Sermon: Exodus 2: 1-10 The First Moses Basket

This morning I’ve brought along something to show you. Does anyone know what this is?

It’s a Moses basket. And what is it for?

The Moses basket is to put a baby in, a safe place for the baby to sleep.

This morning, we’re going to hear about the very first Moses basket. And to do that, we’re going back to Exodus chapter 2, to the land of Egypt.

Has anyone ever been to Egypt? Maybe you’ve been there on holiday. Or maybe you’ll plan to go some day, to see the pyramids...

Well back at the start of Exodus, the people of Israel are in Egypt. But they’re not there on holiday. They were slaves in the land. At the end of Genesis, the people of Israel went into Egypt through the dreams of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. There were 70 (or 75) people, just one extended family.

By the start of Exodus, there are more than 1 million Israelites. And the Egyptians were afraid of the Israelites. They were scared in case the Israelites would turn around and help Egypt’s enemies. And so they made the Israelites slaves.

They forced them to work long hours, making bricks and building cities. All day every day, that was all they did. Can you imagine living as a slave?

Now that was bad enough. But what came next was even worse. Pharaoh the king of Egypt decided that he wanted to get rid of the Israelites. So he said that any baby boys that were born should be killed. Girls could live, but not boys.

And eventually, he told all his people that if they found a baby boy born to the Israelites (the Hebrews), they were to throw him into the river Nile.

In our reading today, we hear the story of one mother who had faith in God. She had a baby boy, and she decided that she wasn’t going to throw him into the Nile. V2 says that the baby boy was ‘a fine child’. So she decided to hide her baby.

Now, boys and girls. Do you think it would be easy or hard to hide a baby? Who thinks easy? Who thinks hard?

It would be really hard, wouldn’t it? Why? Because babies cry! They make a lot of noise! And so for three months, she hid her baby. Every time he cried, his mother was there to try to settle him quickly, to make no noise, to not let on that he was in the house.

And she managed to do it for three months. But then, she knew she had to do something else. She couldn’t hide him any longer. So she decided to do what Pharaoh commanded. She was going to take her son to the river.

Imagine that! She hid him for three months, and then she was going to take him to the river, like all the other baby boys. Except, she had a plan.

She took a basket, and covered it with tar and pitch. She made it watertight, so that it would float. She then placed her baby into the basket, and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

Moses was in the river, like all the rest, except he was safe. Now, I’m not very good at Hebrew, but people smarter than me have written books that help to explain the Bible. And the word that says basket here is found in another Old Testament story. Another story involving water, and people being safe inside.

Noah’s ark is the same word here - now Noah’s ark was massive, and saved 8 people and all the animals that were inside. Moses’ basket, his ark, was only big enough for one baby, but it was big enough to save him.

Or, at least, we hope so. In verse 4, it’s as if we’re standing with Moses’ sister, waiting to see what would happen to him.

Now, of all the people in Egypt, who should come along next? Pharaoh’s daughter! Her dad wants to kill all the baby boys, and now here she comes. She’s coming for a dip, to bathe in the river, and she spots the basket among the reeds. She sends one of the slaves to get it.

When she opens it, what does she find inside? The baby! Moses! And, no wonder, he was crying. Now, what would she do? Would she tip him out of the basket into the water?

Thankfully not! She felt sorry for him. She didn’t want to do him any harm. Instead, Pharaoh’s daughter decides that she’s going to keep him. But remember, he’s still only three months old. He needs someone to care for him and nurse him until he’s older.

So Moses’ sister comes along and asks if she can go and get one of the Hebrew women to care for him. Pharaoh’s daughter says yes, and who does his sister bring back? His own mum!

And even better than that, listen to what Pharaoh’s daughter says: ‘Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.’

Pharaoh was paying Moses’ mum to look after Moses. His mum had saved him, and God was even using Pharaoh to care for him!

Later, the time came for the child to go and live in the palace as Pharaoh’s daughter’s son. And it’s now that he gets the name Moses, meaning ‘I drew him out of the water.’ This story in Exodus is why these baby cots are called Moses baskets. A safe place for a baby to sleep.

But this story also tells us about one ordinary woman who trusted God. It was ‘by faith’ that this mother (and father) hid their baby, because they saw he was no ordinary child. Their baby would grow up to be Moses, the leader of the Israelites, the one who would lead them out of slavery when he heard and answered God’s call (eighty years later).

So mums and dads, keep trusting God as you bring up your children. Don’t go the way the world wants you to go - trust God, and look to him to be at work in your house, your family, and your children’s lives.

God is at work. He was at work to use Moses to save his people. And do you remember what happened when Jesus was born? The King at the time tried to kill him as well. Herod wanted to get rid of Jesus, but God saved him in order to save us. God was working to save you through Jesus. You can trust him. Let’s pray that we continue to look to shod.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Mothering Sunday, 11th March 2018.

Sermon: Exodus 12: 1-42 Scripture Fulfilled: The Passover

Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast. Those words opened our service tonight. They’re words that were spoken this morning at our Communion service. But what does it mean? What’s the Passover, and how is Christ our Passover?

On these Sunday nights leading up to Easter, we’re going to dig into the Old Testament. We’re going to see how the cross of Jesus fulfils some of the Old Testament promises and prophecies. And tonight we begin with the Passover. So what is it all about?

In our (very) long reading, we heard of all the instructions for the very first Passover meal. Now, I don’t know whether in your house you have certain days for certain meals. Maybe Monday night is pasta night; or Friday night is a chippy tea. For this first Passover, there was only one dish on the menu, in every Israelite home. Roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. What’s for dinner tonight? It was going to be lamb, by divine decree.

As we’ve landed into the middle of a Bible book, we need to get our bearings. We’re in Exodus, the 2nd book of the Bible, and watching as the story continues. You see, Genesis, the first book, is all about beginnings - the creation, the fall, the flood, and then the story of Abraham and his family line. By the end of Genesis there are 75 (or 70) Israelites in the land of Egypt (brought there by Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat).

When Exodus begins, there are a whole lot more Israelites - so many in fact, that Pharaoh is afraid of them. He begins to enslave them, tries to kill off their babies, but one of those babies is rescued from the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter. That baby, now grown up, is called by the LORD (capital letters, covenant name of God) to lead his people out of slavery and into the promised land. But when Moses went to the new Pharaoh, and asked him to ‘let my people go’, Pharaoh said no. Then no. Then no. Time and time again.

The LORD sent a series of plagues on Egypt, to demonstrate his power (and also to ridicule the Egyptian small g gods), but Pharaoh just kept hardening his heart. We heard them in Psalm 78 - the water turned to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, plague on livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. But still Pharaoh said no.

And so the LORD prepared to send his last plague. A plague even worse than the previous nine combined. The plague to end all plagues - the death of the firstborn. God said that there would be a death in every house, that the firstborn would die. Then Pharaoh and the Egyptians would know that the LORD is God. Then the Israelites would be saved and rescued.

Death was coming to every house on the same night. But for the Israelites, there was a way for the death of their firstborn to be avoided. It involved the Passover Lamb. And we find the details in chapter 12.

The man was to choose a lamb for his household - a year-old male without defect, big enough to feed his family. Over several days they were to care for it, look after it, until the fourteenth day of the month. At twilight, just as evening is coming in, the lamb was to be slaughtered. Before they cook the meal, though, the blood of the lamb had to be painted on the sides and top of the door frame of the house.

