Sermon: Genesis 3: 1-24 Beginnings: Sin and Salvation

You’re driving along, and up in the sky is the most beautiful sunrise, and it’s amazing; while on the car radio the news tells of amazingly tragic events - a stabbing here; a bomb alert there; and much more pain and suffering. Or you’ve gone for a walk and you’re standing at a beauty spot, enjoying a scenic view; while all around and along the path were the takeaway wrappers and litter. Or you’ve heard of the great news of a new baby being born; while at the same time, you hear of a neighbour or friend who has got bad news; a diagnosis; or even has died.

Perhaps you’ve experienced something a bit like that yourself. You get a glimpse of God’s good creation, and yet at the same time know that we’re not in Eden now. So how did we get from there to here? How did things turn out so wrong? How was paradise lost, and can we ever get back there?

That’s what Genesis 3 tells us. Here we see how we got into this mess in the first place; how the circumstances of the first sin are so familiar to us; and how there might be the glimmers of hope even in the midst of despair.

To set the scene, you need to remember where our first parents are living. They’re in the Garden of Eden, that perfect paradise, created by God for Adam and Eve. There is perfect provision - all kinds of trees that are pleasing to the eye and good for food. They have a perfect relationship with each other - naked but with no shame. And they have perfect fellowship with God, who comes to walk with them in the garden in the cool of the day. God’s perfect paradise.

There was just one rule that they had to follow. Only one command to be obeyed; one limit. The tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They could eat of any other tree’s fruit; but they weren’t allowed to eat that tree’s fruit. ‘For when you eat of it you will surely die.’ (2:17)

And so, for a while, everything was perfect. Adam and Eve cared for the garden, enjoyed the perfection of paradise. But trouble was brewing. At the start of chapter 3 we’re told that the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. But don’t just think of a talking snake. Later in the Bible we discover that the ancient serpent is none other than the devil, or Satan. He stands in rebellion against God, and seeks to recruit Adam and Eve to his side.

And he does it by questioning God’s word. Do you see what he says in verse 1: ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree of the garden”?’ He’s testing what God said, sowing doubt and confusion. Eve says that they can eat fruit from any of the trees in the garden, just not from the tree in the middle of the garden. But did you notice that either Eve herself, or maybe Adam in passing on the command, has added to God’s word. Do you see the extra bit? ‘and you must not touch it...’ (3)

Maybe it was an extra safety barrier. Maybe they thought - if we don’t touch it, then we definitely can’t eat it. But it’s the last phrase in verse 3 that the serpent seizes on: ‘You will not surely die... For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’

Again, the serpent denies God’s word; he suggests that God is holding something back from them; that God isn’t really good - as if God was afraid that they would become like him. And so Eve focuses her attention on the forbidden fruit. She knows God has said no. And yet she is gripped by it. It’s a but like the sign that says, ‘Wet paint, do not touch’. And you’re drawn to wanting to touch it. Or the sign that says ‘Do not walk on the grass’ and that’s precisely where you want to walk now!

So here, Eve sees that the fruit of the tree was ‘good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.’ (6) She takes it, eats it; gives some to her husband, and he eats it. They imagined that this would be a glorious moment, a coming of age, of equality with God. And as they bite, and disobey God’s (only) command, suddenly they realise what they have done. They already knew what good was beforehand; but now they have the knowledge of evil - experiencing it and knowing it firsthand.

Their eyes were opened, they realise they are naked; and so they sew fig leaves together, to attempt to cover themselves up. They know shame for the first time. They try to hide from each other, but then, even worse, they try to hide from God.

God turns up for his usual evening walk with them, and they hide. And so the Lord God calls to the man, ‘Where are you?’

Now, it’s never happened to me, but there’s the story of the minister out on visits. And he knocks at a particular door. He has the sense that the lady is inside, but there’s no answer. So he leaves his card, and writes on the back Revelation 3:20. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock...’ Well, on Sunday morning, the lady slips a card into his hand at the door, and it has Genesis 3:10 written on it. So he goes and gets his Bible, and finds these words: ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’

Adam and Eve his themselves from God because they knew they were naked. And we’ve been hiding from God ever since. We know that we can’t stand before him by ourselves; we have all done things that he doesn’t like; we’re naked before the all-seeing, all-knowing God. But then it gets even worse.

Rather than confessing his sin, Adam begins the first ever blame game. Maybe you’ve seen this in your workplace. Something happens, and it’s always someone else’s fault. Or maybe you’ve seen it at home. It wasn’t me!

So look at what Adam says: ‘The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ (12) So it’s either Eve’s fault - she gave it to me. Or it’s God’s fault - because you put her here!

And Eve, she doesn’t own up either. ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ (13). So, let’s recap. You could say that Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on!

So what happened next? Well, immediately we see God’s grace towards Adam and Eve. God could have executed the death penalty straight away - but then none of us would be around today. There are consequences and curses, but we also see God’s love, and grace, and mercy in operation as well.

First, God curses the serpent. He will crawl on his belly and eat dust. But the curse is given so that Adam and Eve hear it. And look at verse 15: ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’

God promises a serpent-crusher. God says there will be enmity between the serpent and the woman; his offspring and her offspring. But then comes the promise, and it’s different. Her offspring ‘he’ is set against ‘you’ the serpent. The serpent will strike his heel - a bad wound - but in doing so, the woman’s offspring will crush the serpent’s head - a fatal blow.

Next, God curses the women - pain in childbirth, and desiring to overcome her husband, to rule over him. And then comes the curse on Adam. Now, sometimes people read these verses and think that work itself is the curse - that having to go to work is the result of the fall. But God curses the work that was already in place. Adam and Eve were already employed in working and caring for the earth. The difference now is that there is frustration in work. Now, you don’t need to put your hand up, but have you ever known frustration in your work? When you’re experiencing this curse: painful toil, thorns and thistles, sweat, and finally, returning to the ground, dust to dust.

At the very end of the chapter, Adam and Eve are banished from the garden, separated from God’s presence, barred from eating from the tree of life. There’s no way back, past the cherubim and flaming sword. And so we find ourselves east of Eden. Living in this paradise lost world. It explains why the world is the way it is - through sin - Adam and Eve’s, and ours too. But is that it? Thankfully not. There is good news in this chapter.

Adam and Eve had sewed fig leaves to try to cover themselves. But in verse 21 God clothes them in garments of skin. It’s a picture of sacrifice and the covering of sin and shame - the animal died, its blood was shed, to provide covering for them. That’s a hint of the ultimate sacrifice of the cross.

But there’s more. You see, Jesus himself bore the curse for us. In Galatians 3 we read: ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”’ (Gal 3:13). Jesus died on the cross, naked, in shame, so that we would be clothed and covered. And what did Jesus wear on the cross? His clothes had been gambled for by the soldiers; but on his head he wore the crown of thorns - the thorns of the curse are borne by the Saviour.

It’s at the cross that Jesus crushes the head of the serpent. You see, the serpent thought that he had finished Jesus, engineering his death. But it was like a strike to the heel - because Jesus rise again from the dead. But in doing so, Jesus crushed the head of the serpent, the devil. The cross was the means of the long-promised, long-anticipated victory.

And because Jesus died on the cross, he has opened up the new and living way for us to come to God. And he opens up the way for us to eat of the tree of life. In the very last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, we’re given a picture of the new heavens and the new earth - the new Jerusalem. And flowing from the throne is the river of the water of life. And on each side of the river is the tree of life - there for us to take, and eat, and live forever. Paradise may have been lost, but this is paradise regained.

Genesis 3 explains why this world is the way it is. Perhaps in it you’re getting a glimpse into your life - the pain and agony of broken relationships; the never-ending blame game; frustration at work; separation from God. This is life as you know it.

but Genesis 3 also points to the way life should be, and can be, when you turn back to God. All those glimpses and hints and pointers to the perfect work of the Lord Jesus - who lived the perfect life, and died an undeserved death, in order to bring rebellious sinners like you and me back to God. All it takes is to trust him. To believe that Jesus died for you. Your life will be turned around. Your future in heaven guaranteed. Because Jesus has carried the curse we deserve, and offers us life everlasting, and never-ending peace, and a hope that is sure and certain.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 22nd September 2019.

