this. It’s as if from the moment of Jesus’ death, there’s nothing but darkness.

(16:42 – 17:04)

And we’re waiting for the dawn to appear and it’s about to appear. Mary Magdalene will be a firsthand witness of it. We know from other Gospels and from her use of a plural in verse two, that she wasn’t alone when she journeyed to this tomb.

(17:05 – 17:21)

She had other women with her. But John, John, as he writes his Gospel, has a habit of focussing on individuals. We’ve seen this throughout, haven’t we? In various chapters, three, four, nine, and again in chapter 20.

(17:21 – 17:50)

John wants to tell a fair chunk of this resurrection story through the eyes of Mary. She is just as devoted as the two prior men and she comes as soon as she was allowed to after the Sabbath had finished to attend to Jesus’ tomb. But as she approaches the grave, she sees something in the dim morning light.

(17:51 – 18:06)

We’re going to find that in John 20, there is a lot of seeing. Seeing is a very significant word. And she saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance to the tomb.

(18:09 – 18:33)

Just for context, this wasn’t a grave in the ground, but it’s like the tombs you might see in images of the resurrection. It was more like a cave cut into a rock face. And it would have had a large, heavy slab set stubbornly over the entrance of the tomb, which you couldn’t have easily moved.

(18:34 – 18:43)

But this slab is resting at the side of the entrance. The tomb is open. That’s what she sees.

(18:45 – 18:57)

Now, Mary doesn’t go in. Instead, she runs back to the disciples. And speaking to Peter and John, notice the conclusion she jumps to.

(18:58 – 19:18)

They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb. Her assumption is that someone must have taken Jesus’ body. Now, I suspect if Mary had paused to think about this, she might have realised that someone taking Jesus’ body was actually highly unlikely.

(19:20 – 19:33)

Yes, it was true that sometimes in those days, people robbed graves. We know this from history. And the reason they would sometimes rob graves would be to steal the spices.

(19:34 – 19:53)

We just talked about that, which were very expensive. But that was highly unlikely in this case, because not only was a Roman guard posted over the door, as other gospels tell us, but also for another reason that we’re gonna see in just a minute. This can’t be a robbery.

(19:54 – 20:17)

It is equally impossible for reasons that we know that the disciples themselves had done it. And neither the Jews or the Romans had anything to gain at all from removing Jesus’ body. Nonetheless, what this shows us is that Mary doesn’t just jump to the idea that Jesus is alive.

(20:18 – 20:37)

The thing that changed her mind was seeing the risen Jesus later on in the passage. Peter and John, for their part, they need to check this out for themselves. And they both run for the tomb.

(20:38 – 20:52)

And John seems to remember this detail very vividly. And he writes down the detail that he outran Peter to the grave. Maybe John did park run and Peter slept in on Saturday mornings.

(20:52 – 21:16)

But John arrives the quicker, but he hesitates at the door. Peter arrives after, but he just strides immediately in. And what does Peter see? And what does then John see as he comes in afterwards? What they see is not a body.

(21:17 – 21:31)

Jesus’ body is not present in the tomb. But there is something in the tomb. No doubt on the slab where Jesus had lain, there were strips of linen.

(21:33 – 22:11)

And separate from the linen, the head cloth that had surrounded Jesus’ head. Now, let me ask you something this morning. Why on earth does John remember this and record this? What is so significant about a little linen and a head cloth? And why is it that this was the reason that John believed? The reason that it is significant is because it rules out Mary’s immediate theory.

(22:12 – 22:33)

It rules out the most likely theory that Jesus’ body had been taken. Think about this. If Jesus’ body had been stolen, why on earth would they unwrap Jesus’ body? I mean, this is something that’s illegal to do.

(22:34 – 22:48)

It was punishable by death to rob a grave at this time. You are going to do this at haste. You’re not going to take significant time to unravel all of the linen around the body.

(22:50 – 23:24)

Moreover, if the motive were robbery, why would you leave the linen? You see, the linen was the most valuable thing, not the body. The linen was where the spices were, in the folds, carefully inlaid, layer by layer. As Peter and John see the linen, they note not only that it is there, but that it is not a bedraggled mess all across the floor and all across the tomb.

(23:25 – 23:46)

He sees, in fact, that the head cloth is neatly separated apart from the main linen. I’m sure you will have seen a room after a robbery, right? I remember years and years ago going to my grandparents one Sunday afternoon. They’d just been robbed while they were at church.

(23:46 – 24:07)

And I can tell you there was not a single thing in that house in the place where it had originally been, right? That’s what happens in a robbery. Everything is everywhere. If this were a robbery, particularly in the dead of night, linen would have been strewn all over the floor and tangled all up together.

(24:09 – 24:37)

There was something about this that was so unexpected that it ruled out the only half-decent theory and it was so convincing to John that verse eight says, John saw and believed. Mary saw an open tomb and she drew the wrong conclusion, but then she didn’t see as much as John. John went inside the tomb.

(24:37 – 25:06)

He sees the orderly linen and he draws the right conclusion that however unexpected it may seem, the one who had done miracles signifying his glory had somehow produced the biggest miracle. And notice just how convinced John is. Verse nine, it’s almost like an editorial comment dropped into the story to give us even more explanation.

(25:06 – 25:35)

They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. In other words, Peter and John had no understanding from their Bible that a resurrection was predicted. The Jews believed in a kind of general resurrection of all people at the end of history, but they did not believe in a particular resurrection of the anointed one of God.

(25:37 – 25:54)

Now, the Scriptures had in fact promised such a thing. But centuries of bad interpretation and misunderstanding had clouded the issue. Psalms like Psalm 16, Isaiah 53.

(25:55 – 26:23)

These Psalms had promised a resurrection life and other passages of Scripture had prophesied and set in place the idea that on the third day, there’s at least two Old Testament passages that speak of someone on the third day rising again as it were. All of that was in the Scriptures, but the disciples didn’t know it. They hadn’t had the Bible study yet with Jesus later on.

(26:24 – 26:39)

And so when John comes to the tomb, he isn’t thinking of Bible verses. He isn’t predisposed to be expecting a resurrection. He was convinced solely and entirely by what he saw.

(26:41 – 26:59)

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Because of what he saw. You know, when you think about this, John in one sense is unlike us and John in another sense is just like us. What do I mean when I say that? When it comes to the basis of his belief that Jesus is alive.

(26:59 – 27:18)

I mean, on the one hand, John is kind of like us in that he believes before he sees the physical risen Jesus. Now he will see Jesus later, won’t he? But he actually believes before that. Good on John.

(27:19 – 27:40)

In a sense, John has a kind of affinity with us who live later in history. We don’t have the privilege of seeing Jesus in the flesh, but John believed before he saw Jesus. John shows that that kind of believing is absolutely possible.

(27:41 – 28:04)

And yet on the other hand, of course, John is also unlike us because he is still an eyewitness on Easter Sunday morning. John entered the empty tomb and he saw something that caused him to believe. For John and all the witnesses in this chapter, seeing is believing.

(28:05 – 28:35)

This is the start of seeing and believing. And this seeing faith, this eyewitness testimony, then becomes the basis for what we believe today. We are called on the basis of what they saw and what many of them were later willing to die for to come to the same conclusion that John arrives at here.

(28:36 – 29:02)

That Jesus wasn’t taken from the grave, he rose from the grave. And that he wasn’t helped out of the grave, out of his bandages like Lazarus in chapters before, but that he came out of them himself and then left that linen neatly behind. Yes, this is full-fat supernatural Christianity.

(29:03 – 29:30)

This is not just a philosophy or a concept of renewal. Resurrection isn’t just an inspirational thought about bouncing back when you’re knocked down in life. I saw over the weekend some of the politicians, God bless them all, trying to get on side with all of the Christians and the churches with Good Friday and Happy Easter and whatnot.

(29:30 – 29:47)

And I noticed that a few of them cited Easter as an inspirational idea of renewal that we can all get behind because we all need a bit of renewal in life. But Easter is not an inspirational idea. It’s a flesh and blood reality.

(29:48 – 30:01)

The body that went into the tomb came out of the tomb. The body that was laid down got up. The body that was bound was freed and the body that was crucified is alive.

(30:02 – 30:32)

And that is a precious truth for all who will believe it. Because it means that our hopes in life don’t need to terminate in a crematorium or a graveyard because the body that went in actually came out. David Frost in the article I mentioned earlier spoke of an increasing number of people starting to come to faith again.

(30:33 – 30:45)

He says he himself is one of them that it happened for him on Easter 2025. But he recognised that not everyone is making this journey. Britain is still a very secular place.

(30:46 – 31:02)

He says, in the West, we live in a highly secular society. By which I mean one that thinks material reality is all there is. One that thinks it can make up moral propositions as it goes along.

(31:03 – 31:23)

Every incentive discourages us. Every incentive discourages us from thinking ourselves into a worldview in which material reality is only part of a wider whole. Part of and intertwined with a supernatural reality sustained by a creator God.

(31:23 – 31:41)

He’s saying we’re not encouraged to think about these things. We’re disencentivized in our culture from believing all this stuff. There is still a cold, hard-baked in philosophical scepticism that is being injected into the veins of people in our country.

(31:42 – 31:58)

Whether it’s through the media, or whether it’s through universities, or whatever it is. We are discouraged from going beyond the material. We’re sold the lie that supernatural reality is just not possible.

(31:59 – 32:24)

Even when the evidence suggests that it is. Will we have the courage to ignore those voices that tell us what cannot be true, and examine with open heart and mind the claims of the Christian Bible? Yes, it does need to be examined. Of course it does.

(32:26 – 32:42)

Frost again is right on the money. He says this, the important thing about Christianity is not whether it makes you feel better, or whether it’s good for society, but whether it’s true. If it is, we should all want to know that.

(32:42 – 32:54)

And if it isn’t, we’re right to reject it. The one thing we should not do is refuse to properly consider it. And in Western society, that is far too easy.

(32:56 – 33:15)

It’s easy not to look into these things, isn’t it? Just to go back home and have whatever the lovely big slab of meat is that you’ve been slow cooking. It’s easy to take the path that won’t risk anything. As we seek to advance our career, and our money, and our status, or whatever it is, social inclusion, it’s easy.

(33:18 – 33:46)

And yet, if we won’t risk anything, we might lose out on what is ultimately valuable. If this is true, if John’s belief is right, there is nothing that should stop us from taking the next step of faith. Are there steps you need to take? Steps of faith this morning? Do you need to go public with your faith? It’s there.

(33:47 – 34:26)

It’s been working away for a while. But do you need to go public to just acknowledge that in baptism, by telling others, by living it out in a public way? Are you a Christian? And you’ve slid into that danger of valuing Jesus somewhat, but not valuing Him as your everything. My richest gain I count but loss, and poor contempt and all my pride.

(34:27 – 34:47)

Jesus is worth it. Because Jesus is alive. Father, thank you for this wonderful news of an empty tomb, an organised tomb.

(34:49 – 35:07)

All the signs of someone not being carried off, but getting up. Even as we got out of the bed this morning, and some of us may have even tidied that behind us. We thank you for the evidence that leads to faith.

(35:08 – 35:23)

Bring us to that faith today. Grant us the courage to listen to your voice over all the other voices around us. And help us to value you, Lord Jesus, above all else in our lives.

(35:24 – 35:27)

We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The post From Buried to Believing – John 19v38–20v10 appeared first on Greenview Church.

Just a few significant scenes, just a few stopping points on the way to Jesus’ death. There’s a sign that was placed above the cross. There’s the dividing of Jesus’ clothes and the gambling of a garment.

There’s a lovely conversation between Jesus and his mother. But that is all there is, for just as quickly as that, the end draws near. Later, verse 28, knowing that everything had been finished.

(0:57 – 3:07)

Some time passes, and as Jesus hangs on the cross, John tells us that Jesus knows something clearly in his mind. And it’s important that we get this understanding right. It’s not that Jesus knew that he was finished.

It’s not that he grasped that his life was over. Lots of people know I mean, not everyone, but lots of people do know when their death is imminent. But no, this is not that.

Jesus knows that everything had been finished. What exactly is the everything that Jesus knows has been completed at this point? The immediate words that follow and the wider context of John give us the answer. Notice the words that immediately follow this.

Jesus knew that scripture was being fulfilled. And this ties into the wider message of John, where Jesus isn’t doing random things, or even having random things done to him. No, Jesus is completing the mission that his father has given him.

He said in chapter four, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Well, Jesus now knows that that work is now completed. Jesus’ work of securing eternal life by living a sinless life and dying a sacrificial, sin-bearing death is no longer a work in process.

It has come to its completion. With this clear in Jesus’ own mind, he asked for a drink. I am thirsty, he says.

(3:09 – 3:29)

Jesus would have been extremely thirsty at this point. We know from another gospel that he refused a drink when he was first hung on the cross. The earlier drink mentioned in other gospels would have acted as a sedative, a painkiller.

(3:30 – 4:01)

It would have also relieved the thirst of Jesus. He denied that drink. He was thirsty for his entire time hanging on the cross.

And he was exposed in those hours to the hot Middle Eastern sun, dehydrated, I’m sure, from the bleeding. And only at the end, he asked for a drink. And he asked for a drink in order to fulfil scripture.

(4:02 – 4:59)

Perhaps Psalm 22, that passage we read earlier, verse 15 of that Psalm, which spoke of the horrible thirst of the cross. My mouth is dried like a pot shared, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.

This was the thirst Jesus experienced so that your thirst and my spiritual thirst might be quenched. Do you remember earlier in John’s gospel, in chapter four, that Jesus had sat by a well of water, and he had been physically thirsty. But he had also offered on that occasion a particular woman, a spiritually needy woman, a woman that really represents the entire world, all of us.

(5:00 – 5:52)

And he offered her a drink that would satisfy her thirsty soul. To secure that eternally satisfying drink, Jesus had to endure the thirst of the cross. And so the sour wine is lifted to Jesus’ lips.

Interestingly, John notes it was on the stock of a hyssop plant. We might not be aware of this, but hyssop plants in the Bible are associated with atonement and with cleansing, spiritual purification. Maybe it just happened to be a hyssop plant, or perhaps this is a subtle reminder that the cross brings atonement and the cross brings cleansing.

(5:53 – 6:20)

There are not only, when we come to the cross, the obvious fulfillments, where John underlines it and says, this is fulfilled. But there are deep layers and levels of fulfilment, I think. As all of the Old Testament, all of the events and the symbols of Israel’s history are converging and coming together upon the man on the middle cross.

(6:21 – 7:40)

Jesus takes his final drink and now voices his final words. Mark’s gospel tells us that it was a loud cry, but John simply tells us the content of the loud cry, it is finished. And so what Jesus knew that everything was finished, he now speaks out so that everyone could hear.

Presumably, I assume this was for our benefit, not for his. It was so that we would not misunderstand what was happening on the cross when he died. It was so that we would understand that as we look to the death of Jesus, we are not looking upon Jesus with pity or with a sense that this is some kind of defeat, when in fact it was a victory.

Christians often associate the resurrection with the victory of Jesus, as well we should. But the victory of Jesus is no less seen on the cross. This is not a cry of defeat or resignation.

(7:41 – 7:51)

This is a cry of confident victory. It is finished. Because the life Jesus needed to live had been lived.

(7:52 – 8:09)

And the death Jesus needed to die, bearing the curse of sin, suffering in our place, had been carried out successfully. At the cross, our sin was dealt with. At the cross, the devil was defeated.

(8:09 – 8:24)

At the cross, death was conquered. A death that led to the death of death, what a way to do it. All of that work was finished as Jesus comes to die.

(8:26 – 8:51)

And therefore, Jesus lays his head on his own chest in a kind of peaceful sleep. Did you notice how John puts it? He says, with that, he bowed his head. Do you know that only John records that little detail? Maybe because he was standing closer, he saw details like that.

(8:52 – 9:07)

Literally, it says he rested his head. It’s the same terminology Jesus uses elsewhere in the gospel where he says, the son of man has nowhere to rest his head, to lay his head. It’s exactly the same phrase.

(9:09 – 10:10)

As Jesus comes to the very end of his work, finally, his head rests as he gives up his life in a voluntary act. We said at the beginning that there are unique features to the death of Jesus. And this is one of them.

What an unusual turn of phrase. And he gave up his spirit. One of the commentators says that is a unique phrase in all of ancient literature of the moment of someone’s death.

It’s only here in the Bible. Death is not described this way, someone giving up their spirit. Death is something that happens to us.

Life is taken from us. But Jesus gave up his life, because this sits with the emphasis we’ve seen in John, that Jesus’ life is not stolen from him. It is offered up by him.

(10:13 – 10:25)

And so Jesus’ death is a victorious death, and it is a voluntary death. It is the completion of a finished work. This is now the application of this.

(10:25 – 11:09)

It is not an incomplete work that requires your additions to it. It is not a work half done or lacking in anything. It is not like this illustration, for some reason, came to me this morning when I was living in Ireland.

I was invited to take part in a relay race. And that was a good thing, because it was a really long race if I’d run the whole thing. But I just had a few miles of it.

And I was standing at the point where people were changing over. And my team wasn’t the quickest, so I was waiting around. But I heard all these little conversations that happened briefly as people passed on.

(11:09 – 11:19)

It wasn’t a literal baton, but as they tagged their partner. And they would say things like, it’s up to you now. You take it from here.

(11:19 – 11:24)

You know, I’ve given my best. I’ve done my bit. Now it’s time for you to do your bit.

(11:27 – 11:54)

Is that how the cross of Jesus works? So often we imagine that salvation works like that. That somehow getting reconciled with God and somehow getting access to heaven eternally is about something we add to what Jesus has already done. Maybe it’s 50% Jesus and then 50% us.

(11:55 – 12:11)

Or maybe 90% him. But at least there’s a 10% that we need to add. And we’re kind of hoping that our churchgoing and our praying and the good stuff that we try to do from time to time.

(12:11 – 12:30)

We’re kind of hoping that that’s just going to add that little bit extra that’s going to complete the payment of the final bill. As if Jesus hasn’t paid the entire thing. There’s also a punishment version of that same thing, incidentally.

(12:30 – 12:50)

This is where we think that the punishment of the cross isn’t complete. And so when we sin or we fail in some way, we put ourselves through this kind of miserable wringer until we’re miserable enough before God that hopefully he’ll take some kind of sympathy on us. We get these ideas in our heads.

(12:50 – 13:04)

But even worse, we sometimes live by them. And we need to ask ourselves, where do we get these concepts from? Because it’s not from the Bible. It’s not from the gospel.

(13:05 – 13:29)

Because Jesus cried from the cross that the work was finished. How ludicrous would it be for us to now go to God the Father and say, could I add a little more to what Jesus has already done? Jesus paid it all. We sometimes sing, don’t we? I wonder if you believe that.

(13:31 – 13:50)

The question this morning is, will you understand the cross? Will you understand that it is a finished work? This is what we must understand. But then secondly, we need to think about how we must respond to it. So here’s the response to the cross, how we should respond.

(13:50 – 14:05)

Believe and receive eternal life. Verses 31 to 37. Now, on the face of it, this part of the passage looks more mundane than the previous section.

(14:06 – 14:19)

From it is finished, it seems like a bit of a climb down. Mentions of Sabbaths and taking bodies down off of crosses. It really doesn’t seem that dramatic.

(14:20 – 14:33)

But there is more going on than you might first notice. To start with, verse 31 reports that it was the day of preparation. That is, the next day was the Sabbath day.

(14:33 – 14:48)

They were preparing for the Sabbath. That’s what people did, made sure everything was in order so that when the Sabbath came, they observed it correctly. The Sabbath was, if you don’t know, it was the Jewish day of rest when you didn’t do any work.

(14:49 – 15:13)

And what we are seeing here is that Jesus died literally minutes before the beginning of that Jewish day of rest. Of course, this goes back to the original creation. They built their view of the working week on creation where God worked for six days.

(15:13 – 15:29)

And at the completion of his work of creation on the sixth day, God then, having finished, rested on the seventh. So this is no accident. When Jesus died is no accident at all.

(15:29 – 15:54)

As Jesus has now completed his work of new creation, of redeeming a fallen creation, as he finishes the Father’s work and brings salvation to completion, he does it at the very end of day six. Only minutes before sundown. It is so close to the Sabbath that the authorities are rushing to get the bodies off the crosses.

(15:57 – 16:03)

So that’s just a wonderful thing to think about. I’m not going to preach that anymore. But the Jewish leaders were concerned about this.

(16:06 – 16:23)

Sadly, their only concern was that according to Jewish law, it would be a horrible violation for the bodies to still be on the crosses on the Sabbath. They were concerned about that law. But they were not concerned about the fact that they had just crucified the Lord of glory.

(16:24 – 16:53)

That’s an interesting thing, isn’t it? Sometimes we get very fixated with little acts of disobedience that we do, and yet we kind of ignore the bigger issues sometimes that we’re just rejecting Jesus in a fundamental way. In any case, they make their appeal and the Roman authorities immediately grant it. Now normally, the Romans would normally leave bodies hanging on crosses for days on end.

(16:55 – 17:09)

It could take days for a victim to die. And also it served as a kind of warning to others not to mess with the Romans. But here for the sake of Jewish sensibilities, they agree to speed up the deaths.

(17:09 – 17:31)

And the way the Romans would always do this is they would take a mallet and they would break the legs of the crucified, the legs that were providing the strength to stop them from being asphyxiated. And when they did this, when they broke the legs, the person would die extremely quickly. Now there were two other men who were crucified with Jesus, one on either side.

(17:32 – 17:41)

And it seems that the soldier started with the two men on the outside. And they found these two men alive. And so they broke their legs.

(17:42 – 17:56)

And so they died very quickly. But when they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead. And therefore, they did not break his legs.

(17:58 – 18:12)

Now think about this for a moment. Jesus died very painfully, but he also died unusually quickly. The two other crucified men were still alive.

(18:14 – 18:32)

And had Jesus been found in the same fashion, his bones would have been broken. And because this happened in this way, two unlikely fulfillments of Scripture follow. Fulfilment number one, no bone of Jesus was broken.

(18:34 – 18:49)

That comes from possibly a variety of places in the Old Testament. But most likely or most directly, I think it comes from Exodus 12, verse 46. Because the context of all this is Jesus is the Passover lamb.

(18:50 – 19:09)

And if you look at that text, you will see that the innocent Passover lamb who was slain in place of the people wasn’t to have any of its bones broken. It was to be slain and pierced and so on. But it wasn’t to have its bones broken.

(19:10 – 19:29)

Well, Jesus is that innocent lamb. And the unbroken bones is a symbol of that. Just as a little aside here, we sometimes, this is just a phraseology thing, but we sometimes I think wrongly say that Jesus’ body was broken on the cross.

(19:32 – 19:46)

Perhaps we take that from the fact that we see that the bread was broken. Now, if we mean that in simply a general sense, maybe we simply mean that it was broken in the sense of being destroyed. I think that’s absolutely fine.

(19:46 – 20:05)

But we do need to be a little bit careful because it’s in danger of contradicting Scripture. One of the wonders of Jesus’ death is that he was beaten and crucified. And yet despite the intensity of it all, not one bone of his body was broken at all.

(20:06 – 20:18)

That is the first fulfilment. And then another remarkable fulfilment follows that. The piercing of Jesus’ side.

(20:19 – 20:40)

And honestly, I’ve been thinking about this. Maybe you understand this better than I’m able to fathom it. But I can’t fathom why the soldier pierced the side of Jesus, can you? Some people say the soldier pierced the side of Jesus just to be sure that Jesus was dead, right? Just think, let’s just double check it.

(20:42 – 21:03)

But the Bible is clear that the soldiers thought he was already dead. And had they been in any way unsure about that, surely they would have simply broken his legs. So the soldier knows he is dead, but he decides for whatever reason to pierce his side anyway.

(21:05 – 21:35)

Whatever motives drove that decision in the moment, it fulfilled another ancient prophecy. Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 predicted that the people of God would look upon the one they had pierced, that the Messiah would be pierced. And yes, his hands and feet have been pierced, but now we have this very dramatic piercing that happens at the conclusion.

(21:37 – 22:15)

And so what do we have? No broken bones and a pierced Messiah. I don’t know what the chances are of both of these things happening, but I’m telling you they are unbelievably minimal, the chances of both these things occurring. You know, often when we try to, if we’re Christians, when we try to convince people who feel sceptical about the truth of the gospel, often we take them to the resurrection of Jesus.

(22:16 – 22:22)

And I think rightly so. We’ll be going there next week. We’ll be trying to see that very thing.

(22:25 – 22:41)

But actually the death of Jesus is equally compelling. And particularly this, I think, as we see these unusual things that happened in a way that only God could arrange. When we see these things, our doubts are blown away.

(22:42 – 23:15)

We see that his death was planned and meaningful and that it changed the course of history. And actually that transforming change of the cross is seen in another detail that I’m gonna finish on now. Because did you notice that John mentioned something which really, does he really need to mention it in the way he does? But he says here that when the soldier pierced the side of Jesus, a sudden flow of blood and water came forth.

(23:18 – 23:41)

Now, we will leave it to the medical experts to debate what the causation was of a sudden flow of blood and water. And there’s different theories. What I think is more important is the practicality and the theology of this detail.

(23:42 – 24:16)

In terms of practicality, the flow of blood and water means that Jesus really died a human death in terms of just its sheer practicality. When John was writing his gospel and indeed his first letter, there were people around in the first century who were denying the full flesh and blood humanity of Jesus. They were saying that perhaps he appeared to be human and he appeared to die, but he didn’t really die.

(24:17 – 24:29)

And John may be striking a blow at this here. So there’s that practicality. This just shows us that Jesus died, but there is also, I think, a theology here too.

(24:30 – 24:56)

Because John frequently has a symbolic meaning to the details he reports. And I think in the context of John, surely there is a spiritual significance to what he is saying here. Because earlier in John, Jesus has been speaking time and time again in the imagery of flowing water.

(24:58 – 25:23)

It is a symbol of eternal life, the life he offers. Back again in John 4, he offers the woman what? Living water. In John 7, Jesus says that the gift of eternal life, when we receive it, will be like streams of living water that flow from within the believer.

(25:23 – 25:56)

In John, water is a symbol of eternal life and the life-giving work of the spirit, which comes from Jesus. And so it is right to see in the flowing of water and blood that the death of Jesus, the death of Jesus secures this life-giving flow. Eternal life is available to the woman, to us, but only because Jesus is pierced on the cross.

(25:57 – 26:19)

And it is not only eternal life on the basis of his death, it is abundant life. I think there’s probably some significance in this symbolically that it was a sudden and large flow from his pierced side. It’s an abundance of life, an abundance of cleansing.

(26:22 – 26:34)

There’s lots of songs written about this, of course. Some of us struggle a little with them because we’re a bit squeamish. Not because we don’t believe them, but you know.

(26:36 – 26:57)

But the key to them is to remember that they’re speaking in symbolic terms, right? It’s a symbolism that you’re singing about in these hymns. Jesus, keep me near the cross. There, a precious fountain, free to all, a healing stream flows from Calvary’s mountain.

(26:58 – 27:23)

There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Oh, teach me, Lord, its meaning. The sacred crimson tide, the blood and water flowing from your own wounded side.

(27:24 – 27:51)

What is the meaning? The meaning is that eternal life flows from the death of Christ. And not only is this Jesus’ final word spoken on the cross, but here we see a symbol of what comes from that finished work, a flowing river of forgiveness and grace and restoration with God. It flows to us now.

(27:52 – 28:14)

You can begin to receive it now in your life today, but it’s something that continues on and sustains you through eternity. We never need to fear that the flow will run dry because it is abundant, brothers and sisters. It’s a healing stream.

(28:14 – 28:29)

It’s a great fountain. It flows from Calvary’s hill. And so the response we must make, whether for the first time or the 5,000th time, is to believe this.

(28:30 – 28:38)

It’s to trust this. Today and for all of our tomorrows. That’s what John says the response is, verse 35.

(28:39 – 28:46)

That’s what we need to do. John’s testimony, he says, is true. John was right there.

(28:46 – 28:55)

He was at the cross. He witnessed all of these details. And he testifies about them so that you may believe.

(28:56 – 29:05)

That’s why he tells you about the cry, it’s finished. About the victory, the voluntary nature of the death. The details of the broken bones, the pierced side.

(29:05 – 29:26)

About the great flow of blood and water. He tells you all of this so that you would place even the weakest faith in a strong Saviour. It is an encouragement, at least to me, that Jesus in no way qualifies the word believe here.

(29:27 – 29:52)

He doesn’t say you need to believe with an enormous great faith that is mighty and never wavering. He simply says you need to believe. If there is a chair and you’re thinking of sitting down in the chair, all you need is enough confidence to sit down on the chair.

(29:53 – 30:06)

Now you may sit down in it with great confidence, believing it will absolutely hold you. You may sit down somewhat tentatively. But at the end of the day, it is not the strength of your faith that makes the difference.

(30:08 – 30:28)

It is the strength of the object that holds you up. And in the same way, even a weak faith in a strong Saviour and in a finished work is enough. Do you believe? Are you, we’ll come on to this in a few weeks time.

(30:28 – 30:56)

Are you like a Thomas? You’re kind of wavering. But do you believe? I pray that you do. And if you do, will you let the finished work of Christ have the final word and the continuing word over your feelings, over your concerns about yourself, in all the ways that you fall short.

(30:56 – 31:31)

I wonder if as you sing these hymns, as we did this morning, you sometimes feel like a fraud. You know, what am I doing here singing all this stuff? We sang earlier of the love that reaches deeper than the depths of self despair. Even as Jesus rested his head secure in what he had achieved, so we can rest our souls entirely upon his finished work.

(31:32 – 31:48)

Let’s pray. Father God, teach us more of the meaning of the cross. Grant us belief in all that Jesus did to secure that life-giving flow.

(31:49 – 32:07)

Help us to celebrate that, to not so much focus on all the ways in which we fall short in our works and our efforts, but to rejoice in his complete work on our behalf. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

The post It is Finished – John 19v28–37 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:23 – 0:44)

One of the challenges, of course, is in finding a place to pull all of these things together. And I think one of the things that we would probably all agree on as we’ve looked at the series over the last eight weeks is that forgiveness is a very complex issue. And it goes right to the heart of what it means for each of us to be human.

(0:44 – 1:31)

And I’m sure that in our own way, we’ve all come to agree with Alexander Pope, the 18th century English poet, who wrote famously, to err is human, but to forgive is divine. I’m hopeful that we’re all agreed on that as we begin. But I suppose the question now for us as individuals and a congregation is where do we go from here? Is there a biblical framework that might help us summarise everything that we’ve learned and something that might help us live out forgiveness in the raw of everyday life? Well, back in the 11th of January, when we began the series, and yes, it was the 11th of January, Colin took us to an Old Testament passage.

(1:31 – 1:37)

I wonder if you remember which one it was. Well, I’ll save you the trouble. It was Psalm 32.

(1:38 – 2:10)

And the very first passage that we read in this series began with these words. “‘Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, “‘whose sins are covered. “‘Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord “‘does not count against him, “‘and in whose spirit is no deceit.'” So right at the beginning of our series, we had two verses brought to us telling us that forgiveness means, at its very heart, to be blessed by God.

(2:11 – 2:30)

To be blessed by God. But if I were to say to you, what does being blessed by God mean, in words of one syllable, I’m thinking you might find that a little difficult to define. Some translations describe blessed as happy.

(2:30 – 2:47)

But to do that’s a bit like saying Lewis Hamilton drives a car. Because in the Old Testament, blessed carries a wealth of meaning. It’s a rich, deep Hebrew word that includes ideas of joy.

(2:48 – 3:05)

Joy that’s not dependent on human circumstance. Satisfaction and contentment, even when times are difficult. And approval from God, regardless of your social media likes ranking.

(3:07 – 3:21)

Psalm 32, verses one and two, are therefore beatitudes. Beatitude is just the Latin word. We had Latin words this morning, didn’t we? We’re getting a bit of a Latin lesson today.

(3:21 – 3:32)

A Latin word for blessedness. That’s what a beatitude is. Beatitudes are proverbs or statements that pronounce a person as blessed by God.

(3:32 – 4:00)

As joyful, satisfied, and approved of by God himself. Because of a particular quality or element or character trait in their life. Now, let me ask you, where else in Scripture do we see those kind of statements? Where else do we see that? Well, we find eight or nine of them in Matthew chapter five.

(4:00 – 4:21)

And that’s where I want you to turn this evening. Because we’re going to look at Matthew chapter five and we’re going to look at the first 10 verses. We’re going to read the first 12, but we’re really going to look at the first 10 verses where Jesus publishes the manifesto of the kingdom of God.

(4:22 – 4:33)

So let’s read these verses together. Matthew chapter five, verse one. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.

(4:33 – 4:54)

His disciples came to him and he began to teach them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

(4:55 – 5:12)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

(5:13 – 5:34)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

(5:34 – 6:00)

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This is God’s word. As the May elections approach, all the political parties are publishing manifestos telling us how great life will be should they win our vote and come to rule.

(6:01 – 6:23)

We, of course, know better. We know that they’re hardly worth the paper they’re written on, and they’re useful for all manner of other things, like propping up a stool that has a leg missing or short. Here, Jesus presents his manifesto describing a radical counterculture that contrasts totally with the values of the world.

(6:25 – 7:00)

Jesus describes life under his rule. And when we look at these Beatitudes, we discover that right at the heart of his rule and right at the heart of the kingdom of God itself is the issue of forgiveness. And these eight Beatitudes I want to suggest to you then provide a framework for understanding all the aspects of forgiveness that we’ve thought about in this series within the context of life under the rule of Jesus, life in his kingdom.

(7:01 – 7:11)

Now, I’m not saying the Beatitudes are entirely and only about forgiveness. I’m not saying that. They’re about much more than forgiveness.

(7:12 – 7:33)

But what we will see as we go through these Beatitudes is that they are never about anything less than forgiveness. So let’s think firstly then about our experience of forgiveness. If you like, that’s the vertical dimension to forgiveness.

(7:34 – 7:45)

That involves a relationship with God himself. And we find that in the first four Beatitudes. Let’s look at them together.

(7:46 – 7:58)

Firstly, the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This Beatitude tells us that forgiveness humbles us.

(8:00 – 8:23)

In our culture, we are constantly encouraged to rank ourselves by our net worth. But Jesus says that life in the kingdom of heaven begins when we humbly acknowledge that we are the servant in Matthew 18, 24, who owes the king an unpayable debt. We are bankrupt.

(8:23 – 8:42)

We are the bankrupt people. And acknowledging that as humans is incredibly difficult. But Jesus tells us here that this is the first step in experiencing life in his kingdom, the first step towards forgiveness.

(8:44 – 9:03)

Jesus begins by reminding us that to understand a Christian perspective of forgiveness, we need to acknowledge humbly that we are all poor in spirit. We are debtors to God himself. We need to do that before we can enter the kingdom at all, you see.

(9:05 – 9:10)

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It’s the first Beatitude.

(9:10 – 9:26)

It’s the foundation to all that comes next. Those who mourn, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted, says Jesus. Forgiveness grieves.

(9:27 – 9:37)

There’s a grieving to forgiveness. Because mourning in this text is not primarily about personal loss. It’s about personal lament.

(9:38 – 10:14)

And we’ve thought about lament through the series, haven’t we? We’ve thought about spiritually bankrupt people mourning over their sin, how their sin affects their relationship with God, and not just their relationship with God, their relationship with others, and their relationship with the wider world itself. But spiritually bankrupt people who understand their need for forgiveness do not celebrate and flaunt their sin with pride as the world does. Rather, they grieve over it.

(10:15 – 10:24)

They mourn over it. And notice the present tense in the text. Jesus doesn’t say blessed are those who have mourned.

(10:27 – 10:36)

He says blessed are those who mourn. Present tense. This isn’t something, you see, that we do only once in our lives.

(10:38 – 11:11)

In evangelical churches, I think, it’s true to say that historically we’ve certainly focused a great deal on that initial point of repentance, haven’t we? We’ve got a long gospel tradition of calling people to faith at that first moment of conversion. And we emphasise that strongly and regularly and rightly. But it may just be that we have neglected to realise that repentance isn’t a one-off act.

(11:12 – 11:34)

It’s a steady heart state. There is a whole life to be lived of repentance towards God. A whole life spent mourning and being sorrowful over our sin, our ongoing failure and weakness and rebellion against God.

(11:34 – 12:18)

Every time we hear God’s word spoken to us from this platform, every time we read it in our quiet time, every time we hear it on a podcast or in a song and it touches our heart and we recognise where we are in relation to our sin and our relationship to God in spite of our faith and in spite of being part of his kingdom, we grieve over that or we ought to. Maybe one of the reasons we find forgiveness so difficult in our daily lives is that we’ve forgotten how to grieve over sin on a daily basis. We’re forgiven in the past, that’s a done deal and we forget about it.

(12:18 – 12:33)

We’ve got our ticket. Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn now, still, ongoing over their sin. There’s a grieving to forgiveness.

(12:35 – 12:57)

There’s also a submission. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Now the catchphrase when you’re dealing with this verse is to always say meekness is often misunderstood as weakness, so let’s get that out of the way and say it so you don’t say it in your own head.

(12:57 – 13:24)

But biblical meekness isn’t weakness, it’s power under control. It doesn’t pull rank. When someone does a wrong against you and you are innocent, that gives you a certain power, doesn’t it? You’re in a position of moral superiority.

(13:27 – 13:50)

The key point here is that how you choose to use that power defines what happens next in terms of forgiveness. You can choose how to use it. You can withhold forgiveness on the basis that you’ve got the moral high ground and you can lord it over that person, almost use it as a weapon.

(13:53 – 14:07)

Or you can forgive, but on your self-righteous terms. The problem is that before God there are no self-righteous terms and there is no moral high ground.

(14:09 – 14:22)

There is no innocent category before God. We’re all guilty sinners. The ground at the foot of the cross that we thought about this morning is level for us all.

(14:23 – 14:53)

David reminds us in Psalm 51 that God is right in his verdict and he is justified in his judgement and justifies when he judges. We’re guilty, all of us, even though we think we’re innocent. And meekness submits to that verdict, do you see? It’s difficult, meekness, isn’t it? There’s a meekness self-test you can apply.

(14:53 – 15:11)

By the way, you know these self-tests you get on apps and you can fill them all in and it’ll give you a score at the end and then you can see just how intelligent you are if you do an IQ one or whatever it happens to be. Well, there’s a meekness self-test you can apply to yourself. Here it is.

(15:12 – 16:04)

In your prayers and in your quiet time and in your heart before God, I’m pretty certain that all of us will be quite happy to call ourselves and say out to God that we’re miserable sinners, right? But what woe betide me if I were to call you that? Do you see? We’re quite happy to admit before God that that’s what we are, but to have someone else say that to us, well, that’s just outrageous. How proud and self-justifying we are. You see, when we experience God’s forgiveness, when we have experienced life in the kingdom, we refuse to assert our rights before God and before others.

(16:07 – 16:40)

Instead, we trust his justification over our self-justification. And as we do that, submitting to the truth that even our best character traits are tainted by pride and self-glory all the time, we might be less inclined to withhold forgiveness from others even if we think we’re innocent. Let’s look at the next beatitude.

(16:41 – 17:10)

Forgiveness aches. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. You see, the end point of poverty of spirit, mourning over sin, and having an honest view of ourselves is a deep hunger, a deep ache that longs for our relationship with God and our relationship with others to be made right.

(17:13 – 18:26)

I think it’s probably true to say that our hungers define us at the deepest level of our being. Not simply in terms of what we eat, although that’s often self-evident, but in terms of what we crave, in terms of what we crave, what we long to consume. So let me ask you this evening, what do you crave? What do you crave when no one else is around in the silence of your own heart? Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? For what is good, for that right relationship with God that flows from the forgiveness that you’ve received, from what it means to be part of his kingdom? Do you hunger and thirst for that day when all relationships will be put right and wrong will finally and forever be overthrown? Forgiven people crave that right relationship with God, do you see? They hunger and thirst for righteousness.

(18:30 – 19:11)

That’s what it means to experience God’s forgiveness, to be poor in spirit, to be humble, to mourn over our sin, to grieve, to have an honest view of ourselves , to submit, and to ache for righteousness. So forgiven people experience God’s forgiveness, kingdom people experience God’s forgiveness rather, but they also practise forgiveness. And this takes us to our final four, beatitudes.

(19:12 – 19:34)

This is the horizontal dimension of forgiveness, our relationship with others. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Now, mercy is the willingness to forgive even when it’s undeserved.

(19:36 – 20:07)

And one of the big challenges in this series has been whether forgiveness is conditional, only possible when the person who sinned repents, or whether it’s unconditional and automatic. Well, let me try to pull some of that together. Firstly, I think it’s important to acknowledge that forgiveness can only be fully understood within a framework of justice.

(20:10 – 20:43)

For a person who has done something wrong to experience forgiveness themselves, that wrong needs to be acknowledged. Now, and this is where it becomes a little bit messy. Either that wrong is acknowledged in this life, and the consequences are faced here, and repentance and reconciliation become possible here.

(20:43 – 21:25)

I say possible because as we’ll see in a second, in some cases, that that might not be possible. But either consequences are faced here, and wrong is acknowledged here in this life, or wrongs are never acknowledged in this life, consequences are avoided, repentance is never forthcoming, and reconciliation is impossible. Justice still matters, and it may be seen now, but we may have to live with the tension that we may never see justice now, for wrong’s done against us.

(21:27 – 21:40)

And we must trust that justice will be done one day, because all wrong will be, there will be justice for all wrong, remember. Justice will be done one day. One day, on the final day.

(21:43 – 22:35)

Chris Braun’s book proposes that forgiveness is based on repentance, it’s conditional on repentance, and he cites Luke 17, three to four, and Matthew 18, 15 to 35. When you really examine those texts, however, you will notice that these verses describe a brother or sister sinning against you. We don’t have time to read them again tonight, but you will discover that those two key texts that speak about repentance both talk about a brother or sister sinning against you, okay? So they tell us, these verses, tell us the process to follow should there be some kind of wrong carried out, or some kind of forgiveness dispute between believers.

(22:37 – 22:47)

And remember that believers are held to a higher standard. We’re a forgiven community. We’re the people of the kingdom.

(22:48 – 23:00)

We’re forgiven people. We’re the people who’ve had our debt forgiven in the parable of the unmerciful servant. So we are held to a higher standard.

(23:00 – 23:29)

If the person repents, we are to forgive them. If they don’t repent, we are to confirm that they’re not going to repent, and then take it to the church. Repentance here, you see, is first and foremost, of course, a biblical concept, where a person turns towards God, away from their sin, and forgiveness flows out from God to restore the relationship.

(23:29 – 23:44)

That’s how repentance works. And we are to practise that principle when dealing with believers who have wronged us, and we are to attempt to restore the broken relationship. So far, so good.

(23:46 – 24:31)

But you can’t really use Luke 17 and Matthew 18 tomorrow at work in the same way, can you? If someone wrongs you at work, you can’t take them to the elders or bring them to the church, can you? You can’t do that. What you can do in that case, and in the previous case, is ensure that you have adopted a heart posture of forgiveness, the one that’s advocated by Tim Keller in his book. So it’s not one or the other, it’s both and.

(24:31 – 25:00)

In the church, we attempt to restore on the basis of repentance. In the world, we adopt a heart posture of forgiveness, but in the church, we need that heart posture too. So although the practical process may be different when dealing with Christians and non-Christians, and when dealing with those who repent and don’t repent, the process is different.

(25:01 – 25:14)

But the principle of a forgiving heart posture is the same in all cases. It’s never less than that. We are never called upon to be less than forgiving in our heart posture.

(25:18 – 25:46)

Why is that? It’s because God’s heart posture is always inclined towards forgiveness, do you see? Against all who have wronged Him, even those who haven’t yet repented. In their case, the relationship with God isn’t restored because restoration, as we’ve seen, is conditional on repentance. But it doesn’t change God’s heart posture towards them, does it? God is love.

(25:48 – 26:03)

He has a heart of forgiveness. So Jesus makes no distinction between showing mercy to those in the kingdom of heaven and those outside it. In the text here, He doesn’t say, blessed are the merciful to those who are in the kingdom.

(26:04 – 26:21)

He says, blessed are the merciful. And He does that because God Himself shows mercy towards a rebel world constantly, even when they don’t acknowledge Him. And citizens in the kingdom are called to do exactly the same.

(26:23 – 26:57)

Mercy, therefore, becomes an acid test of whether you have really understood the gospel based on God’s unfathomable mercy, or whether you’re still operating on a system of merit and reward. Later on in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapter six of Matthew, just after the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus spells out the bottom line. Let me read it to you.

(27:00 – 27:33)

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. If you constantly cultivate an unforgiving heart, that’s a warning sign, a big warning sign, that you may not actually be forgiven at all.

(27:35 – 27:55)

And that’s serious. So blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. So forgiveness reciprocates and forgiveness exposes.

(27:56 – 28:24)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Now, we often think of this beatitude as applying to the inner purity of heart towards God. But if you look at where it’s placed in the beatitudes, I think it better refers to a purity of heart that flows from a relationship with God described in the first four beatitudes.

(28:24 – 28:46)

It’s part of the second four. Being pure in heart, therefore, means authenticity, transparency, sincerity in all of our relationships. It means getting rid of the masks we wear to curate an image or a front to fool others.

(28:46 – 29:07)

It means not having more faces than the town clock. And we do that in so many ways, don’t we? Being pure in heart, though, means that we hold no shadow accounts against others. You keep no record of wrongs.