They even have cooking instructions - roasted over the fire (not raw or cooked in water). And they have table instructions - with your coat on, cloak tucked into your belt, sandals on feet, staff in hand, ready to move. This isn’t going to be a leisurely meal to take all night and chat into the morning. This is a meal eaten quickly, in haste, waiting to move out.

So how did the Passover work? Well, we’re told in verses 12-13. Let’s focus in on these verses. ‘On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn - both men and animals - and I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.’

We get the same idea over in verse 23: ‘When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the door-frame and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.’

So here we get the idea of the Passover. The Lord will ‘pass over’ the Israelite houses. Why? Because of the blood on the door-frame. You see, the blood is the sign that a death has occurred in this house. And so the firstborn inside is safe, sheltered by the blood. The Egyptian homes didn’t have the blood on the door frame, and so the destroyer visited death in those homes.

Now, this is easy for me to imagine, because I’m the firstborn in our family. But imagine that you’re the firstborn in your house. You’d want to make sure that your dad did it all according to the Lord’s instructions, wouldn’t you? That your dad had killed the lamb. That he hadn’t forgotten to paint the blood on the door-frame. You see, for the firstborn, it’s either that lamb that dies tonight, or else it’s you. But you’ll be safe, so long as it has died in your place.

The Passover Lamb is a substitutional sacrifice. We’re familiar with the idea of substitutes in football. My own football career didn’t last very long. I was picked as a substitute for our school team for an away match against Rathfriland High School. It was a cold, rainy day, and for the whole match, I stood on the sidelines. I never got the chance to grace the pitch. So I gave up football shortly after that. But the idea of a substitute is that they take your place. You’re injured, or you can’t play, then someone else takes your place.

For the firstborn, the Passover lamb is their substitute. It dies instead of the firstborn. It takes his place. It dies, and allows the firstborn to live. And that’s exactly what happened. When midnight struck, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt (29). Every house in Egypt mourned, from Pharaoh to the dungeon.

That same night, Pharaoh gave the order for the Israelites to leave, to get out, to exit (hence exodus). That’s why the meal was eaten in haste. Over a million people were suddenly on the move, free from their slavery, saved by the Passover lamb.

It’s when we put ourselves in the sandals of the firstborn that we appreciate the blessing of the Passover lamb. It dies to let us live. It dies in our place as our substitute.

I wonder can you begin to see how Christ might be our Passover? One of the aspects of the Lord Jesus is that he came to be our Passover Lamb, the one who dies on our behalf, in our place. We see glimpses of this all the way through the gospels, little hints of what is to come. So, John the Baptist points at Jesus and says ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ (Jn 1:36). Or, at the time of the Transfiguration, Luke tells us that when Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus, ‘They spoke about his departure (Greek: exodus), which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem.’ (Lk 9:31).

The Passover became one of the three great festivals, which all the Israelites were to celebrate each year in Jerusalem. On their way, they would sing the songs of ascents (Ps 120-134) which we’re studying in the Fellowship. The Passover ritual remained the same every year. The same menu, with the same questions and answers and the same remembering of the Lord’s Passover.

The same, that is, until one particular Passover. It started as normal, but then Jesus departed from the well known script. Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. ‘This is my blood of the (new) covenant, which is poured out for many.’

The bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus - our Passover Lamb. In changing the Passover liturgy, Jesus is saying that he is the ultimate Passover Lamb. That the Old Testament Passover points to him and his sacrifice for us.

Jesus is our Passover lamb. He died in our place, for our sins, as our substitute. We can find shelter under his blood. We are freed by his blood - freed from the slavery of sin. We just need to trust in him.

We are safe under his blood, knowing that he has died for us. Are you trusting him tonight for your salvation?

Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the Feast!

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 4th March 2018.

On Earth as it is in Heaven

As we read through the Bible, there can sometimes come the moment where you ask why a particular portion is there, in that way, in that much detail. Take, for example, the book of Exodus. As the name suggests, this book is about the way out, the exodus of the children of Israel from their slavery in Egypt.

Having been saved by the basket in the bulrushes and sent through the burning bush encounter with the LORD, Moses delivers God’s message to Pharaoh. The first half of the book is exciting, dramatic, tense, as Pharaoh consistently refuses to ‘let my people go’. The plagues come along, leading up to the Passover and the escape from Egypt. Having crossed the Red Sea, the people of Israel encounter God at Mount Sinai, where they receive the Law.

It’s then that the action seems to dry up. Almost out of nowhere, comes the instruction to build the sanctuary tabernacle, beginning in chapter 25 and going on for several chapters. I’m not crafty in the slightest, so the details of rings and poles and calyxes and tassels and clasps and all the rest leave me bewildered and confuddled. Why do we suddenly go from dramatic rescue to what appears to be interior design for the tent of God?

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask that our Father’s kingdom will come and his will be done ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ And this little phrase gives us a clue about what is happening here in Exodus. When Moses is constructing the meeting place between God and his people, he doesn’t just make it up as he goes along. He’s not given free rein to come up with it himself.

Rather, the LORD tells him in Exodus 25:9 ‘Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.’ We find the same reminder in 25:40, 26:30, 27:8. The tabernacle that Moses is building on earth is to be on earth as it is in heaven. We get a glimpse of what the heavenly reality is like, because as the writer to the Hebrews says of this very verse, the priests ‘serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things...’ (Heb 8:5).

But now Christ has entered the holy place - not the tabernacle on earth - but in heaven, ‘not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood securing an eternal redemption.’ (Heb 9:12). In this way, the writer to the Hebrews helps us tie together the dramatic escape from Egypt and the minute details of tabernacle furnishings - as pointing towards the finished salvation work of Christ, our Passover and Great High Priest.

Book Review: Dig Even Deeper

Back in 2005, Nigel Beynon and Andrew Sach released a really helpful book for anyone wanting to go deeper in their Bible study. Dig Deeper: Tools to unearth the Bible's treasure did exactly what it said on the tin. The tools were introduced, and worked examples given. Those tools (just as a reminder) are: the Author's Purpose tool; the Context tool; the Structure tool; the Linking Words tool; the Parallels tool; the Narrator's Comment tool; the Vocabulary tool; the Translations tool; the Tone and Feel tool; the Repetition tool; the Quotation/Allusion tool; the Genre tool; the Copycat tool; the Bible Timeline tool; the 'Who Am I?' tool; and the 'So What?' tool. You'll need to read that book to discover what they all are, and how they'll help your Bible study.

Fast forward to 2010, and the book under review - Dig Even Deeper: Unearthing Old Testament treasure. Andrew Sach and Richard Alldritt demonstrate the working of these tools as they guide the reader through a study of the book Exodus (using a 14 word summary of the book: beatings - bush - plagues - passover - water - whinging - father-in-law - fear - case law - covenant - tabernacle - calf - cleft - tabernacle.

I've enjoyed Andrew's ministry at St Helen's through the sermon podcasts, and it's easy to hear Andrew's voice in the book, as he continues to be clear and concise in explaining God's word. Both authors have an easy to read and easy to follow style, with some good illustrations and pointers along the way.

Don't think, however, that this is a breeze through Exodus, in which the authors will give you all the answers. This is a practical hands-on guide which constantly directs the reader to go back to the Bible and do some of the hard work themselves. The tools are wielded with great effect, demonstrating how they can be of use, and what they will unearth as time is taken to study God's word.