Sermon: 1 Peter 1: 13-21 God's True Grace... makes us Ransomed, Holy Children

I wonder if you’ve ever watched Family Fortunes on TV. They ask one hundred people some questions and you have to guess the four or five most popular answers. If the question was ‘Sentences most said in the home by parents’ I wonder if this would be one of the top answers: “So long as you’re in this house, you’ll live under our rules.” I know in our house we heard that one a few times... It flows from the fact that the parents are in charge of the household, and anyone else in the house has to get in line.

Peter is writing to a group of Christians who are scattered across modern day Turkey. They’re all new Christians, having previously been Gentiles (not Jews), so Peter writes to encourage them by showing them what the Christian faith is all about - God’s true grace, as we saw last week.

As he builds on the foundation of last week’s celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and what it means for us, he now moves on to the Christian’s new relationship with God as Father, and what that will look like in what we do. The heart of the passage is found in verse 17. ‘If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.’ If you call on God as Father, what will it look like? Peter says we’ll be in reverent fear.

Now I know that in a gathering of this size that some people may not have had a good experience of earthly fathers. To even hear the word can make you nervous, take you back to your childhood. And Peter says that our relationship is to be characterised by fear? To fear a bad earthly dad is right and proper - but to fear God?

But what Peter calls us to is ‘reverent fear.’ This isn’t blind fear; this isn’t the fear you may have known in the past; rather this is reverent fear - respectful fear, honour, perhaps even joyful fear. Now why is this? First of all, did you hear how God is described there? ‘the one who judges all people...’ God our Father is the judge of all, everyone we meet, even us.

Now when we hear that our Father judges impartially, according to deeds, what reaction does that bring in you? This isn’t just a GCSE practical exam; not just a home baking competition; but the whole of your life. How would you fare in such a judgement? What do your deeds and mine say about us? Would you be confident in the judgement by yourself? Would you be happy to stand before the judgement seat?

Yet the impartial judge is our Father. And Peter doesn’t tell us to live our lives in slavish, total, eternal, never-ending fear. Rather, in light of who God is, we’re to ‘live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.’ As we saw last week, the Christian, is in exile - we’re not at home with the Lord yet; we’re on the journey towards our home, we’re in this foreign and hostile enemy world.

Yet even now, even when we’re exiles, we are chosen exiles (or elect exiles) - as we call God Father, so we’re in his family, we’re his children. Peter urges us to live in the light of our relationship - to live like our Father (so long as you’re in my house...). That’s what he says in verse 14. ‘Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance...’ Imagine the situation where a tearaway teenager is adopted, given a new family and new relationships. Would it be appropriate for them to continue to live as they had before, when they were running wild? Not at all - they now fit into the family; the old desires wouldn’t be appropriate. In the same way, as children of our heavenly Father, we’re called to turn away from our former desires. They may still come, but we’re to resist them, not to be conformed by them.

Instead, Peter says, ‘as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct, for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”’ We call on God as Father - but we discover that he has first called us into relationship with him. It’s not that we have chosen God, but that he has chosen us - not just to be saved, but to come into relationship with him, to become more like him.

Now that word holy might give you certain ideas or impressions - a holier than thou attitude or whatever. But in the context, it means the opposite of those sinful desires - to do what God wants us to do; to copy God’s pattern. That’s what God had told the Israelites in the Old Testament (Leviticus quotation), and he still calls his people to be holy, separate, distinct.

It’s not easy, it doesn’t come naturally - those desires want to take us off course. Imagine you’ve a car that keeps dragging off to one side - when you got it fixed, you wouldn’t keep edging off to the side; you’d be better able to go straight ahead. Now at this point in the letter, Peter doesn’t give us detailed instructions of what it will look like to live a holy life (we’ll get to that in a couple of weeks’ time) - but for now, he recognises that the battle for holiness begins, not with our deeds, but in our minds. Verse 13: ‘Therefore prepare your minds for action, discipline your selves; set all your hope in the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.’ Prepare your minds for actions - what you think affects how you will act. Your deeds are like the flowers of the seeds you sow in your mind.

What you think matters. That’s why Peter has been helping us see the truth that we’re the Father’s children, called to be holy. But as you hear this truth you might still be troubled by your deeds. Your conscience cries out as you recall those incidents (big and small) when you have followed the evil desires; when you’ve not been holy; the fear becomes real. It’s not enough just to tell you to start to be holy now - what of the past?

Throughout the letter, we’ll see that Peter links what Jesus has done to our position, and none more so than here. God has called us to be his holy children - but that’s only possible because of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. We live in reverent fear as we are brought face to face with the great cost of our rescue. Verse 18: ‘you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.’

The other day there was a news report of a WI meeting in England where the speaker was to talk about pirates. The ladies decided to all dress up as pirates, which was fine, until the speaker began to talk of his experience of being captured and held by real life Somali pirates. Every so often you hear of people being captured and the high ransom price being demanded - £3 million is the going rate. But when it came to ransoming us, the price was infinitely more important. The things that this world counts so important and values as precious - silver and gold - they’re perishable; they’re worthless. It’s not possible to pay for salvation. The chequebook couldn’t cover the cost.

The precious blood of Christ - not just a diabetes pinprick or a pint of transfused blood - but the full and total death of Jesus as he bled and died on the cross - this was the price of our ransom, like the Passover Lamb, which died instead of the firstborn to bring freedom. And so as we gather today around the Lord’s table, we marvel at the lengths that God went to in order to bring us into his family. Through the death of Jesus we are ransomed, given freedom from our slavery, welcomed into God’s family.

God’s true grace makes us ransomed, holy children - so be who you are, as you trust and hope in this great God.

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 5th May 2013.

Sermon: Psalm 118 The Saviour's Victory Song

Picture the scene. It’s a cold, wet Friday night in midwinter. Rather than staying in the warmth, I’ve gone to Ravenhill, the home of Ulster rugby. Ulster aren’t doing very well. The handful of travelling supporters are having the time of their life. But then things start to change. One lone voice begins to sing ‘Stand up for the Ulstermen.’ The song spreads, and soon it’s ringing round the whole stadium. Ulster manage to get the try they needed, and the crowd end up hoarse from singing.

Or if rugby isn’t your scene, think of the magic formula for the music industry these days - especially the X Factor type song. The song starts off quietly, slowly, before gaining in volume; the solo singer is joined by a choir or backing singers; there’s the inevitable key change, finishing loudly with some fireworks or bright lights.

In both cases, the song is started by a single voice, but it’s catchy, it invites others to join in, so that the end result is so much larger and more impressive. In a sense, that’s what we have here in Psalm 118. Throughout Lent we’ve been looking at some cries of the heart - desperate cries to the Lord, asking him to help and save. Psalm 118 is slightly different, in that it is a victory song; it’s a cry of victory, thanking God for his salvation. It starts with a solo voice, but is soon expanded by the backing singers.

The choir master is looking for more people to join the chorus - as we hear the song, I wonder if you’ll want to sing along?

The Psalm kicks off with an invitation to worship. The soloist sings out: ‘O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!’ (1) Immediately, the chorus are invited to echo that praise: ‘Let Israel say... Let the house of Aaron say... Let those who fear the Lord say...’ (4)Can you join in? Let the people of Aghavea say: ‘His steadfast love endures forever’. Are you sure of God’s steadfast, never changing, faithful love?

Perhaps you’re not sure of it tonight. Maybe you’ve been knocked and rocked by something that’s happened to you this week. Maybe you’re been shaken by some news. You wonder if God really does love you; if his love is more than just for a week or two. Does it abide forever? Let’s listen in as the soloist takes the mic again.

The singer shares his testimony. ‘Out of my distress I called on the Lord.’ (5) If you look at verses 10-13, you get an insight into his predicament. ‘all nations surrounded me... they surrounded me on every side... the surrounded me like bees; they blazed like a fire of thorns...’ The image is of being completely surrounded, hemmed in, pressing in - not in the comforting God surrounds me of last week (Ps 139), but in a much more hostile way. There’s danger here, the threat is real; the enemies are hostile - like a swarm of bees (you sometimes see on TV people who allow bees to cover them...), or a fire.

As these enemies press in, ‘Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.’ (5) It’s the difference between being in the scrum at Ravenhill, surrounded, to being air lifted and set down on a spacious tropical island. From danger to delight. There’s space, freedom, no enemies to worry about.