(29:08 – 29:33)

You overlook minor offences. We covered that in our series, didn’t we? You don’t pretend to be someone who embraces forgiveness and talks forgiveness language with your mouth while harbouring unforgiven hidden grudges in your heart, because God’s forgiveness exposes the duplicity of these hearts and challenges us to become people of integrity. Blessed are the pure in heart.

(29:34 – 29:55)

The single-minded in heart. Those with hearts of integrity. So let me ask you tonight, are you holding a secret grudge that no one else knows about? God is calling you to purify your heart.

(29:57 – 30:04)

Blessed are the pure in heart. Forgiveness exposes. And it reconciles.

(30:05 – 30:37)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Now, for Jesus to move from purity of heart to peacemaking is a natural progression, do you see? Because conflict is often caused by deceit, by duplicity, and by hypocrisy. And so every member of the kingdom of God, every Christian believer, is called to be a peacemaker rather than a troublemaker within the church and outside it.

(30:39 – 30:58)

Now, making peace is something that God does first and we do second. And true peace in Scripture, of course, doesn’t just mean an absence of hostility. I think it would be fair to say that all of us are praying for peace in the Middle East.

(30:58 – 31:19)

What we often mean by that is just that people will stop firing rockets at one another and stop trying to kill each other and just stop being hostile to each other. But peace in the Bible means an awful lot more than that. It means full reconciliation, a fully restored relationship based on forgiveness.

(31:21 – 31:49)

And in that sense, you see, Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker. Paul tells us in Colossians 1.20, and we’re going to remember it at the Lord’s table just in a minute or two, Jesus made peace between us and God by his blood shed on the cross. That tells us that reconciliation with God comes at great cost and comes through deep pain.

(31:53 – 32:28)

So as we attempt to make peace and forgive others, there may also be a great cost and there may also be deep pain. That cost may involve me saying sorry for my part in the dispute, or it may be the pain and anxiety of confronting or correcting another person who has injured us to begin a process of forgiveness and reconciliation. And that might be you tonight.

(32:29 – 32:49)

You might be the one who needs to repent or you might be the one who needs to reconcile. As I look out on your faces, I long ago realised that behind every face, there’s a breaking heart somewhere. There’s something there.

(32:50 – 33:12)

What’s God saying in the context of this text this evening? That might be you. And that restoration may be painful, but it is necessary. In a fallen world, it may mean a different kind of pain.

(33:13 – 33:38)

It may mean bearing the pain of being unable to reconcile with another person, either because there’s no possibility of repentance or restoration, or the situation itself just might be too complex, too dangerous. And the wrong’s too serious to confront or even attempt discussion or dialogue. And we need to acknowledge that.

(33:40 – 33:53)

And there’s a pain associated with that. Who could know the pain of that? Because ultimately, you see, only God himself is the perfect peacemaker. We aren’t.

(33:53 – 34:20)

And sometimes we just have to accept that achieving a lasting peace with others isn’t possible and live by God’s grace with that painful reality and trust the issues to him. So forgiveness reconciles, brackets, although sometimes it might not. And finally, forgiveness endures.

(34:22 – 34:49)

Because it’s also true that no matter how hard you may try as a believer to live at peace with others, there will be others who will not want to live at peace with you. And Jesus bookends the Beatitudes, do you notice? He bookends the Beatitudes with the starting point of life in the kingdom. Where he says, it begins with poverty of spirit that brings a personal experience of God’s forgiveness.

(34:49 – 35:18)

That’s the way in. What’s the end point of life in the kingdom? Where does it end if you live like this? Well, he says in verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Do you see? Opposition will come that will test your ability to forgive and whether you’ve genuinely understood forgiveness to the max.

(35:22 – 35:49)

In September of 2024, an individual whom I had never met, published an online article falsely accusing me of transphobia for defending the rights of biological women in sport. I lost my professional identity. I lost my business and that happened overnight.

(35:51 – 36:24)

Forgiveness was the furthest thing from my mind and for one year, I raged against that individual in my heart. I raged against him so much, I was even praying imprecatory prayers from the Psalms about having his teeth broken. I say that not with a sense of pride but with a sense of being honest and vulnerable about how hard these things are.

(36:26 – 37:21)

Then in November 25, I was asked by another church to preach on forgiveness. So I began to look at it and I became very uncomfortable because I realised that I couldn’t preach it with a heart that was bitter and angry. I was like Tam O’Shanter’s wife, that Zach reminded us of earlier in this area, I was nursing my wrath to keep it warm and I had the right to do that because I was the innocent party, right? And I began to realise that, as Tim Keller says again, famously in his book on forgiveness that Zach brought to us the other week, I was holding on to that bitterness, drinking it like a cup of poison, hoping it would destroy him and the only person that was destroying was me.

(37:22 – 37:55)

So I asked the Lord for a heart posture of forgiveness even though the wounds are still real painful and may never fully heal because I’m learning that forgiveness and wounds are closely related. But where have we seen that before? Well, in his poem, Jesus of the Scars, Edward Shalito wrote about wounds in that way. Here’s what he said.

(37:57 – 38:14)

But to our wounds, only God’s wounds can speak. And not a God has wounds, but thou alone. Only our God has wounds of forgiveness.

(38:16 – 38:40)

And so, as we always must, we come to the cross because life in the kingdom of heaven is marked by the experience and practise of forgiveness that is cruciform in shape. It’s cross-shaped. Have you ever noticed the first word of Jesus? He said seven words on the cross.

(38:40 – 38:56)

We read some of them this morning. Have you ever noticed that the first word he said from the cross was a word of forgiveness? Look, 23, 24, we know it, don’t we? Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.

(38:57 – 39:48)

Now, let me ask you, was that a transactional forgiveness based on repentance by the chief priest, the crowd, the Roman garrison? Was it? It was a heart posture of forgiveness, wasn’t it? Coming from deep within the divine heart of Jesus himself, Jesus unjustly accused, Jesus brutally abused, Jesus violently executed. And in that moment of extremity, as he bears the wounds of cruel injustice and the punishment of our sins, we see the inner heart posture of God and his longing to forgive. You might never see justice for the wrongs done against you.

(39:49 – 40:31)

You might never see repentance from those who have abused you or hurt you. You may never experience a restored relationship with the person who wronged you. But let me ask you this, let me ask you this, have you let go of bitterness? Have you loosened your grip on inner anger and rage? Is your heart posture inclined as God’s is towards forgiveness? Are you overlooking trivial issues that aren’t really sins at all? And if the issue involves another believer, have you taken the first step toward reconciliation? And if you need to repent, have you done that? These are vital issues.

(40:32 – 41:01)

They’re vital because the promises that accompany the beatitudes here at the beginning of Jesus’ manifesto about life in the kingdom, the promises that accompany these beatitudes are exclusive promises. To grasp their full impact, we must read them like this. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs and theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven.

(41:03 – 41:21)

Blessed are those who mourn, for they and they alone will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they and they alone will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they and they alone will be filled.

(41:22 – 41:39)

Blessed are the merciful, for they and they alone will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they and they alone will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they and they alone will be called children of God.

(41:39 – 42:07)

And blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs and theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven. Do you see? Jesus makes the challenge from the beatitudes clear. The promised blessings of life in the kingdom of heaven are for those and those alone who experience and practise God’s forgiveness.

(42:09 – 42:17)

May the Lord help us to live lives of forgiveness for his name’s sake. Amen.

The post A Framework for Forgiveness – Matthew 5v1–12 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:37 – 2:05)

Many would agree with Macbeth, under the influence of Shakespeare’s pen, who said, life’s but a walking shadow. It’s a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But the life and death of Jesus isn’t like that.

It was the opposite of that. Jesus lived and died with an aim and a purpose. That’s why when John the Apostle writes his account of the cross, he focusses in with a laser-like focus on the elements that reveal the purpose of Jesus’ death.

Did you notice in our reading today how little John says about the manner of Jesus dying? In the translation that we read from, there are only four words to describe the manner of his death. There they crucified him. I could spend considerable time this morning delving into other historical sources from the past, telling you about the agonies and the perplexities and the horror and the gore of crucifixion.

(2:05 – 2:57)

It would shock you, and it would no doubt move you. But I’m not going to do that, because John doesn’t do that. John doesn’t make Jesus’ physical sufferings the centre of the action.

He simply says, there they crucified him. So what does John focus on? If the sufferings themselves are not so much the focus, where does he point the camera? On what scenes or what vignettes does John zoom in on? It’s very interesting for us to consider this. And I don’t mean this to sound simplistic or trite, although no doubt it might sound that way.

(2:57 – 4:37)

But John focusses his lens on Jesus himself. As the soldiers take charge of Jesus, following Pilate’s condemnation at the palace, Jesus is at the centre of everything that now happens. If this were a photograph, Jesus would be in the centre of the frame.

If this were a theatre play, there would be one man on the stage and a single spotlight trained on him. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the skull. The other gospels inform us that Jesus was so weak that he only made it part of the way.

And a guy named Simon, who came from North Africa, Libya today, was commandeered to carry the crossbeam on the final leg of the journey. But again, John doesn’t mention that here. John doesn’t speak of Simon.

John was aware of Simon. He’d read the other gospels. He’s the last of the gospels.

But because John wants our eyes to not be distracted from Jesus, I think, he doesn’t mention Simon at all. Because in the final analysis, the burden of human sin is carried by Jesus and Jesus alone. And John wants us to see that.

(4:39 – 4:56)

And so weary and worn, Jesus arrives at Golgotha. Now, it’s interesting that John spends a little bit of time unpacking the place itself. Golgotha is an Aramaic word.

(4:57 – 5:08)

That was the common tongue of the Jews in Judea. And it means, we’re given the translation, the place of the skull. Golgotha means the place of the skull.

(5:09 – 6:27)

Now, just a little tidbit for those of you who might be interested in such things. I notice when I hear people praying that the favoured word of choice for the place where Jesus died, most people will not say Golgotha in their prayers. Most people will tend to speak of Calvary.

And Calvary sounds like a very lovely name, doesn’t it? Jesus died at Calvary. But what we need to understand is that Calvary is just the Latin translation of the Aramaic word Golgotha. So, whenever you say Calvary, really what you’re saying is the place of the skull in Latin.

Now, no one knows for sure why it was called that. But whatever the reason was, I think it’s fair to assume, given the name, that it would have been a fairly grim place. It was a place of desolation.

It was almost certainly not a green, green hill far away in that otherwise very meaningful hymn. Actually, one of my favourite hymns, but the first line is completely inaccurate. Because it probably wasn’t a green hill, and it certainly wasn’t far away.

(6:28 – 8:16)

This was a place of desolation, a death site, which would have been right beside the road on the way into Jerusalem. Well, Jesus reaches that place, and in short order, his form of dying is described, and they crucified him. Now, where is John going to go from here? If he’s not going to tell us about all of the gory sufferings of Jesus, what is he going to focus on? He focusses on three things, three little vignettes around the cross that reveal the significance of the cross.

So notice with me three questions that John answers. Number one, who is this man dying? Number two, why is this man dying? And number three, what’s an appropriate response to this man dying? Three questions that John answers and that I think provokes our faith and our practical devotion. So number one, let’s begin with who is this man dying? And let’s be honest about this, because I think this is all much easier for us in hindsight, but what might you have thought if you had been wandering into Jerusalem that day, and you had passed by this little rocky outcrop with three crosses and a man hanging there in the middle? If you had passed by the cross of Jesus that day, it wouldn’t have looked very good for Jesus, would it? John records that Jesus was crucified between two others.

(8:18 – 12:22)

These would have been, in fact, we know from other Gospels, they were guilty men. They were deserving of the punishment they received, and Jesus is hanging in the middle of them. You’ve heard the phrase, haven’t you? Guilty by association.

Well, if Jesus is hanging between the guilty, then a passerby could easily assume he is guilty. Unless, of course, they maybe perhaps knew the Old Testament very well, and they remembered one exception in the prophecy of Isaiah to that rule. Do you remember that from Isaiah 53, the exception to the rule? It’s there in a prophecy about the suffering servant, about the one who would come as the servant of the Lord and ultimately as the Messiah, and Isaiah predicts that one day there would be an individual who would be numbered among the transgressors.

Not that he was a transgressor, but he would be numbered among them, in the midst of them. Who is this man? Could he be that man? Could he be the Messiah that Isaiah predicted in preview? Interestingly, Pilate helps us to get to the answer to that inadvertently, because Pilate, the Roman governor, has a sign prepared that was fixed to the cross of Jesus. A sign that conveyed in short order the crime for which he died.

So, what is the crime? Is it the crime of the guilty? Is he called thief, murderer, rebel? No. Pilate describes him as Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Now, that is not a crime at all, is it, in itself? It’s a statement.

It’s a declaration. And the chief priests don’t like it at all. They protest to Pilate to change it, to add to it, to say that Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be the King of the Jews.

Pilate, no doubt to spite them, refuses to change the wording. What I have written, I have written. And so, it remained written on that sign attached to the cross.

It remained a declaration of the identity of this man. Again, as you were maybe approaching the cross and you just saw it from a distance, you might have thought this must be a guilty man on the cross. But then, perhaps, as you passed immediately underneath, close enough to read the sign, you might have thought, that’s a strange thing.

What kind of crime is this? As you read on that cross, a simple declaration that Jesus is the King of the Jews. What Pilate meant as an insult, God in his providence used as a pulpit. Who is this man who is numbered among the sinners? He is the long-awaited messianic King who has come to be a servant and bear the sins of the people.

He is the King of the Jews and he is the King of the world. Because notice John adds that the sign was written in three different languages. Aramaic, the language of the Jews and of the countryside.

(12:23 – 16:00)

Latin, the official language of Rome, the kind of legal language, also the language that Roman soldiers spoke. And Greek, the most common spoken language, the kind of English of the day, the language that was spoken in cities, the language of trade. Two thousand years before Google Translate, here was a simple crude method of conveying a message to every nation.

One commentator says that if someone had been able to read, they would have been able to read the message on that sign. Because Jesus is the King of the Jews who comes from the Jews but is a King for all people and all nations. The kingdom of Jesus Christ covers every postcode on the planet.

It is a kingdom without borders or boundaries. It is a kingdom that crosses cultures and languages. The nations, and we’ve seen this promise from the Old Testament, the nations are invited to come and see and bow down before the Messiah.

And it’s kind of weird and wonderful when you see it worked out on ground level, isn’t it? When my wife Nikki was at Bible College, she shared a flat with six other women at the Bible College. And they came from six other countries, seven different nationalities living in the West End of Glasgow, sharing one kitchen. You can just imagine the carnage of that.

I will not share any of the stories that I’ve heard. But that is the wonder of the gospel, isn’t it? That is the wonder of the church. There isn’t a church of Scotland, there isn’t a church of England, there isn’t really a church of Peru or Japan.

The gospel is global. Every church should be multicultural. As this part of Glasgow becomes increasingly multicultural, our prayer should be that this church increasingly reflects the area in which we live.

Because the man who hangs on the cross is not just the king of the Jews, but the king of the nations. Whoever we are, whatever our background, whatever our religion, whatever our culture, we all need the same thing. We all need the same accomplishment that occurred there on the cross.

That’s who died on the cross. Let’s secondly consider why is this man dying? Secondly, why is this man dying? We’ve already seen the hint that Jesus is among sinners, because he is the servant of Isaiah 53. He is the one who is pierced for our transgressions.

But this substitution and sacrifice wasn’t something that happened in the spur of a moment. This act of serving and dying for us was prophesied for centuries and planned indeed from eternity. You might wonder how I’m drawing this point out of verses 23 to 25, which is really just a little vignette of soldiers dividing Jesus’ clothing.

(16:03 – 16:26)

You might be tempted to think that this particular incident shows no planning at all. In fact, this seems the opposite of that. Jesus seems pitiful and powerless as the clothes that have been stripped from him are now divided out between four soldiers as a perk of the job.

(16:27 – 17:02)

But this is actually a remarkable providence. You know what a providence is? A providence is where God orders human events exactly as he wants them without in any way violating human will, so that you can do something and yet God ultimately orders it. Think of the example of Joseph in the Old Testament, the very famous story there, where his brothers decide to sell him as a slave down to Egypt.

(17:03 – 17:43)

Now, it was a wicked thing to do. It was a very evil thing to do, and it was what the brothers themselves did. But you remember that Joseph later could say, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

When you thought you had all of the power, God’s purposes were being fulfilled in the saving of many lives. And that’s what’s happening right here. It happens through the problem, we could call it, of the fifth garment, the dilemma of the fifth garment, because Jesus had four garments that they took away from him.

(17:45 – 19:45)

And the fifth one was probably the most expensive one, because it was woven as a piece. It was sewn as a single piece. It would have been therefore a crime to rip it up and divide it among the four soldiers.

And so what they decided to do was they gambled for it. They drew lots, and the lucky winner won the prize. You say, that’s a horrible thing, a degrading thing.

And it is. One writer says, Jesus loses his clothes, and here to the last degree, his earthly possessions are stripped from him. But is that all we see here? Not according to John.

Verse 24, this happened, that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, they divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. This scripture is Psalm 22 verse 18. Psalm 22, if you’ve read that Psalm, it reads like an eyewitness account of the cross.

It’s as if someone’s standing beneath the cross and describing it in even more detail than John gives us. But it wasn’t written by John. It was written by King David.

It wasn’t written in the first century. It was written 10 centuries before Christ. And it predicted not only the dividing of Jesus’ clothes, but even the gambling away of a single, and it is single, garment.

(19:47 – 20:18)

It is not just that the cross was planned, but every detail of the cross was planned, down to the last providence and the last throwing of a dice. This is what sets Christianity apart. There is no other worldview or religion that says, that the key to human history and the key to your personal identity is the death of an individual.

(20:19 – 21:09)

Nobody else says that. I mean, think about this. The New Testament is written, gives us four accounts of Jesus’ life.

And in virtually all four of them, about 50% of the gospel is about the death of the man it’s describing. It seems absolutely strange, does it not? Is this some kind of morbid fascination with death? No. It is because by Jesus’ innocence, our condemnation can be removed.

It is because by his stripes, we are healed. It is because by his death, we can live. We sing of the cross and boast in the cross.

(21:09 – 21:34)

We remember the cross and we tell others about the cross, because our only hope in a broken world is the cross. And God planned it in every detail. And so the remaining question is, what should our response to this be? Let me frame this quite carefully this morning.

(21:35 – 24:07)

What’s an appropriate response to the cross? What’s an appropriate response to this man dying? Because there’s many appropriate responses to the cross. In John as a whole, John’s gospel gives us actually a fundamental and foundational response to Jesus and his work. And that’s the response of faith.

End of the gospel, chapter 20, verse 31. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. That is always the response that John is aiming for.

Whenever he writes anything about Jesus, it’s either to bring you to faith or to strengthen your faith. And there is no better place to do that this morning than right here at the cross. I just wonder if maybe you’ve been coming to Greenview for months now, maybe even longer, and it’s just taken you that time, hasn’t it? I was chatting to someone recently.

They were telling me of someone that came to faith in their church. It just took them a few months, you know, because they were coming from far out. They just sensed that there was a gap.

There was something missing in their life. They believed there was some kind of God, but they didn’t know quite what the truth was about him. And it just took them that few months just to sit under God’s Word and to hear the gospel explained and to have their questions answered.

And then they just came to that point of saying, I know this is true. And I want Jesus to not just be a Saviour or a Lord for other people, but to be my Saviour and my Lord. What better place to do that than here? Not through my preaching, but through the preaching that came right from that cross, from that sign.

Jesus, the King. If only you would acknowledge your sin. If only you would humble yourself enough to say, I can’t do this on my own.

I can’t make it to heaven on my own. I need Christ. Would you do that today for the first time? What a place to do it.

(24:10 – 24:53)

Maybe you’re absolutely brand new to these things. Maybe you’re here for the first time in church or watching online for the first time, and it is brand new. Maybe you do need to study the Bible with somebody.

We have a booklet that we offer people and offer to read with people. It’s called the Word One to One. It goes through this gospel and explains it in very simple terms for people who are new to it.

And we would just love it if you took that opportunity to sit down with myself or one of the other people here. We can arrange that and just examine the evidence honestly for yourself. No pressure, except the pressure that God’s Spirit himself puts on your heart.

(24:55 – 26:24)

Why not consider doing that even today? So that’s the fundamental response in John. You can tell I’ve digressed there because actually what we see today is I think a subset of that faith response, because faith has many results and many expressions you could say. And one of the expressions of faith is our devotion to Jesus, which is expressed in our devotion to those he cares about.

This is so beautiful. Did you notice that there are four soldiers? Well, this isn’t the beautiful bit, but there are four soldiers who gamble for Jesus’ clothes and crucify him. But did you notice in verse 25, and I think this is the right reading of it.

If you don’t believe me, ask me afterwards. I think there are four women, not three mentioned in verse 25. I believe there are four women who stood near the cross, four soldiers.

They’re in hatred, four women there in love. There’s Jesus’ mother, there’s his mother’s sister, there is Mary the wife of Clopas, and there is Mary Magdalene. And beside them, just as there was a fifth garment, there’s also a fifth individual.

(26:24 – 26:46)

And that fifth individual is John. Of course, we know that John never names himself, but he identifies himself in the story as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John and these women are near enough to the cross to speak to Jesus and converse with him.

(26:48 – 27:22)

Jesus looks down at Mary, his earthly mother, and he looks at the disciple that he loved, John, and he says, mother, here is your son, and son, here is your mother. This is an extraordinary level of care and earthly practicality at such a moment of magnitude. God’s servant, God’s son, the King of the nations is bearing the sins of the world.

(27:22 – 30:23)

And yet even in the midst of this, these cosmic purposes, Jesus does not neglect the duty of caring for his mother, knowing that he will not be around much longer. He entrusts his mum to a man he trusts. And John, I mean, we don’t know for sure, but I’m sure John would have taken this exhortation seriously, perhaps taking Mary into his home in the months or even years after the ascension.

Although we can’t be certain about it, there is a very strong tradition in church history that reckons that both John and Mary later lived in Ephesus and even died there. So that perhaps suggests that John cared for her to the very end of her life. Whatever the case, Jesus loved John, and Jesus loved his own mum.

And one of their expressions of devotion to Jesus would be their commitment to one another in a very practical and sacrificial way. This shows, I think, that the cross of Jesus should inspire the devotion of his disciples. It shows us that our love for Jesus is seen in our love for one another.

And it shows us that our love for one another is worked out in the most practical, earthy ways. When you think about this, the sacrifice that John is being asked to do here is both hugely massive on the one hand, and yet mundane and ordinary on the other. It’s a life-altering responsibility, is it not, to take on a woman who’s not your mother as your mother.

And yet in another way, it’s a very mundane, Monday to Sunday sort of thing. It’s humbling often, and maybe you, I’m sure you witness this too around Greenview, it’s humbling and inspiring to see some of the practical and routine ways that people care in this church. The visits to the nursing home.

Sometimes I turn up to the nursing home and there’s already people there before me. And they’re sitting there in the room with the elderly member with dementia. And they go, I don’t go every week, they’re there every week, every week.

Taking an elderly woman out for lunch. Making time to support someone who’s depressed and discouraged. The single person who is regularly taken under the wing of a family, and just treated as a member of the family.

(30:26 – 32:00)

Or actually the literal care that some of you provide for your earthly relatives. The ageing, the terminally ill relative. Or those adopted sons, and adopted daughters, and adopted mums, and adopted dads, who are not part of the family, and yet they’re absolutely part of the family.

Because you see, when people get hold of what the cross is really about, when the devotion of Christ overwhelms their hearts, our everyday life cannot remain unchanged. It calls for everyday devotion towards the things and the people that Jesus cares about. I was thinking of C.T. Studd.

You know, some of you will have heard of him. He was a famous sportsman of a long ago day. A cricketer, top cricketer.

And he gave up his career. He was a Christian, a saved man. And he heard the call of God to go overseas.

And this was in days when you headed out, you weren’t coming back. Or you would maybe come back once in a lifetime. But basically, you were gone.

Leaving behind family. This is not the days of emails and WhatsApp and all of that, right? Six months to get to China. It’s that sort of world that we’re living in.

(32:01 – 33:20)

And C.T. Studd was asked why he was willing to do this. And he famously remarked, if Jesus Christ be God, and if he died for me, then no sacrifice for him is too great. This passage made me think of that.

But here’s the thing. The sacrifice might not be crossing the world. It might be crossing the south side on a Saturday morning.

Or across the country to see how your mum’s getting on. Or opening up your home to a lonely and struggling person. The cosmic event of the cross translates into the care of even a family matter.

You see, the death of Jesus was not just painful, it was purposeful. The man in the middle is the focus. He is numbered with sinners because he’s saving sinners.

The sign on the cross is still preaching a sermon. That the king of the Jews, the servant king, is the king of the nations. And he should rightfully be my king and your king today.

(33:21 – 35:28)

And when people really get that, when we really not only live under the cross, but under the lordship of the king, then that belief in Jesus bears fruit in a very sort of practical, sacrificial devotion. As we stand at the foot of the cross, we’re invited not just to mark time or fill our lives with personal, selfish ambitions that make us look good, or even that just make us feel happy. But we are invited to put all of that to the side and to devote ourselves to him and to the people Jesus cares about.

Let’s take a moment to quiet our hearts and to consider how God is speaking to us under the shadow of the cross. Father, help us here and now to fix our eyes on Jesus and on all he has done for us. His death changes everything.

May it change us. May it change our very destiny, destiny, our eternity. And may it change our every day as we devote ourselves in practical ways to those you love.

We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The post Crucified – John 19v16–27 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:36 – 4:46)

We’ve also said that some sins are such that they require confrontation, maybe some require civil and justice involvement, and in that process there is much hurt and pain too. We’ve been saying that forgiveness is a journey, not just a destination, and that journey is a process that we make with and before God. It may be something that you’re able to do with the person who has wronged you, but that’s not always the case or the option for the wronged.

Yet whether we’re on a journey of reconciliation and restoration or not, the sin against us has ongoing consequences emotionally, relationally, maybe physically, spiritually, and they do not necessarily leave us. Scars can remain. So we have to ask, what if I still hurt? Now we must remember that pain and hurt is not sin, and that forgiveness is not spiritual amnesia or pretending that you’ve not been hurt, that the pain that you’ve experienced and the hurt you continue is real and significant, and that committing to forgive someone doesn’t mean the wound stops hurting you.

Yet healing and hope can be our experience, but we start with God, for that is where the journey starts. And it is my God we come to, not some abstract entity, but the Lord with whom we have a relationship. And this is what God’s people have done throughout history.

The Bible gives voice to the multi-layered suffering that we can experience in the Psalms and in other books too, and the songs, the Psalms, sorry, though, are songs of the redeemed that they use to help with hurt and pain. They give us ways to express when we struggle to know what we feel and what to think and how to make sense of what has actually happened to us. But as we come to our God, we wanted to avoid two extremes.

One is that my hurt is everything and letting hurt become your primary identity. And secondly, that hurt is nothing, minimising pain and just get over it. So we’re going to think about these things in a few ways this evening.

Psalm 55 is a particular Psalm that provides language and imagery to process the reality of being wronged. And it shows us how to pour out our hearts to God, even in the midst of deep pain. David wrote this Psalm, and you can look up at it in your Bibles there.

David wrote this Psalm from a place of betrayal, powerlessness, and fear, made worse because the hurt came from a familiar friend. If you feel that same sting of betrayal, then you are not alone. Now, as we look at Psalm 55, I’m using work done by a counsellor and author.

He was one of my lecturers, David Powlison, and I can point you to more details of that in due course if you ask me. But there are four questions that he asks. What happened to you? What does it feel like? Who is God or what is God like? And what does faith call us to? And to make use of a Psalm like Psalm 55, he encourages us to get four different colours.

Now, you can pick whatever colour you like. But let me show you what this looks like as a bit of a walkthrough example. So, let’s first consider what happened to you.

(4:48 – 5:19)

So, you take the first marker. We are using yellow. And underline all the phrases in this Psalm that expresses the sort of thing that happened to you as you were sinned against.

So, for this Psalmist, verse 3, it starts, an enemy is speaking, bringing threats, causing suffering. They are assailing him. Verse 9 speaks of their words, violence and strife, malice and abuse.

(5:20 – 5:28)

Verse 11, destructive forces. Verse 12, insults. And this is all from someone who is a close friend.

(5:28 – 6:54)

Verse 13. Into the next slide, verse 18 talks of a battle and opposition. He’s being attacked by someone who’s a smooth talker.

But the words are cutting deep. Now ask, what does it feel like? So, we take the second marker and underline all the phrases that express how you feel. Verse 2, thoughts trouble him.

He is distraught. Verse 4, his heart is in anguish and in fear. He’s trembling.

Horror is overwhelming him. Verse 5, he wishes he could fly away, escape from it all it seems. He wants shelter and protection.

He’s feeling insecure and vulnerable like being in a storm. Verse 6 to 8. In the next section, he’s in distress, morning and night, affecting his sleep and daytime. There’s a lack of peace there, isn’t there? Verse 17.

That’s how he feels. Then we can ask, who is God or what is God like in all of this? Well, we take the third marker and we’re going to underline what the Psalm says about God and what he’s doing. So, nothing in that first half of the Psalm, but over to the next slide.

(6:56 – 7:18)

Verse 16, the Lord saves. He hears his voice. He rescues.

Verse 18, he’s the God who’s enthroned on high and does not change. Verse 19, and he will humble them because they have no fear of God. Giving a sense of God’s power and authority over these attackers.

(7:19 – 9:19)

And God will sustain him. Verse 22, he will not be shaken. God will take down the wicked.

Verse 23. But so what? Well, we come to our last question. What does faith in God call us to? What are we going to do? So, we take the fourth marker and we underline all the phrases that are really cries of faith.

What are the actions that entrust ourselves to God? Well, right at the beginning, he asked God to listen to his prayer and not to ignore his plea. It’s an act of trust and faith to ask God to hear him and to answer him. But later he calls, verse 16, for God to save him.

He calls on the Lord to confuse the wicked. And the next slide, he calls again to the Lord to save him. And he finally declares right at the end of the psalm, verse 23, as for me, I will trust in you.

These are all acts of faith. We can apply these four questions to any psalm really. They help us bring our emotions, thoughts and feelings to God, allow us to respond with genuine faith.

And this is the grounds our trust or this grounds our trust in the truth of Scripture rather than merely in our fears and false narratives. So, let’s do a little bit more work here. We’re going to think about the specific work of lament, which is a pathway to trust.

And this is what Scripture calls lament. Lament can be described as a prayer of pain that leads to trust. And there’s four actions that help us as we lament.

(9:20 – 9:44)

And the first is we turn to the Lord. Trust begins by turning to the Lord, even when he feels distant. Instead of turning away, our shift focusses back to him.

It’s a choice that reorients us. And by it, we’re really declaring, Lord, I’m dependent on you. You’re God and I’m not.

(9:45 – 14:25)

But also we tell the Lord. We bring honest complaints to God because we’re in a relationship with him. He knows our suffering.

Yet telling him our hurts and our fears is an act of intimacy. As one author puts it, God’s shoulders are broad enough for our tears and his chest is big enough for our blows. But we don’t leave it there.

We ask the Lord. We petition him. We boldly ask for his help, wisdom, healing, and justice.

Trust in the Lord grows when we move from simply venting to asking him to act according to his character and his power. And this shifts and grounds our hope in his power and promises, rather than in our inability to fix things. And so we trust the Lord.

Ultimately, it’s a position of rest, isn’t it? Where we rely on his unfailing love, justice, and his timing. It’s an active choice to trust his character, even as the circumstances and the hurt, well, they remain unchanged, it seems. And through this practise of lament, which even Psalm 55 really is, we commit to act in faithful obedience to God, rather than being controlled by an acting out of, well, our emotions, our thinking, our feelings, which can lead us to not so good places.

And let me say practically how this can work. Practically, you can take phrases like the ones that you’ve underlined in Psalm 55, and you rewrite them in your own words as prayers. You can also find a place to perhaps speak them out to God.

And I want to encourage you in that, because saying words out loud actually help us remember that he is listening, but also helps order your thoughts. Writing helps order your thoughts, but so does speaking out. Speaking out loud creates a degree of order that silent words seldom do, silent thoughts seldom do.

And I think as we work through something like Psalm 55, we can see that actually, don’t be overly concerned about repeating ourselves. The Psalms do this often. Prayer is a real conversation with God, and you can bring the same troubles to him again, and again, and again.

A benefit as we do this, working this through in lament is that it guards our hearts. And this is a reality and temptation for us. Even as we’re sinned against, even through no fault of our own, we’re prone to sin.

Our souls are in the firing line as we are being sinned against. It’s why Jesus says, forgive from the heart. And practising lament helps guard our souls against sin and uses it as an opportunity to grow in grace.

It’s the positive fruit that can grow even in the midst of a trial such as being sinned against. And we’re called to be humble even as we point out sin in others against us. Because we’re to check our actions and words and attitudes to see if there’d be any sin in me that might stop us from, well, attitudes of self-righteousness and so on.

And two things we’re to be careful of. We’re to be careful of our response to the sin against us. The spiritual battle that we face in suffering sins against us and all suffering really is that suffering makes us susceptible to temptations that otherwise wouldn’t have the same power.

Deep pain from being sinned against can breed understandable but destructive responses. And whilst they may feel like natural defences, they can keep us trapped in the past as we nurse these hurts. We can be susceptible to things like self-pity but also anger against or anger that shows itself in avoidance as well as resentments and such like.

(14:27 – 14:45)

But secondly, we’re to be careful of our response to the person who has sinned against us. Deciding how we relate to someone who deeply wronged you is a complex wisdom that requires wisdom and grace. We’ve been stressing that throughout the series.

(14:47 – 15:09)

Forgiveness really is a walk of wisdom. And while the ideal goal is reconciliation and restoration, this requires the other person to honestly admit their fault, take responsibility, demonstrate lasting change. Without these steps, contact can remain unsafe.

(15:10 – 17:18)

Reconciliation, restoration could be nigh impossible. Yet how do we view the person who sinned against you? And there are dangers here. Is it not why Jesus wove into the parable of the unmerciful servant the terrible way in which he was tempted and acted out against the servant who owed him? Do you remember the phrase, he grabbed him by the throat and choked him? I think Jesus put that particular detail in for a reason, to warn us of how we are not to treat people who sin against us.

I think it’s why too Jesus taught his disciples in the prayer, what we call the Lord’s Prayer, yes we’re to forgive, but he then goes on to say, pray for protection from temptation and to be delivered from evil. And I don’t think that just refers to the evil that is against us, it’s recognising what can come out of us as people do sin against us. And as we see all that, we have to also be careful of emotions, the emotional traps and distortions, because rather we’re to cultivate an attitude of kindness and compassion towards those who sin against us.

We’re to clothe our actions and words in response of graciousness and compassion, yet we acknowledge that is hard because our emotions and feelings are all over this stuff. And our temperaments and our personalities, our weaknesses and limitations, our past experiences, well they all add fuel to the fire. But destructive emotions can paralyse our own healing on this forgiveness journey.

(17:18 – 18:04)

So recognising these is important and it might be that others come alongside and help us in this. Examples include regrets, the if only trap. Regret focusses on the past, it obsesses over decisions we wish we could undo.

It often manifests as self-blame where we replay what if scenarios in a futile attempt to change an outcome. It’s not a good place to be stuck. Where we live life in the rear view mirror dominated by if only and what if regarding that past that can lead to a paralysis in the present.

(18:06 – 19:28)

But we can also be stuck in cycles of disappointment. The ache that’s left when expectations collide with a broken reality and in our disappointment we can live life under a pervasive cloud of doom and gloom. And we might constantly anticipate future trouble in an attempt to manage that disappointment before it arrives.

And so we’re self-protective and we lock up our hearts and we become unreachable to protect us from further hurt that happens. And we can blame God and we can blame others and it blinds us to current expressions of love towards us either from God himself or through others who come alongside. And these are emotional traps and distortions and they are not easy.

But as we lament and process these hurts before the Lord then our hearts can be guarded. And there’s a calling in all of this towards maturity and wisdom. Forgiveness and trust are not the same thing.

(19:29 – 19:49)

Crucially God uses even the hardest experiences to mature us. He calls us to trust him through every pain refining our wisdom as our story unfolds. And we’ve seen that forgiveness whether to overlook or to confront requires us just to not just how to do it but when.

(19:50 – 33:27)

True wisdom lies in understanding how trust fits into that process. So forgiveness and trust are not the same thing. Forgiveness is about cancelling a debt.

It’s a decision of the will to cover over an offence to absorb it and all the costs that that means. And as we were thinking in if you get the opportunity to listen to last week’s sermon then whatever side of the conditionality debate you land a foundational principle of forgiveness is that it starts internally. We are to forgive from the heart says Jesus.

Even if this person never repents you are called to work this out before God and view this person and this event in a way that honours God and loves even those by the by their very actions are enemies. And this protects our hearts from bitterness and anger and so on. But trust is different.

Trust is relational, horizontal. It shapes what access you give to that person and trust must match the person’s actual trustworthiness. And that can only grow as someone shows real change and that they can be trusted.

To use a financial illustration when someone owes you money and they refuse to pay you back you can forgive that financial wrong by absorbing that debt and in effect paying it off covering it over. That’s how we’ve described forgiveness. But you may choose to never lend them money again.

You don’t trust them with more money until they show they are trustworthy with money. That’s why things like boundaries matter. Boundaries are not rejection.

They’re wisdom personified. They invite someone to turn from destructive patterns and move towards better ways of relating to you. So trust is a process and it’s rebuilt slowly through their consistent changed behaviour.

Treating the offender wisely includes being wise with what you give them access to in your life. But the other thing that maturity and wisdom gives to us is that it allows us to fold our pain into God’s larger story of redemption and it shifts our focus from why did this why did this happen to how do I live well before God despite this and this shift does lead to healing but not in the same way the world thinks it leads to healing. We can often talk about and crave after things like closure at that final dramatic scene where a villain apologises and the pain is dealt with there but choosing closure makes our healing dependent on someone else’s participation and that may never happen this side of eternity.

And as we grow in wisdom we grow in the realisation that you don’t need that final scene to be okay. While closure tries to prematurely shut the book to avoid pain wisdom allows you to perhaps keep that open and you acknowledge difficult chapters while the Lord gives you strength to write the new ones the next ones because healing isn’t about the past being settled it’s about no longer being stuck in that scene and it’s a slow process of kneading God’s truth into our story and it’s not something that we can rush and nor should we let others rush it too. Some wounds may only heal when Jesus returns to wipe away every tear but until then we can move forward anchored in the great hope that comes as we trust in the Lord and his greater purposes and promises for us.

So let’s move forward in hope and I want to use another psalm if you were at the prayer meeting last month you’ll have seen me walk through some of these things I apologise if you’re hearing it again but well not everybody was here at the prayer meeting that night so let me encourage you with what psalm 23 says the Lord is my shepherd the Lord looks after us and we belong to him. I lack nothing it’s not the same as having everything I want like this bad to go away this situation to be finished with but under the shepherd hand of God I have what I need so we ask do you see the Lord your shepherd caring and tending protecting and guarding you giving all you need in your hurt and pain he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside quiet waters the image here is of rest God’s provision a place of calm beauty even nourishment and plenty but it’s also a posture of the psalmist of surrender and there God refreshes his soul the effect of surrendering and enjoying what God has provided is not just about physical care and goodness it’s not less than that but our soul is in view so we ask when you consider you hurts do you follow his leading that nourishes your inner life your thoughts your beliefs your doubts your wants your fears and all to be reordered remade healed under his leading for he guides me along right paths this soul work because God’s intention is to lead my thinking desires and choices in a way that are right and good and this soul work is to take us to a good place feelings and emotions are not good leaders but God’s shepherding work leads our souls in the right way to the right place for his name’s sake not so that I necessarily feel better we’re mindful of the good and honour of God himself instead even though I walk through the darkest valley the dark valley of being sinned against attacked we see the Lord does not necessarily stop me from ever being in that place yet I will fear no evil for you are with me evil in the Hebrew language really meant that which causes harm misfortune trouble danger destruction or injury of any kind as we face that God is with us and so we turn to him we face these fears of harm and misfortune because God is with us and so we ask you know the dark valleys of evil you are facing well our fears and anxieties depression even gripping leading you or do you turn to the Lord who is your shepherd and is with you to face them for his rod and staff comfort me God’s comfort isn’t as distant there there it will be all right don’t you worry it’s a gift of strength the shepherd’s rod is a tool for protection and the staff that close classic crook is used to guide and keep the flock close and it speaks of the shepherd’s authority over our lives as our rightful ruler but also speaks of how he has given us his word to show us the right from wrong and show us his wisdom and so we’re corrected and trained by God’s word and he has given us his Spirit this is how we’re strengthened so we ask what are we turning to or relying on for strength to endure to keep going to have resilience in the face of hard difficult and bad things what place does God’s Spirit and God’s word have in your life well the psalmist says God the shepherd prepares a table for him in the presence of his enemies enemies without and enemies within the Lord lays that table in their presence they’re not necessarily removed but the Lord himself provides to help us keep fighting the battles that we face with temptation and sin and overcoming enemies without and within for he anoints my head with oil oil represented being commissioned to do the work of the Lord that God had called people to do and in a sense the Lord God our shepherd gives us purpose even as he lays this table because we have a role Paul calls us Jesus ambassadors we have responsibilities we face our enemies with purpose and seek to faithfully obey so we ask what do we make of the call on our lives to take responsibility to faithfully obey and face our enemies from without and within with the Lord and from that our cup overflows trusting the Lord’s shepherd leads to a deep sense of overflowing riches of grace and love he’s he’s been that has been poured out and lavished on us as children whatever we face this is deep gospel truth isn’t it that gives us joy Jesus said as we’ve been looking at in John’s gospel he said in this world you will have trouble but he also said these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full because goodness and mercy follow him all the journey the Lord is up to good the goodness of maturing us to be more more like Jesus and the Lord’s love is following us it hems us in even as we’re being reshaped by these experiences even as we’re even as we might not feel it he’s committed to our good and he is merciful because he loves us in all the ups and downs all the days of life our anxieties are such that we think the Lord maybe does not care and our depression is such that we maybe can go to towards despair yet the Lord my shepherd is with me on the anxious days the depressive days the confusing days the uncertain days every day and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and this is the promise that sustains because it’s the hope of a life with our Lord to come when evil is finally gone and darkness is finally removed and the battles are over and the enemies are defeated and we are at home with the Lord where we belong no more suffering no more pain or hurt so we finally ask do you believe and trust God’s goodness and mercy hemming you in all the days of your life from now and into eternity that is how we move forward and hope may these things help us as we face things being done to us and help us too to become good help and comfort to others who experience things done to them too let me pray Father we thank you that your word gives us much comfort much truth that we can keep kneading into our lives of the stories that are unfolding before you and you are transforming by your grace and your mercy Lord help us to keep turning to you and to trusting you even in all the hard and the dark and the ugly that can beset us and befall us and we pray these things now in Jesus name amen

The post What if I Still Feel Hurt – Psalm 55, 23 appeared first on Greenview Church.

As we read John 19, the tone of it is serious, the dialogue is dramatic, and the emotion is felt. And at the same time the theme of this section is very clear. When we ask what is John trying to teach us, what is he stressing about Jesus in this text, it isn’t too difficult to discern.

In verses 1 to 3, Jesus is mocked as king. Then in verses 4 to 7, Jesus is presented as king. In verses 8 to 11, Pilate and Jesus discuss authority, which is a subject with king connections.

And then finally, in verses 12 to 16, Jesus is finally rejected as king for another king. Time and again in this text, Jesus is the king, but he is the rejected king. He is the unacknowledged king.

He is the unrecognised king. I remember reading a story about Paul McCartney, the musician. For those of you under a certain age, Paul McCartney was a member of the Beatles, the most famous band of the 20th century.

And at the height of his fame, he was attending an award ceremony. And after the ceremony, he was invited to a celebrity after party. When he arrived at the venue, no one on the door knew who he was.

He said, I am Paul McCartney. And they said, who is Paul McCartney? Theirs was a big mistake, no doubt, but nowhere near as massive as the one we find here. The king of kings and son of God appears in human history and no one in the story, not the soldiers, not Pilate, not the Jewish crowd or the Jewish authorities have any recognition of who he is.

The reason they scourged Jesus and sentenced Jesus is because they do not recognise Jesus. And the question for us this morning is, will we? Will we not only recognise the fact that Jesus is king, but will we understand the greatness of his kingship and indeed the fact that Jesus brooks no rivals to his kingship? Well, as we grapple with that together, let’s move through the story and retrace it. And I want to notice with you four things about Jesus kingship.

First, the mocking of the king. Chapter 19 opens in verses 1 to 3 with the unpleasant scene of a mock coronation. Not the sort of grand coronation that we witnessed in 2023 with the coronation of King Charles, but a parody coronation carried out by soldiers at the behest of Pilate.

Now Pilate is a rather famous name from history. I guess he would have been an insignificant name had it not been for his connection to Jesus. He was the Roman governor of Judea at this moment in history.

Jesus had been handed over to him by the Jewish leaders who were claiming that Jesus was worthy of death. Pilate has the final say in the matter. Humanly speaking, he will decide whether Jesus lives or dies.

From the middle of chapter 18, he begins to privately interrogate Jesus. And from the very beginning, Pilate can’t see what all the fuss is about. There are vagrants in his prison like Barabbas who deserve death.

But Jesus seems to be cut from a different cloth. For the first time, Pilate informs the Jewish crowd who have gathered outside his palace that Jesus looks innocent to him. This does not go down well.

We saw this last week when Andy was preaching. Release Barabbas instead, they said. Seeing that reason has clearly departed them and that wrath is on their mind, Pilate, and this is now coming into chapter 19, now gives them what they want, namely blood.