The writers also aren't afraid of flagging up the dead-end alleys and red herrings in Bible study - those times when we jump to assumptions. They're careful to bring us back to what the text actually says, and what it means. As well as the detail, they also focus on the big picture - the point of the whole book of Exodus: knowing God's name (character)

As it happened, I had been reading Exodus in my quiet times, and was a couple of steps ahead, but there were things I had missed. It was good to be able to think further about what I was reading, and to see what was lying further beneath the surface.

This is a really useful book, and would be profitable for preachers doing the background work on the text, or even the week-to-week preaching preparation, but it's not just for pastors. If you're wanting to study Exodus, whoever you are, then this is definitely a good starting point.

The Way of the Cross (5)

We continue our journey towards the cross (leaving out Sundays, as there'll normally be a sermon published on those days), and we're still in the land of Egypt. Joseph has been forgotten, though, and the Israelites are slaves in the land. Despite God sending Moses (aged 80) to Pharaoh, Pharaoh's heart has hardened, so that he will not let my people go.

Nine plagues have already fallen on Egypt, specifically on the Egyptians while the Israelites missed them, but now comes the final plague - judgement on the whole land.

3Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
7"Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' 27you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 12:3-13, 21-27)

Death came to every house in Egypt, from the greatest to the least. For the Egyptians, it came in the form of the death of the first born son. Every house mourned. God had struck the Egyptians.

For the children of Israel, it came in the form of the death of the Passover Lamb. The Lamb died in the place of the first born son, and was secure when the blood was applied to the upright and crossbeam of the door of the house. Those who sheltered under the blood of the substitute were safe, while those without the Passover blood died for their sins.

Remember those words of John the Baptist, who, on seeing Jesus declared 'Behold the Lamb of God.' Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7), so let us celebrate the feast!

Motets Smote Mostest

Music technology is brilliant, when it works properly. Having seen an offer for some free music downloads from emusic, I got the Handel oratorio 'Israel in Egypt' (because I'm so very rock and roll!). It recounts the story of the children of Israel's misery in the land of Egypt, and how God came to their aid by sending the ten plagues on Egypt including the Passover, and brought them out to take them to the Promised Land. This afternoon I was listening it as I drove into town, and spotted a slight mistake in the track information for one of the tracks.

As you're probably aware, the track listing and title appears, so you know what you're listening to. However, someone has put the wrong information in, so that what should be a quotation from Psalm 105 ('He smote all the first-born of Egypt') actually appears as:

He smote all the first-born of Israel

It simply isn't true! In the tenth plague, the Passover, the firstborn of every family and every herd died. From the son of Pharaoh to the son of the captive in the dungeon (Exodus 12:29), death touched every house. Every house mourned. The Lord certainly smote all the firstborn in Egypt, but here's the surprising thing: none of the firstborn of Israel were smitten!

The next morning, the firstborn son of every family of Israelites was still living, in contrast to the firstborn of every family of Egyptians. What was the difference? In the Israelite households, a substitute died in place of the firstborn. A substitute the Lord had provided in his instructions to Moses:

1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
7"Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' 27you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 12:1-13, 21-27)

Imagine being the oldest son in the family, knowing that the sentence of death had been passed that evening. Every firstborn in Egypt would die. But there's a chance that the death of Larry the lamb will mean that you live. Would you be nervous as you lie down and go to sleep?

Then the next morning, you waken, you're still alive. You can truly say, the lamb died in my place. You live, because the lamb was slain. (It's the same for us - because Jesus died on the cross, in our place, the Lamb of God takes away our sin, and we can live). That's why our friend compiling the track information got it wrong - Israel wasn't smote, but Egypt was. Indeed, as the oratorio continues:

He smote all the first-born of Egypt, the chief of all their strength. But as for his people, he led them forth like sheep.

Sermon: 1 Timothy 6:2-10 Do Not Covet

We’ve reached the final commandment, and you might think that it’s all a bit irrelevant these days. After all, who speaks of coveting now - it all sounds a bit old fashioned, especially if you’re talking about coveting your neighbour’s man servant or donkey. Consider these examples:

Meet Christian Louboutin. The designer who’s given us the shoe women covet, celebrities rock and divas sing about

Since I heard the news of actor Sanjay Dutt buying a new Rolls Royce Ghost for his wife, I can’t help but covet this car a tad more, what with Sanjay Dutt being my favorite actor and all. Excessive lust - the pent up energy it seems has to be penned.

Had Spain not filed an excellent case for staging the event he and England covet? (Beckham and that World Cup story...)

I really covet the Oliver Spencer one [coat], but my friend Gove already has it.

All of those came from the national newspapers over the past week (among others!). The notion of coveting is alive and well right across the land. There’s even a women’s fashion website called covet.com which suggests the latest fashions celebrities are wearing, and where to buy them from.

But you might be asking yourself, what does it mean to covet? Just as the examples at the start all expressed some sort of desire to have something that someone else has; so we find that in the original commandment as well. It is discontentment with what he have - being dissatisfied with our own possessions compared to someone else’s. You remember in previous weeks how some of the commandments were very brief - you shall not kill, just four words. When it comes to the tenth commandment, it’s a lot more specific, with lots of examples - house, wife, servants, ox, donkey, or anything that your neighbour has.

Why is do not covet one of the ten? Why did it make it in? Sometimes you see in the newspapers or on the internet the ‘ten commandments of journalism’ or blogging, or athletics or whatever it is. Or there’ll be a feature on the ten commandments for a new millennium - with things like recycling, and just being nice to people. If you were compiling the ten commandments, what would be in your list? Would coveting still be there?

It turns out that do not covet is the perfect end to the ten commandments, it perfectly rounds them off, and is the key to at least the second half, and perhaps even all of them. Last week we looked at Colossians 3, and right in the middle of our passage, there was that little phrase ‘and covetousness, which is idolatry’ (Colossians 3:5). So to covet is to worship stuff, and not God - so the commandments finish as they begin, challenging our worship. What or whom will we worship?

But more than that, we come to realise that, as Motyer puts it, the tenth commandment ‘is the interpreting clause of the whole Decalogue’ (Ten words), because to covet is the point at which every breach of the law begins.

Do you remember King David’s sorry series of episodes when he committed adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:4) and then when she’s pregnant, David murders Uriah by placing him in the worst part of the battle and withdrawing his soldiers to leave him defenceless (2 Sam 11:15)? How did that all begin? David saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof, and coveted his neighbour’s wife.

Or in 1 Kings 21, when King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel bear false witness against Naboth by accusing him falsely (10), then have Naboth killed (13), and steal Naboth’s vineyard (16). Where did that all begin? Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard (1-4).

Far from being the last and the least of the commandments, it’s actually the key to the rest. Just think for a moment of a time when you coveted something that a friend or neighbour had - something that you really wanted. It may not have been their male servant or female servant; nor their ox or donkey, but it must have been something they had. Maybe it was their house, their car, their mobile, their results, holidays, image, family, security, heat (in this cold weather!), health, garden, popularity, friends. What happened? You probably saw it, then wanted it, then the desire gripped you, and it drove your thoughts, your words, and maybe even your actions. [James says ‘each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire...’ (James 1:14)]

Your thoughts, words and actions will reveal what it is that you are worshipping - whether God, or something else. Most of the time, indeed, all of the time before we’ve been saved, we will be coveting something - precisely because we are all idolators at heart. Calvin described the heart as the idol factory. We’re all guilty.