But before we reckon that the singer is like an Action Man figure; the song shows us clearly that his rescue has been the Lord’s doing. He testifies that the Lord is on his side; that he has taken refuge in the Lord; that it is in the name of the Lord that he cut them off. Verse 14 sets us straight: ‘The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.’ Remember the story of David and Goliath? Goliath stands 9 feet tall; David is just a youth. But the Lord is on David’s side, and with a stone and a sling, the Lord gives David the victory.

The rest of the Israelites had cowered away in fear for forty days as Goliath issued his challenge. But once David had won the victory, they too celebrated and shared in the victory. So we see here: ‘There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous.’ (15) The chorus joins in as they celebrate what God has done for this solo singer.

The setting then shifts from the tents of the righteous (the temporary dwellings used in the battlefields) to the city of Jerusalem, to the gates of righteousness. We used to take boys to BB camp every summer and there was a certain joy at getting back home to houses with proper beds. But this is like a victory parade; a triumphant procession as the winning army returns home to be welcomed and celebrated.

‘I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.’ Now the original singer may have escaped death, but as we hear the psalm as Christians, we realise that the singer is our Saviour - who was not abandoned to death, but through death has risen to new life, and will never die again. As he approaches the gates of the city he cries out to the gatekeepers: ‘Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.’

The answer comes back that ‘This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.’ The singer shows his righteousness by declaring his thanks: ‘I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.’

As the singer enters in triumph; as the Saviour enters the city; so the chorus and crowd swells as it joins in. These psalms (113-118) were originally sung during Passover week - so they’re the very words that were fresh in the minds of the crowd as Jesus entered on Palm Sunday: v22-27.

Just as God has saved the singer, so the chorus joins in, asking God to ‘Save us’ - you might just recognise the original word: ‘hosanna’. Jesus was welcomed with Hosanna; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord...

Yet the verse that is used throughout the New Testament is verse 22. ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.’ The Lord Jesus was opposed, rejected, thrown out; he was crucified by his own people and by the nations of the world. They had no use for him. They couldn’t see his worth.

Yet that seemingly unusual, mis-shapen, useless stone has, in fact, turned out to be the cornerstone. It’s the key to the whole building project. It’s the one that makes the whole thing fit together. As the chorus continues, ‘This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.’

As we see the Lord Jesus enter the city of Jerusalem on a humble donkey; as he is betrayed, denied, and rejected; as he is flogged, beaten, crucified; laid in a tomb - it appears that Jesus has been defeated, that God was not with him. But this was the Lord’s doing - and therefore it is marvellous in our eyes. The grave could not hold him. He was not given over permanently to death. Jesus lives, having defeated his enemies (our enemies), so that his song becomes our song; we share in the chorus as we share in his victory. Will you join in and celebrate his victory for you and for me?

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Church on Wednesday 20th March 2013.

Sermon: Luke 4: 16-30 The Saviour Rejected

Just after I was appointed as your Rector, I was doing a little search on the internet for Aghavea Church, to see what I could find out. On the first page, there was a site that almost gave me a fright. Here’s the headline: ‘Parishioners Protest At Morning Prayer: Aghavea Church.’ As you might imagine, it made me wonder what sort of parish I was coming to - but then I read the date: 19th November 1826. There was a falling out over politics, and the majority of the congregation got up and walked out as the Rector began the service. Now hopefully that won’t happen today!

I was reminded of that this week as I was thinking about the events in the synagogue in Luke 4. A fortnight ago, we looked at the first part of the story - Jesus reading from the Old Testament and declaring that he was fulfilling the promises that had been made about the coming king who would bring freedom. It all started so well. They seem to like what he’s saying. But jump to the end of the reading, and it’s a bit like that stormy morning in this very building almost 200 years ago. ‘All in the synagogue were filled with rage.’ (28) More than that, they want to kill Jesus, by throwing him off the cliff. What was it caused the change? How did they go from being in church to becoming a lynch mob? Is there any chance that we too, attending church, would want to get rid of Jesus? Let’s find out.

It’s still early in Jesus’ ministry. Having taught in other towns, he now comes to Nazareth, his home town. In the synagogue, the place of worship and prayer, he makes the claim that the Old Testament scriptures are all about him - he is the fulfillment of the promise. Now look with me as events unfold. In verse 22, we’re told that ‘all spoke well of him’ - but as the verse continues, we hear the warning bells... danger ahead!

First of all, they reject the messenger. Verse 22 again: they ‘were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.’ Other versions use astonished, or surprised, or marvelled - so this isn’t just an amazed at something they like; rather it’s more amazed at something they just can’t believe. It would be like your best friend telling you they had voted for a political party you thought were atrocious. You just can’t believe you’re hearing it, you’re astonished and disappointed.

They continue by saying ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ They remember Jesus when he was a wee nipper, running around. They’ve watched him grow up, and now they just can’t believe that he would come out with this stuff - him, the messiah? Jesus as the Christ? Don’t be silly, they say, sure he went to school with our Jonny. He’s nothing special. Sure, he’s just the carpenter’s son. We’ve known his da. Who does he think he is?

They’re so familiar with Jesus. They think they know all there is to know about him. They have him sussed. And yet, they don’t know him at all. They’ve got the wrong end of the stick, and they’re missing out on who Jesus really is.

Is there a possibility that we’re also too familiar with Jesus? We think we have him sussed. We put him in a nice neat box, all tied up with string, kept out of the way except for those times when we really need him? It may be that if we think we know Jesus, that we’re actually failing to grasp his identity just like those people in the synagogue that day.

You see, they’re sure Jesus is Joseph’s son. But Luke, in these early chapters shouts out loud and clear (just like the voice from heaven) that Jesus is God’s Son. To fail to see this is to get Jesus wrong. So who is Jesus, in your eyes? Have you jumped to assumptions, or will you get to know him? [The season of Lent could be a good one to even more read your Bible, read through Luke’s gospel to discover the real Jesus...]

The people rejected the messenger. They couldn’t believe that Jesus could be the one to bring freedom. But that wasn’t all. You see, they also rejected the message. We thought last time about the wonderful good news of the message Jesus brought - freedom, liberty, healing. Yet these people in the synagogue reject the good news, because the scope is wider than they like.

It’s good news for all, for every outsider, but that displeases the good Jewish religious folk, who think that God is only for them. They reject the message by imposing false limits on who God can save. They reckon that it’s only by going to church and being nice that will make God like them - but the message Jesus brings is bigger and more radical than that.

Jesus doesn’t say ‘pull your socks up and try harder.’ Rather he says that those held captive will be released; those who are blind will be given sight; those oppressed will be freed. It’s a free pardon for anyone who will hear and receive it - not just the Jews; not just the people like us. To show that this is always how God has worked, he points back to times in Israel’s history when Elijah and Elisha (two prophets) were active.

There were plenty of hungry, poor widows in Israel, but Elijah went to live with a widow at Zarephath, where God caused a miracle to occur, giving her an unending supply of oil and grain (1 Kings 17). Now Zarephath wasn’t in Israel - it was in enemy territory, Sidon, the very place Jezebel (the bad queen) came from. In the same way, Elisha heals just one person of leprosy - Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, again, the Israelite’s enemies!

The message of Jesus is good news to all who will hear, even (and especially) the outsider. We like to think that heaven is going to be people just like us - all Northern Irish, white, and Church of Ireland. But the good news is for all - John sees the vision of heaven where a multitude gathers before the throne of every tribe and tongue and people and language,

God’s grace is for all, not just for us. Who are the outsiders we think that God couldn’t possibly be interested in? Who is it we think couldn’t be saved, because they’re not like us? Who should we be sharing the good news with, and inviting in to hear?

The people rejected the messenger. They were too familiar with Jesus. He shocked them, so that they also rejected his message. They were so angry with what he said that they made him an outsider - they threw him out of their town and wanted to throw him off the cliff, they were so mad they wanted to kill Jesus.

These religious people, these good, upstanding people who think that they’re insiders reject the good news for all outsiders. But it was as Jesus became an outsider - the Son of God who was rejected by men and forsaken by the Father - that outsiders can be welcomed in as they hear and receive the good news.

Please don’t ever think that you’ve tamed Jesus, that you know all about him. And that’s especially so of Christians. How are you continuing to get to know the Lord? How are you following his footsteps (and even facing rejection) by sharing the good news for the outsider, the people unlike us?

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 10th February 2013.