If Jesus is beaten, bruised, and blooded, perhaps that will be enough to satisfy the rage of the mob. And so Jesus in verse 1 is taken by the Roman soldiers and flogged. Even in its lightest Roman form, and there were three types of flogging, but even in its lightest form, flogging was a very rough beating that left its mark.

At its worst, flogging could even be fatal in itself. But notice that as John tells the story, he does not dwell on the physicality. No, instead he spends two further verses, one in the flogging, but now two further verses, two and three, to describe a mock coronation.

A crown of sharp thorns twisted together and set on the head of Jesus. A crude purple robe, the colour of royalty, draped over Jesus’ now scarred shoulders. The soldiers hail King Jesus, the King of the Jews, but then they slap him across the face.

Jesus is the King. The soldiers laugh at it, mock it, ridicule it. We should underline this.

We should highlight this and take note of this. Not only the rejection Jesus endured, but also the ridicule he endured in his rejection. Follower of Christ, do you ever think it a strange thing that people who reject the Christian faith sometimes mock the Christian faith? When journalists scoff at it in their opinion pieces, when comedians get a big laugh at the hydro at the expense of the Christian or of Jesus, when campaigners paint Christians in the worst possible light, do you find it surprising and strange when the odd comment or barb comes your way? Is it a shock to your system? Don’t consider it a shock.

How could we find it strange when the very Jesus we follow was crowned with thorns and hailed with mockery? So it all starts with the mockery of the King. It’s not a promising start and it gets even worse, does it not? The story continues secondly with the presentation of the King. The presentation of the King.

That’s what’s going on in verses 4 to 7. Jesus who has been privately coronated in laughter and scorn is now brought into public view and presented to the Jewish crowd. Now it’s a kind of different thing in a way, but I was thinking again of Buckingham Palace, something we can relate to, after they crowned the monarch. I suppose in days gone by the public wouldn’t have had the cameras in there to see what was going on.

And so the presentation of the monarch on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to the nation, as it were, was a very significant thing. Well this is what’s going on here. The King is being brought publicly now into view.

He is wearing his crown of thorns and purple robe which is covering his bruised back. Though John doesn’t describe Jesus in detail, there is little doubt he would have been a sorry sight. Pilate introduces him by declaring for a second time that Jesus is innocent.

And then he presents Jesus to them with the line, here is the man. Now it’s, I think, important to stop and consider the significance of this phrase. Here is the man.

Now for Pilate there was, of course, some significance in this. I think there was a point and an impact he was trying to make by this statement. I’ll come back to it in a moment.

But it’s important for us to consider the meaning of it. Later on Pilate will say, here is your King. And here at the beginning of the passage he says, here is the man.

For the person who knows the Bible, this is a rich mine of meaning. The Gospel of John, you might remember, begins with very clear Genesis connections. And it’s going to end with very clear Genesis connections.

Genesis, of course, begins with a man. But that man was an erring man, a failing man, a fallen man. Ever since that man, since Adam, the human race has been waiting for a man.

For a seed of the woman who would finally redeem man from his plight of sin. Now none of this is meant by Pilate, of course, but I think it might be in the mind of John. For Pilate, however, this is just a pitiful man.

A man that cannot have any sense of destiny or majesty or kingship truly about him. This is why, isn’t it, the famous carol that we often sing at Christmas has the line, veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate deity.

He’s a king whose glory is veiled. So veiled that when Pilate presents Jesus as king, the Jewish leaders shout back, crucify him. Crucify him.

Crucify an innocent man? What kind of logic is this? Well, the the Jews give their logic back to Pilate, don’t they, in verse 7. It is because, here’s the reason they want him to die, it is because Jesus has broken Jewish law by claiming to be the Son of God. The Jewish law, now we don’t know which law particularly it’s referring to, but certainly we know there were laws like, for example, Leviticus 24 verse 16, which demanded the death penalty for anyone convicted of blasphemy. And Jesus, in their view, had committed blasphemy.

(14:12 – 26:13)

They may have so far presented Jesus as a political upstart who was dangerous to the Romans, but now they add their deeper grievance. Their deeper grievance was that this man had dared to claim that he was on a par and an equal with God. And so you see the kind of irony of all this.

Pilate presents Jesus with the phrase, here is the man. And then the Jews say, the problem with this man is that he claims to be God. He claims to be more than a man.

And yet that is right, isn’t it? That’s what John’s been trying to tell us from the beginning of his gospel. Remember John chapter 1? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Do you remember verse 14 of chapter 1? The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The man is presented, but he can’t be accepted because he claims to be divine. Who would ever buy this? That God could be seen here in this maligned and mocked individual.

That God should have a humble attitude. That he should make himself nothing. That he should take the very form of a servant and be found in appearance as a man.

Yes, this is the very thing that is happening before their blind eyes. Pilate, just for a moment, seems to catch a glimpse of who Jesus might be, or at least a sense of awe in his presence. Did you notice there that when it was mentioned by the Jewish leaders that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God, Pilate for a moment is unsettled.

Just for a moment. This leads us to thirdly, a brief discussion about the authority of the King. The authority of the King, and really the question of where does authority really lie? In verses 8 to 11, Jesus and Pilate retire inside the palace again.

Pilate, who seemingly was already a little nervous even before this, is now even more afraid in terms of what he’s dealing with. Pilate is a complex character. One minute he can seem flippant, what is truth? But the next minute he is fearful.

When Pilate gets wind that Jesus claimed to be divine, he is temporarily worried and he asks Jesus where he has come from. This might seem strange to us, but an individual’s origins was seen in the ancient world to be an indicator of their powers. Where you came from said a lot about who you were.

Pilate likely believes in many gods. He was a Roman, and he would certainly have been a superstitious man. He would have believed in all sorts of human figures who would have certain supernatural powers.

Maybe he’s fearful in case he has just harmed somebody who has some supernatural powers of some kind. And so he asked him where do you come from? But rather than giving Pilate the info, all Jesus gives him is silence. We’ve seen this already, haven’t we, in previous weeks that Jesus isn’t trying to talk his way out of things.

We just sang it together, didn’t we? Like a lamb before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Pilate’s curiosity is replaced then by anger. Doesn’t Jesus know who Pilate is? Don’t you realise he says to Jesus, who I am and what I can do? I have power either to free you or to crucify you.

Freedom or death, that’s the power I’ve got. This is surely the ultimate flex of power, right? This is the ultimate flex, isn’t it? Have you ever had the opportunity to go into another country, and have you had the joy of speaking with the border control officers? Now they’re not a happy bunch of people, and there’s certainly a bunch of people who like to flex their power. And if you’ve ever been in that situation, you need to answer their questions very carefully.

Yes, sir. No, ma’am. Tell them whatever it is they want to know.

Why? Because they have the power to keep you out of the country. Well, that’s significant power, isn’t it? But it’s nothing like the power that Pilate holds here. Pilate has the power over freedom or crucifixion.

Jesus therefore is being reminded that he stands in the presence of power, except that isn’t the whole story. And so he replies, Yes, Pilate, you have authority, but you would have no power over me if it wasn’t given to you from above. All the power that’s been placed within your hands has been placed into your hands, Pilate, by God above.

And therefore, while Pilate can do anything he wants, quote-unquote, he can only do it because God permitted it, and he must do it in accountability to Almighty God. God will hold him accountable. God will hold all power accountable.

This is something that we need to get our heads around in March 2026, isn’t it? When the world is shaking and quaking, because it seems like just a few individuals, some of them, let’s not be so generous here, maybe who aren’t so stable, are running the world and are threatening security of life as we know it today. We need to keep in mind here that the powers that be are and always will be only permitted to have their sway under the authority of God, and within the boundaries that God allows, and with the ultimate accountability that will be required of them. This includes our MSPs, however they vote on Tuesday.

Yes, they have a certain power that you and I don’t have, but they will be accountable for what they decide about that bill. Pilate would be held responsible for Jesus’ death, and yet Jesus notes here that the one who handed him over to Pilate was guilty of an even greater sin. There’s quite a bit of discussion about who this is.

Who is this person that’s handed Jesus over? Is it Judas? At one level, I guess you could say it’s Judas, but most immediately in the context, it surely must be Caiaphas. Caiaphas is the Jewish high priest, and he is the one, we’ve been told earlier in the passage, has handed Jesus over to Pilate. Caiaphas was the spiritual leader of the entire Jewish nation.

He was meant to be the one who was leading them in godliness and in righteousness. If anyone should have identified who the true Messiah was, it should have been the high priest, and yet he hands him over to death. And so Jesus says in that sense there’s an even greater accountability that he is going to face, because it is out of his greater knowledge that he is handed me over to you.

And so it’s on this note of rejection, rejecting Jesus, that this passage now ends. Our final point this morning is that Jesus the King is rejected. Jesus the King is rejected in verses 12 to 16.

Pilate, having questioned Jesus and gone toe-to-toe with Jesus, now is so impressed by Jesus that he really wants to release Jesus. And this has gone from something that he was, I think, trying to do from the beginning to something that he is now actively pursuing. The problem is the Jews outside the palace and what they desire and what they want.

Their leaders in particular continue to apply the pressure on Pilate, and they know which button to push. Here it is, they’ve been saving this, I’m just imagining they’ve been saving this for this moment, and they push the button. If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.

Caesar of course was the actual king of a vast Roman Empire. And even Pilate, powerful though he was, was scared to fall out of his good graces. The Roman Emperor was notoriously suspicious of his subordinates, his underlings.

If the Jews reported to Caesar that Pilate had gone soft on crime or had let go some dangerous rebel, then Pilate’s career would have been doomed on account of Jesus. Pilate instantly caves in. He sits down on the judge’s seat, in reality powerless to make a free choice.

So much for his great boast of personal power. John notes, and John’s very very precise with all this stuff, John notes that it was about noon, and it was the day of preparation before the Passover. We don’t have time to kind of stop here too long, but these details are worth looking into.

(26:13 – 27:18)

They’re not accidental. The fact that it was almost about noon is, I think, John’s way of saying to us that this trial lasted for a long time. I think that’s why he says it was about noon, rather than about nine o’clock, as other Gospels say it.

Because he’s emphasising that Jesus was so innocent that it took them a significant amount of time to force Pilate to condemn him. John wants you to see that, that this is the innocent lamb who is being condemned. And fitting in with that, we’re being reminded once again that Jesus is going to die at the time of the Jewish Passover.

This was the time when the Jews remembered that a lamb must die for the sins of the people. The only way we can be forgiven of sin is when a lamb dies in our place. Pilate makes one final gesture.

(27:19 – 29:15)

Here is your king. It’s hard to know the tone of that, isn’t it? Some of the commentators think it’s a tone of mockery. Here’s your king, that he’s making fun of them.

Maybe that is the case. Or perhaps it is a last attempt, a more genuine attempt, to offer Jesus into their care and into their good graces. Here is your king.

But their rejection of Jesus is absolute. Not only the leaders now, it’s the leaders that have been leading this so far, but now the entire crowd shouted, take him away, take him away, crucify him. So there’s another parallel here.

Pilate has declared Jesus innocent three times. And now the Jews reject Jesus and call for his death three times. Shall I crucify your king? Pilate asked poignantly.

Interesting that, isn’t it? We need to really note carefully the word ‘your’ there. Pilate doesn’t say, shall I crucify the king, but shall I crucify your king? Because Jesus is a Jew. He claims to fulfil the promises to the Jews.

And so Pilate’s question is not, shall I crucify the king, but your king. Let me add something just important here. An important application in today’s context, with various things going on in the world.

(29:16 – 33:56)

We’re about to see in just a moment, as this passage finishes, we are about to see the Jews rejecting Jesus with cries of crucify, crucify. But people have sometimes read the accounts of Jesus’ sentencing and blamed the Jews for it in its entirety. But of course, when you read the whole of the text, John structures the text in such a way that you cannot simply do that.

Because remember how the passage began in verses 1 to 3. It began with the Gentiles, the non-Jews, rejecting Jesus and mocking him as king. And then at the end of the passage in 12 to 16, you get the kind of parallel bookend where the Jews follow suit. John is showing us that the whole world was culpable for the death of Jesus.

It was all of our sin, including my sin and your sin, that put Jesus on that cross. In relation to the Jewish people, even today, we must avoid Jewish exceptionalism on the one hand, they are above and better, and we must avoid anti-semitism on the other hand, that the Jews are worse than everyone else. Both are wrong approaches to the Jewish people.

When it comes to the matters of sin and salvation, every nation and nationality are in exactly the same boat. Even so, of course, in the flow of history, it was a particular tragedy that the Messiah came to his own, but his own received him not. This is really the fulfilment of what John said in chapter 1 in that regard.

Notice here, the chief priests, the most religious among the people, are the ones who answer with the astonishing words, the most amazing words in a bad way in this whole passage. We have no king but Caesar. Not only do they reject Jesus as king, but they embrace Caesar as their alternative.

This was an extraordinary thing for any Jew to say. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, Israel’s only king was the Lord God himself. Yet here they are, declaring allegiance to Caesar as their Lord.

They accused Jesus of blasphemy, but here is the worst blasphemy. And where is their blasphemy revealed? Not in the synagogue, not in their church, not in a moment of comfort or ease, but when the pressure was on to decide between allegiances. The trouble for some people is not that they dislike Jesus.

A lot of us like Jesus. We think he’s good, he’s great. The trouble is, some of us don’t rank him first.

And that allegiance becomes very clear in the heat of the moment, when we have to make choices. Choices between a sin that we cherish or Jesus. Choices between being popular in our friend group or in our career path and workplace, and being open and public about our faith.

It’s when we choose between money and Jesus, or between Christ and a relationship that I want but I shouldn’t have. Those are the moments when I reveal whether Christ or Caesar is Lord. Caesar in this context is more than just giving your allegiance to a political power over God.

(33:57 – 40:00)

Although of course that could be the choice that we face. But Caesar is any allegiance that you choose instead of King Jesus. For the Jewish authorities, their safety and positions of power were more important than showing allegiance to Jesus Christ.

They rejected Jesus for those things. What would you be willing to give up Jesus for? Where are you in danger of saying, I have no king but Caesar? Fellow Christian, why not go away this week and reflect on this? This is a question I’ve been thinking about over recent days. Do I choose Jesus when it costs me to do so? What I choose then reveals whether Jesus is my true and undivided King.

Jesus doesn’t want to be just an important consideration in your thinking. He wants to be the unrivalled supremacy in the life that you live. And too many Christians are not living their life in that sort of way.

What if you’re not a Christian yet? Here’s what some people will tell you or will imply by their attitude to Jesus. They will say that Jesus is insignificant and he’s certainly not the place to look for the major answers in life. I mean look at him here in this text.

I saw a sign yesterday. I was driving past Pollock Park and there’s these signs up at the side of the road for the Burrell collection. And it’s of a sculpture, a guy that’s sort of kneeling and thinking about something.

And the sign said, asking the biggest questions in life question mark. And then it said, come to the Burrell collection. Right? I suppose the Burrell collection or a museum or something like that is where a lot of intellectual people would think maybe that is the place to go to sort of think about the answers and the meaning of life.

Maybe that is the place. I like visiting the Burrell collection. It has an excellent collection and it’s a nice place to sit and have your coffee.

A little dear but it’s nice. But it’s not where you will find the answer to life’s greatest questions. If that’s what you need in your life, don’t come to a museum.

Come to church. And don’t just come to church, but come to Christ. And don’t just come to Christ, some kind of woolly version of Christ.

But come to a ridiculed and rejected Christ. Come to the Christ who at first glance looks like foolishness. But the Apostle Paul says that the cross is the wisdom of God and it is the power of God.

The exalting of this King to die is the answer to every question that will ever matter. You say that’s a remarkable thing to believe. It is.

And it’s what the Bible says. You say how can they accept such a pitiful and weak King? Can a humble King be the answer to the world’s greatest problems and my greatest problems? But how else would you want it? Would you have preferred it if Jesus brought deliverance in the way the world thinks it can? Believing that the world can be changed with guns and bombs and drones. How’s that strategy been going for the world so far? When the wars finally come to a close and the guns stop, however necessary the wars may or may not be, what ultimately changes in the hearts of men? What we need is a totally different solution.

A King who looks defeated but whose apparent defeat wins the victory over sin. A King with a humble heart who crushes the foes of sin and death by his obedient death. The greatest tragedy in this passage is that no one recognised Jesus.

The greatest tragedy this morning would be if you left here today and you did not recognise him. Let’s bow before the true King and let’s decide once again to brook no other rivals, no Caesars in our lives so that we can say with genuine hearts we have no other King but Christ. Let’s pray.

Father God may it be the case that Jesus is our Lord not Caesar. Help us to see this uncompromising gospel which is in one sense so clear and direct and hard line and yet which is liberating and beautiful and free. Help us to come this morning to Christ for all of the answers and may we find in him that he is indeed the way the truth and the life and we pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

The post The Unrecognised King – John 19v1–16 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:21 – 0:42)

This is one of the places where the Lord’s prayer is found. Though really, it would be better to call it the disciples’ prayer, because this is what disciples should pray. And a feature of their praying, of our praying as disciples, is forgiveness.

(0:43 – 1:02)

Asking for forgiveness under the assumption that we ourselves are forgiving. So let’s read Matthew six from verse nine down to verse 15. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

(1:02 – 1:22)

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

(1:23 – 1:47)

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. This is the word of God.

(1:49 – 2:07)

Let’s consider together the following scenario. Phil and Nathan, we’ll call them Phil and Nathan, are members of a church. But more than fellow members, Phil and Nathan are friends.

(2:08 – 2:27)

They’ve grown close to each other, and they trust each other. Indeed, while they are West of Scotland men, they have shared some of their deepest struggles and some of their most painful memories with each other. It’s been a good relationship so far.

(2:27 – 2:43)

However, over the last six months, Phil has noticed a change in Nathan. Nathan seems to be frequently off with Phil. And on several occasions, he’s been quite rude to him.

(2:44 – 3:14)

One day, this all explodes when Phil discovers that Nathan has been talking about him behind his back. Nathan’s been telling half the church all of the reasons why Phil is annoying. But maybe even worse, Nathan in doing so has also shared much of Phil’s personal, private information, not scandalous, but also not for others to know.

(3:16 – 3:33)

Phil feels betrayed. He confronts Nathan, but Nathan is startled and defensive. Yes, he admits to saying some things, but really Phil is blowing all of this out of proportion.

(3:35 – 3:50)

Well, over the next few weeks, things become awkward between the two men. Phil privately is praying about the matter. He’s praying for Nathan, and he says hello to him at church, but it’s really quite difficult.

(3:51 – 4:06)

The relationship clearly isn’t right. And so after the dust settles, after a couple of weeks, Phil meets with Nathan again. This time round, Nathan is considerably more responsive.

(4:07 – 4:34)

He apologises for his words, and particularly for breaching Phil’s trust. The apology is accepted, and the coffee even ends with a hug. Now, if you were a fly on the wall, in the months following this reconciliation, you would now see Phil and Nathan not just saying hello at church, but having a right good chat over coffee.

(4:35 – 5:01)

You would also witness them getting on fine and asking for one another’s needs and praying for one another in the community group. But if you observe them really closely, you may also notice that they never quite returned to being the best friends. Phil, as he went forward, was a little more cautious about sharing his most personal information with Nathan.

(5:02 – 5:45)

And over a period of years, he began to form a close friendship with another gentleman in another church. Well, it’s just an illustration, and I honestly can tell you it is a created illustration, but it does not sound like fiction because it faithfully reflects reality. As we start to near the end of our forgiveness series, with only three messages to go before the end, we must not avoid the most nitty-gritty questions that do come into play at what we might call the street level of conflict.

(5:46 – 6:21)

And there are two particular questions that we have not answered so far, questions I know that have come up in community groups and in some discussions, but which we haven’t dealt with from the front here. Question number one, is forgiveness always conditional? And question number two, does forgiveness eliminate all consequences? These are important questions. They are tricky questions.

(6:22 – 6:40)

But one thing I can say about them is they are not theoretical questions. We just saw that in the story of Phil and Nathan, that Phil in particular had to wrestle with these questions. When Phil initially confronted Nathan, he didn’t repent.

(6:41 – 7:11)

What was Nathan’s attitude meant to be then? He prayed for him, he loved him, he didn’t ignore him at church, and then he made another attempt to reconcile with him. And then after they reconciled with each other, there was an interesting twist, that while Phil forgave Nathan, he did not continue to confide in him freely. So these questions are not just theory.

(7:12 – 7:28)

These are the questions that Phil and Nathan and you and I need to grapple with in real situations. So with all of that said, let’s now try and grapple with them. We’re gonna look at these two questions in turn.

(7:29 – 7:56)

We’re going to be longer on the first, and about half the time on the second, just so you’re tracking when we’re gonna finish. So let’s start with number one. Is forgiveness always conditional? Is forgiveness always conditional? One of the books that we’ve been recommending in this series is the book by Chris Brauns, Unpacking Forgiveness.

(7:57 – 8:20)

It’s a really good book with lots of excellent teaching in it. And it has also been a very influential book among many people, among many evangelicals in recent years. Many people have read this book and they have been convinced by a conviction that Brauns has about forgiveness.

(8:21 – 8:41)

His conviction is that forgiveness is always dependent upon a condition. And that condition is repentance. And only when repentance comes should you think about forgiving the other person.

(8:43 – 9:12)

Now, it’s important to understand that Brauns and others who hold this view, they would certainly say that before a person repents, we are called to love them and to pray for them in the manner of Romans chapter 12. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. But what he would be dead against would be calling that attitude forgiveness.

(9:12 – 9:53)

He would say that is an attitude of love, not forgiveness. So in Brauns’ view, when Jesus is on the cross, saying, Father, forgive them, or when Stephen is being martyred and when he is praying, don’t hold this sin against them, he would say, those are examples of loving your enemies and of praying for their future forgiveness. They are love, but they are not an expression of heart forgiveness.

(9:54 – 10:13)

Now, what is the biblical support that Brauns gives for this view? And let me just add, he’s not the only one that thinks this. There’s lots of other very respected evangelicals who think the same thing. There is really one fundamental argument that they make.

(10:14 – 10:49)

They argue that in the Bible, forgiveness is always conditional. They say that in Scripture, forgiveness is always tied to repentance and it always leads to restoration, so that there’s no such thing really as forgiveness where there isn’t repentance and restored relationship. One of the main passages they cite is Luke chapter 17, verses three and four.

(10:49 – 11:13)

Luke 17, three and four, where Jesus says this. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them and if they repent, forgive them. The implication seems to be that if they don’t repent, don’t forgive them.

(11:15 – 11:41)

In other words, in the realm of relationships, in terms of a brother being reconciled to a brother, the forgiveness that heals that relationship is conditional on the person repenting first. And the argument continues that God himself is like this. God forgives on the basis of the condition of repentance.

(11:42 – 12:17)

In Acts chapter two, verse 38, when Peter comes to the end of his great evangelistic message, when the people ask him, what must we do to be saved? Peter answers with a condition. He says, repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Again, the forgiveness only happens if the crowd repents and shows their repentance in baptism.

(12:20 – 12:39)

So that is Brauns’ view, that there is only one kind of forgiveness. It is relational and conditional upon repentance. And many Christians and many theologians are persuaded by that view, but not everyone.

(12:40 – 12:59)

If you happen to pick up the book by Tim Keller, you may have discovered that Tim Keller has a different view to Brauns. Again, we don’t want to overemphasise these differences. Lots of excellent teaching in both of these books on forgiveness, but a different view on this issue.

(13:00 – 13:35)

And it’s not that Keller believes less than Brauns, he believes more than Brauns. He agrees with Brauns entirely about the fact that forgiveness in relationships is conditioned upon repentance, but he believes more. So he would say that on the one hand, there is a relational transactional forgiveness, the kind of forgiveness that brought back together Phil and Nathan upon the repentance of Nathan.

(13:36 – 14:06)

But Keller would argue that in the Bible, there is also a second level of forgiveness, a heart level of forgiveness. And this second level begins not when the person repents, but immediately when the other person sins against you. As you begin to cultivate a forgiving spirit and attitude of heart.

(14:07 – 14:29)

And of course, if the day comes when the person then repents and confesses their sin to you, you will already be in the right heart posture because you’ve already got a forgiving spirit already to forgive them in terms of the actual relationship. Now, again, Keller’s not alone. There’s others who agree with it.

(14:29 – 14:48)

I’m just using these as figureheads of these views. What is the main argument for his position? Well, it’s the opposite of the first one, basically. His argument is that in the New Testament, forgiveness doesn’t always appear with a condition attached.

(14:48 – 15:07)

In other words, there are examples where we’re called to forgive unconditionally. So he would say in most cases, the New Testament ties repentance to forgiveness, but not in some cases. For instance, we just read one in Matthew chapter six.

(15:08 – 15:31)

As part of the disciples’ prayer, we should pray, forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. You will notice in that passage, there is no condition in the Lord’s prayer. Rather, it appears to be an absolute gospel principle.

(15:32 – 15:47)

He underlines it. He says that if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. No mention of repentance, but an expectation of forgiveness.

(15:47 – 16:06)

And Keller would say that what that is describing in the Lord’s prayer is a heart attitude of forgiveness. Now, a similar example, and maybe even clearer, is found in Mark chapter 11, verse 25. Mark 11, verse 25.

(16:06 – 16:39)

This is maybe even stronger. Jesus says, and again, notice the context here is prayer, and when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins. Jesus doesn’t say, if you’re standing praying and you hold anything against anyone, stop praying, go find the person, sort it out, and then if they repent, forgive them.

(16:40 – 17:01)

None of that here. Indeed, Jesus seems to say that it is as you stand praying, as you stand praying, that you are called to forgive them. And so, Don Carson, who agrees with Keller’s view, summarises this second position in this way.

(17:02 – 17:17)

This is Carson. He says, “Sometimes the forgiveness of which the New Testament speaks presupposes repentance on the part of the offender, and sometimes not”. That’s the second view of things.

(17:20 – 17:49)

Now, I hope that by the end of that, we at least are getting some sense of what these two views are saying. By the way, there are many other arguments. This sermon was about a million minutes long when I first wrote it, and so what I decided to do was to, I’ve got a handout, there’s about probably a copy for every household, on the back desk next to the sound desk, and it’s got more arguments on either side.

(17:50 – 18:03)

Theological arguments, arguments about the Greek, and there’s some interesting points there. In my view, none of the other arguments are knockout arguments. I don’t think any of them kind of knock the other side down.

(18:03 – 18:40)

I think it does come down to really this issue of, do you think the absence of conditions in certain verses means that we have to unconditionally forgive people from the heart? Where do I personally land? When I read Brauns, I agreed with him, and then when I read Keller, I agreed with him. It is a tricky issue. I think there is a possibility, probably a strong possibility, New Testament speaks of both a heart-level forgiveness and a relational level.

(18:41 – 18:48)

But let me say this. Few things. We mustn’t get hung up on the issue of terminology.

(18:49 – 19:16)

And you say, well, that’s a bit hypocritical because we’ve just spent the last 10 minutes discussing what’s the right terminology. And that’s right because terms in the Bible matter, right? It matters what label you put on things. But all that being said, we need to recognise that however we define the terms, the practise of all this is challenging, whatever view you take.

(19:17 – 19:40)

You might not think it’s biblically right to speak of having a forgiving spirit towards someone, but you still are clearly commanded to love that person and to pray for them in your prayers. Now, that sounds an awful lot like what the other person is saying when they speak of having a gracious, forgiving spirit. .

(19:41 – 20:02)

And let me also add this observation. And I want to kind of push back a little bit on either view, depending on where you land. That if we put all of the emphasis on the heart or all of the emphasis on the reconciled relationship, either way, we’re going to miss the balance of the Bible.

(20:03 – 20:21)

Think of it this way. If you make forgiveness all about your attitude to the person, then you will fall into the trap of what we could call therapeutic forgiveness. This is one of the things that Brauns is pushing back strongly against in his book.

(20:22 – 20:39)

And I absolutely agree with him on this. That in our culture, forgiveness has been reduced to personal therapy. Forgiveness essentially is forgive the other person in order that you will feel better in yourself.

(20:40 – 20:48)

And the danger of that is obvious. There is really no love for other people in that at all. It’s a completely self-love thing.

(20:51 – 21:07)

It’s a sort of thing that creeps in in the aftermath of a terrorist shooting. You know, where the widow gets up after just a few hours and tells the world that the perpetrator is forgiven. And that’s a wonderful thing.

(21:08 – 21:22)

They’re forgiven of their sin. Now, it’s a wonderful thing if they have a forgiving spirit towards the person. And if that’s what they’re saying, it’s a good thing to say, and it’s an amazing witness to the world.

(21:23 – 21:43)

But the even greater witness is to say that even as I have a forgiving spirit towards this person, I long for this person’s forgiveness before God. And I am praying for their repentance at the foot of Jesus’ cross. That would be the even greater witness.

(21:44 – 22:10)

If we focus on just the heart at the expense of the person’s relationship restoration, then we’re only caring for ourselves, and we’re not loving the other person at all. And yet, on the other hand, of course, there’s also a danger with the other view, isn’t there? If we took it the wrong sort of way. And Brauns admits this in the book.

(22:11 – 22:37)

And not because he thinks he’s wrong, but because he thinks our sinful nature is so problematic. He says, the danger of what I am saying is that we could take this in such a way that we think, well, until the person repents, I am gonna harbour disdain and bitterness for them in my heart until the moment they repent. And then I’ll begrudgingly forgive them.

(22:40 – 23:03)

And Brauns says that’s a great danger of his view. Not because he thinks he’s wrong, but because of the sinfulness of our hearts, and of the way that we twist the Bible to suit our own heart’s inclinations. So wherever we land on the terms, let’s guard our hearts, and let’s aim for the most important goal of full restoration.

(23:05 – 23:14)

We need to hurry on to the second question. Let’s hurry on much quicker to the second thing. And the second question was highlighted in Phil and Nathan’s story.

(23:15 – 23:34)

And it’s this. Are there no consequences for the forgiven? Are there no consequences for the forgiven? Biblically, I think this is more straightforward than the first question. Even though I think emotionally this is sometimes harder to accept.

(23:34 – 23:44)

But I think biblically it’s clear. The Bible’s answer, I think, is this. That forgiveness removes the most important eternal consequences.

(23:45 – 23:58)

But it does not remove all of the temporary consequences. I think the Bible’s answer is, number one, that there are some removed consequences. When a person’s forgiven.

(23:58 – 24:15)

I mean, think of some of these just briefly. When someone is forgiven, the eternal consequence of judgement is removed. When someone is forgiven, the condemnation and deserved punishment of their sins is taken away.

(24:16 – 24:25)

Romans 8, verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So eternal judgement removed.

(24:26 – 24:51)

To a great extent, alienated relationships are removed. Relationships that were broken, completely severed, can be restored and repaired by forgiveness. This is seen in passages like Matthew 5, 24, where there’s a confrontation about an offence and it leads to reconciliation.

(24:52 – 25:10)

Thirdly, there is often the removal of bitterness and ongoing resentment towards the person who has sinned. And so if you’re the person who’s perpetrated the sin, that’s a wonderful thing. That this other person is not bitter towards you every time you encounter them.

(25:11 – 25:31)

Ephesians four, Colossians three, Hebrews 12, and other passages. This is incredibly difficult to practise. It’s not easy to maintain these heart attitudes, but it’s the aim and the direction for the Christian who forgives that we do not live in bitterness towards those we forgive.

(25:31 – 26:13)

And then fourthly, in some cases, exclusion from fellowship and church membership is something that is reversed. This is obviously in the case of very significant sins that would maybe cause someone to be removed out of the fellowship of a church. But Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians two, of someone who sees the error of their ways, turns back to Christ, confesses their sin openly, and there is not only the joy of restoration with God, but there is that joyful welcome back into the family of God, back around the Lord’s table, and back into that close communion as a brother or sister in Christ.

(26:13 – 26:32)

And so these are just some of the amazing consequences that are removed when an individual is forgiven. But does that mean there are no remaining consequences? No, it doesn’t. The Bible itself makes this quite clear.

(26:33 – 26:56)

Here are some of the possible remaining consequences, and these won’t all be at play in every case, but here are some of them. Even after someone has been forgiven by God or by a brother or sister in Christ, there can be personal consequences. All sin leaves a mark personally.

(26:58 – 27:22)

For example, even when God forgives, we will often continue to wrestle with regret and shame about the things that we have done. And we see this, for example, in some of the Psalms of David, where even years after the fact, he is having to work through some of the stuff that he has done. Certainly, the gospel brings comfort.

(27:23 – 27:40)

Romans 8, we just said that a moment ago, and other passages. But the memories of our sin won’t be easy to shake this side of glory. There can also be very practical consequences that come from our sin.

(27:41 – 28:05)

Whether harm to the body through substance abuse or some ill effect of sexual misbehaviour or financial mismanagement that leaves a lasting effect. There is in life a kind of Galatians 6, verses 7 and 8, reap what you sow reality. It’s just part and parcel of living in the world of the creator.

(28:06 – 28:25)

In some cases, there can also be civic consequences. Where a Christian has breached the law of the land, they can be forgiven in the church by their brothers and sisters. But we are still called to respect the civic authorities and submit to its just punishment.

(28:26 – 28:53)

Romans 13, 1 Peter 2. It is wrong to say that once sin has been forgiven, human justice is not required under the laws of the land. Thirdly, even after forgiveness, there will sometimes be relationship consequences. Forgiveness won’t always mean that all relationships remain the same.

(28:54 – 29:11)

In some very sad cases, marriages may be ended. Children may not be as understanding of the parent’s repentance as you would like them to be. And they may be more guarded around their parents or want to spend less time with them.

(29:13 – 29:47)

We saw in Phil’s case, a friendship that was built on trust, that no longer had the trust to be at quite the same level. In the story of King David, David was forgiven by God, but as a direct consequence of his sin, relationships in his family disintegrated and sadly became fractured, 2 Samuel 12. And then finally, there are consequences sometimes for trust and consequences of boundaries.

(29:48 – 30:15)

Forgiving someone does not automatically restore immediate trust in their character. Particularly in cases of long-term deception or repeated harm, it is loving and prudent to establish boundaries and to bring protection. In the church, some leadership role should not be immediately restored, or in some cases ever restored, this side of heaven.

(30:16 – 30:49)

Because the Bible teaches that leaders must be above reproach and be considered in high regard among all the members of the church, 1 Timothy 3. Appropriate avenues for service can still be found, but the credibility of the gospel and the well-being of the community must remain paramount, even over an individual’s personal feelings. I think the illustration earlier captured this so well. Nathan was treated with love.

(30:50 – 31:09)

He was treated as a brother. He no longer had a broken relationship with Phil, but there were still some implications because of what he had done. The Bible is both realistic and yet incredibly hopeful about the aftermath of forgiveness in this world.

(31:10 – 31:48)

I was very struck this morning about, it’s in a slightly different context, but even the fact that the Lord Jesus himself had to endure for a time the messiness and the fallout of human behaviour and relationships in this world. As he entered into the brutal consequences that resulted from my sin and from your sin. Of course, Jesus didn’t deserve a single moment of that unfair treatment, but he had to pass through it in this world so that final forgiveness would be ours.

(31:49 – 32:01)

We also sang a hymn this morning, I don’t know if you caught the words, just before the sermon. Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed. And there was a line in it that really caught my attention.

(32:01 – 32:24)

It spoke of Jesus as being now justified and now glorified. Jesus went through that court of Pilate where he was condemned, a sinless man in his case, condemned. And now he has reached that place where he is justified and seen in all the righteousness of who he is.

(32:25 – 32:35)

That’s the perfect Lord Jesus. In our case, we are sinners. In our case, we are fully deserving of any consequences that come our way, this side of glory.

(32:36 – 33:00)

But as we look to the place that Jesus is in now, we see in his justification the reality one day of our justification. When we will stand fully forgiven, fully restored, fully justified in the Lord Jesus himself. Let’s pray together.

(33:03 – 33:25)

Father, thank you that we’ve been able to consider these important matters together. And Lord Jesus, we glory in your sinlessness, your perfection. We thank you that you who never sinned paid all of our debts and took all of our consequences.

(33:26 – 33:49)

Help us then to be grateful for all that you take from our shoulders, the burden of sin, even in this life. Help us to bear the little things by comparison to that great destiny, knowing that one day we will be justified and glorified with you. And we ask this in your precious name, amen.

The post No conditions? No consequences? – Matthew 6v9–15 appeared first on Greenview Church.

Tom Cruise is the lead actor but the movie is dominated by Jack Nicholson who is only in three scenes in the whole movie. Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Caffey played by Tom Cruise shouts, I want the truth at Colonel Nathan Jessop played by Jack Nicholson who has taken a stand in the military courtroom and is being interrogated. Jack Nicholson bellows back, you can’t handle the truth.

Let me ask you this morning, can you handle the truth? Do you want the truth? Because today’s text is all about the truth. A couple of weeks ago King Charles released a statement after his brother was arrested. In it he stated, what now follows is the full fair and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner by the appropriate authorities.

Let me state clearly the law must take its course. There were many people applauding Charles for this statement as he was stating the importance of due process, a proper investigation. Ultimately the truth will be heard even if this means that his own brother is later sentenced and even sent to prison.

This is the right thing to be done. No one should be protected from the law of the land. So let me ask you again, do you want to hear truth this morning? We’ve been making our way through John’s gospel and we get to today’s text which was so wonderfully read by Rebecca and I would like us to open our Bibles again to John chapter 18 verse 28.

It’s really important to follow with me as we go through this message today. John chapter 18 verse 28 where the religious leaders of the day did not care about due process or a proper investigation and they were no better than a bloodthirsty mob who wanted to see an innocent man executed. As we go through we’ll be introduced to a king, a very different king from King Charles that we mentioned earlier, for his kingdom is not of this world, but he is a king who demands a response from every single one of us today.

So we’re going to go through the text this morning three times, looking at religious power, looking at worldly power and looking at kingly power and hopefully see Jesus shining brightest this morning. So firstly religious power, a deadly plot. Our text today starts with verse 28, then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor.

By now it was early morning. If you’re studying English at school, this is what your teacher would say is a great scene setter. Who? The Jewish leaders, the religious power in Jerusalem.

What? What do the Jewish leaders do? They take Jesus from the house of the high priest Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor Pilate. When? It was early in the morning. It’s believed that this would have been very early in the morning, between the hours of three and six a.m. Apparently much of the work by the likes of the Roman governor like Pilate would often have started early because their day finished around 11 or noon.

No wonder if their working day started between three and six you might think. This simple scene setter starts with the word then. We know from verse 12 the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus.

They bound him and brought him first to Annas, the retired high priest who as Colin suggested still wielded the power, who was a father-in-law of Caiaphas, the current high priest that year. And in verse 19, meanwhile the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. And then in verse 24, then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

So the word then is referencing all of this. John accurately mentions the sham trial that Annas performed in the middle of the night without calling any witnesses, asking Jesus about his disciples and his teaching, hoping to catch him out. Annas was hoping to show that Jesus would be the, was the leader of a band of revolutionaries.

As Colin highlighted again last week, Jesus remains silent, protecting his disciples, but speaks about his teaching and gets slapped in the face for speaking the truth. In Matthew and Mark we see that this trial, Jesus is accused of blasphemy, but in John’s account, we simply have then. Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor.

And then we have the ultimate irony. It literally slaps you in the face. Did you notice it? The Jewish leaders, the religious power marching Jesus off to Pilate, wanting him to be executed.

Verse 31, here they have the son of God, the fulfilment of the Passover, the true Passover lamb, and the religious power of the day to avoid ceremonial uncleanness did not enter the palace. You see, the Jews had a lot of laws. And if they went into the house of a Gentile, they would become unclean and would have to then go into a cleansing process lasting overnight or even into many days.

The Jews were celebrating Passover. Passover is an annual festival and celebration given to the people by God to help them to remember their miraculous escape from the Egyptians, Genesis chapter 12, from slavery into freedom. The death of the Passover lamb ensured that the Israelites were set free and did not come under God’s judgement.

(7:42 – 9:29)

For the Jews, this was a big deal. And this is why so many Jews would have been in Jerusalem at this time. The main Passover meal had already been celebrated, but the meals and celebrations would last the full week.

So here is the irony. Jesus, as we know from this side of history, as we’ve sung about this morning, and as we’ll see over the next few weeks up to Easter, Jesus is the lamb. John announced this right at the beginning of his gospel.

John chapter 1, verse 29, when Jesus coming towards the other John, John the Baptist, Jesus comes towards John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaims, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus, as we will see over the next few weeks, is the ultimate Passover lamb. And here we have in the early hours of the morning, following a sham trial, the religious leaders not wanting to go into a building in case they become unclean, so unclean that they can’t enjoy a meal later, but all the while trying to fit up Jesus and have him killed.

For he is nothing more than a problem to them. If it wasn’t quite so serious for their eternal destiny, the irony would almost be laughable. The Jewish leaders have clearly been working closely with the Roman authorities.

We see this in the arrest of Jesus earlier in chapter. Jesus is praying in the garden. Verse 3, so Judas came into the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees.

(9:30 – 13:27)

They were carrying torches and lanterns and weapons. Verse 12, then the detachment of the with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. It certainly appears that the Jewish leaders have discussed Jesus with the Roman authorities.

Otherwise, what other reason would there be of having the Roman soldiers with them in the garden? Now, following the sham trial, it would appear that the Jewish authorities are coming to get Jesus the death penalty. They just need it rubber stamped by Pilate. When challenged, they are indignant.

Verse 30, if he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you. Then when they’re put in a place and told to sort it out themselves, they object, but we have no right to execute anyone. You see, the Jewish leaders were intent on execution, most likely crucifixion, as this was the Romans’ go-to form of execution.

It has been suggested that the Jewish leaders, the religious power of the day, were probably set on this for a couple of reasons. One, if Jesus is killed by the Romans, any comeback by the people would be directed at the Roman oppressors and not them. But also to send a clear message to anyone thinking of following Jesus, that Jesus was cursed by God.

For in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 23, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. The Jewish leaders, the religious power are given an option at the end of the text. Pilate offers them Jesus.

And what do they do? They reject Jesus, instead shouting for someone else, a murderer, a rebel known as Barabbas. No, not him, they shout about Jesus. Give us Barabbas.

So we’ve looked at the religious power and their deadly plot. Now let’s look again at the whole text, this time looking at the worldly power under the microscope. The original title that I was given for today’s sermon was Pilate.

Pilate is undoubtedly the main character, sorry, a main character in this text today. But as we will see, Pilate is not what the text is all about. The Jewish leaders bring Jesus to Pilate.

Pilate is the Roman governor. From the Bible and extra-biblical sources, we can discover quite a lot about Pilate. He was normally based in Caesarea, about 75 miles from Jerusalem.

That’s four days by camel. I’m not quite sure why I use camel power, because as a Roman governor, he probably would have travelled by horse or by chariot. Pilate was a Roman governor or the procurator.

His job was to keep control over the area in which he presided and to ensure that taxes were being collected for the Roman empire. And keeping control would have been the very reason that Pilate would have journeyed from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The Passover and the associated festivals and celebrations would have brought many Jews to Jerusalem.

And when you are the occupying power, it’s important to keep everything in a tight check. When there’s an increased likelihood of rebellion, uprising, and general disorder, Pilate has a lot on his plate. Pressure, no doubt, from Rome, often undermined by the Jews, having to deal with wealth and power of the high priest, the nuances of the Jewish religion, as well as radical groups like the zealots.

(13:28 – 13:56)

This week was a problematic week for a man like Pilate, who is known to be harsh and cruel. Pilate appears very accommodating to the Jewish religious leaders’ sensitivities, and goes out to meet them outside. And this sets up a contrast for the rest of our text, as Pilate speaks publicly outside to the Jewish leaders, but privately inside to Jesus.

(13:57 – 15:08)

If this was a movie, the director would love this contrast. Outside, the accusers, the Jewish leaders. Inside, the accused, Jesus.

The Jewish leaders were hoping for an execution rubber stamp from Pilate, and perhaps had even teed it up this way when they requested the Roman soldiers to be there in the garden, as I previously stated. However, Pilate comes out and whether out of malice against the Jews, fear of a trap of being set at this explosive time in the calendar, or out of genuine intrigue about this Jesus that everyone is talking about, asks, what charges do you bring against this man? This was effectively Pilate starting his own trial, regardless of the sham trial that occurred in the hours of darkness before the high priest. The Jewish leaders were indignant.

He’s a criminal. Otherwise, why waste your time? Pilate, no doubt aware of the sham trial, plays with them a bit. Take him yourselves.

(15:09 – 15:34)

Judge him by your own law, both dismissive and goading. Because the Jewish leaders, despite their sham trial, despite accusations of blasphemy, as we see in the other gospel accounts, the Jewish leaders need Pilate. As verse 31b says, we have no right to execute anyone.

(15:35 – 17:45)

There’s a little sub note in verse 32. This took place to fulfil what Jesus has said about the kind of death he was going to die. As in John chapter 3 and 8 and 12, Jesus talks about being lifted up.

And here, the Jewish leaders are pushing Pilate for an execution that only he can deliver. Pilate goes back inside, public, private. Jewish leaders, Jesus.

Pilate asks, are you the king of the Jews? This is clearly the charge that the Jewish leaders have brought against Jesus. Because had they claimed a theological law had been broken, even blasphemy, Pilate would have thrown it out as a Jewish or a religious problem, certainly not his problem. Annas had angled his questioning in this direction back in verse 19 when asking Jesus about his disciples.