As we’ve reminded ourselves every week - and we must never tire of reminding ourselves of the good news of the gospel - Jesus was innocent on this point of the law, he perfectly fulfilled the law, and therefore never coveted. The Son of Man has nowhere to lay down his head - yet he never coveted his neighbour’s house. Jesus had no wife - yet he never coveted his neighbour’s wife. Jesus had to borrow a donkey to ride into Jerusalem - yet he never coveted his neighbour’s donkey.

Because Jesus died for us, for all our sin, including our idolatrous covetousness, we can have forgiveness even in this area of our life. But as we’ve been seeing throughout our series, we’re not just fleeing legalism, but we’re pursuing holiness. Now as Christians, it’s not enough just to abstain from doing evil (as far as we can, through the help of the Holy Spirit), we also turn to positively seek to please the Lord by doing good works and obeying the law of Christ.

So it’s not just that we don’t try to covet any more - the gospel gives us a positive alternative to coveting, contentment. (And we’ve finally arrived at 1 Timothy 6!) Look at verse 6. ‘Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.’ The apostle Paul presents a model of contentment which stands in total opposition to the values and standards of the world we live in. You see, the advertisers (particularly in the run up to Christmas) are fuelled by spreading the message of discontentment and dissatisfaction with what you have. They design the products and the ads to make you say ‘if only I had product x, my life would be complete’ (whether that is a closer shave, or the newest gadget, or Beyonce’s perfume, or a big win on the lottery).

The Christian, however, is called to be content with what you have - as Paul reminds us, it’s a zero sum game. When you’re born, you have zero. When you die, you will have zero, so anything you have now is a bonus! And let’s remember that Paul isn’t writing to Timothy from the lap of luxury - as if he’s saying that once you reach a certain standard of living, have (as Hyacinth Bouquet would say of her sister, “large house, and a 'Mercedes, sauna and room for a pony”), then you can be content. You see, no matter how much we have, we’ll still want just a little bit more! But think where Paul is as he writes to Timothy. He’s not in the Hilton, Rome, or lying by the beach - no, he’s in prison! It’s the same in Philippians 4, where Paul says that ‘I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.’ Location? Prison. What’s the secret? ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’ (Phil 4:13) Whether I have a lot, or have little, because Jesus is strengthening me, I can face any situation, I can go through any hardship or circumstances.

As we begin to apply the message, I have to ask - have you learned this secret? Are you learning to be content in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, whether with little or a lot? Here’s a little scenario. Your friend in school turns up tomorrow with the newest, most fantastic mobile that you’ve had your eye on for ages. How do you respond? Is there envy and jealousy; will you allow the seeds of coveting to take root, so that every waking moment you’re plotting and planning how to get the same phone, even if it means not having lunch from now until you finish school, and not contributing anything of your pocket money or part time job earnings to the church or those in need? Or will you say no, that your current mobile is fine, that you don’t need a new one straight away?

Or if you’re watching television, and you see a particular advert. For each of us it will be different, but you know what it will be for you - car / watch / whatever. Will you be taken in by the false promises of the advert, as they claim your life would be better or even complete if you just had this product? Will you daydream about it, setting up an altar in your mind to worship the mini idol? Or will you say to yourself that you do not need it; that the one you have now will do, that God has richly provided you with so many good things that it would be wrong to throw them back in his face and pursue this one thing?

To seek your sanctification in this particular area, to begin to take seriously the command against covetousness and to practice contentment will, in fact, mean that those knock on sins may be reduced - it’s like the domino chain where you set one off and more fall in sequence - if you begin to deal with the first desire, the impulse to covet, then the sequence won’t start.

It’s no wonder that the very last words in John’s first letter are words we need to hear and heed as we seek to live out the tenth commandment, and indeed the whole ten commandments. John writes, very simply, ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols.’ (1 John 5:21). What are your idols? Where are you prone to covet? How will you battle those desires by contentment?

We need God’s help, so let us pray.

This sermon was preached in St Elizabeth's Church, Dundonald on Sunday 5th December, rounding off the series in the Ten Commandments.

Sermon: Colossians 3:1-11 No False Witness

Have you ever noticed that sometimes small things can be very powerful? Just take the mobile phone, for example. Fairly small, and yet incredibly powerful. I hope you won’t, but you could be surfing the internet, checking your emails, receiving texts, looking at Facebook, playing games and a whole lot else - all on something very small. As well as being powerful, though, small things can also be dangerous.

I don’t know if you have flown recently, but if you’re wanting to take liquids onto the plane in your hand luggage, they have to be in clear bottles of 100 ml or less - terrorists having perfected very powerful and dangerous explosives in such small amounts. Small, and dangerous. Or think of a match. There’s the old saying that one tree can produce a thousand matches, but it just takes one match to destroy a thousand trees. Small, and dangerous.

The thing is, though, that each of us have something so very small in proportion to our body, and yet it’s very dangerous. It can get us into lots of trouble. Tonight, we’re going to think about the danger we face, and how the gospel of our Lord Jesus can help us.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. Tonight we come to the ninth commandment, and we’re confronted again with how we use our words, the danger of the tongue. You see, the Ten Commandments aren’t just a random arbitrary list of things; it’s not that there was some lottery where lots of good suggestions were thrown into a hat and the first ten out became the Ten Commandments.

No, the Ten Commandments were given to the people of Israel by God himself, after the people had been rescued from their slavery in the land of Egypt. God speaks directly to the people, so that they are afraid, and don’t want to hear the voice of God any more - they send Moses up to receive the rest of the Law.

So the Commandments are God’s directions for living, the basis of the whole Law, and they are perfectly designed. Look with me at the Ten Commandments (p 73). The first two (No other gods, no idols) and the last one (no coveting) are about your thoughts; the third (not taking name of Lord in vain) and the ninth (no false witness) are about your words; the fourth (Sabbath) and the sixth (no murder), seventh (no adultery) and eighth (no stealing) are all about your actions; and right in the middle is honouring father and mother.

So just as we saw in the third commandment, that we are not to take the name of the Lord in vain, either by using God’s name in flippant ways or as a swear word; so now we’re challenged again about our use of words. The original context of not bearing false witness seems to be in the court scenario, of not telling lies about your neighbour, but I want to expand that slightly into two related categories: how you speak of your neighbour; and how you speak to your neighbour.

So how do you speak of your neighbour? The commandment immediately takes us to the court setting, where witnesses are required to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You can imagine the problems that would arise if false witness is given. In fact, you don’t even need to imagine it, because we see it far too often, even to this day. Over in Scotland, a former MSP has been facing perjury charges because he allegedly lied in court during an earlier civil case relating to his private life.

But most of us aren’t in court very often. Does that mean we aren’t affected by this commandment, that we can carry on regardless? Think for a moment - do you speak of your neighbours even when you’re not in court? Do you talk about them to others?

What is it you say? Do you simply report facts, or do you embellish the details, passing on the gossip, or share a matter for prayer?! You see, we can bear false witness in the way we talk about other people even if we’ve never been in court. Did you hear about those people in number 22? Even in the church, gossip can flourish so easily, a dangerous problem of the tongue that James describes as ‘a fire, a world of unrighteousness... setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.’ (James 3:6).

