Sermon: Cross Purposes - Freedom (1 Peter 1: 13-23)

A few years ago, the Parkham branch of the WI in England were due to have a speaker on the theme of pirates. So, the ladies decided that, to mark the theme, they would all come in fancy dress as pirates. Eye patches, Wooden legs, toy swords, one lady even had a parrot on her shoulder (but it was actually a fluffy chick). It looked like a rehearsal for the musical Pirates of Penzance.

But then the speaker, Colin Darch, started his talk, telling the experience of the time when he had been held hostage by Somali pirates. He had been delivering a tug to Singapore when it was boarded by nine armed Somali pirates, demanding £1.6million of a ransom. After a long period of negotiations, the pirates accepted £437,000 and let them go. The ransom was paid, and they were released - given freedom.

This week we’ve been thinking about Cross Purposes, asking what the cross achieved. And we’ve found that there isn’t just one purpose of the cross - there are many. It’s as if the cross is like a diamond; as you look at it from different angles, the light shines and sparkles in new ways. So far we’ve seen how the cross brings us reconciliation with God, being brought near into relationship with him; and then how, as we’re drawn near to God, we’re also drawn nearer to each other in peace. Last night we looked at the cosmic consequence of the cross, bringing victory against the rulers and powers, Satan and his forces of evil. Tonight, we turn our attention to freedom. And even though it’s difficult, I’m going to try to resist shouting ‘freedom’ in the Mel Gibson as Braveheart Scottish accent!

For a few moments this evening, we’re going to look at the freedom the cross brings. But to do that, we need to ask - what are we free from? How was the freedom achieved? And what are we free for?

So first of all, what are we free from? You might know that the American Declaration of Independence claims that every person has three unalienable rights - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Back whenever we used to play with friends at school, and someone did something, you might have heard them say ‘It’s a free country, I can do what I like...’ We like to think that we’re free, but the Bible teaches that all of us, by nature and choice, are actually slaves. While we may not realise it, we are held in slavery, captured.

Do you remember in John 8, where Jesus says ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ They take the hump and say that they are free, never been enslaved. But what does Jesus say? ‘Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’ (Jn 8:34).

You see, we think that we’re in control, that we do what we want. Temptation comes along, an opportunity to do a little teeny weeny tiny sin, no one would know - a wee white lie. We can handle it. We’re in control. But then lies build upon lies; or the wee sin we think we can control becomes bigger, and comes to control us - devising ways to do it more often; falling to more and more. Are you still in control? Could you stop any time?

Like the addict, we are addicted to sin; bowing down to it; held by it; enslaved by it. Like the fly spotting a nice flower and landing on it, only to be caught up by the Venus Fly Trap. We’re caught. Slaves to sin.

But the good news is that Jesus came for us. As we heard in Mark’s gospel, ‘The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Mk 10:45). As we heard at the start, the ransom is the payment made for release of captives or hostages. Colin Darch got away with a small payment of £437,000. Seemingly the current rate could be as much as £3million.

Now that’s a huge sum of money to pay to release someone. Just think of trying to raise that amount of money to give someone you love their freedom. It would be almost impossible.

And yet, that’s like a pittance, just small change, compared to the biggest ransom payment ever. As Peter writes: ‘For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.’ (1 Pet 1:18-19).

One of the Psalms says that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills; money would be no object to him; but all the tea in China, and all the money in the world wouldn’t be enough to pay the ransom for you to receive freedom from the slavery of sin. As the children’s song goes: ‘I’m special because God has loved me, for he gave the best thing that he had to save me.’ And what was that? ‘His own Son, Jesus crucified to take the blame for all the bad things I have done.’

Peter describes Jesus as the lamb without blemish or defect. He’s describing Jesus in the terms used of the Passover Lamb, the Lamb that died to ransom and redeem the children of Israel when they were slaves in Egypt. We find the details in Exodus - a lamb per household, kill it, and paint the blood on the doorposts and lintel of your house. Roast the lamb, and eat it, ready to move.

Death was coming to every home in Egypt that night. God had said that the angel of death would sweep through the land, killing every firstborn. And it happened. The next morning, every Egyptian home was in mourning, their firstborn lying dead. But in every Israelite home, the firstborn lived. How? Why?

The Passover Lamb, the lamb without blemish had died in place of the firstborn son. The lamb had given its life in place of the firstborn son. The firstborn was ransomed, redeemed, by the lamb dying in his place. Can you imagine being the firstborn son in that house that night. Would you be nervous, knowing that death would sweep through? Imagine eating the lamb, knowing it had died instead of you. How many times would you ask your dad - did you paint the blood on the doorpost? Will I be safe? Are you sure it’s there?