Sermon: Genesis 3: 8-24 Sin, Separation and Salvation

I wonder if you’ve heard the old story about the new minister who called at a particular house. He thought the lady of the house was at home, but there was no answer, so he left a visiting card and on the back he wrote a Bible verse: Revelation 3:20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock...’ The next Sunday, the lady slipped a card into his hand, with another verse on it: Genesis 3:10. He opened his Bible to find: ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’

It’s a nice wee story, but the original setting of Genesis 3:10 is no laughing matter. Last week, we were thinking about the temptation of Adam and Eve leading to the first sin - as they disobeyed the one command God had given them in the Garden of Eden. We finished last week as we saw their eyes opened, as they realised they were naked.

Our reading today takes up the story, spelling out the consequences of that first sin - the situation we still face to this very day. All the way through the reading, we discover that sin leads to separation: between God and people; between people and people; between people and the creation. The first separation we see is between God and the people made in his image. It seems that God came to walk in the garden in the evening time, and he comes just like any other day. Except, something has changed.

Adam and Eve, aware of their sin and shame, go into hiding. They hid themselves from God, not wanting to face him any more. We have been in hiding ever since. So often you hear people talking about trying to find God - they go off on great expeditions, or take all sorts of drugs, or whatever it might be. But God isn’t missing. God isn’t lost. It’s we who are lost; us who have hidden ourselves.

And God comes looking. As children, we used to play hide and seek in a neighbour’s huge garden with trees and hedges. The one who was ‘it’ had to go looking to find those hiding. It’s not Adam and Eve saying ‘Where are you, God?’ No, God comes looking: ‘Where are you?’

Adam explains that he was afraid and he hid, because he was naked. As God gently asks how Adam knew he was naked, we see the next level of separation beginning. Look with me at verse 12: ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ God, you know, it’s not my fault. It’s all her fault. She led me astray. And you know what, God? You gave her to me - maybe you’re to blame! Eve passes the buck as well, blaming the serpent. It was once said that Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on! (Sorry for those corny jokes, that’s the last of them, for this morning, at least!)

Sin brings separation. It cuts us off from God, but it also separates us from each other. Adam and Eve try to pass the blame. It’s always some one else’s fault. Have you ever heard yourself saying that or thinking that when you’re confronted with your own sins?

That separation is completed as God pronounces a curse on the serpent, Eve and Adam. Things will never be the same again. Paradise is well and truly lost. The serpent is cursed in the way it will exist; for the woman, pain in childbirth is increased, as well as the frustration of wanting to rule over her husband but having him rule over her; and for Adam, the ground is cursed because of him - joyful work becomes toil - thorns and thistles. There’s also the promise of death - returning to dust, just as God had promised in 2:17.

Right at the end of the passage, there’s the final separation, as the way to the tree of life is shut off, and Adam and Eve are removed from the garden. We’ve been cut off from God ever since. But is that it? If that’s all that we find in this chapter, it would be very bad news indeed. It would be sin, separation, curse. Entirely hopeless.

But in Romans 5:20 the apostle Paul says that ‘where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.’ And here, even where the very first sin was committed, we find the grace of God abounding to Adam and Eve.

For a start, the death they deserved to die was graciously postponed - in the day they ate of the fruit they died spiritually, but they continued their earthly existence. God could have justly ended the whole creation on this very day, but he shows grace in allowing them to continue and to multiply.

But more than that, his grace is displayed even in the curse. Look at verse 15. Here he is cursing the serpent (who we saw last week, is the devil and Satan), now there is no grace for the devil, but there is a gracious promise for us: ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.’

God describes how things will be - opposition between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman. That is, one offspring, one descendant who is in view.

Now, I know that before baby Nathan was born there was great expectation in the Beacom house, Mark hoping for a baby brother to play football with to balance up the odds against the two sisters. And behold, it was a boy. But there’s even greater expectation for the offspring of the woman. ‘He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.’

In other words, there’s going to be a final confrontation. The devil will strike his heel, will inflict a tremendous blow; but in the same moment, the devil’s head will be crushed, he will be finally defeated. You see, the devil may have won this first encounter, but the promise has been given of a future rescuer; the separation of sin will be overcome by the Saviour, who will defeat the Satan.

There’s even a hint that this will be a costly victory. You see, in verse 21 we’re told that the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and his wife and clothed them. They are clothed, their shame covered, by the death of an animal, whose blood was shed for them, which died in their place.

On this side of the cross, we know what this first declaration of the gospel is pointing to - the death of our substitute, the Lord Jesus, who takes our sin upon himself; who dies to cover our shame and give us his own pure spotless robe of righteousness; who as he died on the cross was struck by the devil - his heel struck - it looked as if the devil had won; but Jesus rose from the dead, he crushed the devil’s head as he rose victorious, and reigns forever more.

Adam and Eve were promised God’s grace in the aftermath of their first sin; that same promise of grace comes to us in the gospel, if we will be receive it, and trust in the Lord’s death. This is our prayer for Nathan, that he too will receive the gospel and trust the Lord. Because as he does that, and as we too share in it, we will share in the Lord’s victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. As Paul says to the Christians in Rome: ‘The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.’ (Rom 16:20) Amen!

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 30th September 2012.

Book Review: Men Made New

In 1965, John Stott spoke at the Keswick Convention for the first time, leading a series of four Bible studies from Romans 5-8. These were subsequently released as a little paperback book by IVP, under the title of Men Made New. In just over one hundred pages, Stott opens up the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer as he explores the work of sanctification in a Christian. It's a great wee book, and one that I immensely enjoyed on my holidays.

Observing that Paul's letter to the Romans is 'the fullest and most coherent manifesto of the Christian gospel in the New Testament', Stott declares that 'there is a grandeur, a comprehensiveness, a logic about his exposition.' After showing the need for justification and how it is achieved, chapters five to eight are the fruits of our justification, 'the great privileges of justified believers, of Men Made New.'[As a side note, when this series has been collected into the bigger volume called 'John Stott at Keswick', the title was changed to 'The Privileges of the Justified.'] Those privileges are found in each of the subsequent chapters - peace with God, union with Christ, freedom from the law, and life in the Spirit.

As ever, Stott was in fine form as he teaches and applies the word of God to the situation he finds in the church around him: 'Many think and behave as if the gospel were good news of justification only, and not good news also of holiness and of heaven.' The fruits of our justification are seen to be peace, grace and glory - reflecting the three tenses or phases of our salvation. But not to be missed or neglected is also the suffering that comes with the Christian life.

While most of us shrink back from suffering, Stott shows that Paul is clear that suffering is essential for the Christian, because it produces endurance, like antibodies are produced by infection. 'We could not learn endurance without suffering because without suffering there would be nothing to endure.' Our suffering is rooted and made bearable because of Christ's suffering for us, as he notes the 'unflattering terms in which we are described... failures, rebels, enemies, helpless to save ourselves.'

On God's love, he reminds us of the objective and subjective awareness believers experience: 'This is how we know that God loves us. We know it rationally as we contemplate the cross, where God gave His best for the worst. And we know it intuitively as the Spirit floods our hearts with a sense of it.'

As he turns to consider union with Christ, he declares that it is 'a state which leads to holiness.' 'It is not the literal impossibility of sin, but the moral incongruity of it, which the apostle is emphasizing.'

'So the secret of holy living is in the mind. It is in knowing that our old self was crucified with Christ. It is in knowing that baptism into Christ is baptism into His death and resurrection. It is in reckoning, intellectually realizing that in Christ we have died to sin and live to God.'

As he discusses the relation of the Christian to the law, he notes that we are still slaves (free slaves!), but not to the law, but to Christ. 'The law says, 'Do this and you will live.' The gospel says, 'You live, so do this.''

On the Holy Spirit, Stott summarises his work as follows: 'These, then, are the four gracious activities of the Holy Spirit. He subdues our flesh, He witnesses to our sonship, He guarantees our inheritance, and He helps our weakness in prayer.'

All in all, this is high quality bible teaching, exactly what you would expect and we came to love from the one known as Uncle John. My little book was a 1978 reprint of a 1966 edition which had sat on my bookshelves, having been rescued from a retiring minister's library, and caught my eye as I was picking holiday books. I'm glad to have read it, although you might be better able to read the version of the chapters in 'John Stott at Keswick'. Get it, read it, and rejoice in God's glorious work in your life.