No false witness - we hear the word of God, and yet perhaps we aren’t challenged or troubled as we should be. You see, if we’re good with words, we’re likely to try to minimise our own faults and sins while maximising someone else’s. We downgrade our own lies, by rebranding them as fibs, or white lies, and sure, doesn’t everybody do it!

Why is it we lie? It might be self-preservation (to make life easier for yourself if you’re asked a difficult question, or are afraid to tell the truth); or self-interest (to make someone else look bad and to make yourself look good; or self-deception (as you make yourself believe that the lie is actually the truth). Our lies are mostly self-serving, centred on yourself, which is the very definition of sin. We try to bend or break the truth for our own interests and desires. It’s perhaps becoming even more of an issue in these postmodern days, when capital T truth is denied, and everyone has their own truths; their own version of events which is right for them.

Yet it’s clear that there is such a thing as capital T truth - the Lord Jesus was full of grace and truth, indeed more than that, he is the truth. In the face of truth, all of us are found to be liars.

Our reading from Colossians will, I trust, help us to not only speak of our neighbour, but also to our neighbour as well. And with the tongue, as with every other part of our life, it all comes back to who we are, and what God has done for us. Throughout Colossians 3, there are a couple of contrasts going on, and grasping these will help us to see how we should use our tongues as Christians.

The first contrast is between the things that are above (1) and the things that are on earth (2). Those earthly things are spelled out in verse 5 - the variety of sins and wickedness, such as sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness. But Paul is saying that rather than setting your heart and your mind on these things, we have to put them to death. Instead, we set our minds on the things that are above, heavenly, good, Christlike.

Paul says that we are in Christ, that Christ is in heaven, so in a sense, we’re already in heaven, so it’s not fitting to continue to live as if we were sinful on earth. We are in Christ because we are united with Christ, have put our trust in him, believed in him, and through faith, have forgiveness of our sins.

But more than that, and this brings us to the other big contrast, we are so changed that we can talk of our old self and our new self. Look at verse 9, and we’ll see how Paul addresses both this theme of the new self replacing the old self, and also our very theme of not lying: ‘Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.’ (3:9-10)

Do you see what Paul is saying? The reason we don’t lie as Christians is because our old self, the way we were before we were converted and made new, all that has been put off. It’s like an old, worn, filthy, horrible jumper. You’ve taken it off and thrown it away. Instead, you’ve put on a new, clean jumper. It’s the new you, the new creation, so that it’s no longer appropriate or right for you to lie to those around you.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard or not, but there’s going to be a Royal Wedding next year - actually, on my birthday, but that’s another story. At the minute, Kate Middleton is just Kate, but following the wedding, she’ll be Princess Kate (or will it be Princess Katherine?). She’ll be part of the Royal Family, the wife of our future King, and so things will be expected of her. Life will completely change for her.

In a similar way, we have been changed, given a new self, and so we’re called to live up to our new self. We’re not the finished article - we’re still ‘being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator’. Renewed in knowledge - becoming more like Jesus as we come to know Jesus better, turning away from those earthly desires, living like a citizen of heaven, looking to heaven, from where Jesus will appear so that we appear with him in glory.

Think of the ways you use your tongue. The words that you say to others, and about others. Are you speaking the truth? The rest of Colossians 3 gives us some positive examples of how to avoid lying, to speak truth, and to be positive in our words.

Forgiving (13), being thankful (15), teaching and admonishing one another the word of Christ (16), singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (16), praising God, all of which leads to that great summary statement in verse 17: ‘And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’

Let’s pause for a moment or two, considering the ways in which we use our words, confessing those times we have failed to speak the truth, and resolving to turn, and speak the truth in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This sermon was preached in St Elizabeth's Church on Sunday 28th November 2010.

Sermon: Matthew 5: 27-32 No Adultery

To misquote the old Wet Wet Wet song, adultery is all around. You only have to turn on the television, read a newspaper, or maybe even watch your neighbours. Adultery is all around. Whether it’s reports of the latest celebrity marriage going down the pan (most recently, Wayne Rooney and his wife Colleen), or your favourite soap stars who seem to be playing musical beds, you just can’t get away from it.

As we come to the seventh commandment, we read the five words: ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ Those words are plain and clear, but in order to hear their full force, first we need to take a step back to consider the context. To think about adultery and unfaithfulness, first, we should remind ourselves of God’s good gift of sex within marriage.

We go right back to Genesis 2, where those familiar words from the marriage service are found. ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ (Gen 2:24). This is the pattern of God’s good gift: one man, one woman in covenant faithfulness, the right and proper place for intimacy and the enjoyment of sex. It’s important to remind ourselves of this, because often Christians can appear to be anti-sex. Nothing could be further from the truth. We must affirm what God has affirmed, that sex is good, in its proper context of marriage.

So it’s no surprise, then, when we come to Mount Sinai, after the children of Israel have been rescued from Egypt, and God is giving them the law, the ten commandments, that we find no adultery as one of the ten. our duty to our neighbour includes not committing adultery.

What is adultery? Simply put, it is to have sex with someone who is not your husband or wife. To deny the marriage vow, and to rip apart what God has joined together. The law is a reflection of God’s character, and so, just as God keeps his promise, keeps his covenant, he calls us to do the same. To be faithful in our covenant promises to our husband or wife (which is why Jesus prohibits divorce except in particular circumstances in verse 31 - the marriage commitment is for life, not just while it suits us, unless our partner has broken it already).

Why does God need to include it in the ten? Because, just as with all God’s good gifts to us, we are quick to exploit and abuse his gift of sex. While most people think that sexual immorality only came about through the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s, ever since sin entered the world sex has been twisted by sin. Tonight we’re going to think about two particular ways in which God’s good gift has been destroyed - through the adultery of the body; and adultery of the heart. Then we’ll briefly think about how to enjoy God’s good gift.

In verse 27, we find the first way God’s good gift is destroyed - the adultery of the body. Here, Jesus quotes the seventh commandment, and you can imagine the pious self-righteous Pharisees puffing themselves up, thinking to themselves ‘I’ve never done that...’ Perhaps we can think the same - that’s another one off the list, check.

Is this commandment just an opportunity for us to look down on others? Are we a step nearer heaven if we avoid sexual relations with someone who isn’t our husband or wife? Can we breathe easy and concentrate on trying to keep the next commandment (and snooze during the rest of the sermon)?

We will all agree (hopefully!) that adultery is wrong, but before we go congratulating ourselves on being perfect in this regard, we need to hear Jesus as he continues to speak. As we’ve seen with some of the other commandments, Jesus moves from the outward conformity to the inner attitude. And it’s here that we find the second way God’s good gift is destroyed - by adultery of the heart.

‘You have heard that it was said... But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ Now, ladies, just because Jesus addresses men here doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook. The same principle applies for you as well.

Suddenly we move from congratulation to conviction. Adultery in the heart is still adultery. It may be unseen by anyone else, with no dangerous deeds and illicit liaisons risking being caught, but adultery in the heart is still adultery. So those ‘at least I didn’t...’ just don’t count.

Sometimes when I’m driving, I’ll have Radio Ulster on, and if it’s early afternoon, I’ll realise that I’ve got Hugo Duncan on, and swiftly turn over! But a few weeks back I left it on, and heard the following lyrics: ‘I can say I’ve never been unfaithful, but I can’t say it’s never crossed my mind.’ I don’t know who was singing, but those words immediately stuck with me - it’s precisely what Jesus is saying about adultery of the heart. Adultery in the heart is still adultery. Adultery in the mind is still adultery.