By coming to Pilate with an accusation that Jesus is claiming to be king, this is setting up Jesus as a threat or a challenge to Rome. Pilate wondering why the Jewish leaders have got it in for Jesus and seeking to get to the bottom of the matter, asked Jesus, what is it you’ve done? Pilate gets very close to understanding about Jesus when he says, you’re a king then. But then seemingly dismisses Jesus with his retort of what is truth.

However, from Pilate’s exchange with Jesus, he goes back out to the Jewish leaders and publicly states, I find no basis for a charge against him. Now that could have been the end of the matter. Pilate finds Jesus innocent, so simply releases him.

But yet Pilate seeks to goad the Jewish leaders one further time. But it is your custom for me to release to you a prisoner at the time of Passover. Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? You can even hear the scorn in his voice.

(17:46 – 18:52)

Mocking the Jews and mocking Jesus at this point. Clearly not expecting the Jewish leaders and now the more sizable crowd to shout, no, not him, give us Barabbas. Leaving Pilate with a double problem going into chapter 19 of what does he do now with Jesus? And does he give into their demands and release a man who has committed murder, caused a rebellion and an uprising at such an explosive time as this? Now, as much as Pilate was the main character, sorry, was a main character, I said earlier that he is not the character of the text today.

That was Jesus, King Jesus. And let’s finish by looking at the text one last time, but this time looking at kingly power, in control and kingly power that demands a response. We have the initial back and forth with the Jewish leaders and Pilate and then we get a sense of someone else is actually in control.

(18:52 – 20:10)

Verse 32, this took place to fulfil what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. The Jewish leaders seeking a Roman execution because they were seeking to take terminal action against Jesus. Due to the restrictions that had been placed upon them by the Roman occupation, the best they could do would be to turn a blind eye to mob rule, where Jesus could potentially be stoned to death.

This way, the Roman authorities couldn’t take issue with them directly as it was just the actions of an angry mob. But they’ve been there before. John chapter 8, 59, at this they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

It is their insistence on a Roman execution that would lead to crucifixion and the fulfilment of the very things that Jesus said about his own death. Ironically, in seeking to kill Jesus, the Jewish leaders were fulfilling prophecies about Jesus’s death. This demonstrates just how much in control Jesus is.

(20:12 – 22:20)

Pilate asks, are you the king of the Jews? And rather than being defensive, Jesus in control as the true judge starts to question the Roman judge. Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me? Jesus is aware of the intentions of the Jewish leaders and how they are seeking to create a case, against him, to Pilate. Jesus is happy to take control and answer the questions.

My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest from the Jewish leaders, but now my kingdom is from another place. We have seen kingdom and king language before in John’s gospel.

When Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus in chapter three, Jesus replied, very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they’re born again. In verse five, Jesus answered very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they’re born of water and of the spirit. John chapter one, when Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael as disciples, Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the son of God.

You are the king of Israel. John chapter 12, Jesus declared king by the crowd. The next day, the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. Jesus is king, but not of this world.

John chapter one just shows just how Jesus came from outside. Jesus was there at the beginning. Through him, all things were made.

Nothing was made without him. Jesus broke into our world. Jesus made his dwelling among us full of grace and truth.

(22:21 – 24:29)

So when Jesus answers Pilate, it’s important for him to get across the nature of his kingdom. His kingdom is not of this world. Jesus is not a direct threat to Pilate or to Rome, humanly speaking.

So this pops a balloon in the argument that Jewish leaders were creating. If he was setting up a rebellion, his followers would have fought to prevent his arrest. We know that, yes, Peter actually did, but Jesus told him not to, healing the ear of the high priest’s servant.

Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. It’s bigger than that. And if Pilate had actually realised just what Jesus was saying, he would have realised that he was an even bigger threat than he’d thought, humanly speaking.

Speaking about his kingdom makes Pilate say, you are a king then. But Jesus answers, you say I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. Jesus, through whom all things, were created. Jesus made himself nothing.

Jesus being made in a likeness of human likeness, as Paul the apostle described. In John’s gospel, this is the only account we have of the birth of Jesus. It’s in chapter 18.

And what an account it is. Jesus explaining that the reason that he was born was to testify to the truth. And everyone on the side of listens to me.

Pilate, there are two sides in this world. The side of truth and the other side, the side of lies. Pilate, which side are you on? And here we have the crux of the whole text.

(24:30 – 25:46)

Jesus is a king. This was the very reason that he was born and came into the world. Why? To testify to the truth.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to Jesus. What side are you on, Pilate? Truth is a major theme of John’s gospel. I counted that truth is mentioned over 50 times in the gospel account.

We know from our studies that John writes with a purpose. So there’s no accident that truth is mentioned so many times. The Greek word for truth is aletheia, and it is described as something that exists in reality.

Truth, it exists. Truth, it is knowable. John chapter 1, verse 17.

For the law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. There is a big anchor right at the start of the gospel.

Moses equals law. The Jews knew all that. And in the same sentence, John says, Jesus equals truth.

(25:47 – 29:20)

In John chapter 8, verse 31, to the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Jesus teaches that truth brings freedom.

John chapter 14, verse 6. Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. As the truth, Jesus declares himself to be the only way to God.

Religious power won’t get you to heaven. Understanding that Jesus is truth, that he is the one way, the truth, and the life, that no one comes to the heavenly Father, no one comes to God except through Jesus. This is truth.

So apologies to all those of other faiths, but Jesus is the only truth. There are not multiple truths or multiple ways to heaven, and being a good religious guy or girl won’t cut it either. No matter how many laws we keep, Jesus is the only way to God.

And here in our text, Jesus says to Pilate, this is the sole, that his sole purpose was to testify to the truth. What is truth, retorted Pilate? Pilate goes back out, as we’ve already seen, and tries to free Jesus, realising that he is an innocent man, that he is not guilty, that there’s no basis for a charge against him. Jesus speaks truth to Pilate.

Pilate speaks to the one who is truth. There’s no fake news here, but Pilate dismisses the truth with his flippant statement of what is truth. Pilate came so very close to realising just who Jesus was, but ultimately, although he tries to do right, he rejects Jesus’ ultimate claim over his life by dismissively saying what is truth.

Many of our worldly powers have also rejected Jesus. Like Pilate, putting all our value in money or success, in the job that we have or the home that we can afford, even putting our trust in our military might, putting all our focus in life on anything but Jesus. This is ultimately the big question for all of us.

What is truth? Most people will tell you that they want to hear truth, but is this true? The BBC, once regarded as the bastion of truth in news circles, are currently being sued by Trump after the Panorama programme doctored a speech that Trump had given. In 2023, the BBC even added BBC Verify to combat disinformation and verify video footage. With AI, we’re seeing more and more fake footage coming in.

We’re even seeing this in the current war in Iran. Nobody wants fake news. If you want to be serious about truth, you need to address Jesus today.

What do you do with the claims of Jesus? Jesus has broken into our world. This was the reason he was born. Jesus is truth.

Truth is a reality. Jesus is king. He wants to rule over your life.

(29:20 – 32:40)

This is a question that we all have to grapple with today. We can’t just ignore it. Jesus demands a response from each and every one of us.

You’re either all in or all out, truth or lie, king or nothing. Will you try to do right like Pilate? Will you try to live a good life and simply hope that you’re good enough to get into heaven? Pilate ultimately rejected Jesus. What will you do today? What is truth? Jesus makes two massive claims in this text today, claims that we simply can’t dismiss.

Jesus is king and Jesus is truth. Will you submit to Jesus as king and seek to live your life for Jesus starting today? This, folks, means every area of your life. So perhaps you’ve been coming here for years, happy to call yourself a Christian, but there’s an area in your life that you’re not submitting fully to Jesus as king.

Jesus is king. Jesus is truth. What part of your life are you holding back on? Let’s keep coming back to Jesus as our source of life and wisdom and understanding and continually seek to learn and to grow and to become more Christlike as we seek to live for Jesus and seek to live for truth.

What is truth? Pilate asked. To answer Pilate’s question, Jesus came as a witness to truth and he is truth. To witness to God and to reveal himself as the son of God.

Truth, Aletheia, exists. Truth, Aletheia, is knowable. Jesus invites you to listen to him, to listen to truth.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. This morning as you listen, you need to hear as Pilate did that there are two sides in this world. The side of truth and the other side, the side of lies.

Which side are you on? Let’s pray. Our heavenly father, we come before you just now, we want to thank you for sending us your son. For the fact that your son entered into our world.

The fact that your son declared himself as king and as truth. And Lord, we pray that each and every one of us will answer this question honestly today. Whether for the first time or whether as somebody who’s been following you but not giving their all to you.

We pray Lord that you will help each and every one of us to answer the question of what is truth and to see that your son Jesus is truth. Amen.

The post What is Truth? – John 18v28–40 appeared first on Greenview Church.

Can there still be justice? And at the end of that message, I read an extract from a book called Betrayal about somebody who had gone back to extend forgiveness to somebody who had horribly abused him many years before. And it just occurred to me later on, I always wish these thoughts would occur to me an hour before I preach, rather than an hour after I preach, but that’s often the way, isn’t it? There’s probably two things I want to say about that, so this will make sense if you’re here or you can go and watch it. And that is that the person who went back to extend forgiveness, that had taken that man 25 years to get to that point.

So there’s no sense in which that’s just a kind of glib thing when you’re in a situation where you have been the victim of that kind of terrible treatment. And secondly, he was able to do that because he was in a stage, in a place, where he could go back to that person without risk of being re-harmed and putting himself in danger. So I just want to make those two quite important points.

So if that doesn’t make any sense, you can listen to the message online. But we’re going to move on to our subject tonight, which is when believers just can’t agree. So I’ve got two passages to read.

So if you’ve got your Bible, we’re going to read from Acts chapter 15, the incident between Paul and Barnabas. And then we’re going to read from Philippians chapter 4, the fallout between Euodia and Syntyche. So if you’ve got your Bible, Acts chapter 15 at verse 36.

(1:54 – 2:34)

Let’s hear the word of God. Sometime later, Paul said to Barnabas, let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark with them.

But Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left.

(2:35 – 4:37)

Commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord, he went through Syria and Sicilia, strengthening the churches. And then over in Philippians chapter 4, the first three verses, Paul writing, Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends. I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.

Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the book of life. This is the word of God. In those readings in Acts 15 and Philippians 4, we have two accounts of fallouts between Christians, fallouts not caused as far as we can tell because of some egregious sin or heresy, but which nonetheless were clearly very disruptive and upsetting.

I suppose it’s reassuring that such disagreements are as old as the church itself. You put a bunch of recovering sinners together from a range of different backgrounds, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, rough and smooth, old and young, conservative and trendy, and at some point, guess what? There’s probably going to be friction, misunderstanding, and even disputes. Nor are such tensions just an issue, it seems, among baby Christians or carnal Christians, but they can rear their head even among mature, seasoned, and faithful believers.

(4:38 – 7:02)

The example of Paul and Barnabas being a case very much in point. That’s an example of a fallout which I think has confounded readers ever since Luke recorded it in the book of Acts. I mean, how, what, why? It seems so incongruous, doesn’t it? Paul and Barnabas of all people having a tiff, especially as it suddenly occurs in the story of Acts after a period of great gospel blessing and advance.

The context in chapter 15 is the great Jerusalem council, which if you know that was a great moment, a wonderful moment of gospel unity when Paul and Barnabas and other apostles and elders at Jerusalem came together to agree to overcome the last great theological obstacle to reaching the Gentiles, not putting all those legalistic Jewish ceremonial demands upon them. And from that council, Paul and Barnabas is headed to Antioch to deliver the news. And there was great joy, chapter 15, verse 30.

So the men were sent off, this is Paul and Barnabas from the Jerusalem council, went down to Antioch where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. Joy.

The gospel engine is all fired up. Morale is high. The mission field awaits.

But then, oh, there’s been a fight in the cockpit. Paul and Barnabas, these pillars of the church, Barnabas who is the first one to put his arm around Paul back in chapter 9, these great partners in the gospel, Antioch, Cyprus, Iconium, Lystra, but now are in such sharp disagreement that they split and they go their separate ways. And the disagreement isn’t about the doctrine of the Trinity or sexual ethics, but what would appear to be a judgement call about John Mark’s suitability for mission.

(7:03 – 9:48)

Paul obviously had had a bad experience with John Mark when he had bailed out on a previous trip. Barnabas clearly thinks, well, that was then, but John Mark should be included going forward. It’s stalemate.

Presumably they could both muster quite strong arguments either way. And so this great groundbreaking New Testament mission team breaks up. Now God as he can with all human failings will bring good from it.

So there are now two teams, Barnabas and John Mark going to Cyprus and Paul and Silas going to Syria and Sicilia. But nonetheless, it does feel just so sad, such a shame that Paul and Barnabas would part on such a negative note. It feels like a little blot in the story of Acts, doesn’t it? A little smudge on gospel fellowship and unity.

And then over in Philippians, we have the case of Euodia and Syntyche. And in that instance, we don’t know the precise cause of their fallout. But I think we can assume, again, that it wasn’t over some point of high doctrine or black and white morality.

I think if Euodia had been denying the Trinity or Syntyche had run off with somebody else’s husband, Paul would have called them out and been pretty clear on who was in the right and who was in the wrong. But that’s not his approach. Rather, we have something here that sounds more like a personality clash.

Perhaps a sensitive person feeling steamrolled by a more forceful person or a disagreement about some secondary issue that had turned sour. In other words, the type of fallout that probably accounts for 99% of strife in church life. People not tidying up properly.

The alleged favouritism in the casting of the nativity play. The disagreement over how money should be spent. Who gets to decide ministry priorities or offence taken at being overlooked or a careless remark.

And sides quickly start to get taken. Positions become entrenched and the frost descends. Small things become big things.

(9:49 – 10:11)

Being proved right becomes a matter of principle. Ministry starts to become a battle of wills. Reputations are at stake.

There can be no backing down. But the tragedy being both Euodia and Syntyche are godly women. Verse 3, they are co-workers of Paul.

(10:12 – 10:27)

These are women who contended for the gospel. People whose names Paul confidently asserts are written in the book of life. So this is not capital letters, the baddies against the goodies.

(10:28 – 11:35)

This isn’t the wolves against the sheep. But Christians whose personal differences have got them into a real knot. And if you’ve never been in any of those types of situations, whether a Paul and Barnabas or a Euodia and Syntyche, well done.

But equally, maybe you need to get a bit more involved in church life. So what can we do? What can help us and indeed help us to help others if we find ourselves or perhaps we just feel that we’re slipping into that kind of relational breakdown? You notice in the Euodia and Syntyche dispute that Paul asks his true companion, we don’t know who that is, presumably one of the leaders in the church at Philippi, to help mediate, to help this reconciliation. I think it’s worth noting, however, that sometimes when there’s a bit of a clash, people just need a bit of cooling off time.

(11:36 – 15:19)

I’m sure that was the case with Paul and Barnabas. And so wisdom will recognise that and be wary of rushing in too quickly from the outside. There’s always the danger of making things worse when a bit of patience and space just brings people around in their own time.

But also there are situations where it’s clear that an issue is not getting resolved and where to do nothing would just be to let it fester with all the negative effects of that. So really just by way of kind of practical application, I’m going to suggest four things, four questions, four principles that might help us when we’re confronted with this type or these types of situation. So the first one then is to check your categories.

When you or perhaps someone you know feels aggrieved or frustrated by someone else and that relational breakdown is starting to happen, a good question just to ask is what kind of issue is this? Firstly, is this a sin issue? Do I believe that the other person is sinning in this situation? And if so, is it at the level where it would perhaps be appropriate and good to overlook it? We thought about that previously in the message on overlooking. That is, it might be irritating, it might be annoying, it might be a bit hurtful, but it’s relatively inconsequential and actually the best thing would be to let it go for love to cover a multitude of sins and to move on. But if it’s potentially a more serious sin, then of course there is a template for that and we’ve thought about that, the Matthew 18 template.

So rather than stew on it, seek to get it resolved so that you can clear the air. I think it’s helpful when you are bringing up an issue that you feel aggrieved by with somebody else, and this is just kind of common sense wisdom, but one thing that’s helpful is to raise your concerns with that person as questions rather than accusations. I wasn’t sure why you did that.

Help me understand why you feel so strongly. I remember being in a team to set up a church plant a few years back and I was to put forward the budget for the church plant and at one of the meetings, one of the planters who’s obviously getting a bit stressed about the sums adding up, said of the salary figure that had been put forward, that’s just a nonsense figure, don’t know where that came from. I felt a little bit stung because obviously it was my budget, the implication being you’re either mean or an idiot to put forward that kind of budget.

But actually the figure hadn’t just been made up, I’d actually taken it from another very kind of recognised and reputable church planting network that they used for their own base salaries. So it would have been much less jarring in that situation if he’d simply said, can you just explain to me the thinking behind that figure? Because it might have been a bad figure, but it wasn’t just made up. Questions can help us to raise issues constructively.

(15:20 – 17:09)

But sometimes after you have spoken to someone else and perhaps you have gone through that Matthew 18 process and you’ve involved some others at that second stage, you’ll find that the issue still isn’t resolvable. Maybe because the other party doesn’t feel that they have sinned or certainly not in the way that you’re suggesting, or they might feel that you’re overreacting and in the eyes of others, those who also are party to it, it might actually not feel that clear cut to them either. Well, at that point, it’s probably something you need to commit to God’s judgement as we thought about last time when we thought about can there still be justice? Because remember, there’s always the chance that you have maybe got the wrong end of the stick or overreacted, but check your categories.

Is it a sin issue or is it maybe more just a personal issue of preference? But secondly then, as well as checking your categories and asking that question when you feel aggrieved, be careful of assigning motives follows on to some extent. And those kind of situations avoid presuming to know other people’s inner motives or thoughts. We quite quickly rush to almost some kind of omniscience, don’t we, about other people and what’s going on in their heads.

You know, the kind of, you just did that to spite me, or you’re just jealous. You’ve always looked down on me. You’re just arrogant.

Reality is, you don’t know. I don’t know. So we’re best to stick to the facts.

(17:10 – 19:11)

Actually, what’s more helpful is to check your own heart and your own motives. Is my negativity, are my negative feelings here because of genuine concerns, or might it be that I’m just a bit personally sore? I wonder if that was partly Paul’s issue in Acts. Not that John Mark couldn’t do the job, but that previous experience had left him bruised, even maybe feeling a little bit slighted or embarrassed.

Now we might be tempted to think, well, Paul would never feel like that. It’s Paul you’re talking about. But guess what? Paul was a sinner too.

Only Jesus is perfect. Good question to ask. What idols might be affecting my attitude in this situation? Because while the fall in fall outs that happen in church is rarely 50–50 in terms of kind of blame and responsibility, it’s very rarely 100% – zero either.

Might part of my grievance or what is heightening my sense of grievance be because if I’m honest, I do fear and resent a loss of control here, a loss of comfort, a loss of reputation? Which is not to say that the other party is blameless, not to say that you haven’t been offended genuinely or sinned against, but just reflecting on maybe the intensity of our reaction in those ways might help to temper our reaction. So check your categories. Be careful of assigning motives to other people.

(19:13 – 20:23)

But thirdly, ask how might God be using this situation, this aggravation, this fallout, this sense of grievance to make you more Christ-like? Because disputes and fallouts in churches can be opportunities to grow. We all like different things, don’t we? We all have different tastes of music. We have different styles.

We have different preferences in worship. What helps one person in worship might feel very kind of dead and unhelpful to somebody else and vice versa. Some people are quite laid back, brackets messy.

Others are quite fastidious, brackets fussy. You know, the people that put the plates away with a ruler. And they can easily start to think of each other and the kind of pressure and hurly-burly of church life as being inconsiderate on the one hand or uptight on the other.

(20:24 – 21:46)

But neither of them are sinning. But perhaps they each need just to grow in grace a little bit towards each other. The laid back do need to give a little bit more thoughtfulness and attention to tidying up.

The fussy need to get a bit less snippy because there are forks in the spoon drawer. Is this a moment for me just to be a bit more patient, to exercise some self-restraint, to serve without complaining about it? Because I kind of work from home, but previously rented an office. I’ve rented an office in one or two churches over the last 10 years or so.

And in one of them, there was a shared kitchen. I’m just aware the word shared kitchen, it’s never a good start, is it? It’s never going to work out well. Shared kitchen, who thought of that? I shared this with some other staff who worked in this church.

And they got a new member of staff on one occasion and they hadn’t been there that long. I went into the kitchen with my coffee mug and his dirty dishes had just been left in the sink. He’d had his lunch, just put his unwashed dishes in the sink and walked off.

(21:46 – 21:51)

Well, of course, I’m quite indignant at this point, you know. Sorry, I didn’t realise that I was your mother.

(21:53 – 23:52)

Yes, I was just to wash my coffee cup. And this happened on a few occasions and I would go in and I’d very theatrically, even though I was the only person there, lift the dishes from the sink and put them on the side still unwashed, very symbolically and wash my cup. And that went on for a little while.

And then one day, trust it was of the Lord, I was very rebuked to myself, just Andy, just wash his dishes. Just wash the dishes. I mean, either complain, which would have exposed my kind of pettiness and it was his church rather than mine in that sense.

Or you know what? Just wash their dishes. And it was amazing how that took so much angst away because I was now doing something positive rather than just stewing in negativity. I was now being able to use that in a way to bless and to serve somebody else rather than just feeling sorry for myself.

Maybe that other person is there because I need to be more sanctified. Fourthly then, remember our unity is bigger than our disagreements. In the Second World War, we got there eventually, the Eisenhower, the US General and Montgomery, the British General famously found each other pretty unbearable.

If you know anything about their biographies and their history, you’ll know that they really couldn’t stand each other in lots of ways. They were very different personalities and they disagreed about lots of issues. But they worked together and they worked for each other because they had bigger fish to fry.

(23:53 – 27:27)

There was a bigger cause, the defeat of the Nazis. And it was in no small part their collective strengths and abilities coming together that enabled victory. I think that’s a helpful analogy for Christian unity.

Because what unites us is not being the same, but being in Christ, being part of his greater cause. And what is Jesus’ great cause? What’s the ultimate aim? Well, Ephesians 1 expresses it like this, it’ll be on the screen. Paul says in his great summary of the gospel, 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 with all wisdom and understanding.

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times reached their fulfilment. So what is this great pleasure, this purpose in Christ to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ? You see, the gospel is ultimately a cosmic unity project. And that means that wherever there is disunity, there is somewhere at some level resistance to the rule of Jesus.

Someone or something is pushing against the mystery of God’s will purposed in Christ. So the very least that should caution me about going up against another Christian, pushing my personal agenda to a breaking point or dividing from others. But finally, did you notice in Philippians 4 that Paul’s plea in this is a plea? He pleads.

I plead with Euodia, and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Because you can’t order people to do this stuff. You can’t, in that sense, force it upon them.

Not if it’s real gospel unity. This isn’t Paul, the teacher, forcing the children in the playground to shake hands even though they still hate each other. But rather, Paul is asking Euodia and Syntyche to reach out to each other out of the love that they have for Jesus.

Paul’s plea is surely the plea of Philippians 2 that David read to us earlier. The plea not to insist upon our own rights, however valid those rights might be, but to have the same mind of Christ who bore the offences of others, not retaliating, not hitting back, but instead in love, to put it very starkly, he buried the hatchet in himself. Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

(27:28 – 27:45)

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. May God bless these thoughts from his word.

The post When Believers just can’t agree – Acts 15v39–40 appeared first on Greenview Church.

Our gracious Father, as we come to the Bible now, we come to your words in all sorts of conditions, but we thank you that however we come, your word speaks with power and precision. Speak clearly now, we pray, for our good and your glory, and we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

(0:54 – 2:08)

There is something weirdly captivating about stories of public failure. Be it a prince who seemed untouchable, or a politician who seemed powerful, or a one-time media darling, someone or other who was soaring through life, who suddenly comes down with a crash. Newspapers headline it, documentaries are later made of it, as they track the rise and the fall, the success, and then the scandal of the one who failed.

And in almost every case, something is nearly always in common. These failures, in whatever form they take, tend to end on a note of despair. Not with the person better, happier, richer, but ending with the person dead, or jailed, or broke, or reputationally ruined.

(2:09 – 3:43)

In stories of serious failure, particularly when in the public sphere, there is no redemption arc anywhere to be seen. That is the way of things in the world. That is the way of natural justice and the law of consequence.

But it is not the way of things in the gospel of God’s grace. That is made so very clear in the failure story of Peter, a man whose failure is recorded at length for us in John chapter 18, and then revisited again in John chapter 21. Peter’s failure story is a story of real failure, but it doesn’t end in final despair, the sort of final despair that we are used to.

Not because the Bible is minimising his failure, not because sin is in any way being ignored, but because the failure of Peter does not stand by itself. The failure of Peter, as John records it, is connected to the faithfulness of Jesus. And it is that connection, that faithful success of Christ, that is the hope for Peter’s failure.

(3:44 – 4:11)

And the hope for all other failures like Peter. Human failure can only be answered by the faithful obedience of Christ. And whether you are a disciple of Jesus or not this morning, we need to know this for our eternal salvation and for following Jesus in this life.

(4:13 – 4:32)

Well, the story as John lays it out is divided into three parts. And I want to follow the way that John presents this because I think it’s particularly important. The first part we might call the failing disciple, the failing disciple.

(4:33 – 4:50)

Jesus has just been arrested, taken from the Mount of Olives, and marched back into Jerusalem. He is taken to the house of Annas. Annas, who as John records, is the high priest.

(4:51 – 5:32)

Now, who was the high priest? The high priest was the supreme priest, the top priest in Judaism. And in normal circumstances, the high priest was a lifetime appointment. You were the high priest till the day you died.

But the Romans who were in charge at the time loved to meddle in Jewish affairs. And sometimes at a whim, they would change the high priest just for the fun of it. And so a situation could develop where you had two high priests on the go or even more.

(5:32 – 6:00)

You could have a high priest in early retirement like Annas, and you could have the high priest currently in office like Caiaphas. Now, what is interesting is that Jesus is taken first to Annas, the retired high priest. Almost certainly, this means that Annas still had clout.

(6:01 – 8:03)

He is most likely the power behind the throne. This man will no doubt predetermine the ultimate fate of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is taken to this man, and he is brought inside the compound where Annas resides.

And it clearly wasn’t a place that you could just walk into. You can just wander in to the residence of Annas. That is clear from verse 15, isn’t it? Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus.

And because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside. Another disciple gets inside, but Peter is stuck outside. Now, a lot of people spend a lot of time trying to work out who this other disciple was.

The fact is that John doesn’t name him. What is important is not that we know who the other disciple was, but that Annas knew who the other disciple was. There was some other disciple, some unnamed follower of Jesus who had a connection to the high priest, and that high-level connection gave him high-level access.

He is given a courtyard pass, and then he returns to the door and vouches for Peter. And so Peter is let in too. And he crosses over the threshold, but as he does, a question is voiced in his ear.

(8:04 – 9:20)

It’s a simple question, a direct question. It’s a yes or no question. It’s the sort of question that you can’t easily wriggle out of.

You’re not another one of this man’s followers too, are you? More literally, you’re not another one of this man’s disciples. Something we need to establish, even though I will be applying this to everyone present this morning, is that the man who makes a mess of things in this passage is a disciple. He is not a sceptic.

He’s not a guy who rejects God at every moment of his life. He is a follower of God in the person of Jesus, and yet the testing question comes. It comes from the lips of a servant girl, and we should note that because John chooses to note it.

(9:22 – 9:42)

This is not the powerful high priest asking the question. It is not either a powerful soldier or a member of the temple police. In a very status-driven society, this is the least powerful person on the property.

(9:43 – 12:40)

Someone with no authority, no power to order anything, and she is simply asking Peter if he’s a follower of Jesus at all. The Peter who had asserted hours before that he would die for Jesus, now at the first sign of pressure says, I am not. I wonder if you’ve ever said at some point or other, I am not.

I really do feel for young folk. I sound like an old guy saying that. I feel for young folk nowadays because I remember how hard it was.

I mean, it is hard being a Christian at any age, but it was really hard at school, really. I mean, even more difficult in secondary school, and this brought to mind one occasion. I went into class after the summer, and somebody said to me, didn’t I spot you going into this primary school where they were having that children’s Bible club, you know, the Christian Bible club in the summer? And they said it with a little smirk on their face.

I knew that some mockery was coming if I said yes to this, and I had been there. I was a leader. I was a young leader at it.

I was probably singing with the kids things like, I have decided to follow Jesus, and in the spur of the moment, I said, it wasn’t me. You ever done something like that? Have you ever said something like that? Maybe something as stark as that, or maybe something more subtle than that? Have you ever quietly blended in when you should have been standing out? Have you ever, by your behaviour, have you acted in a way that suggests I am not? One of the great surprises for many new Christians is to find that though they are forgiven of sin, they continue to struggle with sin. Sin is redeemed, but sin remains, which means that sometimes I am capable of the most shocking inconsistencies.

We often sing a hymn here in Greenview, which keeps us honest about this. One of the verses says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.

(12:42 – 15:37)

We’re prone to wander. We’re prone to leave. And so, we need to sing the next line, take my heart, Lord.

Take and seal it as a seal of ownership. Seal it for thy courts above. That’s realistic, isn’t it? And yet, it’s really hopeful too, that if Christ puts his stamp of ownership on my heart, then even my wandering heart can make it all the way to the courts above.

We feel an affinity with the failing Peter here. And what is his hope? And what is our hope in that failure? Well, we come then to the second point. John now cuts away from the scene of failure, and he shows us something very different.

Secondly, the faithful witness, the faithful witness. Now, it is crucial to see how John lays this out. When we read God’s Word as a general rule, we should always consider not only what the passage says, but how the passage says it.

In other words, not only the content, but also the structure. The structure tells you something about the message that the author is trying to communicate. And in this case, you will notice here that Peter’s three denials are sandwiched around the trial of Jesus in the middle.

You get denial one, trial of Jesus, denials two, and three. Now, you need to ask yourself, why does John lay things out this way? Why does he force you to consider Peter and Jesus side by side? Part of the answer is that this is a contrast, right? I mean, that must be the case. We’re seeing here that Peter is questioned outside and failing, and Jesus is being questioned inside and succeeding.

So, there’s a contrast going on here, but also, not only a contrast, there is also a connection. You see, by constructing the story in this way, John is putting Jesus’ faithfulness in the middle of Peter’s failure. He’s not allowing you to look at Peter plummeting without seeing Jesus towering in integrity in the very midst of Peter’s mess.

(15:38 – 16:14)

It’s a monumental mistake to read Peter’s failure in isolation, because Peter’s failure is interrupted by Jesus’ faithfulness. And we’re going to see this faithfulness playing out here as Annas interrogates Jesus in what was an informal trial. And he tries to pin some sort of guilt on Jesus, because you’ve got to pin them with something if you’re going to accuse them and have them crucified.

(16:15 – 16:28)

And he probes two areas of Jesus’ life and ministry. Notice the two things he asks him about. Number one, his disciples, and number two, he probes him about his teaching.

(16:29 – 18:16)

I was really curious about this. I did wonder to myself, why does Annas take any interest in Jesus’ disciples? Why would that be significant? Why might the disciples be a cause of Jesus’ guilt? Very likely what Annas was hoping to do was to paint Jesus as the leader of a band of dangerous revolutionaries. And of course, if he had managed to do so, then Jesus’ disciples would have been in grave danger.

Jesus, tell me about your disciples. Who are they? How many are they? This is the kind of stuff he wants to know. It’s lovely that Jesus, who is so transparent in this passage, is tight-lipped only about his disciples.

Did you notice that? He doesn’t say a word in reply about the disciples. He is protecting them from harm even here. What Jesus is very happy to talk about is his teaching.

Although in all honesty, what do they really need to know? Jesus’ teaching is all out in the open. I mean, today it would be all over YouTube or something like that. He’s taught things in the synagogues.

He’s taught things in the temple. The high priest simply needs to ask the many people who have heard Jesus teach to ask them what he has said. This is likely also a subtle reminder by Jesus that actually this was far from a fair trial.

(18:17 – 18:35)

Because in a fair Jewish trial, I mean, first of all, you weren’t meant to have it in the middle of the night to start with. But also, you were meant to call some witnesses in the trial. And so, it’s the middle of the night, and there’s no witnesses in sight.

(18:36 – 19:16)

The only faithful witness in the room is the Lord Jesus himself, the one who Revelation later calls the true and faithful witness. Well, what does one get for being a true and faithful witness? Jesus gets a slap on the face by a nearby official. This is the first physical harm that Jesus suffers, and it will not be, I’m sad to say, the last.

(19:18 – 20:31)

Perhaps it’s also a reminder to us just incidentally that speaking the truth is often far from welcome. It isn’t always what people want to hear. It’s like those of you that are into films.

It’s like the actor Jack Nicholson when he has that exchange with Tom Cruise in one film, and Cruise bellows at him. It’s a bit of a meme. You’ve probably seen it.

But Cruise says to him, I want the truth. And Nicholson barks back, you can’t handle the truth. And we are living in a world where people can’t handle the truth about themselves, about God, about the means of salvation.

Say the truth in the kindest manner, in the most respectful way, and you may still receive the equivalent of a smack on the jaw at times. Jesus takes the blow and then responds with yet more truth. If I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong.

(20:32 – 20:50)

But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me? There is absolutely no good answer to these questions. And so Jesus isn’t given an answer. He is simply then sent along to Caiaphas.

(20:52 – 21:11)

Now, you might wonder just at this point whether Jesus had failed in this situation. Because at the end of the day, Jesus hasn’t been released here. He hasn’t managed to talk his way out of trouble or prove his innocence.

(21:12 – 21:46)

But Jesus, we must understand, isn’t trying to talk his way out of things. No, Jesus is following a different plan, a divine plan, a plan that was outlined in verse 14 immediately before this section we’re looking at today. Caiaphas, who Jesus has now passed along to, had said that it would be good if one man died for the sake of the people.

(21:47 – 22:02)

And it would be really good, but not in the way Caiaphas expected. Jesus wouldn’t die to solve a political problem. He would die to solve a spiritual problem.

(22:03 – 23:03)

He was talking his way into the cross so that failing people like Peter could have a bright light and the hope in the face of their darkness. Well, it’s back to Peter we finally go. We do finally return to him in the way that John lays this out.

And we go then to the third section, the final section in verses 25 to 27, which we might call, and sorry, this is not very inventive, the failing disciple part two, because that’s what it is. Simon Peter, still in the courtyard, he’s still standing by the fire and he’s still warming his hands. And as others stand close by, perhaps as the glow of the fire lights up his face, there are looks of recognition at the fire.

(23:04 – 23:42)

And so they asked the same question that the servant girl had asked before, aren’t you one of his disciples too? And once again, Peter denies it saying, I am not. Earlier when the soldiers had come for Jesus in the garden, remember when they came for him? The Bible says that Jesus stepped forward and said, I am he. With Peter, I’m not.

(23:44 – 24:01)

That’s two strikes for Peter. Jesus had predicted three. Do you remember that in chapter 13? Jesus predicted not only that Peter would deny him, but he would deny him three times.

(24:03 – 24:48)

Before the cock crowed to begin a new day. Well, one of the high priests, servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, remember when Peter got all brave and swung the sword and cut off a man’s ear? Well, a relative of that man who was there in the garden challenges Peter, didn’t I see you with him in the garden? Weren’t you just there like 30 minutes ago? I’m paraphrasing, but something like that. Yes, Peter had swung the sword, attacked a soldier, committed a crime.

(24:50 – 25:13)

I don’t know for sure, but I guess if Peter had owned up to this, some harm might have befallen him for doing such a thing. There’s no doubt here that the stakes of danger are rising compared to the servant girl at the beginning. This was the chance for Peter to make good on his bold promise to give his life for Jesus.

(25:13 – 25:44)

But instead, in a moment that crushed his pride, finally, he replied to the man, it wasn’t me. And at that moment, the cock began to crow. Now, it’s tempting for preachers, and we’re awful at this kind of thing, to go in wrong directions at a point like this.

(25:46 – 26:15)

It’s part of the problem, in a sense, of having four gospels, because what preachers do is they say, well, John says this, but what I really need to tell you is Matthew actually added this, and Mark, he also added this bit. And so, we love the bits in the other accounts about the eye contact that Peter makes with Jesus, and how Peter broke down, and he went outside, and he cried all sorts of tears. John records none of that.

(26:17 – 29:55)

John is not primarily concerned with the emotion of Peter’s failure. John is more concerned with the fact of it, and with the fact that Jesus predicted it. It was bang on the third denial that the rooster began to crow.

Can you imagine that? Talk about accuracy. You see, although Jesus is bound and heading to a cross, He is not some pathetic, powerless man. He is in such sovereign control of the events, He is so sovereign over time and history that He knows the sins of Peter in detail before any of them happen.

The Jesus of John is no small individual. He is God in the flesh. He is the maker of life, laying down His life.

Jesus knows all about Peter’s mess, and yet He is faithful for him, and yet He will die for him. This is marvellous news for anyone who is like Peter, is it not? At least if we accept that we are like Peter. The trouble is that the world’s always telling us that we are not like Peter.

It seems to me that today you are allowed to think anything about yourself except you are not allowed to think that you fail at anything, right? You have to be an unmitigated success in everything you do, in your talents, in your vocation, in your morality. And it’s quite ludicrous. It doesn’t help us at all, and it doesn’t map on to reality, because we have this conscience within us that’s always nagging away, this conscience that is shouting to us from the inside, no, you blew it.

We are like Peter. You know, the last thing we should do today as we read this story is look at Peter and say, would you look at him? Would you look at what Peter did, denying the Lord three times over? Listen, we are all Peter at some point or other. We are all Peter, and we all need Jesus to stand in the middle of all of our failures and say, I can take it from here.

I can take it all the way to the cross. Last week we saw that Jesus’ death was propitiatory. It was, it’s a big word, it means that his death was to avert God’s wrath, to turn away.

Jesus drank the cup that the Father gave him. But this week, in a complimentary point, we see that Jesus’ death wasn’t just propitiatory, it was substitutionary. It is good that one man die for the sake of the people.

(29:57 – 30:48)

Jesus is placed side by side alongside the failure to show the way that the failure can be redeemed. Do you fail? He succeeds. Do you lie? He speaks the truth.

Are you sick with sin and dying in sin? Then Jesus is the Saviour from sin. And therefore, the documentary of your life doesn’t need to be another sad story of a man or woman who blew it, followed by the end. If you’re not a Christian today, failure is the starting point that leads you to forgiveness.

(30:49 – 34:03)

It’s not about cleaning up your act, but facing up to your failure and seeing that your failure was nailed to a cross and you bear it no more. Do you believe that today? Have you come to that understanding, that conviction? Have you experienced that joy of being restored? If you need to do that today, then do that today. If you need to talk that through with somebody, to pray that through with somebody, come down to the front and chat and pray with us afterwards.

Come and take one of these. We’ve got some booklets and things that can help you to make that step of faith. Come and do that today.

Know what it is to be forgiven finally and completely, however much you sin. And as a church family, let’s remember that this was the failure of a disciple. I think it’s just a very simple word here about the culture of our church.

We need to have the right culture as a church, not just the right content of gospel belief, but we need to have a gospel culture. And part of having a gospel culture, the way we act among one another is that we don’t pretend to be a community where failure never happens. Now, we don’t glorify failure.

We don’t glorify sin, but neither do we airbrush it. Neither do we pretend it isn’t a thing. This passage is not an excuse to sin, but it is a massive encouragement when we do sin.

When we mess up as disciples, and we will, there is one who stands in the midst of our failings. The gospel, and therefore the community of the church, is the only place where failure can be acknowledged and not be the end of the story. Let’s pray together.

Our Father, we are all Peter. We stand beside him, not above him, and recognise our need for your grace. We thank you that Jesus is not only aware of our failures, but he towers in their midst with integrity.

He died for our restoration. We thank you, we praise you, and we bless your wonderful name. In Jesus, your Son, we thank you.

Amen.

The post Failure and Faithfulness – John 18v15–27 appeared first on Greenview Church.

We thank you that we have access to your word and through it we can learn how to live for you. Father, I pray this morning that each and every one of us who hears your word will be convicted by it and respond to it today. And I include myself in that same prayer.

(0:41 – 1:13)

In Jesus’ name, Amen. Well, the news coverage over the last few days has been dominated by a prince or should I say a former prince and that prince was arrested. Pictures flashed across our news screens wherever we see it of vans, fleets of vans and SUVs showing up to arrest a man in Sandringham.

(1:15 – 1:40)

I expect you’ve seen now the famous photo taken by Phil Noble of the former Prince Andrew slumped in the back seat of a car as he’s driven away from the police station. He looks absolutely shell-shocked, haunted, disbelieving, lost. He clearly didn’t expect that any of this would happen to him.

(1:41 – 2:49)

Rewind 2,000 years to a quiet moonlit garden just outside the Judean city of Jerusalem. We find another prince being arrested. There were no cameras to capture the prince’s face but there were plenty of eyewitnesses as we’ll see including John the son of Zebedee whose account of this arrest is available to any of us to read and in fact we had it read to us just a few minutes ago.

Unlike the gospel writers, John doesn’t include all the details leading up to Jesus’ arrest. Instead he jumps straight in to the arrest and gives us a picture that reveals the mindset of his beloved friend and mentor at the time of his arrest. He presents us with a portrait, a picture of a human being who faces the future however seemingly bleak for him with calm resolve.

(2:51 – 3:18)

Unlike the royal prince slumped in the back of the car who looks totally lost, John gives us a picture of a man who’s in complete control despite what it looks like to everybody else. This is a man we can trust. This is a man we can follow in the trials that we face.

(3:19 – 4:53)

In these 14 verses John shows us four important truths that demonstrate Jesus’ total control. Firstly, in verses one to four we see him follow God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid. Jesus walks the hard path of faithfulness.

John tells us that after finishing his prayer Jesus left with the disciples and crossed the Kidron valley. He left the safety of the upper room knowing that Judas had already left to betray him. He led his disciples through the moonlit streets of Jerusalem passing north and then east past the temple and down into the Kidron down to the Kidron valley and up into the mountain of olives.

John simply calls it a garden, doesn’t refer to it as the mount of olives and that invites us to recall another garden, the garden of Eden where Adam was first called to obey God. We know from the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke that Jesus felt the pressure in the garden. In prayer he asked the father if the cup of God’s judgement could pass from him.

(4:54 – 5:18)

He wrestled with the natural desire to avoid suffering even to the point of sweating blood. But unlike Adam and Eve who grasped the forbidden fruit, Jesus didn’t resist the cup, the very consequence of Adam’s and our disobedience. Instead he submitted himself to God’s plan.

(5:19 – 5:49)

Here we see the contrast, Adam’s disobedience and Jesus’ obedience. Adam’s rebellion and Jesus’ submission. Where Adam grasped, Jesus yielded.

Where Adam resisted, Jesus surrendered. Where Adam chose his own will, Jesus entrusted himself to the father’s will.

(5:51 – 6:05)

In one garden a man said, my will. In another garden a man said, not my will. And in that difference lies the turning point of human history.

(6:08 – 7:21)

John adds another detail in verse two. Judas who betrayed Jesus knew the place. Now why include this level of detail here? It’s to remind us that Jesus is in control.

He knows what Judas is about to do. Rather than flee, he goes deliberately to the one place Judas will think to search for him. He walks straight into his own arrest.

He does not shirk from God’s plan. He steps right into it. Sure enough, Judas arrives with a detachment of soldiers and temple guards carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

Put yourself in the disciples’ shoes for a moment. As they watched on this picture of an army or a seeming army marching down the hill from the temple down into the Kidron Valley and up into this garden. Perhaps they froze like Andrew Mountbatten.

(7:22 – 8:35)

Perhaps they whispered for Jesus to hide or to appease the authorities by saying, I’m sorry for what I’ve done. We don’t know what they were saying. But John does tell us what Jesus does.

And it’s remarkable. John writes in verse four, Jesus knowing all that was going to happen to him went out and asked them, who is it you want? He knew Judas’ betrayal. He knew his arrest.

None of this surprised him. None of this took him aback. And Mark reminds us that Jesus had warned his disciples repeatedly that the Son of Man would be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.

To any onlooker here, it looks like Judas is in control of the whole situation. But Jesus is really in control here. Jesus’ final steps as a free man were not away from danger, but toward it and towards God’s plan.

(8:37 – 9:22)

After wrestling with God’s will, he was now ready to embrace it himself. He did not hide in shame or fear like Adam and Eve. He stepped forward in obedience following God’s plan despite the natural human pull to avoid it.

And that call extends to us today. God calls us to walk in obedience to him, to resist the pull of disobedience, to trust him when it’s hard, to step out in faith when the world screams, forget it. Maybe you’re making unethical choices at work to keep the boss happy.

(9:24 – 10:48)

Maybe your marriage is struggling and everyone says, just leave. Maybe you’re hiding your faith out of fear of what people will think. Or maybe you’re covering up or denying your sin.

God calls us, you and me, to something different. He calls us to faith. He calls us to courage.

He calls us to obedience even when it costs. So remember who is really in control and remember to follow his plan. Now all that said, we’re not Jesus.

And we must remember that Jesus faithfully followed the road, to the cross, not us. He walked into God’s judgement for us, for our sins. Unlike him, we will stumble and we will fall along the path of faithfulness.

Only he has and only he will walk perfectly according to God’s plan. You see, John is not exhorting us to live like Jesus, although we should, but rather to see that Jesus walked the path of obedience for us. There is forgiveness.