The Dark Knight Rises *Spoiler Alert*

If you mention Batman to me, I'll be most likely to think of Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer or Geroge Clooney in the lead role. The Tim Burton / Joel Schumacher era are the Batman films I know best. Indeed, I'll never be able to forget the 1995 film Batman Forever with its baddie Twoface - given that a few days before seeing the film I ended up looking a bit like him, having come off my bike doing something stupid, having cut the face off myself!

For some reason, the newest version of Batman, starring Christian Bale had completely passed me by. Batman Begins came out in 2005, followed up by The Dark Knight in 2008, yet I didn't see either of them. I hadn't intended going to see The Dark Knight Rises, which was recently released, but that's where I ended up last weekend with my newly returned brother-in-law.

It probably put me at a disadvantage to just about everyone else in the cinema, as I didn't know the back story; couldn't immediately relate to what had gone before, but as the movie went on, I think I worked out most of it. I've now got both of the first two films to play catch-up, so don't give anything away in the comments!

So what did I make of it? Well, I was impressed by the film - a lot more realistic and less cartoonish than the previous series of Batman movies. The character portrayals were great, and there were a few twists and turns along the way. It was a long film, almost three hours, although it didn't feel like it at the time.

There were the big name stars - Michael Caine as the butler Alfred; Tom Hardy as the sometimes hard-to-make-out Bane; and perhaps the biggest surprise (at least to me, as she's normally only ever seen in those rom-coms) Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (Catwoman).

However, the scene that sticks out for me (SPOILER ALERT!), was where Bruce Wayne/Batman is in the pit prison 'Hell on Earth' and manages to escape by ascending the sheer walls and making the leap. You might not have noticed, but when he makes it to the top, he throws down the rope from the outside, which will enable all the other prisoners to be freed.

It's as if Batman, the Dark Knight, rises from the inescapable prison, the place of death, the place where there is no hope; and by his resurrection, he enables others to escape as well.

It seems that all of our stories are but echoes and faint re-tellings of THE story of our salvation; the whole world contains these resonances and longings for a superhero, a saviour, but to put our hope in a man in a costume will ultimately fail. There is a Saviour, and his name is Jesus.

Sermon: Psalm 22 The Saviour in the Psalm

As we read the Psalm this evening, I wonder what you made of it? Portions of it seem very familiar, such as those first words: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ They’re the words that Jesus quotes on the cross, as he cries out to the Father. Now because of that, you might be tempted to think that this is an eye-witness account of the crucifixion.

Just think of the reporting of verses 7-8: ‘All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!’ That’s exactly what the chief priests and scribes cry out at Jesus as he hangs on the cross.

Or think of the thirst of the Lord Jesus - ‘my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws.’ And what about this comment: ‘For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and my feet - I can count all my bones - they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.’

The details are as realistic and accurate as the accounts we read in the four gospels. Has this newspaper report, this first hand testimony been sneaked into the Psalms when the Bible was being compiled? How can it be so spot on in what it says?

Yet remember who the author is. In the title of the Psalm, we’re told that this is ‘a Psalm of David’. Our Psalm was written a thousand years before Jesus; hundreds of years before crucifixion was even invented; yet it perfectly matches and describes the scene of the crucifixion.

You might be thinking - well, so what? Why does it matter that this was written so long before? This is just another of the so many types and shadows and prophecies we find in the Old Testament, pointing forward and bearing witness to the work and redemption of the Lord Jesus; another confirmation that the cross has been God’s plan all along; that Jesus was walking in the way prepared beforehand for him, fulfilling the Father’s will and the word of the Lord in saving us.

David has experienced some kind of difficulty, in which it felt as if God had abandoned him; he records the incident; but the Holy Spirit, who inspired those words, applies them to great David’s greater Son; providing in advance, the details of the great cost of our salvation.

As Jesus quotes these words on the cross, he’s not picking words at random. He is consciously fulfilling the scriptures, and pointing to the context of the verse; the whole Psalm in which it is contained. He’s showing that he himself is the truly God-forsaken one; as the Father turns his back on his Son, who bears the weight of our sin on his shoulders.

By nature and choice, we turn our backs on God. We follow the devices and desires of our sinful hearts, and forsake God. Yet Jesus, the Father’s Son who from all eternity has been in the bosom of the Father; the beloved Son - as he takes our sin upon him, the Father must turn away; must judge our sin in his body. Jesus is cut off - bearing our sin he feels the forsakenness we deserved.

But that’s not the end of the story. You see, Psalm 22 does not end with the prophecy of the cross. And Jesus’ death is not the end of the story either. As Paul writes to the Corinthians - if it was the end of the story, then we’re the most of all people to be pitied; without hope. Did you notice the change that comes in the middle of verse 21? It says this: ‘Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!’ The rest of the Psalm is so much more positive - in it, we find the praise of the saving Lord.

The I continues - it’s the same person speaking: ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’ David - and the Christ - sees beyond death to this ongoing existence; this new life for the Lord and his people.

This is good news of a great hope for all who trust in the Lord - the offspring of Jacob; the offspring of Israel. There is peace and prosperity for the congregation - blessings abound.

But again, that’s not the end of the story. The scope of salvation is wider still - ‘All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.’ It’s not just salvation for Israel - but salvation for all nations, for anyone who trusts in the Lord. That’s why we, Northern Irish or British or however you designate yourself - why we can share in this great salvation; how we can be confident of our place in eternity.

So how do we apply our Psalm? What can we take away from it? How will life be different for us?

The first thing to take away is that God’s word is true and trustworthy. Even though this was written a thousand years before the crucifixion, we see how perfectly accurate it all was. Imagine trying to write a prediction for something that would happen in 3012? If it was written down and protected, and then discovered in that year; how accurate do you think you would be?

Yet this scripture was written by David under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to perfectly point to the way of salvation; the cost if would take to bring us back to God. So as you read the scripture; especially the Old Testament - ask yourself - what does this show us about the Lord Jesus?

Secondly, it shows us the great love of the Lord Jesus, that he would endure such shame and pain for our sake. The gospel accounts can be very sparse - they merely say ‘he was crucified’. Here we find what it involved for the sinless one to bear our sin. Will your heart be moved to praise and thank him, and marvel at his love?

And finally, we’re shown that the cross was no mistake, no accident; that things didn’t just happen to go wrong. The cross was the settled will and plan of God, and was not the end of the story. The good news is that Jesus has endured, and now sits enthroned in heaven, from where he calls his people to himself, from every tribe and nation and language and people.

Will you join your voice to that great crowd that no one can number, and rejoice in his death and his resurrection? The battle has been fought; the victory is secure.

This sermon was preached in the Brooke Memorial Hall, Brookeborough on Sunday 11th March 2012.

Stuck in the Mud

Spot the townie would have been easy on Friday morning.

Attached to the Rectory, there are twenty-seven acres of Glebe land which are let out to a farmer each year. Before the letting season begins, some members of the Select Vestry went for a walk of the fields, and I went with them.

I had my wellies on, but I definitely wasn't prepared for what we encountered. The fields are fairly hilly, and at the bottom of the hills, there was an awful lot of mud. Proper sticky sucky mud. I went down in, as far as my knees, and promptly realised I was stuck. I hadn't the ability to get my leg out, as I continued to sink. It even felt as if I was going to leave my wellington boot behind. I was stuck in the mud.

I couldn't get out myself, and so had to call for help. Thankfully the men were kind (as they had a good laugh) and pulled me out. I needed a rescue. Not once, not even twice, but three times, I got properly stuck.

It reminded me of the words of Psalm 40, and the rescue God provides as he saves his people:

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry,
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40:1-3)

The Battle Within

There's a battle raging within me. I'm under attack. Despite coming a little later than usual, the post-Christmas cold has struck with a vengeance. I'm just thankful that it didn't happen before yesterday, when all the Christmas services and all the New Year services have been completed!

The battle is raging. My body is under attack from germs and bugs, trying to gain the upper hand. Right now, it seems as if they're winning. Tiny, microscopic organisms bringing down something so much bigger than them.


But it's not all one-sided. My body is fighting back. It is marshalling its own armies, fighting against the invaders, defending my body and boosting the immune system. The multiple hot drinks and tablets and soothers are helping the task by sending reinforcements. In a day or two, the battle will have been won, the aliens defeated and I'll be getting back to normal.

The human body is amazing - fearfully and wonderfully made, to quote a former King of Israel. It just gets on with the task of fighting infection, seeking to stay healthy, defeating the things that just shouldn't be there.