Or if Hugo Duncan isn’t your generation, what about Jason Derulo? One of his first songs said this: ‘In my head I see you all over me, in my head you fulfil my fantasy...’ and so on. Adultery, sex outside of the marriage commitment, in the head is still adultery.

So what is it that you think of? Or perhaps to phrase it more directly, who is it that you think of? They may be someone you know, or they may be a celebrity. Are you committing adultery in your heart, by unfaithfulness to your marriage partner; or if you’re not married, by unfaithfulness to your future husband or wife, or by unfaithfulness to your current single state of chastity.

But you may have noticed that Jesus went even further than just the heart - by specifically mentioning the eyes. ‘I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent...’ Jesus seems to be saying that adultery in the heart begins with this lustful look.

Remember King David’s affair with Bathsheba? How did it begin? ‘It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman... So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.’ (2 Sam 11:2-4). David saw (with lustful intent) and then sent for her.

Looking with lust is adultery in the heart. Yet you don’t have to exist for very long before you realise that our society is obsessed with sex, and with providing and promoting material for the eyes. The advertisers know that sex sells, everything from fast cars to potato crisps (recent ads in Belfast); so-called Mens Magazines are full of scantily clad (if even), airbrushed models in more graphic poses than extreme pornographic publications from twenty years ago are on sale in newsagents and supermarkets in plain view of children and anyone else. Tim Chester, in his very helpful book ‘Captured by a Better Vision’ talks about the pornified culture. Then there’s the unnecessary sex scenes in a wide range of movies and TV programmes, both after the watershed and before; and porn is just a mouse click away on the internet. Millions of images and opportunities for lustful thoughts. And that’s not to mention the people we know, work with, go to school with, or pass on the street.

Jesus is not saying that men should not look at women at all - or that women should cover up in a burkha like Muslim women. As John Stott says, we all know the difference between looking and lusting. And because we know the difference, we recognise the sin in our life. Conviction, rather than congratulation. Adultery in the heart is still adultery.

So what can we do about it? Jesus proposes a radical remedy, which sounds shocking. ‘If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell...’ Your eye and your hand - if they’re the cause of sin, get rid of them.

Jesus is not demanding to be taken literally here - after all, to remove your right eye will still leave your left for lustful looks, and even if both eyes are removed, you can still lust in your heart... Rather, he is saying that we need to be firm with sin in our life. It’s mortification, not mutilation that Jesus is teaching. Tough on sin, tough on the causes of sin. So if you use your eyes to glimpse the magazine covers in the newsagents, act as if you were blind and look away at something else. Avoid them completely! If you hand is clicking on those websites, then stop clicking there! Cut it right out of your life. Don’t play with temptation; don’t toy with sin - you’re more vulnerable and weak than you imagine.

As Job says, ‘I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin.?’ (Job 31:1) If you’re struggling with this, make that covenant with your eyes. Stop looking lustfully - for the sake of your marriage, and for your own sake! Get help - ask a Christian friend to ask those difficult questions; to come alongside and help you through. Get Tim Chester’s book and resolve to change, and do it!

There’s one last thing to say, and this is a very important thing to say. Sometimes the church can appear to suggest that the worst type of sin is sexual sin, as if there’s a league table of respectable sins and notorious sins. The truth is that all of us are sinners, and all of us need to know that the Gospel is a message of grace. Christ Jesus came into the world to do what? To save sinners. It’s not that Jesus died for every other type of sin apart from sexual sin. So whether it’s the obvious adultery plain to all, or the hidden but still sinful adultery of the heart, the good news is that Jesus died for your sin. No sin is too bad to be forgiven.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 6:9. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth which was in a mess. All sorts of immorality and quarrelling; in a city with all sorts of immorality going on. If you’ve been convicted tonight, then you might find yourself in this list:

‘Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. BUT you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.’ (1 Cor 6:9-11)

This sermon was preached in St Elizabeth's Church, Dundonald on Sunday 7th November 2010 in a series on the Ten Commandments.

Sermon Audio: Matthew 5: 21-26

On Sunday night past, I was preaching in our Ten Commandments series on You Shall Not Murder. Here's the mp3 sermon file. For more sermons from St Elizabeth's, check out our sermons blog.

Sermon: Matthew 5: 21-27 Anger Slipway

We’re into the second half of our series on the Ten Commandments, and we’re coming into an interesting run of commandments. The next three or four are quite short and sharp - not very many words to preach a whole sermon from. (You might be glad to hear that, although, don’t worry, we’ll still cover our twenty minutes or so thinking about the commandments).

Some of the commandments from Exodus 20 we’ve looked at so far have been quite wordy - for example, in our English version, number 4 has 98 words; 91 words in number 2. In contrast, ‘You shall no murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.’ Four words, or five words. And that’s it. The whole commandment. A bigger problem than their brevity is their apparent easiness.

We hear ‘you shall not murder’ and we think we’re in the clear. We can join up with the rich young ruler, list the commandments and say ‘All these I have kept.’ (Matt 19:20). For most of us, if not all of us, we have never killed anyone, never murdered anyone - so have we got a head start, that’s one down, just the other nine to get right now?

Well, not so fast. As we heard in our reading from Matthew 5, Jesus expands and deepens the commandment against murder (which we think we’re in the clear about), to include anger, which is the root of murderous thoughts. We’ll probably find, as we explore the Scriptures together, that there is a great challenge here, as in the other commandments.

Just to remind ourselves of the context of this evening’s passage, you’ll remember that Matthew 5 is the first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount, that prolonged period of teaching at the start of Jesus’ ministry as he teaches the disciples (and the crowds listen in). Immediately before, Jesus has said that he has come to fulfil the Law and the Prophets - by his words, actions, and ultimately his sacrifice on the cross. Jesus also says that ‘unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’

We looked at this passage a few weeks back as we began our series - you might remember that this exceeding righteousness comes through Jesus (who has fulfilled and obeyed the law perfectly), but in response to that, we are motivated to heart obedience (in our ongoing sanctification), not just external observance.

The command against murder still stands - we can’t go out of church tonight and murder someone. Look at verse 21 as Jesus quotes it: ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgement.’ (Matt 5:21). The extra bit (‘whoever murders will be liable to judgement’) seems to be the extra gloss the teachers of the law had added to it. It seems to hint that, so long as you avoid murdering someone, then you’ll not face judgement, you’re in the clear.

Now obviously, murder is wrong - we see this clearly in Genesis 9, as God addresses the whole world’s population of 8 as they come out of Noah’s ark: ‘Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of a man. Whoever sheds the blood of a man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.’ (Genesis 9:3-6)

To take away life is to act in the place of God, who gives life and takes away life. To murder is to destroy and deface the image of God in your fellow human. Murder is a serious business - and we rightly shrink away from it. We rightly say that ‘whoever murders will be liable to judgement.’

But as Jesus expands and deepens the commandment, we find ourselves more likely to face judgement. Do you see the pattern Jesus develops? ‘whoever murders will be liable to judgement... everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement... whoever insults his brother will be liable (to the council ie to judgement!)... whoever says ‘you fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.’