(10:49 – 11:29)

There is pardon because Jesus walked in righteousness and took the cup of God’s wrath for us. So I encourage you today, look to him, rely on his perfect faithfulness rather than your own. Trust him even when it’s hard, even when it feels like your life is hanging by a thread.

Don’t let your sin haunt you. Don’t allow shame and guilt to define you. Turn and trust in him who bore all your iniquities on the cross.

(11:30 – 12:51)

Remember who was really in control at Gethsemane and who’s still in control today. Remember Jesus followed God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid it and he did this for you. Secondly, we see in verses four and nine that Jesus is really in control when we see him assert God’s power over fear and chaos.

Jesus stands with calm authority. He strides out towards the army who had come to arrest him in obedience to the father’s plan. But then surprisingly, he asks, who is it you want? They reply, Jesus of Nazareth.

That is who they’d been told to arrest. You see, Jesus to them was just another guy from Nazareth that they were told to arrest. Perhaps they wondered why so many of them had been told to go and arrest him.

To arrest one man, perhaps they’d heard tales of his miracles and about claims to his divinity. But they were following orders to arrest a mere man. They look completely in control.

(12:53 – 13:13)

A cohort of armed soldiers, hundreds of trained men against a handful of fishermen and tax collectors. There’s no contest. But once again, John is about to show us that Jesus is really in control.

(13:15 – 13:52)

Jesus answers with words that seem rather innocuous. He says, I am he. Simple, unremarkable, almost understated.

But John knows, and he wants us to know that this is no ordinary reply. Because when Jesus says, I am he, he is echoing the divine name God uses of himself. I’m sure you’ve seen it as you’ve been working through the book of John.

(13:55 – 14:08)

After reminding us that Judas is standing there with them, John repeats the words for emphasis. I am he. At that moment, the balance of power shifts.

(14:10 – 14:17)

The soldiers draw back. They stagger. They fall to the ground.

(14:18 – 14:47)

Not because Jesus resists them, but because his presence overwhelms them. The arresting party comes armed with swords and clubs. Yet with a couple of words, Jesus sends them to the ground.

Just as he spoke and the winds retreated. Just as he spoke and demons fled. Just as he spoke and death itself released its grip.

(14:47 – 15:01)

Now he speaks again and armed soldiers collapse to the ground. This is divine power. This is the authority of the son of God being revealed.

(15:02 – 15:17)

You see, Jesus is not merely omniscient, not merely all knowing. He’s omnipotent. He’s all powerful.

He does not simply foresee events. He commands them. He does not merely know the future.

(15:18 – 15:36)

He rules it with nothing more than the words of his lips. Jesus again is showing who’s really in control here. From a human perspective, it looks like the soldiers have come to arrest Jesus.

(15:38 – 16:02)

But John wants us to see something deeper. Jesus is not being taken. He is giving himself.

And he had already made this unmistakably clear long before his arrest. When he said in John chapter 10, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.

(16:02 – 18:00)

I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This arrest is not forced upon him. It’s permitted by him.

Jesus is showing that he has the power to stop his arrest. He could summon a legion of angels to overcome any army. His divine word, the same word through which the earth was formed and the stars were placed in the heavens is more than enough to knock back this army.

You see, Jesus is really in control here. And he remains in total control today. As Jesus walked forward, the disciples must have been thinking, what on earth is he doing? But Jesus knew exactly what he was doing.

He was revealing his glorious divinity. As the soldiers pick themselves up and dust themselves off, he asks again, who are you looking for? It’s almost as if he’s goading them here. You think that you’re a big army? Gives you the power to come and take me? You thought you could just come along and take me? Why don’t you come and get me? This is the Jesus that we trust.

This is the saviour that we depend on. So perhaps a little sheepishly, they reply again, Jesus of Nazareth. Even now they’re sticking to the script.

Even now that the supernatural power has been on display, it doesn’t deter them from their task. They’re not changed by encountering the divinity of Christ. But this time Jesus adds a startling command in verse eight.

(18:01 – 18:16)

I told you that I am he. If it is me you are looking for, let these men go. In that moment, Jesus is not only revealing his divine power, he’s also protecting his disciples.

(18:18 – 19:55)

The disciples knew that Jesus was the main target here, but they must have known that the soldiers were coming for them too. And once again, Jesus shows his power, not to harm, but to protect his fearful followers in the midst of the chaos that they were facing. John reminds us of the promise Jesus had made to them earlier in the upper room in John 17, just a few hours earlier, where he said, while I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe.

But that name you gave me, by that name you gave me, none has been lost except the one doomed destruction, so that scriptures would be fulfilled. Here, Jesus’ power is not only to reveal his identity, it’s to protect his people. He not only has the desire to keep his promise, he also has the power to deliver it.

But it’s not only the 11 disciples that Jesus protects, he cares for all who belong to him. Jesus promised to protect his disciples while he was with them, but what about us? We no longer physically have him with us. So are we just left to our own devices, to travel through life alone, unprotected, ready to be picked off by Satan, to fall into despair or the snares of sin? No!

(19:58 – 20:27)

Jesus promises his disciples at the point of his departure, at the point of him going up to heaven, that he would remain with disciples, and by implication, with us, too. If you trust in Christ, any of you here today, if you trust in Christ, you belong to him. You’re his sheep, you belong to him, and he will be with you always.

(20:29 – 20:48)

He works powerfully through his spirit, his word, and through his church to protect us from harm. Maybe you’re here and you’re wracked with anxiety or guilt. Maybe you feel weak and overwhelmed by the struggles in your life.

(20:50 – 21:15)

Bring it to him. Bring it to the one who truly is in control at Gethsemane, and who remains in control today, and watches over you and keeps you safe. So remember, firstly, that Jesus followed God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid it, and he did that for you.

(21:17 – 21:38)

Remember, secondly, that he asserts God’s power for you and your protection. Thirdly, remember that he blocks all interference. Even when fear surrounds his friends, even when armies come, armed to arrest him, Jesus stands unshaken.

(21:39 – 21:56)

Verses 10 and 11, in the middle of the chaos, Peter isn’t ready to let Jesus go. He’s not willing to give him up to the Jewish authorities. He knows what’s going to happen.

(21:58 – 22:24)

So he seeks to take control himself by taking matters into his own hands. So he draws his short sword and lunges at one of the soldiers, a man named Malchus, and the sword slips and slices off this man’s ear. Now, John doesn’t tell us what happens next.

(22:24 – 22:46)

We have to read Luke’s account to see that Jesus healed Malchus’s ear. But there’s a reason for that, because John wants us to focus on what Jesus says to Peter. He wants us to see this as a teaching moment for his disciples and for us.

(22:47 – 23:20)

So he rebukes Peter, put your sword away, shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? The cup, as we’ve seen already, is biblical language for God’s judgement. We see it echoed in Isaiah and in the Psalms, and it points us to the cross that looms over Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He had asked if there was any way to avoid drinking this cup.

(23:20 – 23:39)

Now he has resolved to drink it. Nothing, not fear, nor violence, not even loyalty from his closest friends, would block God’s plan from being fulfilled. Jesus stood firm in God’s plan for us.

(23:40 – 24:01)

He would not allow Peter’s attempt to take control to deter him from the path of the cross. And that gives us confidence for today. Because if Jesus had gone Peter’s way, if he’d avoided the cup of suffering, your and my salvation would have been lost.

(24:02 – 24:24)

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t follow Peter’s way of salvation, nor does he follow our way of salvation. He trusts in and follows God’s way of salvation. And just as he called Peter to trust his way, he calls us to do the same thing.

(24:26 – 24:33)

We all think we know best. Well, I know I do. But we don’t.

(24:36 – 24:44)

We don’t know best. We want to go our own way. We want to go with our own instincts.

(24:44 – 24:58)

We want to go in our own strength. Think of it a bit like tuning a radio in a car when you get the static. The interference, the signal comes in faint and unclear.

(25:00 – 25:27)

Fear, anxiety, temptation, or even our own impulses can drown out God’s voice if we try to go our own way. But Jesus blocks out all interference. Nothing can disrupt his plan, and nothing can drown out his voice when we tune in to him.

(25:29 – 25:52)

His way, and only his way, leads to life. His way, and only his way, leads to salvation. And through it all, he shows us that nothing, no fear, no violence, no misguided loyalty can block God’s plan.

(25:54 – 26:09)

Jesus blocks out all interference, and he calls us to trust him and follow his way. Jesus is in total control. We see it firstly because he followed God’s plan.

(26:09 – 26:18)

We see it secondly because he asserts God’s power. We see it thirdly because he blocks all interference. And fourthly, we see it because he claims God’s victory.

(26:20 – 26:39)

After everything that unfolded in the previous verses, if you’re reading this for the first time, you might expect another dramatic turn to happen. Surely this guy is not going to be defeated. They can’t kill off the main character, as I often say to my wife when I’m watching a series on the TV.

(26:40 – 27:06)

After all the tension of the soldier’s arrival, after the staggering backward at Jesus’ words, after Peter’s desperate swing of the sword, verses 12 and 13 feel a bit anticlimactic. John writes, with striking calm, then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought him first to Annas.

(27:07 – 27:21)

No drama, no struggle, no resistance. Jesus is arrested, he’s bound, and he’s taken. And to everyone watching, there is only one conclusion.

(27:22 – 27:29)

This is defeat. The soldiers appear to have won. The authorities appear to have won.

(27:30 – 27:44)

The enemies of Jesus appear to have won. This is certainly what the disciples were thinking. The other gospel accounts tell us that despite his promise of protection, they fled, fearful, anxious, overwhelmed.

(27:46 – 28:03)

They think this is the beginning of the end. Even Peter, who moments earlier swung a sword in a bold defence, will soon deny even knowing Jesus to a servant girl. But notice Jesus is not overpowered.

(28:04 – 28:24)

He submits himself willingly. In verse 13, we’re told that Jesus was brought into Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the current high priest. Now, even though he wasn’t the current high priest, a high priest role was something that would go beyond retirement.

(28:25 – 28:56)

So people would go to the former high priest because it would be like once high priest, always high priest. And John reminds us of the words of Caiaphas, the high priest, who had told the Jewish leaders, it is better for one man to die for the people. You see, what Caiaphas meant to be political, he thought that by eliminating Jesus, he could prevent a Roman crackdown on the Jewish nation.

(28:58 – 29:16)

But we know the irony of this, don’t we? And John wants us to see the irony of this. He wants to remind us that as what looked like a defeat was actually the pathway to ultimate victory. Jesus went to the cross.

(29:16 – 29:39)

He submitted himself to death in order to win the victory over sin, over guilt, over shame, and over death itself. Same Jesus was in total control of his own destiny, that same Jesus is in total control of yours. The application is clear.

(29:40 – 30:05)

When life feels chaotic or unfair, remember that Jesus is in control. Even when events seem like defeat, when fear, failure, or pressure tempt you to take matters into your own hands, trust him to guide your steps. When the world seems to be winning, cling to the one who has already claimed ultimate victory.

(30:07 – 30:19)

Jesus is in control. He follows God’s plan against the natural pull to avoid. He asserts God’s power over fear and chaos.

(30:19 – 30:36)

He blocks out all interference and he claims God’s victory over apparent defeat. And because he is in control, we can trust him. And we can step forward in life with confidence.

(30:38 – 30:58)

Even when the path is hard, uncertain, or painful. Let’s take a moment to reflect and then I’ll pray. Father, we come to you in total need of your grace.

(31:00 – 31:14)

We don’t come as strong people, we come as weak people. And we shouldn’t come as proud people, but we should come as humble people. Because we remember what you have done for us, not what we have done for you.

(31:17 – 31:36)

Father, we thank you that Jesus was willing to go the hard path for us. Thank you that he was willing to go God’s way. Thank you that he showed his power but didn’t use it for his own sake, but used it for the protection of his people.

(31:38 – 31:57)

Thank you that he zoned in, focused on the path he was led onto, not allowing interference to get in the way. And thank you that he claimed the victory over sin, and Satan, and death. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The post Who’s Really in Control Here? – John 18v1–1 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:21 – 0:37)

So let’s hear God’s word together, Romans chapter 12, starting at verse 17. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

(0:37 – 2:55)

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, it is mine to avenge. I will repay, says the Lord.

On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This is the word of God. Last April, I attended a conference on spiritual abuse.

Some of you might be familiar with that term. It’s the misuse of spiritual or pastoral authority in order to manipulate or exploit someone. And at one of the sessions, some research was shared on how churches have often mishandled abuse situations of all types.

So for example, the misuse or misapplication of biblical truths. Texts on obeying husbands being used to excuse bullying and coercion. Texts on divorce being used to pressurise partners to stay in abusive marriages.

Texts about sacrifice and supporting gospel work used to exploit people financially. But perhaps the most shocking of all, texts about forgiveness being used to silence victims and allow perpetrators of serious offences to be excused. It’s a reminder that such as the corruption of the human heart, that even precious and beautiful truths like forgiveness can be, if we’re not very careful, sinfully twisted, which is why this part of our series on forgiveness is really important.

(2:56 – 4:48)

The question of how do we both hold forgiveness and justice together in an appropriate and God honouring way? Because as we’ve observed from the start of this series, our current culture uses justice to stamp in forgiveness, but equally we don’t want a church where forgiveness just stamps out justice. It’s very important to state that the Bible never uses forgiveness to undermine civic or civil justice. Paul is very clear in places like Romans 13, that government is a gift of God given to keep order in the world.

Indeed, one of the primary functions of government, to paraphrase the authorised version of Romans, you’ll see the verse on the screen in a moment, but just to paraphrase to, “Do what is right and you will be commended,” Paul says, but “for the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason”. Or to put it as the AV used to put it, which I always quite liked, “Authorities and governments are there to be a praise to them that do good and a terror to evildoers”.

In other words, if you’ve committed a crime, you should take the medicine. Paul in Acts 25, when he was being accused of various crimes like sedition said, if he was guilty of doing anything deserving of death, he refused not to die. In other words, Paul was quite clear, if I’ve committed a crime, then I’ll take the consequences.

(4:49 – 7:17)

So if you get a fine on the way home tonight for speeding, cough up. That means that if a crime is committed, it should be reported and dealt with by the God ordained authorities. Apart from anything else, not to do so would just be to create a lawless society.

And of course the people who suffer most in a lawless society are the weak and vulnerable, the people who can’t defend themselves. But that doesn’t mean, of course, that if you’re a victim of crime, that you can’t still forgive the person who has sinned against you at a personal level. We can recognise, can’t we, we can hold these things together, that while there are rightly functional consequences to sin, we don’t want our hearts to become bitter and grudging towards others.

A personal example that I’ve used before in Greenview, years ago when I was working in the co-op at the old Pollock Centre, now Silverburn, I was stabbed by a shoplifter. So if I ever do two truths and a lie, and one of them is I was stabbed trying to get a bottle of gin off somebody, that is actually true. And he stabbed me, ran off, later it went to court, and he got two and a half years in prison.

And those were the days, I don’t think they would do that now, but they printed the guy’s name and address in the Evening Times, because there was a little article about it when it went to court. And so I wrote to him, and I didn’t put my own address on it, I put my own name on it, because he knew who that would be. But I just said, you know, I didn’t bear any grudge against him, I was sorry that whatever his life had been, it led him to that point of desperation, and I prayed that he would find new life and forgiveness and a new start in Christ, and I enclosed a little copy of John’s Gospel.

What became of that, I don’t know. But while that was, to be honest, relatively easy for me to do, there are other offences that people have been the victim of that will be a lot harder. And even in church life, as we’ve already highlighted, sin can still have consequences.

(7:18 – 14:01)

There are sins and patterns of sin that ought to be challenged and confronted, which in some cases might require a measure of formal church discipline. So a person might need to be excluded from certain activities or asked to make amends, none of which is to be vindictive or is being incompatible with personal compassion, but it recognises that such is the severity of some kind of sins within the church, that a more formal accountability is appropriate. But moving down to perhaps where a lot of these issues hit the ground for us, moving down from those kind of disciplinary or those kind of statutory offences, what about those unfairnesses, grievances, insults, mistreatments, and little injustices that have broken no laws, but nonetheless have left us deeply wounded, that can often gnaw away at us and cause ongoing anger, poor, selfish words and behaviour against us, perhaps all the more upsetting when they’ve come from fellow Christians.

Is there any justice there? Or is forgiveness just a big brush to sweep them all under the carpet? Well, that’s why it’s been helpful to read Romans 12 this evening, because there I think we do find some help and guidance. Just to put that passage in its context, Paul, of course, is writing about a whole range of practical issues to do with Christian living. He’s come out of his great kind of exposition of the gospel, and in chapter 12, famously, he bumps it down to earth in terms of, well, what does that mean for everyday life? And crucially in verse 1, he wants us to live in the light in view of God’s mercy.

And he goes through various implications of that. And then in verses 14 to 16, just immediately before our reading, he talks about how we are to interact with other people in godly and other person-centred ways. So rejoice with the rejoicing, mourn with the mourning, seek harmony, verse 16, be humble, put other people first above yourself, even to the extent, verse 14, of blessing those who persecute you.

And of course, when Paul talks about persecution, that’s not a glib line. In first century Rome, as in 21st century Nigeria or Iran or China, persecution could be pretty fierce and pretty nasty. Personal assault, discrimination, exclusion, slander, threats.

And so Paul expands on verse 17 on what blessing your persecutors might actually look like. Firstly then, don’t repay evil for evil, verse 17. That is, don’t get into a cycle of tit for tat.

In the first century, that might mean don’t go and burn your persecutor’s house down because they might have done that to you. In our context, that might more realistically mean don’t knock their bins over or block their parking space. It means not gossiping or trashing people that you feel aggrieved by.

No, your responsibility, verse 17, is to do what is right, to treat others well, to try and live at peace with others, verse 18. You can’t control the behaviour of others, but you can control your own. So don’t make the situation worse.

Don’t add to the sin. Verse 19, do not take revenge. Now, I guess we all know this stuff, don’t we? In many ways, it’s kind of Christianity 101.

It’s the golden rule. Treat other people the way you would want to be treated. But it’s no less tough and challenging for that.

Indeed, restraining ourselves in those kind of situations is one of the hardest things that we’re called to do in practise. Sometimes I think we read this stuff, don’t we, and we think, thanks Paul, so basically I have to become a human doormat. But Paul doesn’t stop there.

Indeed, he says something that today, for many people, would probably sound quite unchristian in verse 19. He says, do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. It is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord.

You see, it’s not that we are to forget about justice, or that there is no justice, but that we are to leave justice in the hands of God. If people have sinned against us, they will give an account of that sin to God. I guess it’s a bit analogous to civic or civil justice.

That’s why we don’t become vigilantes. We don’t appoint ourselves as judge and juries when a crime has been committed against us. We let the police and the courts do their job.

One of the reasons, of course, that we leave civic justice in the hands of the state and those authorities is that generally they will be better resourced and able to ensure that the outcome is fair and proportionate. It’s actually why leaving justice in the hands of God is a blessing. Because what if we’re wrong? What if I got the wrong end of the stick? What if I’ve misunderstood the situation? What if I’ve jumped to conclusions that aren’t entirely fair? Or maybe another side for some of us, maybe we’ve been too trusting and too naive about another person’s behaviour.

(14:02 – 14:26)

Well, either way, God knows the truth. He will call sin to account and He will judge it with the absolute fairness and exactly as it deserves to be. Trusting God with justice is a kind of safety valve, isn’t it? It actually protects us from overreaction, but also from regret.

(14:26 – 15:03)

Perhaps that we were too naive. But of course, you might be thinking, but hold on a minute, what if my adversary is a Christian? They’re not going to be judged. So does that mean that Christians can behave any old way? Behave poorly and just they walk away scot-free? Well, I think it’s helpful to consider what kind of justice are we looking for? One of my responsibilities in FIEC is to oversee, for want of a better word, the complaints team.

(15:04 – 15:52)

When complaints come in, complaints of a non-criminal nature, because if they were for a criminal nature any allegations of statutory breaches, we say contact the police, contact the appropriate authorities. We’re not a substitute for them. Let them do their job.

But complaints that come in that aren’t criminal but are perhaps to do with poor behaviour, either by leaders or that it’s felt that leaders aren’t dealing with adequately, then those come to a little team that I’m involved in. And of course, people only come to FIEC with those kind of complaints if they feel pretty strongly about them. But by and large, the complainants aren’t looking to punish people.

(15:53 – 16:56)

What they want is generally just an acknowledgement, a recognition of the harm they feel that has been done to them. They just want the offender to take responsibility to realise, ideally apologise for the wrong they feel that they have suffered. They just want the truth to be known.

And we can trust God with that too. Because in the day of Christ Jesus, all will be revealed, the good and the bad. Jesus said this in Luke chapter 12, there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.

What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight and what you have whispered in the ear and the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roof. The truth will out. Leaving justice in the hands of God is a mark of faith, but also a blessing.

(16:59 – 17:20)

Rather, on the contrary, says Paul, you’re to respond with proactive kindness. Verse 20, push towards those who persecute you, who have done you wrong. Verse 21, don’t just refrain from knocking over their bins, pick them up.

(17:21 – 18:14)

Because in doing so, you will heap burning coals on their heads. In other words, your kindness in that situation, your better behaviour, your godliness will expose their unkindness. It will put them to shame.

But I take it the point of that is not that that is some kind of backdoor to punishment and vindictiveness, but that the people might be convicted of their sin and seek forgiveness themselves. We know, don’t we, that just battering somebody rarely changes a heart? But undeserved kindness and grace is an incredibly powerful thing. Paul highlights this in Romans chapter 2. Again, it’ll be on the screen.

(18:15 – 20:24)

Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? God is so merciful and so giving, He sends the rain both on the righteous and the wicked. He gives so many good gifts to those who reject Him. His kindness is there that they might, Romans chapter 12, be put to shame.

But in doing so, seek His mercy, seek His forgiveness. A while back, I read the book Betrayal.

I think there’ll be a picture of it on the screen. It’s the book that was subsequently made into the film Spotlight. It’s about the Boston Globe investigation into what was the Roman Catholic Church’s cover-up of historic child abuse in the United States.

Very important to say that lots of churches and groups have failed in similar ways. It’s a pretty tough read. I partly read it because of my wider responsibilities, but be advised if you read it, it is pretty tough.

But in it, I’m not sure if this is in the film, I haven’t seen the film, one of the people who had been abused gets his story and testimony as outlined. A man called Tom Blanchett. He had been sexually abused, or as the book maybe just more honestly puts it, molested by a priest on several occasions as a child, as an 11-year-old boy.

Amazingly, Tom Blanchett found faith later on in the Episcopalian Church. But he struggled with the effects of what had happened to him into his adult life. He writes at one point, my cup was always 95% filled with anger.

(20:26 – 21:35)

And in 1998, 25 years after these offences had taken place, he went to see the priest who had abused him. And after introducing himself, he said he wanted to talk to the priest about what the priest had done to him. And the priest, Father Birmingham, response initially was very defensive and self-justifying.

Let me read directly from the book. Tom pressed on. What you did to us, and to me specifically, was wrong, and you had no right to do that.

The priest stared unblinkingly into Tom’s eyes, waiting but unprepared for what came next. Having said that, said Tom, it brings me to the real reason I’ve come here. The real reason I’ve come here is to ask you to forgive me for the hatred and resentment that I felt towards you for the last 25 years.

(21:37 – 22:56)

When I said that, he stood up. And then in what I would describe as a demonic voice, he said, why are you asking me to forgive you? And through tears, I said, because the Bible tells me to love my enemies and to pray for those who persecute me. Tom said the priest collapsed as if he’d been punched in the chest.

The priest dissolved into tears, and soon Tom too was crying. Tom asked if he could visit again. The priest explained that he was under tight restrictions at the rectory.

He was not allowed to leave the grounds except in the company of an adult. Tom would not see the priest again until a year later, just hours before his death. He was now an 80-pound skeleton with skin, dying of cancer.

I knelt down next to him and held his hand and began to pray. Dear Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I ask you to heal Father Birmingham’s body, mind, and soul. I put my hand over his heart and said, Father, forgive him all his sins.

(22:58 – 23:25)

He died the next morning. It’s only the gospel that can enable that, because only the cross enables forgiveness while not blinking at justice. It shouts out, this is because of your sin, and it says here also is God’s love for sinners.

(23:28 – 26:09)

It’s a very precious and Christ-like thing to bless those who curse you, because it costs. It’s painful to be sinned against, to absorb selfishness and mistreatment, but to do so is to walk in the footsteps of Jesus himself. Jesus, of course, is our supreme model in all this, as Peter wrote in his first letter.

Jesus, who when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for the gospel, and we want to thank you for Jesus who in himself was made all that obnoxious, hateful, destructive, vile sin, who took the punishment, the consequences upon whose head justice fell, that the guilty might be rescued, restored, given a second chance to go free. Father, very aware that we have touched on some very sensitive, potentially painful, personal things tonight.

Father, we pray that all of us in this place might know your grace, and those for whom perhaps what has been said tonight is particularly painful, and personal, and near, might find the support, and the help, and the love, and the care that they need even as they wrestle with all that your word would call us to do. Father, we commit ourselves into your hands. We pray that we would be those who by grace would be able to extend goodness in the face of evil, to bless those who persecute us, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus himself.

Father, have mercy on us, and hear our prayers we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The post Is There Still Room For Justice – Romans 12v17–21 appeared first on Greenview Church.

You’re on our prayer news, so it’s good to put a bunch of faces to that name, Greenview Church. Good to be here. Please do, if you’ve got a Bible, open it up again to page 670, to that passage in the book of Ecclesiastes, which Lucy read for us earlier.

Now, this is a confronting book in many ways, an interesting book, and yeah, I hope it will confront us this morning, but it’s also a really encouraging book in a lot of ways. So we’re going to look at this this morning, and please do follow along as I go through. But I want to start with a question, a question which the teacher who’s writing this book asks in this passage.

He says, what do people gain from all their labours at which they toil under the sun? Now, maybe some of you have asked yourself a similar question. What’s the purpose of life? Where in life can I find lasting satisfaction? Why am I here? Why are any of us here? What’s the secret to happiness? What’s the point of it all? These sorts of existential questions have been asked by people as long as men have been thinking. There’s something deep in us which just craves for meaning, an inconsolable part of us which just longs for purpose.

And people through the ages have given many different responses to this question of life’s meaning. Aristotle concluded that the human function was well-performed rational activity. Nietzsche went for nihilism.

Douglas Adams said 42. But what is Ecclesiastes’ answer? Well, in one of many well-known but perhaps little understood lines from the book, the teacher says, meaningless, utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless.

(2:04 – 8:59)

Maybe you’re surprised to find this sort of thing in the Bible. You wouldn’t be alone. Christians through the ages have struggled with this conclusion and indeed with much of what the teacher, the writer of this book, has to say.

Some people have even argued that this really shouldn’t be in our Bibles. These nihilistic conclusions don’t belong with the rest of the Bible’s message. Or maybe some others have suggested that it’s really just a sort of critique of atheism or secularism.

But I think that arguments like this really don’t hold up and ultimately they lead to conclusions which are just thin and dissatisfying because the book of Ecclesiastes is thoroughly biblical, consistent with all of the Bible’s teaching. We see in verse 1 that we’re reading the words of the teacher. And you don’t need to turn there just now, but at the end of the book we read these words of summary.

They say, not only was the teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The teacher searched to find just the right words and what he wrote was upright and true.

What the teacher writes is true. The Bible, the whole Bible speaks with one consistent message. And these words are part of that message.

He was a man of faith writing to other people of faith amongst God’s people. So he’s not writing to critique atheism so that the Christians can sit on their high horses and look down at the atheists. Because for one thing, there probably was no such thing as atheism at the time he was writing.

Everyone believed in one god or another. But rather he writes to challenge a superficial form of faith in God’s people. A faith which claims to offer maybe an end to struggle and difficulty here and now.

The sort of faith which says come to Jesus and see all of your problems melt away like snow in the heat of a Middle Eastern sun. Now some of you might have heard that sort of message before, but I reckon if you’ve been a Christian for more than maybe five minutes, you’ll know that it’s not true. You’ll know that actually your struggles don’t go away and often they seem to get worse.

And if you’re here and you’re not a Christian, let me tell you, Christianity will not solve all your problems overnight. But fear not, far from bringing us some sort of nihilistic message of doom, Ecclesiastes really unlocks for us a rich and liberating message. The teacher shows us throughout the book and in this passage how to find solid and lasting joy in a world that is frustrating and painful.

Not by avoiding it, not by pretending that that brokenness isn’t there, but by facing it head on. Ecclesiastes challenges, I think, our view of what Christianity is. Whether you’re a Christian here or not, I’m sure you’ve come here with ideas of what Christianity is.

You may become expecting to hear a particular type of message and I think what Ecclesiastes has to say to us might not be what you expected. The teacher calls us to face the realities of life in a broken world and he calls us to fear the ruler of life who promises a better world. So firstly I want to look at verses 1 to 11 where the teacher does call us to face the realities of life in a broken world.

And the first key to understanding the teacher and his outlook on life is to understand this word which in our translation this morning is translated meaningless. This word is almost like the teacher’s theme sentence or theme word for the book. It comes up 73 times, I think, you can check that later, 73 times in only 12 short chapters.

And in the original language it’s a Hebrew word, hebel. Other modern translations into English use words like vanity or futile. And these words capture a bit of the meaning of the words but they probably aren’t perfect words to use.

There probably actually isn’t a perfect word in English to capture the meaning of this word. But most closely this word literally translates to something like smoke or vapour. And I think actually smoke is quite a helpful idea for us to understand this word because if you think about smoke for a minute, it’s real, you can see it, but then in perhaps a matter of seconds or minutes it’s gone, just disappears.

We could replicate it, we could start a fire and get some more smoke but we can’t bring that other smoke back, it’s gone, never to be seen again. Or we could try and grasp at it to get a hold of it, we could try and bottle up but actually in doing so we probably only hasten its disappearance. And so this idea of smoke, hebel, is employed by the teacher as a metaphor for life on earth, under the sun as he calls it.

Because life is brief, ephemeral, we are transient beings. Our lives here on earth in the grand scheme of things are very short. But not only is smoke ephemeral, it’s evasive. So too with life, we just can’t quite grasp it all, we can’t get on top of it and make sense of everything.

And like smoke, the harder we try, the more it seems to evade us. The harder we try to understand it all, the more we’re frustrated at the fact that we just can’t. Just like smoke, life is brief and it’s baffling.

Now the preacher goes on to demonstrate these things to us through the poetry in verses 4 to 11. First he uses imagery from nature to make his point in verses 4 to 7. So he asks that question, what do people gain from all their labours at which they toil under the sun? Well he says, generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and then sets and then rises again, then sets again, then rises again.

The wind blows one way, then the other way, then another way, then it returns. The streams, they all keep flowing into the sea and yet the sea never fills up. The water evaporates, falls back into the streams and flows back into the sea and evaporates and on and on it goes.

And there’s nothing that we as humans can do to control this or to stop it. Relentlessly the earth carries on, nature’s course proceeds and we march to its tune. Every day the sun will rise.

(9:00 – 9:24)

We wake up and expect to see it in the morning, but it doesn’t necessarily expect to see us. Because one day creation carries on, but we’ll be gone. The earth and the natural world will roll on unimpeded, but by contrast we are fleeting, a tiny part in the whole of God’s creation.

(9:25 – 11:39)

And here’s the point, here’s the answer to the question that he asks in verse 3, what do people gain from all their labours at which they toil under the sun? Nothing, because the sun doesn’t gain anything as it rises and sets and rises and sets. The winds don’t gain anything as they go round and round. The rivers are constantly flowing into the sea and yet the sea gains nothing, it’s never filled up.

So the teacher is saying, these things which are far bigger than you, far older than you, if they don’t gain anything, why do you think you can? Why do you think you’ll come out of life better than the sun or the sea? It’s a big question. And what does it lead to? Well, look at verses 8 to 11 please and we’ll see how this plays out in the teacher’s view. The teacher says here that the cyclical repetitive reality leads to weariness.

All things are wearisome, more than one can see. Because there’s nothing in this world, nothing under the sun that can ultimately satisfy us. The eye can never see enough, the ear can never hear enough.

And that’s true, isn’t it? It’s true to our experience. Maybe you find a new TV show that you binge through but does it ultimately satisfy your eye’s appetite? When you find that new show, do you ever think, ah yes, my eyes have seen enough now, I don’t need any more. No, you either devour more and more of it until you get bored or you finish it and there’s none left.

Or maybe you’re a music lover, a new album or song comes out that you love so you listen to it over and over again but before long the next song comes out that you’re attracted to or you become sick of it because you’ve listened to it too much. Have you ever heard a song and thought, that’s it, I never need to listen to another piece of music because my ears have had their fill of hearing? Of course not. There’s nothing under the sun which is truly new and can break this cycle of repetition.

(11:40 – 12:19)

That’s the point of that famous line in verse 9, there’s nothing new under the sun. Yes, there are new inventions, new iterations of things, new technological advances, seemingly endless in fact but maybe that’s the point, that actually the innovation is seemingly endless such that every new invention is outdated so quickly and it does nothing to satisfy us in a lasting manner. Your new iPhone seems amazing until the day its successor is announced and it suddenly seems deficient and its value drops by what 300 pounds so you start to eye up the new model.

(12:20 – 13:11)

Five years time it’s as good as worthless both in cash value and to your insatiable appetite for novelty. So it fades out of memory, it’s simply a forgotten step in innovation somewhere on the journey to the present and this is true of everything. There is nothing under the sun which is new and stays new, nothing which is evergreen.

Everything new soon gets old and then it’s gone, forgotten. But the teacher says in verse 11 this does not just apply to iPhones, it applies to us because no one remembers the former generations. Even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

(13:13 – 13:46)

Generations come and go and before long they slip out of memory. How many generations can you remember back in your family? Do you know your great-grandmother’s name? I know I don’t. If you do, do you know where they lived? Do you know what they did for work? Who their friends were? What made them laugh? This was the person who raised and shaped your grandparents in so many ways.

(13:48 – 14:02)

But now she’s gone, a distant memory. And the teacher wants us to front up to the fact that that will be us one day. We too will fade into the past and ultimately we’ll be forgotten.

(14:04 – 17:23)

These are the realities of life in a broken world. I’m sure you could recognise some of it, if not all of it, and this passage is forcing us not to hide from that, but to face it. So what are we to make of all of this? Is it actually all hopeless and empty? Should we just despair? Is life really just meaningless? Well, no.

Verses 12 to 15 hint to us of a better story by pointing us beyond these realities of life to the ruler of life. These verses call us to fear the ruler of life who promises a better world. The teacher now tells us more of his credentials and what he’s set out to do in his project and in his book that he is writing.

He’s been the king over Israel, reached the highest place, and he applied his mind to study and to explore by wisdom everything that is done. But notice in verse 13, everything that’s done where? This time not under the sun, but under heaven. So the teacher has not confined the object of his study to the finite.

He’s not an atheist or a secularist, as some might claim. In fact, he is a man of faith. He knows that there is more to consider which makes sense of the problems he’s wrestled with, which makes sense of life with all its pain.

He realises that if you want to explain and understand life on earth, you have to look beyond life on earth. And this makes sense, I think, doesn’t it? If life is so frustrating, repetitive, ungraspable, when we keep our focus on things that are merely temporary, we need to look beyond things which are merely temporary. If our focus is on things which don’t last, then obviously we’re not going to find lasting gain from these things.

In fact, the teacher’s point is that if we are coming to life asking, what can I gain? We’re asking the wrong question. Because what if life isn’t about gain? What if satisfaction in life isn’t found by asking what we can get out of it? What if life is not just limited to things in the natural world and things we can see all around us? What if life hasn’t come about out of nowhere and isn’t just headed nowhere, but actually there is a God who made it all, a God who is in control of it all, and a God who is directing it all to a purposeful end? That’s a very different picture. The teacher says here in verse 13, what a heavy burden God has laid on mankind.

(17:25 – 18:25)

I’ve seen all the things that are done under the sun. All of them are meaningless, a chasing after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened.

What is lacking cannot be counted. The teacher recognises that the reason for this futility, the reason for the frustrations of life on earth is that God has subjected creation to futility. God who rules over creation has placed a heavy burden on mankind.

Again, perhaps this wasn’t the message you expected to hear this morning. This might not seem like a very good argument for Christianity, but this is what the Bible teaches. This is what happens in Genesis chapter 3. God places a curse on the world, which makes work painful, difficult, futile.

(18:27 – 18:49)

Well, why, you might ask, why would he do this? Why on earth would I want to worship a God who would do this? It’s perverse. It’s disgusting. Well, we can point the finger at God, but in reality, it’s not because God is perverse that the world is the way it is, but because we are.

(18:53 – 20:06)

Because God didn’t create things this way in the beginning. If you read those first two chapters of the Bible in Genesis, it’s a very different picture that we see there. Just like in this passage, you’ll see the sun and the waters and the land and everything else in God’s creation.

But in Genesis, instead of a picture of futility, it’s a picture of harmony. There’s purpose and there’s direction instead of frustration and weariness. That was how things were meant to be.

It was our rejection of God that brought this about. It was our perversity which ruptured that relationship between our creator and us. That’s the reality.

That’s the story that comes before the curse in Genesis chapter three, that story of Adam and Eve disobeying, rejecting God because they wanted to be like God themselves. And so God has subjected the world to futility. And as a result, we cannot, cannot find lasting satisfaction in the things the world has to offer.

(20:08 – 21:22)

What’s crooked can’t be straightened. What’s lacking can’t be counted. Later in the book, in chapter seven, the teacher asked a similar question asking, who can make straight what he has made crooked? And the answer, of course, is that nobody can except Him.

The answer cannot be found on earth. And so the answer has to come from heaven down to earth. And wonderfully, the message of the Bible is that God is doing this.

He is bringing this about because God has sent his son, Jesus, into the world to bring this about. Even in our rebellion against him, even with his wonderful creation subjected to such futility, still God loved us so much that he wouldn’t leave us in the mess that we’ve created. And so he came himself in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus, to straighten out what was crooked, to bring us hope.

(21:24 – 26:17)

And this restoration isn’t just a patch-up. It’s not a quick top-up that might go wrong again, no. Jesus said, I have come so that they might have life to the full.

Everything that is lacking in this world, as the teacher says, cannot even be counted. But Jesus came to fill that lack. He promises he is making all things new.

A new heavens and a new earth. Everything will be made as God intended it to be, better than it ever was before. But the way this comes about is through judgement.

The present world, all its inhabitants, past, present, and future, are passing away. Because God is bringing all things under his righteous judgement. The evil and the brokenness which causes our pain and our perplexity, it will be judged.

That will be how it is destroyed, is the only way it can happen. But the message of the Bible is that there is a way that we can be safe in that judgement, that we can come through that judgement, that we can share wonderfully in this new heavens and new earth. The answer is not under the sun, at least not under the sun which we look at in the sky.

But the answer is to humble ourselves under the rule of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus. The answer is not to be found in any strategy or any government policy or any scientific discovery. It can’t be found in anything at all that we do.

Because the answer is the person of the Lord Jesus. Because he came and took that judgement, which we deserve, upon himself. Because all of us, if we’re honest, are contributors to the mess we see around us, to the futility and the pain.

We’re not mere victims in this. All of us, every day, do things, think things, and say things harmful to others. Or we fail to do things, think things, and say things which are loving to others.

We fail to acknowledge God’s kindness to us. And so judgement is what we deserve. But Jesus’ death means we can have forgiveness for our sin, hope of this better world where we are made perfect.

Indeed, everything is made perfect. Because Jesus didn’t just die, but Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus ascended into heaven and is ruling from there.

And he promises a better world to all who will turn away from their sin and come to him for rest. He is bringing a new creation where pain is no more, where tears are no more, where struggle is no more, where dissatisfaction is no more, where grief is no more, where injustice is no more, where death is no more, because sin is no more. And so humanity will be able to live joyfully under the loving rule of the God who made us and sent his Son to remake us.

This is the future which God has promised to his people. And it is a future promise. Life here now on earth under the sun will still be brief.

(26:19 – 26:29)

It will still be in many ways baffling. There will still be bitterness. Because sin is not yet gone from our hearts or anyone else’s.

(26:32 – 27:04)

Jesus doesn’t offer us a quick fix to all our problems here and now. He said to his followers, in this world, you will have tribulation. But he didn’t stop there.

He said, take heart, for I have overcome the world. And because of that, we mustn’t miss the fact that there is also real beauty in this life for the believer. Yes, creation will continue to run in its cycles.

(27:05 – 29:01)

But when we recognise that we will never gain anything ultimately in these things under the sun, we can start to appreciate them for what they are as wonderful gifts of God. When we start to see life as gift and not gain, we start to see the beauty of life, all the fuller, even along with the brevity, the bitterness and that bafflement. We start to appreciate that though the sun gains nothing in its constant cycles of rising and setting, that there are few more beautiful things in this world than to watch the sun rising and setting as it paints technicolour washes over the sky. We begin to rejoice more in our work and the pleasure of making things, discovering things, doing things, even though ultimately none of them will be everlastingly new. None of them will solve our problems.

Yet we rejoice in the process. We are free to enjoy the arts. We take joy in the TV shows and the music that we love, even though their appeal is passing.

Because in them, we are no longer seeking our whole meaning. We’re no longer seeking gain in these things, but we are recognising them as what they are, good gifts from our good God. Friends, Ecclesiastes does have a really confronting message for all of us.

It really bursts the bubble of so much of what our society lives for. Pulls the rug from under the feet of our elevated expectations for what we might expect to get out of life, even as Christians. And maybe it forces us to question what we are really living for.

(29:04 – 32:04)

Are you living wholeheartedly for the Lord Jesus as the ruler of your life? Are you living and seeking satisfaction only in the things of this world? Or maybe you’re trying to live with a foot in both camps. It is a confronting message. But ultimately, it is a message which can provide us with great liberation and joy in the knowledge of our forgiveness, our peace with God, and that promise that He is bringing in His new creation, a world where there is no more pain, no more struggle, no more frustration, no more weariness.

And that joy is found in only one place, and it’s by facing up to the reality of life in this broken world. And it’s by trusting in the Lord Jesus, the ruler of life, who promises us a better world. Let’s respond in prayer.

Take a few moments in the quiet to respond yourself, and then I’ll pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are real with us, and that your word shows to us reality. It explains reality to us.

Father, we thank you that it can bring us comfort, even in the darkest pain. Thank you that you are with us in our struggles and our difficulties, that you are ruling over this world and in control of this world, and you are bringing it about to a purposeful end. And on that day, we will see and understand how all of our struggle and pain was part of that plan in a way which we cannot understand now.

So help us, Lord, to trust you. Help us to walk faithfully under your rule, to look always to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus, to be reminded of the comfort we have in life and in death, and that we are not our own, but we belong to Him. And we pray these things in his name.

Amen.

The post Try Church – Ecclesiastes 1v1–15 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:26 – 0:44)

But if they will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church. And if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

(0:45 – 1:05)

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them.

(1:08 – 1:27)

We’ve been learning that scripture calls us to be kind, compassionate, patient and have a deep love towards one another so that we forgive one another. In practise that means covering over many sins against us. It’s a loving thing to do.

(1:27 – 1:53)

Yet we know and experience situations where covering over is not the wise or right option. Where sin blows the covers off. When harmful patterns continue, when someone drifts further into sin, when others are harmed and into these moments, into these situations, love is meant to speak and act too.

(1:54 – 2:33)

So Paul writes to the Ephesian church to say that we’re all called to speak truth and love so that we grow into the likeness of Jesus. Confrontation therefore is an act of love, of grace, aimed at maturity and growth bringing darkness into light, reducing or removing destruction, harm, evil even. And done wisely with care, it reflects the heart of Christ that we love people so deeply that we don’t want to leave people caught up in what is destroying them and others.

(2:33 – 2:47)

Yet it’s not easy. When we’re sinned against, we can fall into unhelpful responses. When we’re sinned against, we can fall into unhelpful responses.

(2:47 – 3:04)

Some appease. They look for ways to satisfy the other person, make concessions, sacrifice truth simply to keep the peace. Others just ignore the issue, pretend it doesn’t exist, hope it disappears.

(3:05 – 3:22)

And others try to win, pressing their case in ways that can put down the person, damage the relationship. But scripture calls us to a wiser path. Sometimes love yields, it makes way.

(3:23 – 3:43)

Also as we’ve been thinking previously, love sometimes waits because now is not the time. But sometimes love calls us to confront when sin cannot be ignored or covered over. Yet most of us don’t enjoy that confrontation.

(3:43 – 3:55)

And if you do, then let me suggest that could be a problem. However, even when we know it is necessary, we hesitate. We don’t want to appear harsh.

(3:56 – 4:07)

We fear misunderstanding or damaging relationships. So doing nothing often feels easier. Confrontation feels costly because it is.

(4:07 – 4:17)

It risks tension, emotional exposure. We can be vulnerable. And the Bible is realistic about this.

(4:18 – 4:42)

Jesus himself teaches that we should go to the brother or sister who sins, yet he doesn’t promise they will listen. Paul calls believers to restore those caught in sin, yet warning them to watch their own hearts as they do so. Hebrews reminds us that discipline is painful rather than pleasant.

(4:43 – 4:55)

Yet loving confrontation matters. It’s rarely comfortable or easy. Avoiding pain may feel peaceful, but it’s not the same as pursuing true peace.

(4:56 – 5:09)

And part of the difficulty comes from the culture around us. Forgiveness is often seen as a kind of private affair, an emotional release that helps us move on. And there’s a certain peace that does come.

(5:09 – 5:23)

We thought about that in Psalm 32. But when forgiveness is only about a personal inward feeling, then we may think confrontation is unnecessary. Yet scripture presents forgiveness as relational.