It reminds me of another battle that rages within, but one which isn't always as successful. Sin ravages and rampages within, seeming to have a free rein (and reign), but am I always as quick to fight against it as my body is to fight infection? The remedy is the gospel, the medicine supplied by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as we seek to fight back against sin, the world and the devil. Victory may be a longer time coming, but it is sure and certain one day - that same day that suffering and sickness and sadness will be no more.

The defeat of this sin-sickness will come courtesy of the red cross, where the blood of my Saviour was shed for me, and the unhealthy, miserable sinner will be made right and whole and healed. O Lord, give me grace for the battle, to stand in your victory, to battle against all that is sinful in me.

Sermon: Luke 1: 57-80 Zechariah's Song

Did you hear about the man decided to become a monk, and joined a silent order - they were only allowed to say two words every ten years. So he entered the monastery, and after ten years he went in to meet the abbot and he said his two words: bed hard. That was all right, they got more straw for his bed and the ten years rolled around. This time, he said: Too cold. They got him a thicker habit, and ten years later his words were: I’m leaving. The abbot turns round and says, well, I’m not surprised. All you’ve done since you got here is complain!

I wonder what your first words would be after a long time of not being able to speak. Perhaps you’d store up all those things you never got a chance to say while you were silent. Maybe you would complain about what had happened to you. In our reading, we get to hear the first words of Zechariah after a nine-month silence. Immediately, he begins to praise God - to the amazement of his friends and neighbours.

Just imagine what they have witnessed. Their kindly, elderly neighbours were ordinary people, the sort of folk you look in on during this cold weather to check they’re ok. But then several strange things happen. Zechariah is dumbstruck, ever since his last visit to Jerusalem to minister in the temple. And even more surprising, Elizabeth is expecting. They’ve begun decorating the nursery, buying a cot and preparing for the birth. At their age!

Now we know what has been happening - we’ve been told earlier in Luke’s gospel. In the temple, Zechariah met the angel Gabriel who told him they were going to have a son, whose name would be John. Zechariah didn’t believe, and became ‘mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’ (1:20)

So when it comes to naming the child (done on the eighth day when they circumcise him), the neighbours expect him to be called Zechariah, after his father. Elizabeth, and then Zechariah on his writing tablet (that’s not an iPad, by the way) make sure that his name is John. Just at that moment, Zechariah’s tongue is loosened, and he can speak again!

Now put yourself in the shoes of their neighbours again. Have you ever heard the like of it? A strange birth in strange circumstances, and suddenly Zechariah is able to speak again, because he said the boy’s name was John? No wonder they ask the question in verse 66: ‘What then will this child become?’ It’s the talking point by the fireside and in the marketplace, the field and the school.

Zechariah answers the question the people are asking as he bursts out in prophecy - another of these salvation songs in Luke’s gospel. He begins with his big statement: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel’. So Zechariah is praising God, lifting his voice to praise the Lord God of Israel. Why? It’s all about what God has done (and why).

Firstly, he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them. As God looks on his people with favour, he is showing grace to them, he is redeeming them. Imagine you were looking out the kitchen window when a wee bird flew into it. It had a broken wing and a sore beak. You would take pity on it and help it, wouldn’t you? You would show it grace and make it well. This is kind of what God is doing to Israel. God’s people are in a state, they’ve wandered far from him, they’re more hopeless and helpless than a wee sick bird. They need rescue, they need to be redeemed.

And Zechariah praises God because he has done it. How? ‘He has raised up a mighty saviour for us in the house of his servant David.’ Now, remember that, at this point, Mary is barely three months pregnant, Jesus hasn’t even been born. Yet it’s as good as if it has already happened, so Zechariah can say it this way. Jesus is on his way, the saviour is coming.

But why? Why are things happening in this way at this time? ‘He has raised up a mighty saviour... as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old...’ Zechariah praises God because he has sent the saviour, who was long ago promised in the Old Testament prophets. Zechariah is saying - God you promised you would do this, and now it’s happening!

In order for us to understand what God is doing, we need to be reading the Old Testament, to see what God has promised. There’s the covenant with Abraham, there’s mercy promised to the ancestors. There’s the goal of our salvation: ‘that we... might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.’

As Zechariah continues to praise God, he turns to what God has done in his own family. He addresses his son - what will this child become? ‘And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways...’ John will get people ready for Jesus - when he appears in the wilderness preaching repentance, calling for people to be baptised as a sign of repentance.

Do you see how it all fits together? John gives people a knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins; then the Saviour comes who takes away their sins (just as was promised) so that God’s people can serve him without fear (because our sins have been dealt with), in holiness and righteousness. By the mercy of God, we become more like Jesus because our sins have been removed.

Zechariah says that what is happening is like the first light of morning. Even in the darkest place, God’s mercy is like the dawn rising, as the light shines and brightens the scene. ‘By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

No wonder then, that Jesus describes himself as the light of the world, the one who shines in the dark places, bringing salvation, guiding us, and giving hope and comfort in the presence of darkness and death. All this is possible because of what God has done in sending John to prepare the way for Jesus, the saviour.

It’s the reason Zechariah praises God. The saviour promised long has come. There is light instead of darkness. There is peace instead of fear. There is joy instead of despair. There is holiness and righteousness instead of sin.

But it’s just for those who will come to the Saviour; those who are God’s people. I wonder if you can join in Zechariah’s song today, rejoicing in what God has done for you too - that the saviour is YOUR saviour. If not, then this Christmas is almost pointless, it means nothing for you. Even today, you can come to Jesus, say sorry for your sins, and find grace and mercy from his hand, just as was promised long ago. The light will shine, and nothing will be the same again. Will you come? Will you find your salvation in him? God has raised up a mighty saviour for us - have you been saved by him?

This sermon was preached in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 18th December 2011.

Sermon: Luke 15:1-10 Lost and Found

This morning I want to introduce you to my lovely flock of three sheep. First of all, there's Baa-rbara (groan, yes, and it gets worse...); next up, there's Wool-iam (groan, I did warn you!); and so there we are. Our lovely flock of three sheep. Baa-rbara, Wool-iam, and - where's Larry the Lamb? He's not in the bag. Where is he?

I think he has wandered off. He's lost. Can I have some volunteers to help me find Larry the Lamb? He must be somewhere in the church building, so I'll need you to look for him. And everyone in the pews might need to help - have a look around and see if he's in your pew.

When he's been found, then we have a celebration - a big shriek of joy! Larry was lost, but now he has been found.

Now imagine you were saving up to buy something. You were saving up all your pocket money, all your Christmas money, all your birthday money. What is it you would be saving for? (Some suggestions - football boots, laptop etc). You counted the money every week, and finally, the day came when you had all the money, you were ready to go and buy whatever it is you were saving for, and you counted it one last time, and there was a pound coin missing!

What would you need to do before you could buy your special item? You would have to go and look for the lost coin, until you found it. How happy would you be when you found it, and could go and buy what you were wanting?

Those examples are a bit like the stories Jesus tells in our reading today. But Jesus wasn't just talking about lost sheep and lost coins. He's teaching us about what God is like.

At the start of the reading, we heard about some people who were not very happy. You see, the tax collectors and 'sinners' were coming to Jesus, listening to him, spending time with him. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law didn't like it. They thought they were the good people, the only people Jesus should be with. They looked down on everyone else, especially those bad people.

Jesus tells these two stories to show us what God is like - he says that God is a bit like the shepherd losing a sheep; like a woman losing a coin. If you would look for a lost sheep to bring it back; if you would look for a lost coin, then God will also go looking for lost people, to bring them back.

This is the good news - that even though all of us have gone astray, we've wandered away from God doing our own thing - Jesus came into the world to find us and to bring us back. Jesus says in Luke 19:10 'The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.' Jesus came to bring us back to God.

Now if you were to find the lost sheep, how would you react? The man in the story throws a party, he celebrates. The woman in the story also throws a party, she celebrates. It's the same with God - he has a party when one of us returns to him. What a party that will be!

My aim is that every one of us in the building will come back to God, because of what Jesus has done for us, in coming to find us who are lost, and to bring us back to God. Are you lost, or found?

This sermon was preached at the Family Service in Aghavea Parish Church on Sunday 18th September 2011.