Jesus moves from the outward act of murder to the inner roots of murder; from the action to the thoughts (and words) which begin deep within us, which all are liable to. Through the week, we were up at the clergy conference in Donegal, and one of our free afternoons, I was out for a drive. In Killybegs, along the docks, I saw one of those warning signs that had been tampered with. Originally it said ‘Danger Slipway’, but now it just says ‘Anger Slipway.’ Someone trying to be funny, and yet, in a sense, it’s what Jesus is warning about here. To launch the programme of anger in the heart is to begin down that anger slipway whose end is judgement.

What is it that makes you angry? When, or where, does your anger rise? Is it when you get into the driving seat and everyone else on the road is a fool, getting in your way? Is it in the office as people can’t seem to do their job so you can get on with yours? Is it in church, when things aren’t done quite how you like them? Is it at home, or the extended family, as you have to deal with that particular annoying relative? Loud music from your neighbours late in the night?

Perhaps you try to justify it somehow - you’re provoked, or frustrated. It’s always someone else’s fault. Or perhaps you take refuge in the fact that the courts system can’t make judgements on your thoughts - they’re busy enough trying to catch and deal with the ‘real’ criminals who have committed crimes. Yet Jesus is saying that while earthly courts can’t see our thoughts and motives and hates and angers, there is a judge who sees perfectly. The judge knows our thoughts (perhaps even better than we know them ourselves), who can perfectly judge each case - and provide the proper penalty.

These examples Jesus gives aren’t really separate or different things - it’s all the same - to face judgement, face the council, face the hell of fire. They are where anger leads towards. They are the end result of our anger. Judgement is real and near. This is the truth that Jesus teaches here - not just judgement for the big bold obvious sinful act, but also the less obvious, internal thoughts and attitudes which we each nurse.

Precisely because judgement is real, Jesus urges us to be quickly reconciled with those we have offended. He gives two pictures, two worked out examples of what this reconciliation will look like - in the temple and in the court.

First, then, if you’re at the temple, about to offer your gift of sacrifice, and you remember that you have offended against someone, if they have something against you, then what do you do? Do you hurry through the sacrifice and then sort it out with them? No, Jesus says that you go and be reconciled to them first, before offering your gift at the altar.

It’s a bit like in the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray ‘forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ In seeking to be reconciled with God - or rather, as we are reconciled with God, we also ought to be reconciled to our brothers and sisters. You remember the words of invitation at the 1662 Holy Communion? ‘Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith...’

It’s saying what Jesus is saying. While we harbour resentment and anger, can we really say that we are reconciled with God and our neighbour? We may even do best to examine our hearts tonight before we share in the Lord’s Supper - do we harbour anger in our hearts?

In the second picture, Jesus shows you on the way to court. There’s some debt you owe, but you don’t currently have the means to pay it off. The credit card statement has come, or you’ve overdrawn, and the bank is looking the money. Come to terms quickly, Jesus says, before you face the judge and the jailer, and you spend your time in prison.

This isn’t just a handy hints type story, reminding you that your home may be at risk if you do not keep up the repayments. Jesus isn’t just dispensing useful lifestyle tips. Rather, he’s speaking to us who have been warned of our anger - anger leads to judgement.

Judgement is real - and near - so come to terms with your accuser. Recognise the danger you are in - the anger danger - and be reconciled to the judge, to the Lord God. Confess the sins of murder and anger, and find in the Lord Jesus, one who bore your sins on the cross to take them away, to settle the debts you have; the one who also perfectly obeyed this commandment and never murdered or hated.

Find in Jesus your pardon and peace, and then turn away from the destructive patterns of anger - refuse to retreat into your selfish anger and instead live for the good of others, seeking to become more like Jesus.

This sermon was preached in St Elizabeth's Church, Dundonald on Sunday 24th October 2010.

Sermon Audio: Ephesians 6: 1-4

Last Sunday night (before we set off for the Diocesan Clergy Conference in Donegal - hence the blog silence this week!), I was preaching in our Ten Commandments series on Honour Your Parents. This is what it sounded like.

Sermon: Ephesians 6: 1-4 Honour Your Parents

The other night, we watched a programme on BBC3. The World’s Strictest Parents. So if you thought your parents were strict, you haven’t seen anything yet! The programme follows two rebellious British teenagers who are sent to live for a week with parents in some other country and culture. Monday night’s sent two teenagers to America, where they rebelled against the new rules before coming round to liking their temporary parents and making up with their own parents back home.

We’re continuing to work our way through the Ten Commandments, and tonight we reach the halfway stage. Commandment number 5, honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. We’ll focus on our reading from Ephesians, where the commandment is repeated, but also expanded.

I’m well aware, though, that even as we begin to think about these things the objections and the problems may have started in your head. Perhaps speaking of parents at all is painful for you if you’ve had a traumatic childhood, or lost a parent at an early age. Perhaps you know that your parents aren’t Christians, which leads to stress and pressure at home. Perhaps you think they’re too strict. Or perhaps your parents have both died, and you want to tune out at this point.

Please don’t! We’re going to try to be as practical as possible, as we look at what the commandment says, why it tells us to do it, for how long, and how. So what, why, how long and how.

So first of all, what. Paul in Ephesians tells us to obey our parents (as well as quoting the commandment to honour them). But what does that mean? As one of the commentators writes ‘The command to honour is hugely demanding and also tantalisingly vague.’ (Motyer) Demanding, but vague.

Perhaps we need some concrete examples. Teenagers, what happens if your parents ask you to help with the housework, or keep your room tidy, or doing homeworks? Do you do what they say, respecting them and their decisions, even when you don’t like what it is they’re asking you to do? You’d rather be out with your friends, or even coming to SET or church, but they want you to go visit your long lost auntie Mabel. Paul is saying to obey them in the Lord, for this is right.

Or what about when you have moved out of home, maybe got married. Do you still honour your parents? Do you still respect them, calling to see them, helping them to do things?

I want to give you a couple of examples of the principle from the Bible - so that we can see it both negatively and also positively. First of all, when people don’t obey their parents. Over in Romans 1, Paul is spelling out the consequences and symptoms of our ungodliness and unrighteousness. From 1:29: ‘They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.’ (Rom 1:29-31) Disobedience to parents is counted alongside murder, deceit, and hating God.

Or think of Paul’s warning of what the last days will be like: ‘For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy...’ (2 Tim 3:2). So both as a sign of where the evil of the human heart takes us, and how things are continuing to be in these last days, to disobey parents is to sin against God. I’m sure that all of us, in various ways, and perhaps long ago, have sinned in this way.

In contrast, then, let us consider the glory and example of the Lord Jesus. We’re not told much about Jesus’ childhood, but in Luke 2, we read this: ‘And he went down with them to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.’ (Luke 2:51)

Do you remember the start of Mr Bean TV programmes? The light shines down and he lands (out of an alien spacecraft?) The Lord Jesus didn’t just beam down onto the earth at age thirty for his three years or so of teaching ministry - he lived and grew up among a family, no doubt where Mary and Joseph made some mistakes - but Jesus submitted to them. Jesus honoured and obeyed them - no matter how frustrating it might have been. Remember that Jesus fulfilled the law - even this commandment!

As we’re saved, we have a new relationship to the Law, which will show itself in how we relate to those around us. The first four commandments are how we relate to God; the last six are how we relate to those around us - our duty to our neighbour, as the Catechism would say. But notice that our first duty to our neighbour is in the home, to our parents.