(5:23 – 5:37)

And it aims at reconciliation, not simply personal release. It also can be hard because culture has such a strong focus on personal autonomy. We’re in charge.

(5:38 – 5:58)

And so if somebody confronts, they can be quickly labelled as judgemental. How dare you speak to me about that? So accountability is framed as oppressive rather than caring. And we have to say too that responsibility lies on both sides.

(5:59 – 6:11)

Those confronted all too often react defensively. And they shut down a conversation. And so that discourages honest engagement.

(6:12 – 6:25)

But you know, we can also remember that past experiences maybe have gone badly. Words have been said clumsily, maybe harshly. People have misunderstood motives.

(6:26 – 6:39)

And these memories make people hesitant to try again. And so silence just feels safer. Some of us feel disqualified because we know our own sin.

(6:41 – 6:51)

So we just stop there. Assuming imperfect people should not, should just stay silent. Yet scripture does not say only perfect people may confront.

(6:52 – 7:01)

Rather it calls us to a way of confronting. Which includes humility and gentleness. And awareness of our own need of grace.

(7:04 – 7:17)

Maybe too the issue is simply apathy or indifference. We just simply might not love enough. But let’s think about when and wherefore and therefore what should be confronted.

(7:17 – 7:31)

So what about when overlooking is no longer wise or the right choice. Now we’re speaking now about serious sins. Or sins that have become serious through persistence and the effect that they have.

(7:34 – 7:50)

These are behaviours that are endangering a person’s spiritual, emotional, physical well-being. Or that the damage, there is damage potentially to the unity and fellowship of a church, a group of people. And this is what Jesus is speaking into.

(7:53 – 8:03)

In a previous, in another book in Luke chapter 17. Jesus says if your brother or sister sins, rebuke them. And in the verses that we’ve just read.

(8:03 – 8:24)

Jesus says if your brother or sister sins, go and point out their faults. Well what sins are in view here? What are those that no longer belong to the covering over with love variety? Well scripture provides some help. First of all, clear violations of God’s word.

(8:25 – 8:37)

When scripture speaks plainly and a person persists in disobedience. This is especially true when behaviours is out of keeping with God’s word. What God calls us to.

(8:37 – 8:50)

When there’s false teaching, we’ve heard about that in 1 Timothy there. Or when there’s disruption to unity within the church. And the New Testament is full of admonitions and ethics on how people are to live.

(8:51 – 9:06)

But what about habitual or persistent patterns of sin? The idea of persistence is important. So Galatians 6 speaks of restoring someone who is caught in sin. Entangled in a pattern, rather than stumbling occasionally.

(9:07 – 9:21)

Hebrews 3 also warns that sin left unaddressed hardens the heart over time. And when a destructive pattern becomes evident. Perhaps a moral failure, a secret sin.

(9:22 – 9:40)

A repeated harmful conduct is being exposed. Well loving confrontation seeks to rescue before deeper damage ensues. But also, what about public or scandalous sin? In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about this.

(9:41 – 9:52)

Where he confronts a situation where serious public sin had been tolerated. The issue was not only the behaviour itself. But also the church’s pride in overlooking it.

(9:52 – 10:03)

The boasting in being tolerant of it. But that was a public disgrace, said Paul. And the witness of the church and the honour of the Lord demanded confrontation.

(10:05 – 10:21)

Another category is when sin fractures relationships. Both the offence that caused the breakdown and the relational breach itself are to be addressed. And scripture replaces a responsibility on both sides.

(10:22 – 10:33)

So the offender, or the offended sorry, is called to go and speak. Jesus speaks about that in Matthew 18 in the words we’ve read. But also in that Luke 17 passage.

(10:34 – 10:56)

But also the offender, when aware of wrongdoing, they are called to seek reconciliation. Jesus spoke about that in Matthew 5. Another category are cases of abuse, exploitation or criminal wrongdoing. Where the covers have certainly been blown off and must not be hidden over.

(10:57 – 11:13)

And reporting such matters to appropriate authorities is in line with God’s concern for justice. And protection of the vulnerable. But also the wider teaching of scripture shows us that we are to have the well-being of others in view also.

(11:14 – 11:27)

It’s not simply about an offence against us. If the sin’s against me, I can decide in wisdom if that sin is to be overlooked or confronted. I can bear the wrong, I can absorb the cost.

(11:27 – 11:58)

But when I see someone else who has been sinned against, is it not my duty to seek justice for them? When someone else is injured and harmed, then love requires speaking up. Especially when there is vulnerability or power imbalance. Now scripture calls God’s people to seek justice, defend against wrongdoing, especially the vulnerable.

(11:59 – 12:09)

So Isaiah the prophet speaks about this. He says, learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

(12:10 – 12:38)

But let’s press a bit more. Why do we confront? What’s the purpose of confrontation? Well the same love that overlooks small offences also addresses serious sin. So the question we ask really is, what is the most loving for this person before God right now? And that question protects us from maybe harsh motives and from fearful silence.

(12:38 – 12:50)

And this is what Jesus modelled. He showed patience and tenderness, yet he also spoke plainly when needed. At times he waited and at times he confronted.

(12:51 – 13:06)

And we are called to grow into that same wise love. Not avoiding hard conversations and not seeking them. But speaking when necessary and walking patiently with one another as God continues his restoring work.

(13:06 – 13:18)

And scripture makes the purpose clear. Jesus said, if they listen to you, you have won over your brother. The goal is not to win an argument, but to win a person.

(13:20 – 13:41)

Interestingly just before this section in verses 12 to 14, Jesus frames this process of confrontation with the picture of shepherding the lost. The shepherd pursues the wandering one because that person matters. The person being confronted is never the enemy, but sin is.

(13:42 – 13:53)

They’re lost and the shepherd’s concern is for them. And so it’s a rescue mission that’s in view. And this is a reflection of God’s own heart towards his people.

(13:54 – 14:10)

It’s why scripture tells us God disciplines those he loves. His correction is not a rejection of the person, but a commitment to growth and joy. So when believers are gently correcting one another, they reflect that same pursuing love.

(14:12 – 14:27)

The person is never the enemy, sin is. Yet confrontation must be handled with humility. Right at the beginning of chapter 18, Jesus frames this whole section in another picture.

(14:28 – 14:42)

It’s a picture of childlike faith. Believers are described as little ones. It reminds us that we’re all to be marked by a trusting, dependent humility before God.

(14:44 – 15:01)

Scripture elsewhere calls us to the same idea where he says examine your own hearts first. Remove the log out your own eye before addressing the speck in another’s. In confrontation there’s a great purpose in mind and so greatest care is needed.

(15:03 – 15:29)

You know most of the damage done in situations of confrontation is not because the confrontation itself is wrong. But because it’s handled without patience, without care, without humility, without biblical wisdom or that spiritual care in mind. So how do we confront wisely and well? Let’s think about the place of confrontation.

(15:30 – 15:47)

This process of confrontation by Jesus is often described as teaching on church discipline. And so we know that the place of the church is where it takes place. Jesus mentions the word church twice.

(15:47 – 16:06)

It’s the word ecclesia, the called out ones. Jesus had already mentioned this word in two chapters previously in chapter 16 where he says I will build my church. And so these instructions anticipate the life of a gathered church.

(16:06 – 16:30)

And show that the matters of serious sin are to be handled within a gathered body of local believers, the church. As believers submit themselves to Jesus who’s the head of the church. Then discipline is exercised in humility and love for the good, maturity and unity of the whole body.

(16:30 – 16:56)

Yet this phrase church discipline often raises strongly negative reactions. In my reading this week on this, a writer on forgiveness shared the following letter from someone who believed discipline was inherently unloving. They wrote, “The whole process of church discipline sounds incredibly controlling and uncharitable.

(16:56 – 17:13)

I can’t believe that any church would ever threaten excommunication of its own members for what they do in their private lives. And I cannot imagine a church making a public pronouncement about someone’s sin. What people do in their own time is their own business, not the church’s.

(17:14 – 17:38)

And the church is supposed to be a place where we can come together to learn and overcome sin. How can they do that if they’ve been excommunicated? If we shun our members are we no better than cults? I can’t imagine that Christ would ever excommunicate someone from his church. Didn’t he seek out sinners and avoid those who were holier than thou? I thought the gospel was all about forgiveness”.

(17:40 – 17:52)

Well this response reflects many misunderstandings. Discipline comes from Jesus himself. He gave this process to the disciples of the church.

(17:53 – 18:06)

And it’s not about controlling lives. Many offences are to be overlooked. We’ve been stressing that and the weight given to that gracious overlooking was talked about last week.

(18:07 – 18:25)

But discipline addresses serious ongoing sin that harms people, divides fellowship, damages the church witness. And actually discipline and love go together. God disciplines those he loves and the church is to share in that kind of care.

(18:28 – 18:40)

And public involvement is the last resort. It’s not the first step. The aim is not to threaten, shame or shun but call the whole church to love that seeks to rescue.

(18:41 – 18:59)

Thinking about last week’s focus on overlooking. We were trying to encourage that cultivation of a loving, gracious church culture. That avoids a hunting for, a pointing out of sins.

(19:01 – 19:17)

So that we are more ready for the big serious things that do need to be confronted. Then we will be a people who are more ready to hear someone calling us out. Someone who’s saying no and stop.

(19:17 – 19:34)

For it’s been practised in small, everyday, ordinary moments of life together in such a gracious, kind and compassionate way. But what about the process that Jesus lays out? Let’s just go through it simply. Step one, go privately.

(19:36 – 19:42)

That’s how it begins. Jesus says go and point out the fault just between the two of you. It’s a private conversation.

(19:43 – 19:51)

It’s to protect dignity and reputation. It communicates care. You matter enough for me to speak to you directly.

(19:52 – 20:09)

It also rules out the potential for gossip. The biblical pattern is not A talks to C about B. But A goes to B. Confrontation begins face to face. And actually it’s a responsibility for all of us.

(20:09 – 20:18)

Every believer in the church. So it’s not a matter that we pass off to the church leaders, the elders or the pastor. Whatever it may be.

(20:19 – 20:29)

The spiritual health of the church is a shared concern. And each member plays a role in caring for one another. And we’re to practise this.

(20:30 – 20:43)

We’re to grow in wisdom and love. We’re to help each other strengthen that maturity across the whole church family. And we also know that Jesus says point out the fault.

(20:46 – 20:54)

I think he means we’re to be clear what the issue is. We’re to be clear what the wrong is. We’re to explain the issue.

(20:55 – 21:00)

It’s impact. Why it matters. Sometimes the person may be unaware.

(21:02 – 21:09)

So don’t be vague. Be specific. Bringing things into the light means clarity.

(21:10 – 21:24)

And with this initial step there’s also the hope of immediate resolution. If the person listens. Can I say just a little bit more about listening? Everything turns on this one phrase.

(21:24 – 21:34)

If they listen to you. Listening means more than hearing. Jesus is talking about repentance.

(21:35 – 21:47)

True listening and repentance starts by agreeing with the sin. It accepts responsibility without excuses. It accepts appropriate consequences.

(21:47 – 21:56)

It then seeks forgiveness. Not listening or a false repentance looks different. It minimises the wrongdoing.

(21:57 – 22:06)

It shifts the blame. It criticises the confrontation or the confronter. It might demand things like immediate restoration of trust.

(22:07 – 22:18)

It might express regret and sorrow. But it doesn’t intend to change. And so even here wisdom watches for fruit over time.

(22:19 – 22:28)

Not words spoken in a moment. This is what John the Baptist called for. When he said produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

(22:29 – 22:46)

Paul the Apostle described godly sorrow that leads to real change. As James 5 teaches too. Turning back from error will save their soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

(22:47 – 22:57)

When repentance is genuine. The right response is forgiveness and a restoration that follows. Yet we’re mindful that trust.

(22:57 – 23:09)

Once broken is rebuilt slowly through consistent faithfulness. It’s not always guaranteed. Forgiveness might be quickened.

(23:09 – 23:23)

But renewed trust if it comes can take time. Can I also say something to those of us being confronted. That there’s a real temptation to respond sinfully.

(23:24 – 23:41)

That we can feel hurt and singled out. And we might defensively accuse the one raising the issue of being unloving, unfair, judgemental. Rather can we choose to see it as an opportunity for our own growth.

(23:41 – 23:57)

That there might just be something in it. Something to listen to and take notice of and do something about. That the offended has taken great care to bring this up for our good.

(23:58 – 24:13)

That they are actually seeking our goods and love us enough to bring it to us. But there’s another step. Because of course it can be the case that the first step is not the end of the matter.

(24:14 – 24:26)

If the person refuses to listen Jesus said bring one or two others along. It’s not a ganging up. It’s about clarity, accountability and fairness.

(24:27 – 24:41)

The offender may deny the issue, minimise it. Or is going to continue unchanged. And yet if the matter is clear and harmful then you want to invite others to help you.

(24:42 – 24:55)

And witnesses confirm facts and they reduce misunderstanding. They protect both parties from distortion. And yet still the circle remains small because the loving goal is restoration.

(24:55 – 25:10)

Not a public pressure. And it may be the accusation is disputed so witnesses help assess the situation. And ensure the claims are not based on opinion alone.

(25:11 – 25:23)

Evidence may be needed before going further. And witnesses guard against maybe an unfair or a harsh accusation. Ensuring a process remains just and careful.

(25:25 – 25:39)

Yet if the defender does not dispute the wrongdoing but still refuses to turn from it. Then the witnesses can confirm that a fair confrontation occurred. And they can later testify that the person was approached, was heard.

(25:39 – 25:57)

Was given the opportunity to respond, put their side of it as it were. And that protects the one confronting and the one being confronted. If the offender confesses and is seeking to turn away and carry out whatever steps are necessary for that to be evidenced and proven.

(25:57 – 26:13)

Then the matter can end there too. But if the person refuses to take correction the matter is to be brought before the church. The church family then joins in.

(26:13 – 26:24)

Prayer, counsel, loving appeals, calling the person. And again it’s about rescue. Now many struggle with this step too.

(26:25 – 26:37)

This can feel harsh, embarrassing in today’s culture. Yet it’s Jesus instruction. And it’s purpose is to win the person back.

(26:37 – 26:51)

Prevent deeper spiritual harm. Involving the church also protects against abuse of authority. Discipline is not the sole decision of one leader acting alone.

(26:52 – 27:04)

But it’s rather the shared responsibility of the church. And this guards against situations like that described in 3 John. Where Diotrephes’ authority was misused to control others.

(27:06 – 27:25)

And if repentance occurs at this stage the whole church shares responsibility to restore the person warmly. Paul urges this in 2 Corinthians when he talks about a particular situation there. Where he says reaffirm love and forgiveness so that the restored person is not left at a distance.

(27:26 – 27:44)

Yet if repentance does not come the process does move to a final step. And the person is to be regarded as an unbeliever. If someone persistently rejects the call to correction Jesus says view them as a pagan or tax collector.

(27:45 – 28:00)

Jesus doesn’t mean hostility or disrespect. Remember Jesus hung out with people who were described exactly like this. But it simply means recognising that the profession of faith is now in question.

(28:02 – 28:26)

And so the church family is called to relate to them with a view of calling them back to Jesus rather than pretending all is spiritually well. And Paul reflects that in 1 Corinthians 5. Honest recognition of someone’s spiritual condition is more loving than maintaining a false peace. The call is on the church family to help bring about this goal.

(28:28 – 28:46)

Repentance, reconciliation, restoration. And it’s not a pressure on the offended to you just need to forgive them. What we have then in this process is a clear and merciful process that’s not about harshness or dramatic escalation.

(28:47 – 29:01)

It’s a careful measured process designed to slow us down. And protect everybody involved yet in doing this it’s not easy. And so Jesus gives a striking assurance in verses 18 to 20.

(29:02 – 29:23)

Loving confrontation when carried out in humility is an instrument God uses to work among his people. So he talks of binding and loosing which were familiar Jewish terms referring to the restraint of sin and the release from its guilt. So Jesus is teaching that when the church reaches a careful united judgement especially confirmed by witnesses.

(29:24 – 29:39)

Heaven itself affirms what is done on earth. Now these verses are often taken out often quoted about general prayer. But in the context they’re speaking of Jesus presence in the discipline process.

(29:40 – 29:52)

And when the church is in harmony with this verdict. Verse 19 and the two or three witnesses are in agreement to the offender not being repentant. Then our father in heaven is also in agreement.

(29:53 – 30:09)

It is that God is in their midst and working through it all. And verse 20 is not about Jesus presence at a prayer meeting. But an assurance, an encouragement that Jesus is present and participating in this.

(30:12 – 30:25)

You know as we close our time together. Let’s remind ourselves that when people sin against us or others it’s sometimes necessary to confront and to speak out. Yet even as we do that the motivation is love.

(30:26 – 30:41)

Jesus calls us to love our neighbour, love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, love our enemies. It’s a love that motivates us to overlook and cover sins. But it’s a love that compels us to address serious sin.

(30:41 – 30:54)

And it’s how Paul the Apostle frames his final instructions to the churches in Galatia. Helping them who were caught up in all sorts of sin. So he writes brothers and sisters.

(30:55 – 31:08)

If someone is caught in a sin you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.

(31:09 – 31:21)

If anyone thinks they are something when they’re not they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else.

(31:22 – 31:34)

For each one should carry their own load. Nevertheless the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. And so these words direct our practise of confronting.

(31:35 – 31:43)

We’re to pick them up. It’s the art of mending. Our priority is to restore.

(31:44 – 31:55)

The original language this means to mend or repair. To bring something damaged back to its former condition. And we approach this task with a healthy dose of gentleness.

(31:55 – 32:04)

Which is simply power under control. And humility. None of us are immune to stumbling and sinning.

(32:05 – 32:13)

So we don’t look down from some pedestal. We’re more similar than we often like to admit. Yet what we do is a spiritual thing.

(32:13 – 32:21)

And so we seek to walk in step with the Spirit. As Paul wrote about in the previous chapter. Chapter 5. As we do this.

(32:23 – 32:28)

But also we hold them up. We bear the weight. Paul says carry the burdens.

(32:29 – 32:38)

Sin’s burdens are heavy. When a brother or sister stumbles we don’t just offer a critique. Yet through prayer, exhortation and steady accountability.

(32:39 – 32:47)

We help them find their footing. While we walk alongside them. We point them to the one ultimately who takes our burdens.

(32:49 – 32:57)

And in that we’re building them up. And it’s a mutual grace. Verse 6 talks about the one receiving instruction.

(32:57 – 33:05)

The person being restored. And the instructor helping with the restoration. But it’s a mutual thing.

(33:06 – 33:14)

Restoration is actually a two way street. There’s a profound beauty. When someone is being restored.

(33:14 – 33:25)

And shares the good things. That they are learning about God’s mercy and their own heart. As you disciple and come alongside someone.

(33:26 – 33:35)

Keep your ears and heart open. The person being restored has a front row seat. To the Spirit’s work in their lives.

(33:35 – 33:44)

And their journey can encourage you just as much as your guidance helps them. So hear it. See it.

(33:44 – 33:51)

And encourage them with it. So as you go don’t just look for sin to correct. Look for a person to restore.

(33:52 – 34:06)

Keep asking. What is the Spirit doing here? And then marvel together at the answer. Paul concludes in Galatians 6. Don’t be deceived.

(34:07 – 34:15)

God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please the flesh from the flesh will reap destruction.

(34:16 – 34:26)

Whoever sows to please theSpirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

(34:26 – 34:35)

Therefore as we have opportunity. Let us do good to all people. Especially to those who belong to the family of God.

(34:36 – 34:46)

And we do good in the loving necessity of confronting. Let me pray. And our service is over.

(34:48 – 34:59)

Father we thank you for your help to us. That guides us and directs us in your word. That calls us to be the people who would love.

(35:00 – 35:05)

Love with our humility. And our gentleness. And our kindness and compassion.

(35:06 – 35:13)

But Lord also calls us to be courageous. And to help one another, as we do sin against one another.

(35:13 – 35:21)

So that we may be rescued. So that we may be growing in maturity. And in Christ likeness.

(35:22 – 35:30)

So again we pray that we may be a church family. That loves one another. And loves one another enough to undertake these hard things like confronting. But help us do it in a gracious and loving manner. And we pray this in Jesus name.

The post The Necessity of Confronting – Matthew 18v15–20 appeared first on Greenview Church.

Well, Jesus’ prayer here in John 17 is structured a bit like that. It’s a series of three concentric circles or ripples, if you like. Firstly, in the centre, Jesus prays for himself.

We’ve noticed that in verses one to five. Then, as the ripple expands in the second circle, he prays for his immediate disciples. And we notice that in verses six to 19.

But by the time we get to the end of the chapter, by the time we get to verse 20 through to verse 26, we’re starting to see the outer ripples of that prayer that started in verse one. In these verses, our text for this morning, Jesus deliberately widens the circle. I do not ask for these only, he says, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

(1:35 – 2:21)

Now, if you stop to really think about that, that is quite a staggering prayer. That prayer encompasses and includes every Christian believer who has ever lived since Pentecost. It includes every single member of the church scattered across 2,000 years of church history in every country of the world, in every part of the globe.

But it also includes, remarkably enough, you and I this morning. It includes us here in Greenview. The ripples are going really wide.

(2:23 – 5:34)

Now, if you agree that it’s a remarkable thing that Jesus prays for us all, what I want to suggest to you is what he prays for us is even more remarkable. Because he doesn’t pray for the kind of things that we often pray for each other. He doesn’t pray for ease.

He doesn’t pray for an easy life. He doesn’t pray for safety, even. He doesn’t pray for cultural dominance.

In other words, he doesn’t pray that Christianity might be the big power in the world. He doesn’t pray for political sympathy, that the powers that be might look kindly on Christian believers. None of these things are unimportant.

None of these things should not be prayed for. But these aren’t the things Jesus prays for. He prays for three things.

And we want to unpack these three things this morning. He prays for unity. He prays for glory.

And he prays for love. Which, when combined by the power of his spirit, will create a witness so compelling that the world will be forced to reckon with and be transformed by the truth of the gospel. So this passage confronts us with the searching question, what kind of church did Jesus pray into existence? So we’re going to look at these three words, unity, glory, and love.

We’ll spend more time on the first one and a little less time on the last two. So let’s think firstly about unity. And we discover that theme in verses 20 to 23.

Jesus’ first great burden for future believers is unity. I pray that they all may be one, in verse 21, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us. Now, did you follow all that? Let’s think about the what.

Let’s think about the what of this unity. What is this unity? Because at first glance, it looks a bit tame. Christians talk about unity all the time, ways of working together, breaking down barriers that divide us, finding common ground.

But Jesus’ definition of unity is far deeper and far more demanding than our view of denominations working together or superficial harmony. Notice the grounding of the unity. Just as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you.

The Godhead is the basis of this unity. Jesus isn’t praying for the creation of some kind of artificial unity by consensus. And he’s certainly not praying for unity by compromise.

(5:36 – 12:47)

He’s also not praying for unity by sharing preferences or personalities. The unity he prays for here flows out of the actual reality of his people’s participation in the very life of God itself. This isn’t a unity that we create.

This is a unity that already exists, you see. And we experience the benefit of that, and we are caught up in the good of that. You cannot separate the person of the Godhead from the unity of the church.

It’s a bit like fire and heat. You feel the heat because of the fire. The fire cannot help but produce heat.

It is of its essence. It is what fire does. The Godhead, in essence, is united.

It, he, they cannot help but produce unity. It is who they are. It is what they do.

It is what they’ve always been, and what they always will be. And we are caught up in the Godhead, do you see? Notice that’s the purpose of the language he uses. It’s deliberately relational.

In me, do you notice? In you, in us. Now, clearly, Jesus isn’t saying by describing his people as being in him and in the Godhead that we become mini gods, that we become divine. He’s saying that we are drawn into the shared life of the Father and the Son because we’ve been united with God himself through the person of Jesus.

We’ll see that a little later. God’s people are one because they are already united to the Father through the Son by the work of the Spirit. So this unity isn’t something we create.

It’s something God has already created, and we, by his grace, are caught up in the wonder of what he has done. That’s a classic John thing to say. To be a Christian is not merely to agree with certain truths, but to be united to a person.

And if we’re united to the same Christ as individuals, then we are de facto related to one another. We’re like spokes on a wheel. If you think of the Lord Jesus being at the hub of that wheel, the closer we are to him in relationship, the closer we become to one another, do you see? So that’s the what of Christian unity.

Who is Jesus praying for here? Well, he’s obviously praying for the unity of the future universal church. As Jesus prays in his mind’s eye, he’s reaching right across the centuries, and he’s seeing in his mind as he’s praying that multitude that John saw in Revelation chapter 7, that no man can number, standing before the throne. He’s seeing the complete people of God from all generations, from all time, united around the throne.

But in the prayer, you’ll notice how Jesus describes that multitude. Because in the context of verse 20, if you look down at verse 20 with me, you’ll see Jesus describes that multitude in his prayer as belonging to two groups. Do you see them? Them and those.

We’re told in our culture these days that pronouns matter. Well, these pronouns matter more than any that you may or may not choose to put at the end of your email signature. These pronouns are crucial.

Them, who Jesus is praying for, my prayer is not for them alone. Them refers to the apostles, the ones he’s already been praying for in the previous section, the disciples. I’m praying for them.

But it’s not for them alone. I’m also praying for those future believers who will believe in me through their word. And my prayer is that all of them may be one.

That we, those who might believe in the Lord Jesus through the apostles’ word, may be united with the apostles who gave us the word in the first place. And how are we united with them? How are we united with them? Well, Jesus tells us at the end of verse 20. My prayer is not for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. It is by believing in Jesus through their message that we become one with the apostles and all other believers in history. So the bridge between the apostles and the rest of the church that would come later is a message, the word of truth, the gospel, through which they have believed and through which we believe.

That’s the basis of unity within the people of God, you see. The centrality of the word of God given by the apostles once and for all in history is central. And that’s shot through this prayer.

Look at verse 8. Look back to verse 8. Jesus says, I gave them the words you gave me. You see that emphasis on the word being given to the apostles by Jesus. I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.

So there’s the first link in that great chain. The word is given by the father to the son. He gives it to the apostles.

Then in verse 14, that word is given by the son to the apostles. Do you notice that in verse 14? I have given them your word and the world has hated them. From the father to the son, from the son to the apostles.

And then in verse 20, it’s given from the apostles to us. We come to believe in Jesus through their message, not through some message that’s been made up over the last 2,000 years, but the same message once delivered to the apostles that unites us with them. And that’s the unity that Jesus is speaking about here.

(12:47 – 15:12)

And it’s his word that is the unifying factor. Unity in the truth of the gospel is what gives us true unity in Jesus Christ. Unity in gospel truth is the essence of gospel unity.

It’s something that flows from God himself, like the heat flows from the fire. Something he has created into which we are brought. It’s not something that we create artificially by blurring all kinds of edges to find the lowest common denominator.

Back in the 1800s, Bishop Ryle, the Bishop of Liverpool, describes that unity that Jesus prays for as being marked by three things. All wills bowed in the same direction, all aims directed to the same end, and all affections burning with the same flame. And that means that Christian unity isn’t some kind of sentimental, fluffy marshmallows and pink pillows feeling.

It’s costly. It requires humility, repentance, forgiveness, patience, and truth-speaking love. Because Jesus isn’t praying here for the absence of disagreement.

He’s praying for a deeper allegiance that transcends difference. A unity that can withstand tension because it’s anchored in something deeper than shared preferences or traditions or backgrounds. It’s based on the truth of the gospel.

And you may have experienced that unity yourself if you’ve been on holiday somewhere or been away in a different part of the world and you’ve managed to find a little congregation of Christian believers like I managed to find in Reykjavik. It wasn’t easy to find them by the way. Iceland’s a difficult country for the gospel.

But I found a wee congregation in Reykjavik when I was there for a conference and I felt I’d been there all my life. You know that feeling. So why is unity important? Why are we united? Well look at verse 21.

(15:17 – 16:53)

I pray that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, here we are, so that the world may believe you have sent me. So the world may believe you have sent me.

Because the credibility of the Christian message is tied in a mysterious but real way to visible gospel unity within the Christian community. Now this doesn’t mean that the church must be perfect before the world can believe. But it means that persistent division, bitterness, and factionalism distort the gospel that we claim to proclaim.

And you can see the effect of gospel disunity within church structures in our own nation. As denominations and congregations which once held fast to the truth of the gospel have begun to allow liberalism and relativism and secularism to dominate the agenda, rather than the truth of the gospel. And slowly what ends up happening isn’t that more people are attracted to the church and the gospel, but actually it becomes ineffective.

It loses its power. Because the world doesn’t need a flawless church. It needs one that is clear on what the gospel is and one that offers a radical alternative to the lifestyle that people are living in the world.

(16:55 – 19:55)

People will never be attracted to try church by why don’t you add church into your weekly activity routine. That’s just another burden for people to add to their social whirl. That’s not how the gospel spreads.

It spreads when we offer a radical alternative to the failed dreams that we’ve promised and offered for decades and centuries that our generation, my generation, have passed on to Gen Z and have left them disillusioned thinking is this all there is? Is this the utopia you promised us? A radical alternative based on gospel truth. That is what will change the world. So unity.

Second word, glory. We discover that in verses 22 to 24. The glory says Jesus you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one.

Now that’s a startling claim. What does it mean for Jesus to give his glory to his people? Well to understand that we need to understand what Jesus is talking about here when he’s talking about glory. What is glory? Well there’s a sermon topic all on its own and we’re only in point two of a part of a sermon.

Let me try to unpack this. Glory must be seen firstly as revelation, as a present revelation. See in John’s gospel glory isn’t first and foremost about brightness and splendour and shining light.

It’s not primarily about that because we’ve seen this kind of language before in John. Back in chapter 1 verse 14 John tells us the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Listen.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. And further down chapter 1 John tells us more. No one has ever seen God but the one and only son who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the father has made him known.

So there is something about revelation that is linked closely to seeing the glory of God. The glory of the one and only son is the revelation that John speaks about right through his gospel. That’s what he’s doing.

He’s unveiling who Jesus is. He tells us that right at the end doesn’t he? We’ve quoted this verse numerous times through the series right at the end of the gospel. These things I am writing to you that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.

(19:55 – 20:25)

I’m trying to show you to unveil to you the fullness of the glory of who this person is. And the greatest unveiling of Jesus glory takes place where? It takes place at the cross. It doesn’t look glorious to us but these things are written that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.

(20:27 – 23:33)

That moment on the cross when Jesus’ obedience, love and faithfulness to the father are displayed, unveiled most fully and we see him for who he really is. So to share in Christ’s glory then is to share in his life and to share in his life in this life. His relationship with the father, his obedience and his mission.

But that experience that we have is imperfect. We’ve received the life of God in Jesus but we haven’t received it fully yet. It’s here but it’s not here yet in all of its fullness.

So as well as a present element of revelation of Jesus’ glory in the prayer, there’s a future element too and that’s why verse 24 is so significant. Father says Jesus, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory. You see if glory equals the revelation of who Jesus really is in all the amazing splendour of his person, if glory is the unveiling of the person of Jesus, when will that take place in all of its fullness? Well John wrote another book didn’t he in the New Testament.

It actually has the name that gives us the clue. Revelation which simply means unveiling and we’re going to see the amazing splendour of the person of Jesus unveiled in the future. At the moment in the words of 1 Corinthians 13 12 as it’s written by the Amplified Bible, we see as though we are looking in a mirror that only gives a dim blurred reflection of reality.

That’s how we see his glory now. A dim blurred reflection of reality but Jesus wants his people, us, you, me to be with him to see who he is fully and to be totally and completely transformed by that vision. Friends that is what heaven is about and in days of bereavement let me say this kindly.

It is a great sense of joy and peace for those who know and love the Lord Jesus to know that their loved ones are at rest with him and are seeing his glory now but our great hope isn’t that we will see them again. That’s not our great hope. Our great hope is that they with us will all see the glory of Jesus.

(23:35 – 23:46)

That is our great hope. Matt Redmond puts it very well in his modern version of the song When We All Get to Heaven. Let me read just a couple of verses from that.

(23:47 – 24:05)

One day we will see face to face Jesus. Is there a greater vision of grace? And in that moment we shall be changed on that day. And one day we’ll be free, free indeed Jesus.

(24:05 – 24:49)

One day every struggle will cease and we will see your glory revealed on that day. When we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be. Why? When we all see Jesus he’s the focus not our loved ones.

It’s great that they’re there but we’re not there to see them. When we all see Jesus we will sing and shout the victory. That’s what it’s all about folks.

(24:51 – 25:17)

This is why this matters. This is our Christian hope and it’s not a form of escapism. It reorientates and reshapes how we live now when we have that future hope.

When we know where history is going, when we know that our future is to be with Christ and to see his glory, that knowledge reshapes how we live now. It affects every aspect of our lives. Suffering becomes bearable because it’s not forever.

(25:19 – 26:09)

Worldly wealth and status become less important because they have no currency in the presence of the glory of Jesus. Perseverance and faithfulness to that which we have seen of Jesus becomes the thing that’s finally rewarded. And notice how that future hope reinforces unity in the present.

Because those who are headed towards the same glorious future must learn to love one another now on the journey. And that’s our last word, love, verses 25 to 26. That takes us to the great conclusion of Jesus’ prayer.

It’s where it ends. Here’s the great so what of Christian gospel shared unity. What’s it all about? It’s the theme of love.

(26:09 – 29:15)

It’s right there in verses 25 to 26. O Righteous father, even though the world doesn’t know you, I know you and these that you have sent me, I have made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. Because you cannot claim to have the Lord Jesus living in you and not love his people.

And the great dividing line across all humanity in John’s gospel is summarised in these verses. Those who do not know God, he describes them there in verse 25, the world, it doesn’t know you. And those who do know God and have experienced his love through his son.

So let me ask you this morning, which category best describes you here this morning? Do you know him? Do you love him? Or do you not know him and belong to the world? That’s the litmus test of our lives. It’s the defining feature of our life that the things we love define us. And you’ll see there’s an eternal dimension to this.

Verse 24, Jesus has spoken of his father’s love for him before the creation of the world. And now he describes that love as the love with which you have loved me. This is staggering, friends.

We are caught up in something that is unimaginably massive. The love that has eternally existed between the father and the son is now shared with redeemed sinners like you and me. It’s not diluted.

It’s not diminished. It’s not God’s love, V 2.0. It’s the real thing. And it’s spread into our hearts through our union with Jesus Christ.

And it’s all consuming. It’s the constant motivation of everything the Godhead does for God so loved. God is love.

And that same love the persons of the Godhead share for each other is to consume us. That same love is to be present in his people. May that love be in them, prays Jesus.

And we are recipients this morning of that love. The degree to which we experience that love is an answer to this prayer of Jesus. You’re part of the answer to this prayer.

So it’s an eternal love. But finally, it’s an external love. Because that love isn’t merely meant to comfort us and give us a sense of security.

(29:16 – 30:55)

It does that gloriously, of course. But it’s not intended to be kept to ourselves. Jesus tells us that in verse 23.

There’s a purpose to that love experience. So that the world will know you have sent me. This love is to overflow from us to the world.

When the unity, the glory, that revelation and love of God truly dwells in God’s people. It becomes visible. It becomes tangible.

It becomes compelling. It becomes that truly alternative lifestyle. Completely different to anything that the world is offering.

The glory of the Christian gospel is in its difference from the world’s offering. Not the degree to which it’s just a little bit the same. The glory is in its difference.

The world comes to believe through a community of people who are radically shaped by this message. In unity, in holiness, in love. Individually, yes.

In our homes, challengingly, yes. And corporately in our churches, as we reach out to a broken world. So John 17 20 to 26 isn’t simply a record of what Jesus once prayed in the past.

But here’s a thought to finish with. It’s a revelation of what he continues to do now. What is Jesus doing now? Well, he’s still praying.

(30:57 – 32:11)

He’s our great high priest and he’s praying for us. And the prayer that Jesus prayed for us then is the same prayer that he’s praying for us now. It’s the same prayer he’s praying for us right now at this moment.

He’s still praying that you and I might be a united people rooted in gospel truth. He’s still praying that we might be a hopeful people shaped by future glory. He’s still praying that we will be a loved and loving people reaching out to a broken world so that they will come to believe in him through us.

So let me ask you with Try Church on the horizon, to whom and how will you reach out in this kind of love this week? May God by his Spirit make us such individuals and therefore such a church for the glory of Christ and the extension of his eternal kingdom. Amen.

The post Jesus Prays for us all – John 17v6–19 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:39 – 1:16)

As Alec climbed and clambered, dangled and swayed, but then mercifully made it to the top. And the question that came to me was, not only why did Alec do it, but I think even maybe more so, why do people around the world want to watch this kind of thing? Maybe it’s just the fascination with seeing someone do something rather crazy. But I wonder if there’s also an even deeper reason.

(1:17 – 1:40)

We live, don’t we, in a world that is highly safety conscious. Probably no generation has been more highly sensitive to safety than our post-COVID generation. We live in a culture where you can barely climb the steps at work without filling in a risk assessment form.

(1:42 – 2:05)

And I wonder if in such a cautious climate, there’s something intriguing, maybe just a little attractive, about someone throwing caution to the wind and taking a genuine risk. This is one of the dilemmas of modern living. We don’t want to live a life that is unsafe.

(2:06 – 2:49)

But on the other hand, we don’t want to live a life that is sterile. Is it possible to live a life that is ultimately safe, and yet at the same time, live a life that is meaningful and even risky? Well, in John’s Gospel and in Jesus’ prayer today, Jesus, I think, actually resolves this dilemma. Jesus shows that you can live your life in a way that is both safe, ultimately, in the ways that count, but he also shows the necessity of living with a sense of mission.

(2:50 – 3:06)

And that carries human risk with it. So let’s see how Jesus brings these aspirations together. It’d be good if you could reopen your Bible to John 17, verses 6 to 19.

(3:06 – 3:32)

Now, by this stage, we’re fairly deep into John’s Gospel. It’s the night before the cross, and it’s Jesus’ final prayer before he suffers. Jesus began the prayer by praying for himself, but the great majority of this prayer is Jesus’ prayer for his people.

(3:33 – 3:57)

This is why it is sometimes called the high priestly prayer of Jesus. Because like the senior priest of Israel in the Old Testament, Jesus is standing in the gap and praying for the people of God. And this prayer for God’s people then splits itself into two parts.

(3:58 – 4:20)

In verses 6 to 19, which we’re looking at today, Jesus prays for the 11 disciples. And then in verses 20 to 26, which we’ll look at next week, God willing, Jesus prays for the worldwide church. Now, the difference in length here is very, very striking.

(4:21 – 5:03)

Have you ever noticed that Jesus only spends seven verses, 20 to 26, praying for the worldwide church for Christians in all places, in all centuries, down all of history? And yet, Jesus prays 14 verses, double the amount for the apostles. He prays twice as long for a small band of men who would only live a few more decades. It’s curious, isn’t it? On my social media feed a few weeks ago, something popped up.

(5:04 – 5:26)

It was the travels of the apostle Matthew. It was one of these map and voiceover sorts of things. And it showed you and explained where they reckon the apostle Matthew travelled after the resurrection, where he planted churches, and where tradition says that he was martyred.

(5:27 – 5:50)

Of course, the algorithm now thinks that I like this sort of thing. So I’ve been getting a different apostle pretty much every day for the last fortnight. But as I’ve watched these videos, it has slowly dawned on me how pivotal these men were at the outset of the church.

(5:52 – 6:22)

They were not only foundational in providing us with the New Testament, but they were also foundational in terms of planting churches in the then known world. They created, if you like, the beachhead for the gospel’s advance. One commentator is right to say then that humanly speaking, the future of the church depended, it hung on the pegs of these 11 men.

(6:23 – 6:50)

Such was their importance, and such was their fragility that the prevailing prayers of Jesus for them was necessary. And so before Jesus gets to the future of the church, he must pray for the men who will lay its foundations. Now, in verses 6 to 10, Jesus begins his prayer for them by simply describing them.

(6:51 – 7:06)

And that’s another little side note we could go down. It is helpful, isn’t it, to identify the people we’re praying for and to remind ourselves of what God has already done for them. Jesus could simply have said, Lord, I’m praying for the 11, and then just go on with the prayer points.

(7:06 – 7:28)

But he actually takes about five verses to simply describe them to the Father before he prays for them. God has already been doing great things in the lives of these men. Despite their many misunderstandings and their lapses in faith, God has been at work.

(7:28 – 7:42)

Notice some of the things Jesus says. That the Father has been revealed to them, verse 6. That they belong to the Father and to the Son. He says that they’ve obeyed Jesus’ words.

(7:42 – 7:51)

A world that did not obey Jesus’ words, but they were different. They obeyed it. And they believed that Jesus was sent by God.

(7:52 – 8:16)

And I assume that it’s for that reason, their faith in Jesus, that Jesus says, they have brought glory to me on earth, in verse 10. It’s a very gracious description of the disciples, but it’s a true description. And it reveals Jesus’ deep connection and affection for these men.

(8:17 – 8:37)

I think when Jesus says in verse 9, I am praying for them, I am not praying for the world. He’s not meaning this in an absolute sense, but in a sense of affection and closeness. He’s not saying that He never, He literally never prays for the world.

(8:38 – 8:46)

Because as we’ll see in a few chapters, Jesus will pray from the cross. Father, forgive them. He’s praying there for the world.

(8:46 – 9:07)

Forgive them the rebellious anti-God world, for they know not what they are doing. So Jesus prays for the world. But the point here is, that in this moment of urgency, when time is short before the cross, Jesus’ priority is to pray for His own.

(9:08 – 9:26)

Those of you who are parents instinctively know this kind of thing. You can have a love and concern for other people’s children, who are not your own. But you have a different level of investment in praying for your own children.

(9:26 – 9:41)

You just do. And Jesus is saying here, these men are my very own. And so they become the focus in this limited time for the prayers of Jesus.

(9:41 – 9:59)

Now, it’s just worth saying, as a little aside, in case you’re worried about this, that their privilege can also be our privilege. Because to be Jesus’ own is actually a very simple thing. To be one of Jesus’ own, you simply need to believe in Jesus.

(9:59 – 10:05)

That’s what this whole gospel is telling us. We may not be apostles. We may not have lived on earth when Jesus was here.

(10:05 – 10:26)

But do you believe in Jesus? If you do, then you belong to Him. And Romans chapter 8, verse 34 says, that Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God, and He is also interceding for us. Jesus is interceding for these men.

(10:28 – 10:45)

And so we now come to the heart of the prayer and what Jesus prays for them, finally. What did Jesus pray for these men? What were the priorities of Jesus as He looked to the future? There was millions of things He could have prayed for. I think there’s two things He focusses on here.

(10:46 – 10:59)

Very interestingly, what Jesus thinks is important to pray about. Number one, Jesus prays that they will be safe. Jesus prays that they will be safe.

(10:59 – 11:11)

Look at the middle of verse 11. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name. That’s Jesus’ first request for them.

(11:12 – 11:32)

And you’ll see in verse 12, there’s a historical context to this. Jesus says to the Father that He has been safeguarding the disciples during His earthly ministry. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name You gave me.

(11:33 – 12:07)

But now that Jesus is leaving the world and because the disciples are staying in the world and because this world is full of dangers, Jesus now prays for His Father to take on the role of safeguarding these men. Protect them by the power of Your name. That is, protect them with all of Your authority and with all of the might that accords with who You are as God.

(12:08 – 12:34)

And this is a wonderful prayer, but it’s a prayer we must also understand correctly. Because you only need to be a Christian five minutes to realise that Jesus could not have been praying that His people would be safe in every respect. Jesus notes in verse 16 that the world has already hated them on His watch.

(12:36 – 13:02)

Jesus has warned them in chapter 15 that the persecution and hatred against them will ramp up after He leaves. So we need to ask ourselves an important question. What kind of safety is Jesus asking for? It seems to me that the character of this safety, at least here, is entirely spiritual.

(13:03 – 13:15)

What kind of protection is He praying for? It’s a spiritual protection. Notice this with me in three respects. First of all, that they will be protected from disunity.

(13:16 – 13:29)

Disunity, that’s the first outcome of verse 11. Protect them by the power of Your name. You gave me so that they may be one as we are one.

(13:30 – 13:48)

Safe in order that they might be united. Now, David next week will look at the prayer for unity in the worldwide church, unity today. But think about this for a moment.

(13:49 – 14:18)

Had the early apostles been divided, had the 12 apostles as they became stopped agreeing on what the gospel was, or had they broken into factions early on, the whole future of the church would have been disrailed right from the very beginning. We know this from the gospels. They were a divergent group of men with different temperaments and even different political persuasions.

(14:19 – 14:42)

There was a serious danger that through the devil’s attack, they would be disunited and the whole church enterprise would be destroyed. Unity isn’t often at the top of the Christian’s prayer list. But Jesus saw that nothing could succeed without unity.

(14:43 – 14:58)

So Jesus prays for safety from disunity. And then secondly, He prays for safety from destruction. In verse 12, Jesus comments on the protection of His disciples.

(14:58 – 15:24)

He says that none of them were lost except the one doomed for destruction. He’s referring there to Judas Iscariot, of course, who has already left the group and gone out to make his selfish choice. And yet a man who in the purposes of God was foretold to betray His decision and yet somehow a divine providence.

(15:25 – 15:47)

The implication of this is that Jesus’ disciples are different. Jesus’ disciples are protected from such spiritual ruin and implosion. If you’re one of the children of Jesus and you belong to Jesus and you’re a true sheep of Jesus, you cannot be lost in that way.

(15:48 – 16:06)

And this would remind us that the safety that matters most in life is always our eternal security. What matters most is your eternal salvation. Be concerned for all the safeties.