Nearer, but Further Away

I've noticed something slightly odd on my travels recently. While you're getting nearer to a place, you're actually further away. Allow me to explain.

When you're leaving the village of Augher on the A4 heading east, there's a signpost which declares Belfast to be 56 miles away. Drive a mile or so closer to Belfast, and the next signpost declares Belfast to be 57 miles away! You're going in a Belfast direction, but you've still further to go.


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Sounds strange, doesn't it? It's all down to the recent roadworks, and the extension of the A4 dual carriageway from Dungannon to Ballygawley. The 56 miles to Belfast sign is from the pre-dual carriageway days, along the old A4 through Killeshil, Cabragh etc. The closer to Belfast but further away sign was installed when the new road was built - which doesn't follow the path of the old A4, but loops further south, slightly closer to Aughnacloy. In effect, Augher and Enniskillen are now further from Belfast, thanks to the course of the new road.

You think you're getting somewhere, only to find you're not as far as you thought you were. The believer's sanctfication is a bit like that. You've come to faith in Jesus, your sins are forgiven, you're free to love and serve the Lord, and you're ready to go places, thinking that you're going to be just like Jesus tomorrow.

The gift of the Holy Spirit, though, highlights our sinfulness, bringing things to light which must be dealt with, repented of, abandoned. We're making progress to be more like Jesus, but these can seem like setbacks. The closer we get to God, the more we're aware of our sinfulness.

This isn't a bad thing - it's the way it's meant to be. Just think of Isaiah, who was pottering along, then he had that vision of the Lord in his holiness, and Isaiah is ruined (Isaiah 6).

It might seem like you're further away, but you're going the right way. Keep going!

Sermon: Luke 2: 22-40 Simeon's Salvation Song

If you could have been at one of the moments of Jesus’ life, which would you choose? Perhaps you would like to have been present in the stable as the shepherds came to see the newborn King. Or maybe being in the crowd during a miracle. Perhaps you would want to have been watching the crucifixion, or being near Mary Magdalene in the garden as she met the risen Jesus. You can tell me afterwards which you would choose!

As you think about it though, you might choose a moment which would encourage and confirm your faith - seeing the risen Jesus, so that you know for sure that he has risen. Maybe it would be something spectacular, like the feeding of the five thousand. My guess, though, is that you wouldn’t choose a glimpse of a forty day old baby in the temple. Yet today we’re going to hear of a man who did just that, and he was so excited that he was moved to sing about it.

The setting for our reading is the Temple in Jerusalem. There, two linked ceremonies are happening, to fulfil the Old Testament Law. Mary and Joseph have brought the infant Jesus, because the Law demands that a mother who has given birth must be purified through a special offering, (in this case, the ‘poor’ option of two pigeons, rather than a lamb), and also the offering of the male firstborn to God. But as these ceremonies are going on, something much more important happens.

Meet Simeon. We’re not told how old he is, but we presume he was an old man. Simeon, we’re told, is waiting for the consolation of Israel. Israel, you might remember, was being ruled over by the Romans, the latest in the series of conquerors controlling the land. Simeon is waiting for the promised king, the one who will comfort Israel, the hope of Israel.

In verse 26, we’re told that Simeon knows (by the Holy Spirit) that before he sees death, he will see the Lord’s Christ. What a promise! Before you die, you will see the one who will rescue Israel. Perhaps his mind raced with excitement as he looked forward to seeing free Israel and the Romans kicked out. He would maybe have imagined seeing the Christ arrive in splendour and power.

None of that happens though. Rather, he comes into the temple (remembering that there must have been other male children there that day too), and comes over to Mary and Joseph. He knows that this is no ordinary child. This is the Christ - but not as he perhaps expected.

Let’s look at his song more closely. He tells us that there are two groups of people who will see: first Simeon, and then all people. Simeon has seen ‘your salvation.’ Remember, he’s only seeing the baby Jesus, yet it’s enough to know that God is fulfilling his promises. He may not know how Jesus will bring salvation, but he knows who will do it. Would a glimpse of Jesus as a baby be enough for you to know God’s salvation?

Further, Simeon says that this child will be light for revelation to the Gentiles - to all people, as well as glory to his people, Israel. He’s picking up on our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 49. The nations will see the light of the Lord and come and be saved. As we meet this morning we are testimony of this, we are the fulfillment of Simeon’s song.

We have a privileged position. From our vantage point, with a Bible in our hands, we can see the whole of Jesus’ life, we can see how he saves. The question is, do you know this salvation yourself? Are you rejoicing in this salvation?

More than that, though, having seen God’s salvation, Simeon was ready to die. Someone once said that the Christian life is all about learning to die well, and to help others to die well. Are you helping others to face their death, as you point to the salvation found in Jesus?

Simeon encountered the baby Jesus, and rejoiced because he had seen salvation. As we meet today around the Lord’s table, we too rejoice as we celebrate the cross, the way the Lord saves.

This sermon was preached at the Midweek Communion service in St Elizabeth's Church on Wednesday 9th February 2011.

Britney Spears' New Thing

Have you heard the new song from Britney Spears in the Top 40? It's a bit dire, mixing some counting (1, 2, 3) with some immorality. The song's title is 3 and the lyrics recount the adventures of Peter, Paul and Mary. I won't even include the lyrics of the song, as they're so bad, but there's one line from the chorus I want to comment on.

Livin' in sin is the new thing

If you believe Miss Spears, then immorality is something new, and something 'merrier the more'. Aside from the fact that what she's advocating is immoral and outside God's plan and purposes, she's completely wrong on it being a new thing.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes says: 'there is nothing new under the sun.' (Ecc 1:9) Since our first parents, Adam and Eve, every person has been living in sin, as a slave to sin. There's nothing big or clever about it. It's despicable and evil for us to reject the goodness of God our Creator, and to shut our ears to the gracious Word of our life-giver.

That's why we need the Saviour, the sinless Lord Jesus, who saves us from the old ways of living in sin, and gives us new life. Eternal life is the only 'new thing' for us - and it's found in Jesus Christ, not sin.

The Sinful Woman

I want to play a game of Odd One Out. I'll show you four pictures, and then ask which one is different. Pictures are a thief, a rioter, an adulterer and a Bishop. Which is the odd one out? You'll probably say the Bishop. The others are bad characters, getting involved in badness.

The Sinner. Tonight in John 8, we're introduced to a sinner, someone who is doing wrong. Jesus is in the temple and the scribes and Pharisees bring along a woman caught in the act of adultery. She was having sex with someone who was not her husband. Sin. Against the Law. The Pharisees rightly point out that the woman is a sinner, she has broken the law and deserves to die- to be stoned (which I quickly realised means something quite different to our young people). So what will happen?

Jesus does something unexpected and perhaps slightly strange. He bends over and writes in the dust. So they keep asking what he's going to do - she deserves to die. It's then that Jesus turns things around.

The Sinners. "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." There's a few issues going on- the men wanted to use the situation to trap Jesus, so they could accuse him and kill him, but more than that, it takes two to tango, so why had they only brought the man? The big question is: who is without sin? If there's one person without sin then the stoning can go ahead.

Yet there aren't any sinless people among the accusers. They accuse her, but they're sinful themselves. They look down their noses at someone who is worse, as if it's a league table of sin, and they're doing better. We have a tendency of doing this too- I'm not as bad as her. He's badder than me.

The Pharisees slink away, one by one, seething as their sin is exposed. None left, just Jesus and the woman.

No one condemned her, but she's not yet in the clear.

The Sinless Saviour. Jesus, the one without sin who could have chucked a stone, does not condemn her. It's not that she had done nothing wrong, just stitched up by the mob, innocently caught up in it all. She was a sinner. She was in the wrong. But Jesus invites her to receive his forgiveness, not giving her condemnation, but offering a fresh start.

Jesus doesn't condemn her, but neither does he want her to continue in her sin. "Go, and from now on sin no more." This incident allows us to see John 3:17 in practice: 'For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.'

The Odd One Out round at the start wasn't quite right. It's not that the three criminals are different to the bishop. All four are sinful. We don't condemn you here- the leaders are just like you. But we have been and we are being changed by Jesus. There are only two categories of people in the world- the sinful and the saved. Which are you?

This talk was presented at SET (St Elizabeth's Teens) on Sunday 22nd November 2009. John 8:1-11.