It’s no accident that Jesus and his disciples were sharing in the Passover meal this very night. The disciples knew how the Passover meal worked; they kept it every year. But this night was different. As we’ll hear and see shortly, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and said ‘This is my body, given for you.’ He took the cup of wine and said ‘This is my blood, of the new covenant.’

Jesus is the Passover Lamb, the ransom paid in his blood - his life poured out for us. Have you taken refuge under the blood of Christ? Have you applied that blood to your soul? Have you heard the clink of chains being cut, the voice telling you that you’re free to go?

You’re free from slavery to sin. The freedom was won by the ransom being paid; you have been redeemed, bought back, as you trust in Christ. But what are you free for?

I wonder if you ever heard these words when you were growing up: If you’re under my roof, you’re under my rules. My house, my rules. Peter tells us that we have been brought into God’s family, that we call on God as our Father. In his house, here’s how it goes: ‘As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all your do; for it is written, ‘be holy, because I am holy.’

As Paul says elsewhere, don’t use your freedom as an excuse to go back to sin. You’ve been set free, so don’t go back again to serve sin. Our Father calls us to holiness, because he is holy. We’re called to live out the family likeness, to become more like our Father. You’re free to follow, free to serve.

Once a dad gave his son a gift on his birthday. It was a do-it-yourself little boat. The young boy spent many hours building it into a beautiful little sailboat, crafting it down to the finest detail. He then took it to a nearby river to sail it. He played with it each day after school. One day, when he put it in the water to play, an unexpected wind moved it away from him very quickly. Though he chased it along the bank, he couldn't keep up with it. The strong wind and current carried the boat far away. The heartbroken boy knew how hard he would have to work to build another sailboat.
Farther down the river, a man found the little boat, took it to town, and sold it to a shopkeeper. Few days later, as the boy was walking through town, he noticed a boat in a store window. When he went near, it looked exactly like his lost boat. Entering the store, looking at it closely, he told the owner that the boat belonged to him. It had his own little marks on it, but he couldn't prove to the shopkeeper that the boat was his. The man told him the only way he could get the boat was to buy it. The boy wanted it back so badly that he did exactly that. As he took the boat from the hand of the shopkeeper, he looked at it and said,
"Little boat, now you're twice mine! Once I made you and now I bought you."

‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven, to his feet thy tribute bring - ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like me his praise should sing?’ In Christ, by his cross, we are free - free from the slavery of sin. Free to be holy, like our holy Father. Freed by the blood of Christ, ‘who loved me, and gave himself for me.’

This sermon was preached at the Cross Purposes Holy Week series in Brookeborough Methodist Church on Maundy Thursday 24th March 2016.

Sermon: Ephesians 2: 11-22 Cross Purposes: Peace

‘The wall was right behind our back garden. We went to bed as usual and got woken up by our mum at some point of the night. The first thing I noticed was loud cheering. I got up to look out the window and just saw people running past, jumping up and down and crying and laughing... It was an amazing event to have witnessed and I still can’t believe this happened right outside of our house. I will never forget that night.’

Another person says this: ‘With tears streaming down his face he kept saying, ‘I never thought I would live to see this.’ What are they remembering? The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9th November 1989. For almost thirty years the wall had stood, 87 miles long, over 12 feet high and four feet wide, dividing Berlin between East and West; between Communist and Capitalist. Then one night, the wall came down, the border disappeared, and shortly after, Germany was reunited. The wall that had divided Germans for so long was gone.

Those images of East Germans with all sorts of tools, chipping away at the wall, taking souvenirs, came to mind as I read the passage from Ephesians. The dividing wall of hostility being destroyed. People long divided coming together. A wonderful celebration of peace. But as Paul writes these words, he’s not thinking about the fall of the Berlin Wall, as important as that was. He’s thinking of something even more significant; even more important; which affects each one of us directly - you see, as we gather here tonight, we can be a part of the action; we can benefit from the wall coming down; we can experience that peace.

This week we’re asking the question - what did the cross achieve? Last night we thought about reconciliation - how God took the initiative to bring us back from our self-imposed separation, to call us into relationship with him. It’s only possible because Jesus was forsaken on the cross, so that we could be welcomed in. We can be reconciled to God through the death of Jesus.

But, as Jimmy Cricket would say, come here, there’s more. You see, sin doesn’t just bring separation from God, it also brings separation from one another. Just think of the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When God comes and asks what happened, Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on! Adam says, ‘The woman you put here with me - she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ It’s not my fault - it’s her fault!

Ever since that day when they were kicked out of Eden, and separated from God, we’ve also been separated from each other. The selfishness of sin runs deep, every man for himself, so that Adam and Eve’s son killed his own brother, and on and on it goes. You only have to watch the news to see this playing out day after day, division, war, hostility... Each of us is separated from everyone else. It’s as if we put up walls around us and our own. Will it ever change? Could it ever change? Could we really experience peace?