(16:07 – 16:17)

I mean, the reason we have these things is because they do matter. They have a massive impact. Be concerned for workplace safety, kitchen safety, or whatever other kind of safety there is.

(16:18 – 16:34)

But do not neglect eternal safety. That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? Judas didn’t take his eternal safety seriously, but Jesus takes it seriously. And He never loses one of His sheep.

(16:36 – 17:02)

So the safety Jesus prays for is specific. Safety from disunity, safety from spiritual destruction, and linked to both of these things, because these are all really connected, He prays for safety from the work of the devil. Verse 15, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.

(17:03 – 17:26)

This is similar to what Paul speaks about in Ephesians chapter six, when Paul says that the real enemy of the church is not so much the flesh and blood who oppose the church. They’re not the real enemy. The real mastermind is the devil himself and his schemes and the evil forces that plot for the downfall of the church.

(17:28 – 17:48)

In the Western world and in the Western church, I think we can be particularly naive to these spiritual realities. But if it wasn’t for the prayers of Jesus, we would be ruined by the vicious attacks of the evil one. The evil one may fiercely attack.

(17:48 – 18:16)

We see that in the book of Job, for example, but he cannot devour the faith of the disciple who belongs to Jesus. What Jesus once said to Peter, I think is true of every believer. Remember when Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

(18:17 – 18:36)

Or as the words of a modern hymn put it, “When I fear my faith will fail, He will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast”. It’s right to have the instinct of safety.

(18:37 – 19:25)

But do we know the safety in these respects? Do we know the ultimate safety? Do we know it for the first time? Have we come to believe and belong? And do we know the safety that is being offered here continually? Do we know in moments of doubts and in moments of anxiety that however insecure I may feel in my emotions and in my circumstances, Christ has promised to hold me absolutely fast. Well, it’s in the confidence of these things that God’s people can then step into the risk of mission. And so notice that Jesus requests don’t finish with safety, but he prays also for something that we will do.

(19:25 – 19:43)

So secondly, we move on to Jesus’ second prayer, that they will be set apart and sent out. Set apart and sent out. Now in one sense, the disciples are already being set apart from the world.

(19:44 – 20:01)

Look at verse 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. By virtue of belonging to Jesus, the disciple no longer has their identity in the world.

(20:01 – 20:15)

We live in this world, but we do not belong to this world. And that is simply true by virtue of you believing in Jesus and being united to him. It’s true through conversion.

(20:17 – 20:27)

Now, people will sometimes use John 17 in this sort of way. They’ve locked onto this phraseology in the world, not of the world. And it becomes a kind of exhortation.

(20:28 – 20:43)

A Christian should be in the world, but not of the world. And this is something taken to mean it’s something we need to do. Be more in the world than you’re in the world now, but be less of the world than you currently are.

(20:44 – 21:06)

But in actual fact, as I’m reading this, this is not so much something you do as it is, first of all, something that you are. The disciples are being left in the world, whether they like it or not. And the disciples are not of the world, not because they’re trying to be different, but because they belong to Jesus.

(21:07 – 21:18)

He’s taken them out of the world spiritually. They’re a new creation in Christ. Of course, that needs to be worked out in practise, but it is already what we are.

(21:20 – 21:29)

And this is true of all Christians. Even as it is true of the apostles. You are in this world, but you are not of this world.

(21:30 – 21:56)

However, in verse 18, Jesus adds another distinctive thing. Not only to do with where the disciples are, the world, and who the disciples are, they’re not of the world, but what they are called to do. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

(21:57 – 22:19)

In an echo of Jesus himself being sent, Jesus is sending his disciples into the world with a message and a task. In fact, what Jesus more precisely says is that these disciples have been sanctified to do this. Sanctified to do it.

(22:20 – 22:47)

Now, is this worth taking a moment on this word sanctify or sanctified? It appears three times in verses 17 and 19. And it’s worth asking the question, what does Jesus mean by this biblical word sanctified? Quite often, the answer people give is, well, sanctify means to be made morally pure. It’s to be unholy and then you’re made morally holy.

(22:47 – 22:56)

That’s you being sanctified. And that can be part of the meaning of sanctified. But it’s not the only meaning.

(22:57 – 23:15)

And it’s certainly not the whole meaning in the Bible. You see, in the Bible, sanctify has an even bigger meaning. To be sanctified means to take something out of the world and to set that thing apart for God’s use.

(23:16 – 23:37)

So if you had a jar full of water or something, it’s a jar you could use at home. But if that jar was set apart and sanctified, it could become a jar of water that was used in God’s holy temple. And it would only be used in the temple and it would only be used in the worship of the Lord.

(23:37 – 23:49)

It was set apart from ordinary worldly use for something that God particularly wanted to happen. Priests, it was exactly the same thing. The priests were sanctified people.

(23:49 – 24:05)

They had to be sanctified, of course, by a work of atonement. So that’s the point about we do need to be made morally holy in God’s sight. But they were set apart for a task to be those who would dedicate their lives to worshipping God and proclaiming His name.

(24:06 – 24:18)

And I think it is this bigger meaning that is here in John 17. When Jesus says in verse 17, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth.

(24:19 – 24:39)

He’s not just saying that the disciples through the gospel are cleansed of their sin. But he’s saying that the truth of God’s word is at work in them in such a way that it is setting them apart for a task. The task immediately follows in the next verse, verse 18, that they are sent into the world.

(24:39 – 25:02)

Not the task of serving in the temple, but the task of being sent out into the world as a missionary. And of course, this can only happen through a work of atonement. That seemingly strange line in verse 19 is about that, where Jesus says, I sanctify myself.

(25:03 – 25:16)

I think that can be explained in terms of the cross. Because Jesus can’t be saying that. When Jesus says, I sanctify myself, the perfect Jesus can’t be saying, I’m making myself more morally holy.

(25:16 – 25:41)

Because he’s perfectly holy. But I think what Jesus is saying there is he’s saying, I am setting myself apart for a most holy task to complete the job that only the great high priest could do of making atonement for sin on the cross. But notice, Jesus died on the cross.

(25:41 – 25:55)

He sanctified himself for a reason. And the reason was that the apostles would then be set apart too. And that they would take this glorious good news to a dying world.

(25:56 – 26:19)

Their mission was not the mission of sin bearing, but the mission of truth telling. As the Matthews and Peters and James and Johnses went out to all the parts and places of the world, spiritually safe, and yet facing human danger. Let me just say that the apostles, of course, are not alive today.

(26:21 – 26:29)

But missionaries are still needed in the world today. Missionaries are still needed. It’s great to see Bobby and Isabel and Pablo here this morning.

(26:29 – 26:39)

We need to pray for missionaries. We need to respond to the call for mission if God puts that on our hearts and on our lives. Evangelists are still required in the world today.

(26:39 – 26:48)

Yes, we’re all witnesses. But God raises up certain people with a particular gift. That’s something we should pray for and respond to if God has given us that gift.

(26:49 – 27:06)

Church planters are still utterly vital. And if we’ve not been given the call or the gift of these particular things, then one of our tasks is to support these people in their roles. And yet, as we’ve already said, you cannot be a Christian and not be a witness.

(27:07 – 27:18)

You can be a bad witness, but you can’t fail to be a witness. What was it Jesus once said? You are the light of the world. Just don’t put your light under a bowl and hide it away.

(27:20 – 27:45)

The heart of Jesus and his priorities are revealed in this prayer. Jesus is concerned for the safety of his people, but he’s most concerned about protecting them from spiritual dangers of disunity, spiritual destruction, and the ruinous attacks of the devil. Jesus has promised you the safety that matters the most.

(27:45 – 28:05)

Remember that when you’re going through difficulty and even experiencing other harms. Lean on that, rest on that, find comfort in that. And at the same time, remember that having set us apart for himself, Jesus has set apart his church and he has sent us out.

(28:05 – 28:14)

We are safe and sent. We are the light of the world. We are in the world, we’re not of it.

(28:16 – 28:36)

But are we hiding the light and showing unnecessary caution? Or are we showing the light to those around us? Father, help us with these things. Help us to respond to your word. Help us to rest in the finished work of our great high priest.

(28:37 – 28:38)

And it’s in his name we pray, amen.

The post Safe and Sent – John 17v6–19 appeared first on Greenview Church.

As a necessary consequence of being forgiven, God’s forgiven people should forgive others’ sins. Jesus was very clear on this in that parable that packed such a punch. The servant who owed 10,000 bags of gold, a debt almost incalculable, practically unrepayable, and yet his master, representing God, cancels the debt and absorbs it himself.

God forgives like this. He cancels the debt of billions of sins and asks for no repayment in return. But what did the servant in the parable do? How did the servant respond to this generosity? He found a fellow servant who owed him a much smaller debt, and he threw him in prison until he had paid the final penny.

By way of negative example, Jesus is saying forcibly that forgiving is not an option for the forgiven. Because if we don’t forgive, we have forgotten our own forgiveness. To not forgive as a Christian is to live with a kind of gospel amnesia.

(2:01 – 3:54)

So we seek a different path, a life of memory, forgiveness, and grace. And what I want us to see tonight is that this does not begin with the big-ticket sins. This does not begin with the huge things in your life, the handful of really big things that are tough to forgive.

But it starts with everyday tolerance, with a gracious attitude of spirit that lovingly overlooks the small offences of others. So let’s learn about this from the Bible. This is a biblical theme.

And we’re going to turn to three places this evening, three verses really. First of all, to Proverbs 10, Proverbs chapter 10, and to wisdom that Solomon shared with his son, and to any wise person who will heed it. Proverbs 10 and verse 12.

Proverbs 10, verse 12. Solomon says, hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. The heart, says Solomon, drives everything.

The heart drives everything. The hating heart stirs up conflict. When hatred is in the mix, small offences are magnified and made into a great drama.

(3:56 – 4:32)

You see this, don’t you, in workplaces, families, and even in churches. That very often the blow-ups can be over very little things, very little matters actually. But under the surface, there is animosity.

Under the surface, there is a hatred of heart between people. And so a conflict is stirred up where it needn’t have been. On the other hand, the heart of love covers over wrong, says Solomon by contrast.

(4:33 – 5:02)

This is the attitude of the loving mother who knows fine well that her child misbehaves, but don’t expect her not to love her son. Don’t expect her not to forgive her little boy a hundred times every day, because the heart drives the response. And if there is love in the heart, then there is a leaning towards grace.

(5:04 – 5:21)

We touched on this somewhat last week. We need to forgive one another from the heart. If we just focus on the action and the conflict resolution stuff, and we ignore the heart, then we’re missing really the iceberg hiding under the surface.

(5:23 – 6:25)

So the heart drives everything, and in the case of love, the heart of love covers all wrongs. So this is what love does. Love covers over sin in a vast and limitless sort of way, time and time and time again.

It’s the same vastness that Jesus spoke of and echoes in his 70 times seven comment in Matthew 18. When Peter came with that question, we thought of it last week, how many times? And he thought he was giving a generous answer when he suggested seven times a day. I discovered just this week that the rabbis round about the time of Jesus, certainly by a few hundred years after, they thought that three times a day was the maximum number you should forgive someone.

(6:26 – 7:08)

Forgive them for three times, and on the fourth, don’t forgive. So Peter probably thought in that thinking environment that he was being generous. He was going all out.

What about seven times, says Peter? But Jesus doesn’t say three or even seven. He says, keep going. He says what Solomon said, which is to not count the number of times which you’ve been sinned against, but to live with a no cap limit on your forgiveness.

(7:11 – 7:50)

Now, that might raise a whole number of questions, I do realise, when I state it that way without any caveats at all. But I want you to hold on to your questions just for a little while longer, at least till near the end of the sermon tonight. And until the end of this series, because we’re going to deal with a number of other topics that will help answer some of these questions.

Let’s just take this as it is for the time being. Let’s move forward to Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19, where Solomon returns to the theme of tolerant love.

(7:51 – 8:57)

Proverbs 19 verse 11. He says, a person’s wisdom yields patience. Let me just stop here for a second.

This means there’s a correlation between being wise and being patient. And there’s a correlation between being a fool and being impatient. Interesting, isn’t it? So, a person’s wisdom yields patience.

And this is the bit I want us to focus on. It is to one’s glory to overlook an offence. In chapter 10, the image was covering over sin.

And here the image is overlooking sin. The idea of passing over an offence or looking beyond an offence. You could focus on it, but you choose to look beyond it.

(8:59 – 10:24)

And who would do such a thing? Who would pass over sin and look beyond sin? Well, God Himself does such a thing. This is the very same word that is used on that famous night in Israel’s history, when the angel of death, God’s angel, passed over the homes of the Israelites. God passed over.

He looked beyond their homes, not because they weren’t guilty, but because He was gracious. And what God did so stunningly, we by imitation need to do reflectively in imitation of Him. In the human realm, it is gracious and wise and Godlike to overlook the offences of others.

Now, let me give you just an example of this. We see this from very early in the Bible. Some of you might be reading through Genesis in your Bible reading plans, and you might be going through that story of Jacob and Laban.

Quite a frustrating little story to read because Laban always seems to be mistreating Jacob. But Jacob in chapter 31 has a clear the air chat with Laban. They sort of have it out.

(10:25 – 11:04)

And one of the points that Jacob makes is that over the years of their relationship, Jacob had exercised the muscle of overlooking. Jacob speaks there of bearing the losses himself, accounting language we thought of this last week, bearing the losses himself that he could have brought to Laban and demanded of him. It wasn’t that Jacob looked past everything, but he had the wisdom and the graciousness to overlook much.

(11:05 – 13:15)

And Solomon says that when we do this, it is to our glory that we do this. And how counter-cultural is this thought? How against the values of our age, where people are encouraged to overlook nothing and to get even about absolutely everything, where my honour must always be protected, and where two pistols at dawn is the only response. No, says Solomon, there is a certain glory when you and I are gracious.

Yes, there is a glory in justice. Yes, there is a glory when justice is served and the bad guy gets his comeuppance at the end of the movie. But there is also a glory when grace is shown.

There is glory in the patient person. There is glory in the patient mother. There is glory in the patient spouse.

It’s not pathetic. It’s not weak to be patient. There’s glory in the friendship where it becomes a little too demanding when we stick with the friendship.

There’s a glory in that. There’s a glory in the patient church leader who doesn’t respond abrasively when frustrations come their way. It’s easy for us to wrongly think that all the glory is found in calling out every sin and never overlooking anything.

But the Bible says it is loving and wise to be tolerant. God, whose justice rises like the mighty mountains, is the same God who passes over a multitude of sins. How much wisdom we can mine from these verses.

(13:16 – 14:57)

And it’s not surprising, I guess then, that the New Testament builds upon this wisdom. I’d like us to turn finally, as we look at three passages, to 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4, where I almost certainly Peter has Proverbs at the front of his mind. See what you think.

I’m pretty sure Peter has been reading Proverbs when he says this. Chapter 4 of 1 Peter and verse 8. Verse 8 of chapter 4. Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. Does that remind you of anything? It seems to me that this is a restatement of Proverbs 10 verse 12.

Love covers over all wrongs. Peter says here, above all, top priority, love deeply because such love covers over a multitude of sins. Again, the heart drives everything.

Love deeply or literally love at full stretch is the literal translation of the Greek. Love at full stretch. Because such a love is needed to frequently cover over sins.

(14:59 – 15:17)

Forgiveness is prolific in a church where love is present. And forgiveness is a rarity in a church where love is absent. And so, what this is saying, when you put it all together, is that there is a culture among the wise.

(15:19 – 20:32)

And therefore, there is a culture within the church that should generally be one of gracious tolerance. Like our merciful father, we should be slow to anger and abounding in love. I like how one writer puts it.

He says, believers should have a sort of mutual immunity to petty offences. That’s good, isn’t it? Believers should have a mutual immunity to petty offences. I also think Tim Keller is right when he deduces from these verses about love covering over sins.

He says, it’s clear that there are plenty of times when we should not correct and not seek an apology, even when we are owed one. Plenty of times when we should not correct and not seek an apology, because we’re living out the wisdom and showing forth the glory of our gracious God. And think of this with me for just a moment, just very practically.

Think of how impractically intense life would be if we prosecuted every individual sin in one another. It would be a full-time job. You would be doing overtime with all of the confrontational meetings that you would be having every single day.

If it is true that we commit a multitude of sins, and I take it that that is true because that’s what Peter tells us, then it would be a full-time job, wouldn’t it? I dare say there are churches and workplaces and homes that have become increasingly intolerable to be in because every small sin is always prosecuted at great length and with enormous emotion. Every small thing needs an apology. Everything needs repentance.

Everything demands confrontation. Now, there is another extreme, a neglect of confrontation, which we will think about in a fortnight. That is also a problem.

That creates its own difficulties, but we’ll come to that in a fortnight. But what we’re speaking about here is an environment where we become a kind of what one writer calls a sin sleuth, a sin sleuth. We’re the Poirot police when it comes to sin, always pointing it out to our kids, always pointing it out to our spouse, always pointing it out to our fellow church member.

And the impact is exhausting and crippling in that sort of environment. Now, I don’t think this is necessarily true in Greenview, but there is a danger in every church if we choose the wrong path of having a kind of unhelpful prosecution of one another that completely disrails our mission. And you will see this in churches that are fracturing and dividing and where there are serious issues of relationship.

Those churches are not engaging in mission because they don’t have the energy for it. This is what, listen to what Fred Craddock says, not every emotional or psychic bruise can be given attention. Otherwise all the church’s energy for mission and witness would be burned up in damage control.

A church that is constantly fighting inwardly will never be taking the gospel outwardly. And so this is the wisdom and the glory of learning to overlook much of the time. So there we go, folks.

Let’s just be like this, or wait a minute, are there maybe a few questions that we’re asking? If you’re anything like me, you probably have at least one genuine question at this point, because yes, you get it that Christians should be like this, but you have a few what about questions as you try and square this with other things the Bible teaches. So yes, we cover over sins, but what about the idea of confronting sin? Proverbs itself speaks about this. Better is open rebuke than hidden love, it says.

(20:33 – 21:43)

Wounds from a friend can be trusted. Yes, love covers over a multitude of sins, but are there some sins that we shouldn’t cover over? The writer Tim Challey says this very thing. This is what he says, love covers over a multitude of sins, but love doesn’t always cover over a multitude of sins.

Yes, we should be patient and tolerant, but what about when there is serious sin and serious harm? Am I just meant to ignore it or be run over like a steamroller back and forth again and again? Is this what this means? I want to say very clearly that we are right to ask these questions. The Bible itself encourages us to balance covering over sins where possible and confronting sins where necessary. It encourages us to be slow to anger, but it doesn’t say never be angry.

(21:44 – 22:12)

It encourages a culture where sin is graciously overlooked, but it also tells us in some places that there needs to be rebuke and even church discipline. It’s not that 1 Peter 4, 8 is incorrect, it’s just that it’s not the only thing the Bible teaches. And I’m afraid that I can’t give you an easy formula when it comes to this, because this is about discernment and wisdom.

(22:12 – 24:50)

It’s about timing and harm and impact on the community. It’s about something we grow in as we grow in discernment. In the next sermon in a fortnight, we’ll talk about the steps of confrontation.

Without stealing the thunder of that sermon, I want to just throw out a few questions that you might want to ask when you’re thinking, should I cover over this sin or is this something a bit more serious? Here’s a few questions I think we should be asking. Number one, has the person actually sinned? Have they actually sinned? Or am I just disappointed because someone hasn’t done something the way that I would prefer? Secondly, how serious is the sin? How serious is it? Thirdly, how great is the harm of the sin to themselves, to other people, to the church’s reputation, to the gospel advance? Fourthly, does the person seem to be trapped in the sin? Are they caught in it, as Galatians 6.1 speaks about? Is it a pattern that they need help in escaping from a loving fellow Christian? And then fifthly, and maybe in one sense, the clearest one of all or the easiest one to analyse is, has the sin caused a breach in our relationship? Because whether the sin seems big or whether it seems little, if it is causing you to stop building a relationship with that person, if there’s now going to be an awkwardness or even an avoidance, then that sin is big enough for you to have to address it. So these are some of the questions I think we need to ask.

And it’s important that we ask them because I don’t want this sermon to be misunderstood or misheard. The general tolerance of Christians doesn’t mean that we sweep all sin under the rug. Indeed, if you have been on the receiving end of very harmful and serious sin and it hasn’t yet been addressed, then you should address it or seek help in addressing it if you feel you don’t have the courage to do so.

(24:52 – 25:13)

Maybe you’ve received the sin or the harm of another individual who’s not a Christian. Maybe it’s the sin of a fellow Christian, maybe a fellow Christian even in the church. And we can also distinguish between being hurt in the church and being hurt by the church.

(25:14 – 30:27)

Very sadly, but in another sense, thankfully, in recent years, there’s been more of a recognition of this, that the whole culture of a church, the whole leadership culture or a ministry culture within a particular segment of the church can become systematically ungodly in a way that isn’t easy to challenge. And I want to say that such serious sins should never be overlooked in God’s church in the name of covering over as someone cites Proverbs 10 or Proverbs 19 to you. And yet with that being said, we come back to the thrust of the sermon.

We come back to this mutual immunity to the petty, the small offences of others. And I want to finish on just a few practicalities before we come to communion. A few things that came to my mind, I hope these are biblical.

I hope they’re at least helpful. And I hope it’s just something for you to take away and reflect on. The first thing that just occurred to me was that overlooking sin actually means forgiving the little things in a kind of conscious way.

Sometimes people think they are covering over sin, but really what they are doing is building up a growing pile of grievances. They’re just getting more and more resentful as the small little pile of things builds up into a big mountainous pile. And even in these small things that we overlook, there needs to be that conscious and deliberate forgiving of the other person and not just putting it to the side in anger and frustration.

That’s not overlooking, because to overlook is to forgive even these seemingly smaller sins. So bear that in mind. Overlooking is an action of forgiveness, even if it’s over a seemingly small thing.

A second practical point is that if I am overlooking sin, I will not be talking to other people about that sin. There’s a kind of perverse way that people can sometimes feel like they’re keeping the peace, because they don’t confront the person, the perpetrator over the sin, and therefore they think, well, I’m not causing a conflict in the home or in the church or wherever it is, the workplace. But then they go and they chat to other people about it.

And they talk to other people, not the person who knows nothing about it, but to other people about how rubbish person so-and-so is. That is not overlooking sin. That is gossip.

We are encouraging one-to-one partners in the church. And I don’t know who it was that I heard or I read, but it just kind of struck me, because someone said, do not have a one-to-one gossip partner. Do not develop a one-to-one nursing bitterness partner.

And people can do that. Now, there is an appropriate way to support our friends when they’re struggling in relationships. I understand that.

Of course, there’s a place for that. Mainly that will be to direct them to go and speak to the person that they have the issue with and to pray for them that they will be gracious and gentle in the way that they confront. But be very wary of that.

That kind of, I’m not confronting lots of people, but I’m talking about them all over the place. I think this is a real issue in many, many churches today, where actually confrontation isn’t happening at the expense of discussion of people around churches. Thirdly, I think that confessing our own sins regularly and asking God to show us how much we have been forgiven is a very practical way to keep our hearts soft and tolerant to the wrongs of other people.

Because here’s the thing, if I’m looking in the mirror regularly and I’m seeing in my reflection, not the physical image, but the spiritual reality that, hey, it’s another day where there’s a huge big log in my eye. Because look at the size of all the sin that’s going on in my life that actually God forgives me of all the time. When I see that that log is in my own eye, then I will never be so quick to go around picking all the specks out of everyone else’s eye.

(30:28 – 30:45)

Now, if you read that statement of Jesus very carefully, He actually doesn’t say you shouldn’t go around helping other people pick the specks out. He doesn’t say you shouldn’t do it. But what He is saying is, do it as people who are dealing with your own sin.

(30:46 – 33:03)

Do it as someone who is not a hypocrite and who is not coming with a sense of moral superiority. Because the greatest sinner you know is the guy looking back at you in the mirror. So this is something I think really important.

I think, and I’ve been very challenged in this recently by a number of others who have been speaking on this too, that if I confess my sin more than I do, I think I would be way softer towards other people than I am. Number four, final thing, and we’re saying this really every week, but let’s remember the gospel. Let’s remember the gospel.

And this is another way the gospel is described, isn’t it? The covering thing that we do each day is a small earthly picture of what Christ has done for us decisively. Because when we sinned against Him times without number, He did not retaliate in kind. In incredible selfless love, Christ gave His own life and He shed His own blood to cover over my sin and to provide the way by which the judgement of God passes over my door and does not come through my door.

That’s the wonder of the cross, isn’t it? That’s the wonder of the cross. There is a pass over for us because of the blood of Jesus, the Lamb. Every single sin that you are able to look past is a pointer to the billions of sins that Christ has covered over and overlooked in your life.

And so a Christian should not only be thankful for this, but be a peculiar mix of tolerance and intolerance. Intolerant about our own sin and yet tolerant with the sins of others. Lovingly patient with others and yet lovingly confrontational where that is required.

(33:04 – 33:37)

We see the glory of justice and accountability, but surely in light of the cross, we also see the glory of tolerance and overlooking. Let us pray and ask for God’s help to grasp these things. Father, thank you this evening for your amazing, staggering, daily patience with us.

(33:38 – 33:57)

You are so long-suffering with us in our many, many sins. Sins of thought and attitude and action and words. We have a debt that we could not pay, but Christ paid it in full.

(33:58 – 34:22)

And we pray that something of the savour of that would come into our hearts afresh, that it would come then into our relationships. You know our hearts and you know our lives and you know that we find this so very hard to do, but we pray that you would increasingly change us more into the likeness of your Son. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

The post The Glory of Overlooking – Proverbs 10v12 appeared first on Greenview Church.

But perhaps if there’s one place in which we’d be likely to see what really makes somebody tick, that opens up a window into the desires of our hearts, that place is probably personal prayer. Just me, talking to the God who knows every inch of me and before whom I have no secrets. And if that prayer is made in a situation of great duress or under threat, then it’s all the more likely to be a genuine expression of what I care about, what I most desire.

And so if we want to know what Jesus was really like, even beyond his public teaching and his miracles, if we want an insight into what made Jesus tick, so that when all else was stripped away and you dug down to the bottom of his heart, so you could see his concerns and his desires, then we can go to no better place than John chapter 17, because we are given an amazing window into Jesus praying to his heavenly Father. So if you’ve got a Bible there or you’ve got your device, let’s read the start of John chapter 17 together. You’ll find that on the church Bibles on page 1085, and it’d be good to keep that open as we go through it this morning.

We’re going to read the first five verses, the introduction to this wonderful prayer of Jesus. After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you.

(2:52 – 4:24)

For you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now, this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. This is the word of God. John 17, we’re starting it this morning.

We’ll go into the rest of the chapter next week. It is described as one writer, as one of the most sacred passages in scripture. Another describes it as one of the mountain peaks of revelation.

Because there is a real sense in John 17 that we are standing on holy ground. It’s not that there aren’t other prayers of Jesus in the gospels, but those tend to be quite short, summary type prayers. But here in John chapter 17, we have Jesus’ longest prayer by far, and one that in so many ways lays his heart bare.

(4:25 – 4:59)

Just to set the scene of where we are in John’s gospel, you’ll know if you’ve been following along our series in recent weeks, that Jesus has been teaching his disciples in what is sometimes known as the upper room ministry, and he has been preparing them for his departure. He’s taught them about the Holy Spirit that God will send, and he will send after he has departed. He is getting them ready for persecution that’s going to lie ahead, because a big change is coming.

(5:00 – 5:41)

After three years of being in the care and protection of Jesus, these disciples are soon going to be facing the world without his physical presence, and that’s an unsettling prospect. And so Jesus wants to reassure them. See the end of chapter 16 in verse 33, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. Or as the old versions used to say, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

(5:41 – 6:46)

But if that change was daunting and troubling for the disciples, how much more so for Jesus himself? Because for that change to happen, it meant chapter 17 verse 1, that the hour had come. The hour or the time is something that John has been trailing throughout this gospel. It’s referred to somewhat enigmatically in a number of places right from the start of the gospel.

There’ll be some verses on the screen. Back in chapter 2 verse 4 at the famous wedding at Cana, Jesus says to his mother, woman why do you involve me? Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come. Then we go on about chapter 7. You go to the festival, Jesus speaking, I am not going up to this festival because my time has not yet fully come.

(6:47 – 8:53)

Later in the same chapter, at this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. And then chapter 8 verse 20, he spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put, yet no one seized him because his hour had not yet come. And if you’d been reading through the gospel of John for the first time, maybe you didn’t know anything about it, you would be intrigued.

You would be thinking, what’s the hour? What’s the time? It creates a kind of suspense in the gospel. Jesus is heading somewhere. Something big clearly lies ahead.

And then as we enter, what will be the last week of Jesus’ life in chapter 12 verse 23, we read, Jesus replied, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. Now that word glorification or glory comes from a Hebrew word. I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but this is what they say, comes from a Hebrew word that has the idea of weight or heaviness associated with it.

It’s a sense of great substance, which became used for having the sense of having honour or splendour. So to be glorified was to be praiseworthy, was to be held in high esteem, was to be admired. And in that regard, the glory of something was also the idea of that thing’s greatest and most outstanding feature.

Your glory could be your greatest characteristic or achievement. And the Bible, the book of Proverbs talks about the glory of young men being their strength. What’s the kind of standout quality of young men, particularly in a kind of Old Testament agricultural culture? It is their strength, their physical ability.

(8:54 – 11:07)

Today, we might say something like the glory of India is the Taj Mahal. You get the idea. And the hour that has been trailed by John, it seems, is the time, Jesus says in chapter 12, when Jesus will be glorified.

Now that doesn’t sound too bad, does it? But then Jesus immediately says, chapter 12, verse 24, very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. You see, the hour of Jesus’ glorification will also be the hour of his death, even death on a cross, which of course doesn’t make any sense from a human point of view.

After all, what could be less glorious, less honouring, less praiseworthy than dying a criminal death on a Roman cross? A method of execution that was designed to humiliate and shame its victims, publicly degrading them before mocking crowds. And yet this is the wonder of the gospel, of the message of Jesus Christ, that it will be through that very death and all its weakness and ignominy that Jesus will achieve and secure God’s greatest glory, the rescue of men and women, people ruined by sin, cut off from God, facing judgement, will have their sin cancelled out and can be restored and brought back home to God because of what Jesus will do on the cross. Now, of course, that glory would subsequently be revealed in the resurrection and the ascension and will be seen in his coming again.

(11:07 – 12:10)

But in one sense, those are the confirmation, the vindication, the celebration of the glory that would be secured at the cross. And as Jesus prays this prayer and lifts his eyes to heaven at the start of John chapter 17, the hour is now less than 24 hours away. So you see, when Jesus prays at the start of chapter 17, Father, glorify your Son, that’s not a selfish, egotistical prayer.

It’s a prayer based upon incredible self-giving. It’s a prayer predicated on the greatest act of sacrificial love that you and I could ever contemplate. It’s the prayer of one who is ready to endure and suffer so that you and I might have new life and be free from condemnation.

(12:12 – 12:43)

And notice how the Father and the Son are working together in this. Glorify the Son so that your Son may glorify you. Because Jesus came to do the Father’s will.

Note down in verse 4, I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. Jesus brings God glory by finishing the work the Father gave him. That work being to rescue lost souls.

(12:44 – 13:32)

That’s the Father’s desire. That gets impact a little more in verse 2. The Father grants the Son authority over all people so that the Son might give eternal life to those given to Him by the Father. Now there are some deep waters in these verses.

There are some levels of mystery here. I’m not sure I can explain all the mechanisms or workings of it. Indeed, I was very heartened after scratching my head over this for a while to read a comment from J.C. Ryle who said, The wisest Christian will always confess that there are things here which he cannot fully explain.

(13:33 – 15:07)

Why does the Father need to give Jesus authority over all in order for Jesus to give others eternal life? Don’t ask me to explain to you the metaphysics of that. But here is the bigger question. Here’s the most pertinent question.

Why does the Father give all authority to the Son? He does it so that the Son might save and rescue and restore people like you and me. God the Father and God the Son both giving of themselves, giving up, giving out to the very depths of their divinity because you are so precious and so loved by them. The hymn puts it, Out in the desert he heard its cry, sick and helpless and ready to die.

None of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed nor how dark the night the Lord went through to find his sheep that was lost. There is incredible self-giving in these simple statements. Verse 3. Now this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

(15:09 – 17:14)

John’s gospel, we have noted this so many times as we’ve gone through it, is a message of life, of eternal life. And eternal life is more than just everlasting life, although it is also that. Eternal life is the life of God himself.

Not just an endless run of life as we know it now, that would be terrifying, but life that is rich and joyful and satisfied, that never wearies, that never wears thin, unspoiled life. There’s nobody who is happy who wants to die. Sometimes people want to die because of pain or fear or despair.

But life eternal, the Bible tells us, will be a life without tears or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will pass away. There will be no more curse. Life which, because it is the life of God himself, Jesus says, can only come through a knowledge of God and Jesus.

Now of course by knowledge, Jesus here means more than just having some facts in your head. It’s about a relationship with God, relational knowledge. You know, if somebody asks me, do you know Paul McCartney? Well, as a former Beatles Brain of Britain contestant 1990, I’d fancy I might know rather more about Paul McCartney than some of his grandchildren do.

But I don’t know him. I know lots about him, but it’s just data. And sadly, I suspect that even if Paul McCartney knew about me, he’s probably got all the friends he wants.

(17:16 – 17:30)

But God knows all about you, and he wants you to know him. And the door is open through Jesus. You notice in that verse that Jesus and God can’t be separated.

(17:32 – 19:11)

One without the other is neither possible nor optional. Back in John 14, Jesus had made that abundantly clear. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. And how could it be otherwise? It is to Jesus that the Father has given the authority to grant eternal life. So open your heart to Jesus.

Thank him for that sacrifice. Humble yourself, admit your need, and ask him to give you eternal life, that you might know the one true eternal God is your Father. Now, of course, some eagle-eyed people might be thinking, well, what about the end of verse 2? It says there that you granted him authority over all people, that he might give eternal life to those you have given him.

Jesus says eternal life will be given to those the Father gives to Jesus. So then is this out of my hands? If it’s up to the Father, where’s my choice? And yes, the Bible clearly teaches that people can only become Christians if God, through the Holy Spirit, is at work in their lives. And yet at the same time, the Bible is very clear that you’ve got a decision to make, and you can absolutely make it now.

(19:12 – 19:34)

If you want to become a Christian to receive eternal life, you can. To say otherwise is just an excuse. Let me conduct a little experiment.

You can all join in with this one, but don’t worry, you can do it very discreetly. I want you to look at your fingers. Do it very discreetly.

(19:35 – 21:17)

Keep them still, but in your head, without moving them, order them to move. Really concentrate. Move, move, move, move.

And now just move them. Interesting. You see, you can go through life, and you can come to church Sunday after Sunday, and you can say, God, if you want me to become a Christian, move me, move me, open my heart, open my heart.

Or you know what? You can just move and open your heart. And one day you’ll look back and know why. Let’s just take a moment to pray, in case that’s you.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that your arms are open. Your call is that each one of us might come and know you and receive eternal life. Lord, grant us the faith to move in our hearts, even now, to ask that Jesus would come to receive his forgiveness, to bow before his majesty, to call him Saviour and Lord, that we might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Amen. In verse four, Jesus prays, saying that he has finished the work.

(21:18 – 22:33)

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. I think in saying that, he’s not just thinking about his previous ministry, but he’s looking forward and including the cross in that statement, because there will be no going back. Rather like a film in which the hero is getting ready to complete his mission.

As he prepares to kind of go out to do it, someone says to him, you know, if you go through that door, there’s no coming back. You know what’s going to happen? Well, in John chapter 17, Jesus has already stepped through the door. And now father, verse five, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

I think that’s very moving. Jesus looks ahead beyond the cross to going home. Of course, Jesus and the father could never be separated, not least because they shared the same divinity.

(22:35 – 23:13)

But in becoming like us, Jesus gave up the glories and the blessings of heaven. As Philippians puts it, he made himself nothing. He emptied himself.

He left the father’s house in search of the sheep. He became a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. But his hope as he looks forwards, his desire, his joy is to be once again in the father’s presence, to share again the glory with the father they had before the world began.

(23:15 – 25:07)

And the amazing thing is this morning that people like you and me, if we know him, will be part of that glory. Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus that those who hope in Christ will be for the praise of God’s glory. He writes elsewhere to the Romans that we will share in God’s glory.

And that, just as a side point, as an encouragement for us, I think as we make our own way through a broken world, often with a sense of loss about the past or perhaps trepidation about the future, that we too, like Jesus, can look ahead and have hope that our destination beyond the trials, if we know him, is glory. So, what does it take to go home? Because if God is our maker and we were made to know and enjoy him forever, then our ultimate home, the place that really can meet all our deepest longings, we thought about this at Christmas, all that sense of nostalgia, is in God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. John chapter 17, verses 1 to 5, the heart of Jesus revealed, the heart of one who shared the love of the Father for lost souls:

people like you and me. The heart of one who is ready to be shamed that we might be lifted up. The heart of one who received authority in order to give us eternal life.

(25:09 – 25:26)

The heart of one whose desire was to honour his Father and be in his presence. May God grant every one of us to know him and the Father who sent him. God bless these thoughts from his word.

The post Jesus Prays for Himself – John 17v1–5 appeared first on Greenview Church.

But tonight we want to press on to the implication for God’s people. Forgiven people, forgive. What I want to call the Gospel Echo.

(0:37 – 2:26)

Now there are some questions that some of this raises but we don’t want to jump too quickly on them. In the weeks ahead we’re going to wrestle with various things, practical questions like should we overlook? When should we confront? What about justice and boundaries and consequences? What if the hurt remains? And all of these kinds of questions matter. Scripture speaks to these things.

Sure we won’t cover every situation over the weeks ahead but nothing will make sense unless we lay down the foundations and the biblical foundations. And putting these valid questions to the side, we do need to grapple with the need for Christians to forgive as a reflection of God’s heart and an outworking of the Gospel. If we think forgiveness is optional for the Christian or that others aren’t worthy of it, then we haven’t really grappled or understood the Gospel.

So where do we start tonight? Well let’s start with the call to forgive. And firstly Jesus taught it. He taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

He then makes it clear what he’s talking about. He says if we forgive others, our Father forgives us. If we refuse, we should not expect forgiveness in return.

Jesus says similar things elsewhere. For example in Mark, Mark 11, when you pray he says if you hold anything against someone, forgive them so that your Father may forgive you. So forgiveness flows from a relationship with our Father God.

(2:27 – 7:27)

And we’re being called to forgive those who sin against us even before they ask or take responsibility. Paul the Apostle talks about it too. He says it plainly in Ephesians 4, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

And Colossians also echoes the similar truth. What the Bible does though is place forgiveness squarely in the realm of discipleship. Forgiving others is flowing from a relationship with God in Christ.

In fact it’s a mark of our life in Christ. Those who’ve been forgiven by Jesus are called to reflect him. God is saying this, look at how I forgive.

Start there. That’s why we began where we did last week, God’s forgiveness towards us. And if you haven’t listened to Colin’s sermon yet, let me encourage you to do so.

Now in our culture, forgiveness is often framed as emotional self-care, something we do to feel better, find peace or release anger. But the Bible presents forgiveness rather differently. It’s not something that we wait for to feel ready for.

And it’s not mainly about emotional relief because feelings are really rather poor leaders. But at the heart of biblical forgiveness is the gospel, God’s costly forgiveness in Christ. And when we forgive, we’re really choosing to live in step with God’s character and his ways, not simply chasing an inner calm.

And so that means forgiveness is a relational and covenantal commitment before God. It’s not a therapeutic exercise. And we’re going to think about that later in the series to carefully address emotions and hurts because they do matter, but they’re not the centre of forgiveness.

And as we start, we need to remember that we need God’s help. Jesus commands his disciples to forgive, but as he does so, it’s in the context of prayer. We read some verses from Matthew there and in Mark, and there’s another reference in Luke 17.

They’re all in the context of praying. We need God’s help. We need humility.

And we also need wisdom, don’t we? Because the Bible doesn’t present forgiveness as one simple process. Jesus himself spoke about it in different ways. We refer to Mark 11 and Luke 17, both speaking differently about forgiveness that show to us how Christians have wrestled with the tensions of what forgiveness looks like because they’re not abstract ideas.

They involve real wounds and real relationships. But again, let’s stress we’re going to unpack some of these things as we go through our series. It’s a bit like taking a rather large meal.

We’re going to take it slowly and a little bite at a time. And we’re not trying to pack everything into the one course. So hang in there over the few weeks.

And if I can recommend you again, please pick up one of the books or even just one of the little booklets to help you progress and work through these things over time. But let’s not get too diverted tonight from the call to forgive and the nature of forgiveness. Before we keep going, let me say what we’re not saying it is.

Not every irritation or tension is sin to be forgiven. Weaknesses, mistakes, differences, failed attempts to do good call for patience. They call for love.

They call for encouragement, not forgiveness. And when we turn everyday irritations into kind of moral offences, then we’re kind of placing ourselves as judge and jury. And our preferences are really becoming centre stage.

They become the standard by which we judge. But rather, forgiveness is about sin. And sin is sin regardless of scale or perspective.

And I’m not going to talk tonight about the difference between maybe what we might call small sins or big sins. It might be small sins in the perpetrator’s eyes, but large in the victim’s eyes. Yet before God, sin is sin.

(7:29 – 12:13)

And I’m aware too that some make distinctions between what they might frame as unintentional sins that are to be covered over and freely forgiven, but deliberate ongoing sins. Well, that calls for something more. It calls for repentance.

Well, we’re going to unpack that sort of thing over the weeks ahead. So what is forgiveness? How might we best describe what it is? What’s the nature of it? The dynamic of it that scripture gives us? Well, as David’s mentioned, we’re going to look at Matthew chapter 18, because this incident between Peter and Jesus really helps us answer this. So turn in your Bibles then please to Matthew chapter 18.

It’s page 985 in your red pew Bibles there if you have it. And we’re going to follow it down as we go. Okay.

So keep looking down there in verse 21. It says, Peter comes to Jesus with a personal question about forgiveness. Peter asks, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me? And I forgive him as many as seven times.

Peter’s asking, when’s enough enough? When can I walk away? But Jesus replies, verse 22, not seven times, but 70 times seven. The meaning is clear, I think. Be radically merciful.

Keep forgiving. Hold nothing back. I want you to be unrestrained and repetitive in your forgiveness.

And with this answer, Jesus is echoing an older story that I think Peter would have been pretty familiar with. This phrase 70 times seven was used in a different context long ago back in Genesis, in the context of revenge. Lamech, Cain’s son, said, I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.

If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is 77 fold. And what Lamech’s doing here is he’s boasting to his wives. He’s so proud.

He can’t bear his reputation being sullied, being damaged, this young man striking him. And he goes straight from being wounded, and obviously it’s not just physically, but reputationally, so he strikes back and severely. It’s an over-the-top revenge.

And so Jesus is telling Peter something of the dynamic of what forgiveness is to look like. And so he expands it with this story. So Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants, down there in verse 23.

And in the story, Jesus sets forgiveness in the context of God’s kingdom. God is the king. We are the servants.

Jesus knows forgiveness is hard. We’re hurt and angry, and sometimes we don’t like the person who has offended us or wronged us. And the instinct, the natural instinct is self-protection, guarding our pride, guarding our reputation, a desire for payback.

But what Jesus is doing here is he’s reorienting us. Retaliation feels justified, but that’s more about building our own little kingdoms. Instead, we’re to entrust ourself to God himself.

Remember too, Jesus taught the context in which we’re to forgive is, Father God, may your kingdom come, may your will be done. When we remember that God reigns, that he sees everything, and he judges justly in his time, then revenge takes the back burner. Seeing ourselves rightly as servants, not the king makes forgiveness possible.

It’s the starting point. So Jesus continues. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents.

Now, here Jesus reveals a fundamental context of the forgiveness we’re to practise, that it involves a debt. Something is owed. And we learned this from last week as we looked in Psalm 32, that God’s forgiveness involves a cancellation of a real debt.

(12:14 – 13:40)

That’s how Scripture speaks of sin as a record that stood against us, a genuine moral liability towards God. And Jesus uses this debt language as we’ve already read. Remember in the Lord’s prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are debtors to us.

Debt is the metaphor for sins and falling short of God’s standards. But there’s more. The size of the debt is brought into view.

Today’s money, this is billions of pounds. And the point is simple. The debt before the king is beyond the servant.

Jesus magnifies it like a telescope so that we can see it clearly. This is an unimaginable sum. It’s unpayable.

That’s what Jesus says. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all they had, and payment to be made. It’s a strange turn in the story.

But Jesus is reminding us that there are consequences to debt. It needs to be paid. Forgiveness is not to simply forget.

(13:41 – 15:42)

To forgive does not mean we simply forget what has been done to us. God’s forgiveness himself of our sin is not amnesia. We may think it’s that way when Scripture says God will remember our sins no more.

But that means really that God promises not to treat us according to our sins. It’s not simply letting people off the hook. Forgiveness does not erase the facts or remove the consequences.

God does not deny the record against him. But Jesus continues. The servant fell on his knees imploring him, have patience with me and I will pay everything.

This servant wants a payment plan. He falls down and pleads for time to pay, but he can’t. It’s a sum so large that even if the servant sold his entire life and family, he could not even put a dent in what he owed.

And so what Jesus is starting to do is relate this question about forgiveness to our lives and says something about how we are like this servant. For we too owe a debt for our sins. We too are unable to pay for our sins against God.