The Auld Enemy (4)

The book Esther may be famous for being the only book in the Bible which doesn't mention God. However, it is less famous for the final clash between God's people and their ancient enemy, the Amalekites. God had declared that he would war against Amalek throughout all generations, and once again, the old conflict raises its head.

Amalek was a Satan-inspired nation which sought to destroy the people of the Jews, and therefore destroy the family line of the Messiah who was to come. By now, Israel has fallen to the Assyrians, and Jerusalem to the Babylonians. Babylon has fallen to the Medes and Persians, so Israel is well in exile.

Having won a palace beauty competition, Esther, Hadassah, has been made Queen, in place of the feminist Vashti. Esther had been raised by her cousin, Mordecai, who was of the family line of Benjamin, a son of Kish. He was a descendant of the very family of King Saul, who had messed up when it came to destroying the Amalekites.

On the opposite side, we have Haman the Agagite. Agagite meaning son of Agag, which means that we have the great- grandson of Agag king of the Amalekites on one side, and the great- grandson of Saul on the other.

Haman takes out a grudge against Mordecai as he refuses to bow in Haman's presence. Haman then persuades the king to sign an order to allow the widespread slaughter of the Jews, throughout the entire empire. Panic time.

Yet Mordecai keeps his head (literally, as well as metaphorically), and encourages Esther to speak on behalf of her people to the king. 'And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?' (Esther 4:14).

Esther is successful, the plot is overthrown, and Haman ends up on his own gallows, intended for Mordecai. Mordecai defeats his enemy, Haman, and God defeats the enemy of his people, the Amalekites, preserving his people, and ensuring that Jesus could be born under the Law to save those under the Law, and to bring salvation to all nations.

The ancient enemy is defeated, and God is vindicated! All praise to our God, who defeats our enemies and delivers us from danger!

How Can I Believe That Being Good Won't Get Me Into Heaven?

I wonder what you made of the theme question tonight. It’s a bit shocking, when you start to think about it. Being good won’t get me into heaven. It’s not what we expect to hear. Maybe especially for people in Northern Ireland, who have been brought up to think that heaven is for people who are good and who do good.

You see, some people genuinely believe that humans are good. All of us are good, and eventually we all become good, and God will let us into heaven because we tried to be good, at least sometimes. But it just doesn’t work like that. We quickly realise that we’re not good all the way through. We’re selfish and proud, and look out for ourselves.

For others, we think that it’s a matter of balance, like the scales of justice. We know that we do some bad things, but we hope that the good things we do outweigh the bad. So the good cancels out the bad, we’re in profit, and we get into heaven.

But again, as we’ll see, that doesn’t work. How could you ever be sure that your good was outweighing your bad? Life would turn into a constant guilt trip as you try to balance things, like a bad dieting phase where you have a chocolate bar one day and then starve yourself the rest of the week to make up for it.

Most of us perhaps fall into the relativity trap. It’s all relative, and while we recognise that we do bad things, well, at least we’re not as bad as yer man down the road – did you hear what he did last week? We’re all very skilled at making ourselves appear in a better light than others. So we compare ourselves to those who are worse offenders. It’s maybe even more of a temptation for you if you go to church every week – compared to the heathens who don’t come along.

You might even think of it in a scale like this: Right at the bottom, worst of the worst, someone like Hitler. Then coming up, not as bad but still bad you might put murderers, then robbers, then liars, and compared to all that bunch, you appear at the top of the class, gold star for you and a sure way into heaven – compared to all those bad people down the list…

But again, it just doesn’t work like that. You see, in trying to highlight the sins of others, you conveniently forget about the sins that you also commit. Now, you may not think them as important, or as scandalous or as wrong as others, but they are nonetheless still sins, and still wrong.

For a few minutes I want to share with you from Romans 3. As Paul outlines the good news of Jesus, he first has to knock down some barriers to the gospel. One of these major barriers was the thought that some Jews had about themselves. You see, they couldn’t see how they needed the salvation of Jesus, because they were God’s chosen people, and had God’s law (the Ten Commandments and all the rest), so surely they were all ok.

Paul takes some time and outlines first how the Gentiles, the non-Jews, were sinful, but then he extends what he is saying to the Jews as well. What about this for a comprehensive condemnation:

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:10-18)

As Romans 3 later says, ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ That falling short is the image of an arrow missing the target by not even making it to the target. Perhaps another way of thinking about it is the high jump bar. The bar is set so high that no one can make it. Everyone fails and falls.

The problem of sin is that the wages of sin is death. The proper result of our sin is death, and one day, each of us will die. So if sin is sin, then any sin is just as bad as any other – all are punished and end in death, so the comparisons with others fail. Similarly, the attempts to balance our good and bad just don’t wash. How do you make up for the wrong things you have already done, never mind trying to be good for the rest of your days?

Well, there are just two answers. We can try to save ourselves, or we can find that Jesus can save us. All those things that we talked about at the start – the balancing good and evil, the comparing ourselves with others – these are ways we try to justify ourselves. It can lead some people to try so very hard to be so very good, so that in the end, God has to say to them, yes you’re good enough.

As Tim Keller says, ‘Self-salvation through good works may produce a great deal of moral behaviour in your life, but inside you are miserable. You are always comparing yourself to other people, and you are never sure you are being good enough. You cannot therefore, deal with your hideousness and self-absorption through the moral law, by trying to be a good person through an act of the will. You need a complete transformation of the very motives of your heart.’ (The Reason For God, p. 177)

Being good won’t save us – expecting God to give us a pat on the back for our own achievements just doesn’t work, when we have rebelled against him the whole way.

But the good news is that Jesus can save us. Jesus is the one who can deal with our sin – who has dealt with our sin, and who offers full and free pardon. Jesus died the death that your sin deserved, in your place as your substitute, so that you don’t have to bear it yourself. That’s what Paul goes on to say: (Romans 3:23-25a)

We are justified by faith – as we trust in Jesus, then it is just as if I’d never sinned. As Jesus died on the cross, he took the punishment we deserved – this is what propitiation means – bearing God’s wrath on sin, and taking away that wrath. This is, then, the only way we can get to heaven – not by saving ourselves by our churchgoing or charity work or trying to be good. No, the only way to heaven is by trusting in Jesus, taking him as our Saviour, and sheltering under his cross, as the only ground of hope, and the only way to find peace.

It’s as if we have run up a huge debt on our credit cards – maxed them out, and can’t pay the bills. The debt I could not pay. Jesus comes, and takes the bill, and pays it himself so that we can go free. Or liked condemned people, we are in court, sentenced to death. Jesus comes, takes the sentence, and allows us to go free.

This talk was presented at Open House in Dundonald on Sunday 22nd February 2009.

Why Did Jesus Die On The Cross?

When faced with this question, most people will immediately say that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, to pay the debt we couldn't pay, or to win us forgiveness. What springs to mind is sin, and rightly so. Yet the cross has been described as a diamond, which, as you look at it from various perspectives, you see its glory all the more.

On Sunday night, Edward Lobb was preaching in St Elizabeth's, from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. He highlighted something I had never noticed before in the text. Why is it that Jesus died, according to this passage?

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).

Do you see the remarkable thing? It doesn't say 'live for him' - which is what we expect. No, it says 'we might live with him'. Jesus went to the cross so that we might live with him - he died desiring our company for eternity!

Of course, this is a both-and, not an either-or. To use the diamond analogy, both dying for our sins and dying so that we might live with him sit together - they're not mutually exclusive.

How wonderful, that the Lord of the universe died so that you and I might live with him. Will you live with him? Or will you turn your back on him?

Forgiveness of (Scalp) Sins

In my last sermon, I was speaking about how we need to understand the culture we're living in, and use it to communicate the gospel, the good news about Jesus. The implicit assumption here is that people may find the ideas of sin, forgiveness, grace, gospel etc hard to grasp, so any connections from culture - movies, TV, music, - may help unbelievers to understand.

Over the past couple of days, however, I've been amazed to see a TV advertisement using precisely the language of sin and forgiveness - to promote a shampoo. Even consider the marketing being associated with the product from the Head and Shoulders website. The religious imagery is plain to see - hands held devoutly in prayer and forgiveness for scalp and hair sins being proclaimed.

Is the company only targeting Christians with this ad campaign, or are the key concepts of Christianity more widely grasped? Perhaps the ads will enable us to speak about the one true Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us from all our sins through his death on the cross and his resurrection.