Paul goes to the greatest division in his day, and uses it as a case study of what the cross of Jesus has achieved. If the cross has made a difference here, then it can transform any and every situation.

Just think of the way we divide people - men and women; old and young; English rugby fans and everyone else in the world supporting whoever they’re playing; and, in a few months time, people will be divided over ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the European Union. In Paul’s day, there was an even bigger divide - Jews and Gentiles. The Jews saw themselves as the chosen people of God, tracing their family tree to Abraham, and following God’s commands. They made sure that they kept themselves separate from everyone else - the Gentiles, the unclean, the impure.They wouldn’t eat with Gentiles; they wouldn’t talk with Gentiles; the dividing wall was firmly in place.

And this dividing wall wasn’t even just in the mind - there was a real dividing wall, at the temple in Jerusalem. Gentiles could only go so far; into the ‘Court of the Gentiles’. A big wall prevented them from coming in to the Court of Women, the Court of the Israelites, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. There were signs on the gates warning of immediate death if a Gentile went any further. (It was the Court of the Gentiles where the trading took place, the stalls preventing the Gentiles from having space to pray in the only part they were allowed to enter - so when Jesus overturns the tables he says my house is a house of prayer for all nations...).

Paul points to the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility in the temple, which separated Jews and Gentiles. Outside the wall, were the Gentiles - ‘separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.’ (12). That wall stood for hundreds of years, but has now fallen, because of the death of Christ on the cross. Those who were far away have been brought near. That’s the reconciliation we thought of last night, but it also means we have peace with one another.

‘For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.’ (14-15).

The wall dividing Jews and Gentiles has been demolished. The wrecking ball has come, the wall is no more. Jesus has dealt with the hostility, by obeying and fulfilling the law perfectly.

At home I have a big box of toys and props that I’ve gathered up from school assemblies and children’s talks. When our nieces come, there’s one thing they always want to play with from the box - playdough. Now imagine you have some playdough, and you make two people. And I know this couldn’t happen, but imagine those two playdough people fell out. Now imagine that you squish them together into a ball, and out of that lump, you make an even bigger person. The two have become one. You couldn’t see the differences any more, you could only see the one new person.

That’s what Jesus has done. ‘His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which we put to death their hostility.’ (15-16)

This happens in Christ. As we come into relationship with God, we also come into relationship with each other; we become part of the same family. The adopted child doesn’t just belong to their new mum and dad; they belong to the whole family, and relate to their new brothers and sisters as well. To call God our Father is to discover that we have hundreds and thousands of brothers and sisters, from all sorts of backgrounds and nationalities, yet we are one in Christ.

Some of you might know that I like to watch rugby. On a Friday night I might even be found at the Kingspan Stadium, standing up for the Ulster men. Think of what happens when Ulster are playing. Thousands of people decide that they’ll watch the game. From all their different backgrounds, homes, workplaces they’ll come near to the team, to cheer and shout and sing. They’re there for the Ulster team. But it’s not just me in the stands on my own, cheering on the team - I might be loud, but I’m not that loud! As each individual supporter draws near to the team, they’re also drawn closer to all the other supporters as well. As the Ireland’s call goes, we’re shoulder to shoulder. We come for the team, but we’re drawn closer to one another as well.

To be reconciled to God is also to have peace with one another. To have peace with God is also to be reconciled with one another. Just think how amazing it would be to have your name in the Bible. And I’m not talking about writing your name in the inside front cover. To be mentioned in the Bible - how cool would that be?

But there are two ladies who might not agree. They lived in Philippi, they were both Christians, but they didn’t get on together. When Paul wrote his letter to the church in Philippi, he singles them out, he mentions them by name. Imagine sitting there, receiving a letter from Paul, and then hearing your name read out. And what did he say? ‘I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.’ (Phil 4:2). In the Lord, in Christ, agree with each other. Get on together, be reconciled, have peace with one another.

Now perhaps as I mention that, the name or the face of someone has popped into your head. And you think... but... even them? After what they did to me? Yes, in Christ, we need to be at peace. It’s what we pray, probably every day: ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ Do we mean it? Are we living in the peace Christ has obtained for us?

Paul gives us a picture of the purpose of this peace. Here’s the reason why Christ died, why Christ took away the dividing wall of hostility - he’s building a new temple - not of stone with the keep out signs - but a new temple, made up of us, his people. A dwelling place for God, built on Christ the chief cornerstone. We’re drawn to God, and drawn to one another, to be joined to one another for all eternity, one in Christ. People from all sorts of backgrounds, nations, religious roots, but all trusting in Christ and his precious death, which brings us peace with God, and peace with one another. Christ is our peace - will we embrace that peace, and share it with others?

This sermon was preached in Brookeborough Methodist Church at the Cross Purposes Holy Week series on Tuesday 22nd March 2016.