We too cannot earn our way out of sins debt. No amount of good works can erase it. No payment plan for us is good enough.

And what Jesus is doing is pointing to the gospel truth that someone else needs to pay the cost of the debt. So Jesus continues. And out of pity for him, verse 26, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

Here’s what happens. The king forgives the debt. He doesn’t demand a payment plan or some other form of retribution.

(15:44 – 16:49)

This is gospel forgiveness. It’s not earned. It’s not negotiated.

It’s given freely. But there’s another aspect to it. It costs.

Sin creates a debt and someone must bear it. And here the king bears the cost. He absorbs it.

It costs him. And again, this shows us something of the truth of the gospel. We’re on the cross.

Jesus took our place and absorbed the punishment for our sin that we deserved. And forgiveness flows from the heart of the forgiver, not the merit or ability of the sinner. That’s how Jesus puts it.

Listen to what Jesus says. Out of pity for him. God forgives because he is full of compassion, slow to anger, kind and gracious.

(16:51 – 19:00)

What Jesus is telling Peter, showing Peter is that when others wrong us, even again and again, we’re not to take revenge or ignore the offence. Instead, forgiveness means we’re to absorb the cost ourselves. It’s going to cost us.

And that mirrors the gospel. And we’re to figure too with a compassion and a kindness towards the one who owes us. We don’t treat them as their sin deserves.

So let’s think further about how we’re to forgive and to underline the radical implications of forgiving as Christ has forgiven us. Jesus’ story takes another turn. So point three on the slide, how are we to forgive and what are its radical implications? But when the same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.

And seizing him, he began to choke him saying, pay what you owe. So this servant, this fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I will pay you. He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

And when the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. But Jesus says, the king responds, I forgive you everything. Should you not have had mercy as I had mercy on you? The tragedy and even shock of the parable, the story here is the forgiven servant being so unmerciful.

After receiving what is a monsoon of grace from the king, he refuses a mere trickle to his fellow servant. The fellow servant’s debt is not insignificant. It’s maybe three, four months wages.

It’s not insignificant. It’s way smaller. Yes.

(19:01 – 19:27)

But he grabs him, he chokes him and demands payment with no mercy. But there’s more. Jesus continues.

And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debts. So, so also my heavenly father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from the heart. So there’s two things here.

(19:28 – 19:44)

Jesus’ parable is turning sharply and it’s to deliver a warning that’s unmistakable. It’s really quite sobering. Withholding forgiveness carries real danger.

(19:46 – 20:27)

Jesus is not being casual or hypothetical. He’s really warning that an unforgiving heart leads to consequences of significance. A refusal to forgive may reveal that we have never truly grasped the forgiveness that we claim to have received ourselves.

That the gospel has not gone deep, it’s superficial. An unforgiving heart signals a heart still closed to grace. And we expose the danger that we do not truly know God’s mercy at all.

(20:29 – 21:01)

When we fail to grasp the magnitude of God’s grace, then pride is taking over. And we’re clinging to grudges and we’re blocking the gospel’s work in us. When we fixate on other sins and forget our own, well, revenge may feel justified and we act harshly but we’re blind to how merciful God has been towards us.

(21:02 – 21:15)

Yes, offences wound deeply. Justice and consequences still matter. Forgiveness does not mean ignoring harm or becoming a doormat, but here’s the danger.

(21:16 – 21:27)

Victims can become victimisers. We place ourselves in God’s seat. We become the king and the judge, just like Lamech.

(21:28 – 21:47)

And the truth that Jesus is warning us of is that unforgiveness is spiritually deadly. It imprisons and it hardens. Anger can feed a self-centredness.

(21:48 – 22:14)

Keeping score becomes the dominant narrative. Treating others as perpetual debtors is the way it goes. Resentments build up.

Bitterness comes to roost. Keller puts it in his book like this. He says, bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.

(22:17 – 22:30)

You see, the consequences, the judgement is being played out internally. It’s a gotcha moment. What we put out there actually is coming back here.

(22:31 – 22:34)

That’s the judgement. That’s the warning. That’s the consequences.

(22:35 – 22:56)

What’s really going on is you start to suffer internal toxins. That’s the judgement of the consequences that Jesus is warning of because hearts become prideful, self-righteous, resentful, unforgiving. It’s like a hidden insidious weapon.

(22:56 – 23:31)

Like a Trojan horse. Remember the story? And like the citizens of Troy, we don’t detect it until it’s done its deadly work. And the Hebrews writer warns of this too.

He calls it the root of bitterness. In chapter 12, he says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. And so that brings us finally then to Jesus’ most important phrase, from the heart.

(23:34 – 25:47)

What we hear from Jesus is that at its most foundational level, forgiveness is an attitude from the heart. It’s about our minds and all the imagination, the thinkings and beliefs that go on there. It’s our desires and all the wants and passions and fears that go on there.

It’s about our wills and all the choices and decisions and plans and acts that come from that. And they’re all aligned. It’s an internal posture, an attitude.

Our thinking about the person and what has happened is to be rewired so that we don’t lord it over them and think ourselves as above. And we don’t obsess about it over and over and over again, seeking to sort it all out on our own apart from God because, hey, we’re in control and we can sort this. And also what we desire for the person who has wronged us is to be reoriented.

So we look to avoid feelings of hate and harm, meaning we don’t let them fester. We’re not like the wife of Tam o’ Shanter who nurses them. We don’t nurse feelings and desires to want to treat the person as their sins deserves.

And what we willingly choose to do with the cost of the sin against us is to be redirected. We choose to absorb the cost of the offence and we choose to treat the offender not as their sins deserve. It’s got to be at the heart level because forgiveness has to be practised again and again and again.

Did you notice Peter asked at the very beginning, how many times? Forgiveness may be spoken in a moment, I forgive you, but we have to continue to forgive. We choose again and again not to think those thoughts or cultivate those desires or choose to act in revenge or retribution and that internal posture orients us towards showing mercy. And this is what is always required.

(25:48 – 28:04)

This is the work you do before God and it’s unconditional and it doesn’t depend on apology or repentance or then becoming a better person. It comes before confronting the offender and even seeking repentance or looking for trust. We are to come to God and cultivate a forgiving, merciful heart.

How many times does God forgive us in a single day? His mercy has no limits. Are we tempted to place limits where God is not? And I know this is not easy or simplistic and it does require wisdom, especially with repeated and harmful sins. Some offences may be forgiven more quickly than others.

Others require boundaries and discernment before trust and relationship might ever be restored. And we’re going to return to that. But it always begins here, from the heart.

And the point is simple yet hard. Treat those who sin against you as God has treated you in Christ. Show mercy, reflecting that your far greater debt has already been paid. Do it with kindness and compassion because forgiven people are forgiving people. His good purpose is that from the rches of His mercy toward us, we extend in forgivenes and generosity too.

And as we do that, God’s glory is in view. And so is our maturity. Ours as a victim, but also theirs as an offender.

And as we forgive and continue to forgive, God is at work reshaping our hearts from the inside out, as well as holding out the opportunity that in the hearts of those who have wronged us, they too may be being transformed by God’s mercy and grace. God forgives us and his glory is on display. And when we forgive, we reflect and display that glory too.

(28:06 – 28:15)

When we forgive, it’s an echo of the gospel. Forgiven people, forgive. Let me pray.

(28:18 – 28:50)

Father, we thank you for the gospel and thank you for all your grace and mercy towards us. Thank you for your kindness and compassion towards us. May that evermore work deeply in our hearts from the inside out, so that we too are able to walk in step with your spirit, to be people who are kind and compassionate and forgiving.

So help us God, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The post Forgiven People Forgive – Matthew 18v21–35 appeared first on Greenview Church.

It’s some three and a half chapters long, the teaching that Jesus gave to 11 of his closest disciples on the night before he died. We’re finally reaching the end of this teaching. And as I was reflecting back and thinking of what we’ve said about it, one of the very first things we said is that there are two characteristics of this teaching.

First, that the teaching is interactive, and second, that the teaching is pastoral. So on the one hand, this teaching isn’t a monologue, it is a dialogue, it is Jesus responding to the questions his disciples are raising. And on the other hand, it is not a cold, abstract sort of lesson, but it is addressing the pastoral needs, the fears of his disciples at this time.

A parallel came to my mind, I was thinking of when a child hears some very scary news. Maybe one of the parents takes them aside, they’re six or seven years old, and they’re told the scary news that mum or dad is going away for a while. And the questions flow naturally.

(1:59 – 3:24)

Where are they going? Why are they going? How will things change? And are they coming back? And this is very much the tone of John chapters 13 to 16. Jesus announces his leaving, and his disciples are full of fears and full of questions. And what they needed is what any child would need.

They needed some reassuring words that would settle their troubled hearts. So what does Jesus say to them? What could possibly calm their trembling fears on the brink of Jesus’ death? Well, as we come to the end of the sermon, Jesus gives them three massive reassurances. Not small reassurances, but huge reassurances.

And not fake reassurances, not tell them what will feel good, but tell them what is true. Jesus gives three authentic reassurances that were spoken to these disciples, and yet they still resonate with us. These truths are so big that I think they come down the corridors of history, even to us this morning.

(3:25 – 4:47)

So reassurance number one is that no one will take away your joy. No one will take away your joy. This is a direct quote from verse 22 in the text.

Jesus says, now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. But what is Jesus referring to? And when is Jesus referring to? When will the disciples see him again? And when will they receive this unstealable joy? Now to answer that question, we need to go back to the start of the passage. And so we go back to verse 16.

As Jesus begins the end of this discourse, John records, he went on to say, in a little while you will see me no more. Now it’s important for us to realise that Jesus is using this phrase, a little while, in a cryptic and vague way. We’ll see this later on in the sermon as well, that Jesus is deliberately not speaking with absolute black and white clarity.

(4:48 – 5:48)

And this is also seen in the fact that in verse 17, his disciples do not know what on earth Jesus means. They have this discussion at the back of the class, as discussions happen at the back of classes. What did Jesus mean when he said that thing? Because I didn’t get it.

Did you get it? Did you write it down in your notes what he meant? What did Jesus mean when he said, in a little while, you won’t see me. And then when he said, in a little while, you will see me. And they’re absolutely clueless.

They’re looking to one another and no one’s got the answer. But in absolute fairness to them, we might be asking the very same thing. Now, what does Jesus mean by these two little whiles in verse 16? It’s easier for us to answer because we’re looking back with hindsight.

(5:51 – 7:44)

Certainly the first little while refers to the death of Jesus. Jesus is saying he will soon be dead. And at that point, he will be out of sight.

But this is not a far away thing. He says it will be in minutes, not in months. In just a little while, Jesus won’t be seen by his sorrowful disciples.

And then after another little while, you will see me. Now, there have been different points of view about the second little while. And I’m not going to spend a long while on the second little while because we’d be here all day.

But some people think it refers to things in the further future, like, for example, Pentecost. Maybe they will see him again in the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost. Or maybe some think it’s referring to the return of Jesus at the end of history.

Is that when they will see him again? Now, those are possible. But in my opinion, it’s more likely that this is something much sooner. I think the most natural reading of this is that the second little while is the period, basically, when Jesus is in the tomb.

For that short period of time, no more than three days, they will not see the Lord. And that’s confirmed, I think, because he says that during that little while, when they didn’t see him, they would grieve, grieving’s something you do when someone’s dead, while the world will rejoice. So they’re mourning the death of Jesus.

The world is celebrating because they think they’ve knocked off a false messiah. They will mourn. The world will rejoice.

(7:46 – 8:13)

But what a turnaround it will be on the greatest Sunday to have ever been when their not seeing turns into seeing. John records it later in chapter 20, verse 20, the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. When they saw him, they were overjoyed.

(8:15 – 8:30)

It was an instant, an immediate change of emotions. And Jesus reaches for the perfect illustration, as you would expect Jesus to do. All of Jesus’ illustrations were perfect.

(8:31 – 9:55)

And he goes for the absolute optimal illustration to show this sudden change of emotion. He says, it’s like a mother going through the pain of giving birth and that giving way to the arrival of the baby. And there’s none of the nonsense here, by the way, about the father going through the pain.

No, it’s the mother in this illustration going through the agony. And then suddenly, there is that deep and lasting joy as the baby is here. And Jesus says, verse 22, so with you, your deep anguish will turn into joy.

And that joy can never be taken away from you. Now, that is an unprecedented kind of joy. That’s an unparalleled sort of joy, isn’t it? I did some thinking this week.

Ask yourself this question too. What are the joys in life that cannot be taken away? Can you think of any joys in life that have no possibility of being taken away? Joys come and they go. They either vanish quickly or they vanish eventually.

(9:57 – 10:49)

Andy Bannister, I heard him interviewed a number of years ago, and I always remember him speaking about four levels of joy. I don’t know necessarily whether this is biblical, but it was just a sort of observation of people. He said there’s four levels of joy.

He said there’s the animal level, the base level, pleasures of eating and drinking and that sort of thing. And then he said there’s the joy of human achievement. Maybe I’m going to just go out there and do some stuff and achieve some stuff, and that will bring me joy.

And then he says, thirdly, there’s the joy of human relationships, finding your joy in your partner or your children or your friends. But he says the trouble with all of these levels of joy is that all of them eventually disappoint, and certainly all of them are temporary. The base pleasures come and go.

(10:50 – 12:23)

The achievements fade or are surpassed by others. The relationships disappoint at times, and even at their best, the ties are severed. And so what we really need, says Bannister, is to seek out a fourth level of joy.

And he says at the very top of the pyramid of joy is the joy that we find in spirituality, or because he’s a Christian, he says, in Christ himself. And it is absolutely in Christ himself, incidentally. We’re not pluralists here if we follow the Bible, because real and lasting joy is found in a risen person who cannot die and can never disappoint.

The reason our joy as Christians is untakeable is because it is resting in a risen Saviour whose work is finished. Our joy isn’t temporary because Jesus isn’t temporary, and His work isn’t temporary. It is finished and it is forever.

I wonder if we know this. I was thinking of Paul in Philippians where he says, and I used to find this really mysterious when I read Philippians as someone that’s not prone temperamentally particularly to joy. And I remember thinking, Paul must have been one of these really upbeat people.

(12:25 – 12:42)

He was just one of those upbeat temperaments because he says, we’ve to rejoice in the Lord always. So maybe I just need to be a little more smiley and upbeat like Paul. But you see, the key to what he says there, he says, don’t rejoice because you’ve got a joyful temperament.

(12:42 – 13:30)

He says, rejoice in the Lord always. And that really is the key to it. It is when your joy is found in a risen conquering Christ that it can’t be taken away.

Paul was writing that in a prison cell and yet he was able to find joy even amidst his sorrow in Christ. Do we know this? Are we thankful for it? Are we living in light of it each day? Well, if so, then we probably also are making use of the second reassurance that Jesus mentions, and that is the blessing of prayer. And I find this interesting that the next place Jesus goes is to prayer.

(13:32 – 14:45)

One of the great blessings of the work he’s achieved on the cross and his resurrection is now that nothing will hinder your access. Second reassurance, nothing will hinder your access. In that day, verse 23, in the day when they see him raised from the dead, there is something that the disciples will not need to do.

They will not need to ask Jesus anything. And that says a really odd thing to say, doesn’t it? How are we to understand this? Is he saying, you know, when I’m raised from the dead, you’ll just never talk to me again. You’ll never actually ask me any questions.

Surely he’s not saying that in some kind of literal way. The point I think Jesus is making has to do with the achievement of the cross and you might say the history of salvation. A time is coming soon when Jesus, the earthly son of God who has been living on earth, will return in glory to his father in heaven.

(14:47 – 15:26)

And in that sense, he will not be immediately available as he had been for three and a half years to his disciples, where they could put their questions to God in the flesh. But what Jesus is saying is actually, because of the work of my death and resurrection, that is no longer essential and it is no longer needed anyway. Because through his work on the cross and through his rising from the dead, Jesus has opened up a direct line of access into the very presence of his heavenly father.

(15:27 – 15:49)

And so he says, very truly I tell you, my father will give you whatever you ask in my name. The things you have asked of me, you will now be able to ask of my father. And he will give you whatever you ask for in my name.

(15:51 – 16:10)

Now that in my name is really significant. If you’ve been around church for a while, if you’ve been praying for a while, then you’re probably familiar with the custom of ending your prayers in Jesus’ name. Amen.

(16:10 – 16:17)

Amen. That practise comes out of this chapter in John 16. This is where it was established.

(16:18 – 17:18)

But what does it mean? And why do we do it? Is it just a form of nice religious words? Is it just a kind of nice thing to say at the end of your prayer, but it’s pretty meaningless? Or on the other hand, do we go to the other extreme of thinking that it’s a kind of magical formula, that we can be asking for any sort of nonsense, but as long as we add in Jesus’ name to it, then it’s going to be done? Is it a kind of powerless, meaningless thing? Or is it just a magical formula, a kind of leverage lever that you pull and God gives you stuff? Well, it’s neither of those things. It’s neither just a form of words, neither is it a magic formula. Rather, praying in Jesus’ name is reminding ourselves of the authority in which we pray, and it’s a reminder of the priorities we have when we pray, a reminder of the authority in which we pray.

(17:20 – 17:46)

There are various places in the country where you and I, as ordinary citizens, cannot simply get access. You cannot get on a plane tomorrow morning, fly down to London, go to Downing Street, knock on the gate and say, let me in, because they won’t let you in. There are some places like that where you cannot get in unless you have a certain authority and permission.

(17:48 – 19:13)

Now, suppose, and I don’t know if any of you have friends in high places, but suppose you did know a member at the top levels of the cabinet in the government, and suppose that person invited you down to Downing Street, and they put it in the diary, and they maybe gave you an official letter signed with their name at the bottom. Well, if you took that to the gate of Downing Street, then their name surely would get you in the door. When we pray in Jesus’ name, what we are gladly saying is that we have access to the Father because Jesus has made that access possible.

Because of His life-bearing and sin-bearing death, we have access to the highest and holiest heaven. And it’s not only the reason that we can pray, it is also a reminder of the priorities with which we must pray. Because if you’re praying in Jesus’ name, then you need to ask for things that befit His name.

People get kind of nervous about some of Jesus’ language here. I mean, Jesus says, whatever you ask for in my name, the Father’s going to give you. And we worry about that.

(19:13 – 19:58)

Are people going to ask for really silly things? Well, they do ask for really silly things. We do sometimes, don’t we? But if we do, it’s because we’ve missed the fact of the remainder of the sentence. Because what He says is that whatever you ask in my name is what the Father then will give you.

Well, you cannot ask for a million-pound yacht in Jesus’ name. You can’t ask that in the name of the one who had nowhere to lay His head. That would be incongruent, wouldn’t it, with asking for something in His name? As long as it aligns with Jesus’ name, as long as it aligns with His character, then we can ask for anything that we want.

(20:00 – 20:38)

This is both a constraint in what we ask for, and yet in another sense, the opportunities are limitless. For we pray in the name that is above all other names in the universe. Not just the name that’s near the top of government or even at the top of government, but the name at the top of the cosmos.

That’s the name we pray in and ask in. And so we can ask for a lot more than we often think we can ask for. This crisis point has come.

(20:39 – 21:06)

The darkness and death that Jesus will endure, the temporary separation that the disciples will endure, what a painful thing it is going to be in the short term. But there will be lasting joy, and there will be the outcome of prayer. The very reason that Jesus is going is so that we will enjoy the access that Jesus Himself enjoys.

(21:07 – 21:48)

And I think this is what Jesus is getting at in His words in verse 26. There’s a few head-scratching statements in this passage. Here’s another one.

Jesus says, I am not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf. I’m not saying I will ask the Father on your behalf. And we think, well, that’s odd.

Isn’t Jesus the one who intercedes for us, who prays on our behalf? And isn’t it also true that Jesus is our mediator who gives us access into God’s presence? Well, He is. We’ve already said that. We pray in Jesus’ name.

(21:50 – 24:17)

But Jesus is saying here that there is a mistake we could be making. We must not think that though we pray in Jesus’ name, we do not have direct access to the Father in prayer. And He says something very radical here.

Jesus says that even I am not the messenger who sort of goes between you and the Father so that you can’t speak to Him yourself. Jesus is the mediator. Jesus does pray for us, but that’s another matter.

His point is that we don’t pray to Jesus, and then Jesus takes our prayers to the Father for us. No. This is one of the great mistakes that you see in some versions of Christian faith.

You know, the sort of thing that actually you can’t come to the Father yourself. What you really need is a pastor or an apostle or a priest of some kind or a saint who’s already dead, a particularly holy person. And what you really need to do is you need to offer your prayers to that individual, and then that individual who’s a bit holier than you will go to the Father and will hopefully speak on your behalf.

You know why that’s wrong? Because it’s not even true of Jesus. Even Jesus says that He’s not going to do a shuttle run to the Father on your behalf. No.

Yes, He does pray for us, but not in the sense that we can’t pray directly to the Father. And this is also tied into the point that Jesus also says, that the Father loves us personally and individually. Because there’s often a view that we have of the Father that somehow He’s less inclined to love us and to hear us than perhaps Jesus is.

I think that’s part of why people do the go-between prayer thing, because they think, well, you know, maybe the Father is a bit colder and more stern and unloving than Jesus. So we’ll go to Jesus, and hopefully Jesus can nudge the Father along. Jesus says nothing could be further from the truth.

Verse 27, the Father Himself loves you. He knows you’ve loved me. He knows you’ve believed in me, and He loves you for that.

(24:18 – 24:54)

And He loves you with an everlasting love. It’s hard to imagine how revolutionary these verses could be to some of our prayer lives, certainly to my prayer life, if I just took them to heart. Because there’s various reasons we don’t come to God in prayer.

I mean, there’s all sorts of practical things, laziness, tiredness, various things. But there’s also other reasons. We don’t come because we often feel we don’t have really the authority to come, the right to come.

(24:55 – 26:21)

We’re too worried about the sin that we just committed 10 minutes ago. And we don’t realise that our entire authority to come rests on the name of Jesus. Or we pray too selfishly or too small because we forget we’re praying in Jesus’ name.

Or we feel wary of prayer because of a deep and distorted view of the love of our heavenly Father. So many of us struggle with that sort of thing because we use human fatherhood, sinful and imperfect as it is, as the measure of God’s fatherhood, which is the perfect love of the Father and the perfect pattern. Now, these are difficult things.

We understand that. But we need to keep coming back to the Bible and let it shape our view. Or another pothole that we often go down is that we view prayer as a joyless thing, as a drudgery.

And I’ve been really struck by this as we’ve gone through, John. This is not the first time Jesus has said this. The devil would love us to view prayer as a joyless exercise when Jesus promises in verse 24 that our joy will be complete when we pray and we receive answers to prayer.

(26:21 – 27:29)

Now, that is not saying that there are no struggles or challenges in prayer. There are. But let us not speak of prayer as if it is a merely joyless thing.

When Jesus says that our joy will be made complete when we are people who ask and receive from the Father. How much joy am I depriving myself of in my Christian life because of the relative lack of my prayerfulness? I remember a book a few years ago, a short book I read, a very helpful book, maybe one of the best books I think I’ve read on prayer by a guy called Michael Reeves. And the title of the book was Enjoy Your Prayer Life.

And I was like, I need to read this. Like this, what? Enjoy your prayer life, really? Does this guy know anything about my prayer life? Because it doesn’t seem like that’s the title you would give it. And yet as he went through the book, he explained what prayer really is.

(27:31 – 27:46)

That it’s not just a task. It’s not even just a list of things we’re asking for. But it’s the opportunity to speak to the Father who loves us, and to tell him our concerns, and to receive from him the things that we need.

(27:48 – 30:41)

What could be more joyful than that? Well, enough on that point. We need to move on to our final section this morning. There’s a joy that cannot be taken, and there’s an access that cannot be hindered.

But there’s a final reassurance that Jesus gives, thirdly and finally. He says that nobody can disturb your peace. Nobody can disturb your peace.

Now, one of the things that I mentioned earlier is that Jesus is not always speaking plainly throughout this section of teaching. And I’m not making that up because Jesus himself says that in verse 25. Look at verse 25.

Jesus says, I have been speaking figuratively. Figuratively. Now, to speak figuratively is to use images to explain something.

And when you use an image to explain something, it can be helpful, but also it sometimes can mean it’s a little less clear. So even just think of this whole section. Jesus has spoken, for example, of the cross in terms of foot washing and cleansing.

That was a figure. He’s used images of vines and branches and fruit. I mean, he could have just said it in a very straightforward way, but he didn’t.

He’s been talking about an hour of glory. That’s a figure of speech. He’s been speaking of a little while.

Again, the disciples didn’t know what he was saying. But Jesus says a time is coming when I will tell you plainly about my father. There’s a sense in which part of the reason the disciples don’t get things before the cross is not only because they’re dull, and certainly they are spiritually dull, but it’s also because Jesus is speaking less clearly.

There is something of a veil, there is something of a mystery that shrouds the cross before Jesus goes to it. There is so much that becomes much brighter and clearer when the resurrection arrives, and it all clicks into place, and it all begins to make sense. And the stuff that Jesus was saying that they didn’t fully get, they now get what he meant.

Jesus says a time is coming when I’m going to speak to you very plainly. And indeed, verse 28, he gives them a little foretaste of that. And Jesus says something in very straightforward terms.

He says, I came from the father and entered the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the father. And the disciples say, at last, now you’re talking.

(30:42 – 30:53)

Now you’re speaking in a way that we can grasp. You came from the father into the world, you’re going back to the father, you’re leaving the world. Now we know that you understand everything.

(30:54 – 31:29)

And we want you to know that we fully believe in you at this point. Now, you might expect Jesus to respond positively to that. You might expect him to take this at face value.

But interestingly, earlier in the gospel, one of the things that was said of Jesus is that Jesus knows what’s in the heart of a person. He knows what’s in the heart. And therefore, his response in verse 31 is, shall we say, less than enthusiastic.

(31:31 – 32:01)

Very likely, there is an ironic tone when Jesus says, do you now believe? You’ve said you believe. Do you now believe? Are you really telling me that you fully believe? Because the time is coming and has now come. It’s right here when you will be scattered, each of you to your own homes.

(32:03 – 32:58)

The meaning of that is, I don’t think is that they will literally return to their own homes. After all, their own homes were up in Galilee, right? At this point, they’re in Jerusalem. But I think one of the commentators is right when he says, the point of that phrase, they will return to their home is, they will return to their own concerns, their own interests, and their own self-preservation.

That’s what their homes represent here. As Jesus goes to the cross, these disciples go to their homes. They left their homes in faith and sacrifice.

But now when it comes to the crunch, they scatter, and they return to the place of comfort. And it’s not just Peter. We’re going to see Peter denying Jesus in a chapter or two, but it is all of them who will scatter in unbelief.

(32:59 – 33:39)

And self-preservation. Jesus will be left all alone, humanly speaking. And yet he will not be entirely alone.

Isn’t that an intriguing little phrase where he says that his father will be with him. Don’t be derailed by that little statement. You might be sitting wondering, well, how does that fit? If the father is going to be with him, how does that fit with Jesus’ cry on the cross where he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And that sense of the father’s withdrawal was very true on the cross.

(33:40 – 34:49)

As the human Jesus suffers in the darkness, as God makes Jesus sin for us in that moment of time, however long it was, Jesus experiences a profound forsakenness that is captured in the cry. Why have you forsaken me? And yet it was also true at every moment and stage of his passion that God the son, as God the son, as a second member of the Trinity, remained in perfect union with his heavenly father. When we’re talking in terms of the divinity of Jesus, you cannot divide God the father from God the son.

They are eternally united and indivisible. And John is a gospel not only of Jesus’ full humanity, but a gospel of Jesus’ full divinity. Of course, it’s a great mystery how these two things come together and fit together in one person, union in the divine, and yet separation between the humanity of Jesus and the father who puts him under judgement.

(34:50 – 35:04)

Both are affirmed in scripture. Jesus is abandoned and yet God the son cannot be left alone. But coming back to the point, Jesus has become suddenly blunt.

(35:05 – 35:16)

And the disciples might have preferred it when Jesus was speaking in figures of speech and a little more mysteriously. Now he is speaking plainly and here it is. You’re going to scatter.

(35:16 – 35:23)

You’re going to do a runner for your own homes. Your faith will fail. Your feet will run.

(35:24 – 36:52)

And it is the fact that Jesus has just said this that makes verse 33 one of the most surprising verses in the whole of John’s gospel in the context in which it comes. Because after what Jesus has just said, that you’re going to run, you’re going to abandon me, I am expecting him to say in verse 33, you absolutely rotten lot. The last thing you should hope for is peace.

But what does Jesus say? Precisely on the back of their predicted failure, he says, I have told you these things so that in me, you will have peace. The worst of failures can still find peace if they find their peace in Jesus. Not in themselves, not in their faithfulness, but in Christ.

This is peace that survives failure. It’s peace that’s not cancelled by weakness. It’s peace that no one, not even ourselves can destroy and not the world either.

(36:53 – 39:10)

Not the world either. It’s true as Jesus says that in the world, you will have trouble. Again, what this passage isn’t saying and what we mustn’t take it to say is, you know, if you put your trust in Jesus, then everything’s going to be plain sailing and you can just ask the father for anything you want and he’ll smooth things over for you.

That’s clearly not what he’s saying because of this verse. In this world, you will have trouble, but you can have peace within the trouble because Jesus says, take heart, I have overcome the world. He’s speaking there of the cross and he’s saying it is so certain his victory that even before it happens, he uses the past tense.

He says, I have done it. I have overcome. That’s how sure it is that I’m using the past tense even before the fact.

On the cross, I will win the victory. Over sin and death and all of the world’s opposition against God, I will overcome. And no matter what we’re going through or no matter what we will go through unexpectedly, yet the things that are not yet on our radar but might come just in a flash throughout this year, in all of that, here is a peace that nobody can finally disturb.

Too many people fail to find it. They climb the levels of joy. They scale the pyramid of peace.

They only get up a few levels, three levels maybe, and they don’t realise that there’s a top floor, the level of putting their trust in the risen conquering Christ. Thomas Watson, pastor of a number of hundred years ago, once said this, and it came to my mind as I was thinking on this passage. He said, the soul is never satisfied until it has God as its portion and heaven as its haven.

(39:12 – 40:33)

Let me take that and just slightly adapt that. The soul is never satisfied until it has its joy and peace in Christ for its portion and heaven as its haven. Where are you looking for joy? Where are you looking for peace? Is it finally and fully and only in Christ? Father, help us to see the absolute emptiness of the wells of this world.

Those wells that promise us lasting joy, and yet they are dry and cracked. Help us to come to that well of Christ, to draw from him those endless sources of joy and peace amid all of the ups and downs of life. Father, thank you for a joy that outlasts our trials and tribulations, that overcomes even our sin and our failure and our running from you.

Help us to rest our souls in this gospel. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The post Unshakeable, Unstealable Joy and Peace – John 16v16–33 appeared first on Greenview Church.

(0:41 – 5:34)

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore, let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found.

Surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. You are my hiding place. You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you.

Many are the woes of the wicked. But the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad you righteous.

Sing, all you who are upright in heart.” We thank God for this reading of his Word. Now, here we are this evening. We are a wide variety of people, but I think I can say something that’s true of all of us with a degree of confidence.

All of us have been wronged in life. Each one of us, and I’m guessing not just on a few occasions, has been hurt, angered, and offended by the actions of others. Each one of us, as a result of that, has had to answer a challenging question.

The challenging question that we’ve all faced is simply this, will I forgive this person? No matter our age or stage, background or personality, we have all faced this difficult dilemma. Will I forgive this offender? Will I forgive this offence? It is a difficult question. It was Alexander Pope, who in an essay he wrote, called an essay on criticism, who famously wrote this.

He said, to err is human, to forgive is divine. His point, the point of Pope back in the 1700s, was that sin comes naturally to us. You don’t have to try to sin.

But forgiveness, not so much. The rarity of forgiveness was such that we might imagine that it is only a divine quality. It rises above our fallen instincts, our base responses of rage, anger, and revenge.

And yet the wonder of the gospel is that it needn’t be so. While Alexander Pope is right that forgiveness is divine, what he did not appreciate is that forgiveness is a trickle-down thing. You see, when God forgives people who don’t deserve forgiveness, softened by amazing grace, they are enabled to do the thing that God himself does.

The distinctive quality of God becomes a distinctive quality of his forgiven people. And in our day, how much that will stand out from the crowd. We live in a society that one, I heard one Christian commentator describe our society as being full of secular Pharisees.

Did you realise that? The Pharisees are alive and well. They are irreligious, pharisaical, judgemental of others. How a community of forgiveness stands out, shines out in that kind of culture.

(5:36 – 9:15)

But how do we get there? And how do we become like that? Because the theory is easy. The practise is difficult. Well, we need to start with God’s forgiveness, not ours.

I have a big yellow sponge at home. One of those big rectangular ones that you wash your car with. And if I take that sponge directly out of my big black bucket and just take it directly from the dry bucket to the car, when I start to scrub the windows, there will be no measurable effect from that action.

But if I fill up the bucket with water and I soak my sponge in it and I then take it to the car, there is then something to be squeezed out. And forgiveness is like that. It is only when I absorb into the pores of my soul the wonders of God’s forgiveness of me that I then have something to offer.

That is then squeezed out from me, from the pores of my heart to those who hurt and offend me. David in the psalm before us is soaking his soul in the forgiveness of God. And the reason I picked this psalm as the opening psalm is that it actually doesn’t speak of our forgiveness of others at all.

This psalm is entirely about the forgiveness of God to us. And it’s only then that we will then come on to think about the implication of that. So a number of things I want us to reflect on.

I simply want to walk through the psalm and let God’s Word speak for itself. And the first thing we see here is the blessing of God’s forgiveness. The blessing of God’s forgiveness.

David opens his psalm with a joyful celebration of the unexpected blessing of forgiveness. Twice in the opening two verses he says, blessed is the one or blessed is the person. If you know the psalms, the whole of the psalms, you might realise that that’s an echo.

It maybe reminds you of Psalm 1 and Psalm 2. Psalm 1, you might remember, begins, blessed is the man, blessed is the person. And Psalm 2, because Psalm 1 and 2 are really a pair, it concludes by speaking of a blessed people who take refuge in God. Now, what’s really interesting is you get the double barrel blessing of Psalms 1 and 2. And then you have 30 chapters, 30 psalms, where the Word doesn’t appear again.

We come all the way to Psalm 32 to find the next mention of blessing. We come to a psalm which opens like Psalm 1, but it’s a bit different to Psalm 1, because here is not a blessing on a sinless man who doesn’t walk in the way of sinners, but here is God’s blessing on a sinful man. David is that man.

(9:16 – 11:54)

And he isn’t shy in exposing to us his sinfulness. It’s quite refreshing when you read it. We’re so used to living in a culture of caveats where people speak of errors of judgement and lapses of concentration and things like that.

But none of that downgrading from David. He says it as it is. He calls sin what it is.

In verse 1, he refers to his transgressions. Transgressions are the crossing of a moral boundary line where we cross the line of what God says is morally acceptable. In verse 1, he also speaks of sins, which is the idea of missing a moral target.

You hear of this in the New Testament too, falling short of the glory of God. And in verse 2, he speaks of sin again, but actually it’s a different Hebrew word that he uses. There’s actually three different words he uses in these first two verses, and this is a different one.

This word, you could translate it iniquity or crookedness or twistedness. It’s the idea that David is inwardly morally corrupt. He’s bent out of shape in his inward character.

He is not who God made him to be. David is a boundary crosser, a target misser, and crooked to the core. He is what you and I are if we are really honest.

Here’s what you and I are when we live without boundaries and constraints that save us from our best selves. This is what we are. And yet look what God has done for David and for us.

God has forgiven his transgressions. The word that’s used here for forgiveness in Hebrew is a word that means to lift a burden. Now, some of you, when you go to work, like me, you have an all too large work bag, the kind of bag that you could never fit into an overhead cabin on an aeroplane, because there are so many things that you might need in eight hours at work.

(11:55 – 15:00)

And you haul this thing to work, and you haul it back to your house, and the moment you get through your door, you have this relief as the burden slips off your back. It’s like Pilgrim, the lead character in Pilgrim’s Progress, where you remember he carries this whole burden for his entire life, the burden of his sins. But when he comes to the place of the cross, what happens? The burden falls off his back.

And that’s a lovely image. But this is an even better image, because you notice here it’s not just that the burden falls off David’s back, but the Lord actually lifts the burden from him. And so he lifts the burden from David, and he personally covers over his sin.

Like a rug in a living room that covers over the grime beneath, God puts sin out of his sight. And not only that, but in a different image in verse 2, God doesn’t just relieve us and cover us, but he does not account to us the penalty our sins deserve. The language of verse 2 takes us into accounting territory, and it’s picked up by Paul in Romans 4. Paul actually quotes directly from these first two verses in Romans 4, and he uses this language to explain justification, our standing before God.

And Paul says that our sin has been transferred to Christ’s account, and Christ’s righteousness has been transferred the other way. Do you see why David is so thrilled as he opens this psalm? The sinful man is yet a blessed man, because God forgives. What an amazing thing.

Now, the second point I think simply deepens the first. Let’s think secondly about the patience of God’s forgiveness, the patience of God’s forgiveness. We know this psalm was written by David.

What we don’t know is when David wrote it. But whenever it was, notice that David speaks in verses 3 and 4 of him holding out on confessing his sin. And this has led many people to suspect that this probably is referring back to the aftermath of his adultery with Bathsheba.

You remember on that occasion, he sinned, he hid his sin, and he held out on confessing his sin. So, this is either that occasion or some situation very like it. David does here what we are often tempted to do when we sin.

(15:01 – 15:28)

He is silent when he should be speaking. He holds the confession inside, and it tears him up on the inside. His bones start wasting away, and his strength is sapped like the weary way you feel on a roasting, rare, hot summer day.

(15:29 – 16:18)

David ceases to be a joyful person, and instead he becomes a groaning person. These are the groans of an uneasy conscience, as the hand of God is heavy upon David. But that heavy hand of God, that hand of conviction that we thought of this morning, is a gracious hand.

It’s a merciful hand. God puts that heavy hand on our conscience for our greater good. It was the heaviness of God’s hand that led to David’s humble confession in verse 5. What caught my attention as I read this was the incredible mercy and patience of God.

(16:19 – 16:53)

God not only endured, think about this, God not only endured David’s sin, but he endured his stubborn resistance to confess that sin as well. If I were God, and David came to me in verse 5, I would be saying, oh, so now you’re here. You’ve finally turned up, have you? But there is no annoyance, there is no question, there are no hoops to jump through, and there is no delay in response.

(16:54 – 21:13)

David confessed, and the Lord forgave his sin. Something I think we vastly underestimate is the staggering extent of God’s patience, because we can be so impatient, and our world has zero patience. And so we imagine that God can’t be that much more patient than we are.

Oh, God won’t forgive my confession this time. Oh, really? Are you sure? A God who blesses the sinful man or woman, a God who lifts the burden, covers the grime, and changes heaven’s accounting. Brothers and sisters, we must start here, we must start with God.

We must see this and know this and remember this. We must continue to soak our souls in the reality of God’s forgiveness, or we will have no chance of forgiving anyone else. Now, this is something we do individually, but it is also something we do collectively.

I want you to notice thirdly this evening, the community of the forgiven. In verses 6 and 7, the community of the forgiven. This psalm is a very individual psalm, David’s writing personally, but he’s clearly aware throughout it that he’s sort of surrounded by other forgiven sinners.

Notice in verse 6, he speaks of all the faithful who pray to the Lord. And I take it there that that’s not just prayer in general, but this is the kind of prayer of confessing sin that David is praying, because he immediately follows it by saying, they pray to God while he may be found. There’s an emergency here.

There’s judgement coming here. But these other people like David are going to be saved from the rising waters, as he calls it. That’s the waters of God’s judgement, because they cry out like David to the Lord.

David in verse 7, at the beginning of the verse, then returns to his sense of personal security. He says, you are my hiding place. This has been David’s personal saving experience.

But notice how he finishes the verse. He finishes by speaking of the fact that he is surrounded with songs of deliverance. It never occurred to me, and I guess I’ve read this phrase in the Bible quite a lot, but I’d never asked myself the question, you know, who actually is it that’s singing these songs that surround us? You know, when you read in the Bible of being surrounded by songs of deliverance, I just never thought to ask, who are the singers? And I think it’s very clear from the context here that those who are surrounding David with songs of deliverance are other saved, forgiven sinners.

It’s such a wonderful picture of the community of God’s people. It’s reflected even when we come on a Sunday, we just sang together a song where we surrounded one another with songs of deliverance, songs of forgiveness. I wonder if that’s the picture that your friends and your neighbours and family members who don’t come to church have of church.

Maybe if you get some opportunity this year where they ask you something about what it’s church like, or maybe you just offer it up yourself, you could explain to them that it might surprise you to learn that we’re not really a community of the self-righteous, you know. We don’t meet together and just congratulate ourselves about how godly and how good we are on Sundays. No, we come together and we celebrate the fact that we are a community of the forgiven.

(21:14 – 22:04)

That might surprise them. I wonder very practically, also within the church, whether we express these songs to one another. I don’t simply mean in the musical songs that we sing, although that’s of course part of it, but in a sense, what is the soundtrack of the church? What are the sorts of things that’s part of the culture of the church? What’s the kind of language that we use when we talk to one another about the Christian life? Is it the soundtrack of deliverance? It’s difficult to forget how much you’re forgiven when you’re in a community that’s always singing about it and always speaking about it.

(22:04 – 22:22)

It is. And it’s very easy to forget that you’re forgiven if no one talks about it, because it seems as if we’ve all got our lives in perfect order. There’s a challenge for us here, and yet there’s a great blessing for us here if we will become this kind of community.

(22:24 – 23:26)

Now, as we come to the end of the psalm, a fourth reflection is that David gets really practical towards the end. And rather than this becoming a six or seven point sermon, I’ve grouped this together under the ongoing impact of forgiveness, which isn’t very good, but it’ll have to do. The ongoing impact of God’s forgiveness.

And really the point I’m just wanting us to observe here is that forgiveness is not just a one and done thing. It’s not something that we forget about and move on from. It’s not something that has no implications beyond going out that door tonight.

What verses 8 to 11 show us is that forgiveness has an ongoing impact in all of life. Forgiveness leads to a teachable life. Look at verses 8 and 9, a voice suddenly says, I will instruct you and I will teach you in the way you should go.

(23:26 – 26:18)

I will counsel you with my loving eye upon you. Now, it could be that David is continuing to speak here, and some people think David might be speaking as a kind of king over the people, giving instruction to them. But I think it’s more likely that it actually, there’s a change of voice here.

I think most likely the Lord Himself is intervening or interjecting in the text. And I particularly think that because of the reference there when He says, my loving eye is on you. I think that has to be the Lord, doesn’t it? Certainly the Lord is the one who supremely counsels us, instructs us, and shows us the way we should go in life as we are under His loving care.

When David was deeply forgiven, when he was broken over his sin and amazed by grace, his response was not to ignore God, but to listen to the counsel of God. The forgiven are not to be like stubborn creatures, the horse or mule, who need to be forced to be obedient. The point of that is a horse or a mule doesn’t obey willingly, right? You have to force them with a bridle and a bit.

The forgiven people, by contrast, should willingly choose to listen to the voice of the one who has forgiven them. And that forgiven life, that increasingly wise and obedient life is then not marked by the woes, verse 10, of the wicked. And I think that’s speaking not so much of difficulties in life, because we all experience trials, Christian, not Christian, but of the woes that come because we are choosing to rebel against God with all that we are.

No, it’s a different kind of life if you’re a believer. Not a life of the constant misery of unconfessed sin, but a life where you are surrounded by the Lord’s unfailing love. A beautiful phrase that, isn’t it? Two things that we’re surrounded by in this psalm.

Number one, we’re surrounded by songs of deliverance. And number two, we’re surrounded by the Lord’s unfailing love. Whichever way I turn in life, whether it’s actually staying in the path of obedience, or even in those moments when I stray, whatever way I turn in life, the unfailing love of the Lord is there in every direction.

(26:19 – 26:37)

Isn’t that amazing? The psalm began with a blessing, and it ends with a burst of joy. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous. Sing, you upright in heart.

(26:39 – 26:53)

And look at the terminology here. Look at the change of understanding and identity. Sinners at the beginning of the psalm, called righteous by the end of the psalm.

(26:54 – 27:09)

Crooked hearts at the beginning of the psalm. Now by the forgiveness of God, described as the upright in heart by the end of the psalm. That is the gospel of God’s forgiveness.

(27:11 – 28:04)

I have a very simple question for you, and what is a very simple opening sermon in some ways, is, is that the headspace that you and I are living in? Is that what is soaking into the pores of your soul every single day of your life? That you have been forgiven? If so, then the most difficult of difficult things, and I think perhaps forgiveness is the most difficult act of obedience in the entirety of the Christian life. If so, the most difficult of difficult things becomes possible. It becomes possible when we soak ourselves in the amazing forgiveness of God.

(28:06 – 29:04)

Father, help us tonight to fix our eyes on you. Help us to focus on the great fact that you are the God who forgives. Father, we are so familiar with this, many of us, that it no longer strikes a chord as it should.

We pray tonight that it will hit us with fresh impact, that we will be utterly stunned and amazed that every single day you show patience to us. Father, help us to become a community that sings that song of deliverance, not only on Sundays, but in all of our interactions together as a church. And help us to take this message of forgiveness to those beyond the walls of this place, that they too might know your grace.

And we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The post God Forgives – Psalm 32 appeared first on Greenview Church.