Notice, at the same time, that Paul also addresses fathers in the same breath (although mothers, you aren’t excluded!). As you expect your children to obey you and honour you, you should not ‘provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.’ So that’s the what - honour, obey your parents.

Why should we obey our parents? First of all, Paul says that it is right, and then goes on to quote the commandment. Along with the commandment, do you see it, comes the promise. ‘That it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ There is a blessing that comes from our obedience, which I think, is linked to the strong, stable society that comes about through the honouring of parents.

Just look around you. If parents are seeking their children’s wellbeing and best interests, but the children rebel, then they’re going to be putting themselves in danger. To dishonour parents (the first of our duty to our neighbour), is to create the patterns of dishonouring those around us. Similarly, to dishonour parents, those set in authority over us by God, is to dishonour and disobey God.

But what about when our parents aren’t Christians? What if they aren’t bringing you up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord? What if, as it seems to you, they are holding you back from service or stopping you from doing what you think you should be?

I know how you feel! My parents aren’t Christians, and there was a difficult period at home when I was deciding to pursue ordination. I was graduating from university, and didn’t have a job. My parent’s response was to tell me to go and get a real job, not be a minister. What was I to do? You might have noticed that I am a minister, so obviously I pursued it, but respecting my parent’s wishes; taking my time to go through the various selection procedures, so that mum and dad could see that it wasn’t a phase I was going through, that it was what I had to do. I even deferred entry into college for a year so that I could continue to work and save up some money for college.

Don’t rush to disobey, take the time to hear what they’re saying, seek to respect them; obey as far as possible - unless they’re telling you to do something immoral or indecent. There may come a time when you must obey God rather than man, but don’t assume everything is that kind of issue. Your submission can even be a witness to them.

That also raises the question, though, of how long we should go on honouring and obeying our parents. Is it just while we are children, minors, or is it a lifelong command? Consider Matthew 15 (turn there with me) - Jesus is confronting the Pharisees who hold their traditions higher than God’s commands. ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded ‘Honour your father and your mother’... But you say “If anyone tells his father or his mother, ‘What you would have gained from me is given to God’, he need not honour his father..”’

It’s obviously adult children in view here, where the Pharisees tried to urge them to give to God the money they would have used to care for their parents. It’s as if you turn round to your parent and say, sorry, I’ve given your nursing home fees to the church, so you’ll just have to do without. Jesus says that this is disobeying God’s command, it is dishonouring to your parents. So the command is a lifelong command - as long as you still have your parents, keep on honouring them. Now obviously this will be slightly different to how you honour them when you’re younger and living at home with them, but the onus is still there to honour.

Paul writes the same to Timothy in his first letter. In the first century, there was no old age pension, no housing benefit, or warm homes allowance. Widows were truly alone, without a breadwinner. Care for them fell to the church. But ‘if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household... But if anyone does not provide for his relative, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.’ (1 Tim 5:4,8) So if your parents are old, and you’re grown up, you still have that duty of care and honour.

Earlier we raised the matter of those whose parents have died. 1 Timothy also reminds us that the church is our family. That the older men and older women we have (obviously dependent on what age you are yourself!) are like fathers and mothers. ‘Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.’ (1 Tim 5:1-2)

We can extend and widen this command to honour your parents in the domestic family to include also the church family. So the command isn’t irrelevant for some, but all can honour elders and family members in this our church family.

To honour and obey our parents is to please our heavenly Father and to follow the example of our Lord Jesus, who perfectly obeyed this command, and whose sacrifice cleanses our sins even in this area. Those times of disobedience are forgiven in Jesus’ cross. Go and start again in pleasing your Father, and honouring those parents you have, in your family and in the Lord.

This sermon was preached in St Elizabeth's Church, Dundonald on Sunday 17th October 2010.

Stop Giving!

Have you ever heard the command to stop giving in church? Have you ever heard the minister or pastor or elders say, we've got enough now, you don't need to bring any more? Probably not! Yet as Israel camped in the wilderness of Sin, at the foot of Mount Sinai, having escaped from Egypt, that was precisely the command of Moses.

Moses, you may recall, went up to meet with God and was given the Ten Commandments, the Law and all those things. As well, he was given the plans for the Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, the visible sign of God's presence in the midst of his people as they journey towards the Promised Land. Everything is to be made according to this pattern, and if you're not crafty, as I'm not (at least in the making things craft sense), then the descriptions of curtains and poles and altars and poles and cherubim and lampstands and rings and hangings and hooks and pegs and (my personal favourite) calyxes.

To make all these things (an early church building project, if you will), there was a need for gold and linen, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, acacia wood, and many other materials. So an appeal was established - a Gift Day of sorts:

Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, "This is the thing that the LORD has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution: gold, silver and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. (Exodus 35:4-9)

Quite a list of different things that were needed. Yet within a few verses, people are coming with their freewill offering, bringing the needed materials to Bezalel and Oholiab, the skilled craftsmen, such that eventually, they have to tell Moses:

The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do. So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, "Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary." (Exodus 36:5-6)

The people who had experienced the salvation of God, the liberation from slavery in Egypt had their hearts opened to respond in grateful thanksgiving. Much better than their giving gold earrings to make the sinful golden calf idol a few chapters before. So how do we reach the same grateful giving? Can we imagine a time when for a specific project, we have to issue a plea to stop giving?

To All Generations

How does God view older people? It's an interesting question to ask, especially when thinking about evangelising and ministering to seniors. If society thinks that older people are retired and redundant, what is God's opinion?

Just think of Abraham. He was 75 when God called him to leave his country and family and father's house to go and follow the Lord. (Genesis 12) It took another 25 years before the son of promise, Isaac was born. While 75 was probably younger in those days, seeing as Abraham lived to the grand old age of 175, it was still 75 years of life. Look around at our congregations today. How many of us (or them!) would be willing to start out on a journey into the unknown?

Or look at Moses. At the age of 40, he tries to fulfill his life's mission to be the leader and rescuer of his people by murdering the Egyptian slave-driver. Life begins at forty (so we're told), yet Moses flees from the wrath of Pharaoh and hides in the Midianite wilderness herding sheep. (Exodus 2) It's only forty years later, when Moses has celebrated his 80th birthday that he encounters the burning bush and is on the high road back to Egypt to lead his people into freedom.

Caleb was another mighty man of God, one of the elect elderly, if you'll permit the term. At the age of 85 or so, he comes to Joshua asking for his inheritance (Joshua 14:10). He's ready to engage in some Anakim bashing, as strong as he was when Moses had sent him out as one of the spies forty-five years before.

To come into the New Testament, look in Luke 2 at Simeon and Anna. We're told that Anna was either 84, or had lived as a widow for 84 years (depending on whether you read the text or the footnote). Either way, she was in the seniors bracket. Her life was one of prayer and worship, and she witnessed to Jesus the Christ that day. While we're not told how old Simeon was, the impression we get is of an older man, who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before seeing the Lord's Christ.

Or in a more general sense, we can see that God has plans for our seniors. Think of Paul writing to Titus, advising him on what to teach and how to apply it. As well as addressing specific application to the young men and the young women, he also highlights the older men, and the older women.

Hopefully, as we've surveyed some of the evidence, we can see that God is not ageist - that He calls men and women of all ages. No one is too old for God to call, save, bless and use.

Normally, we apply this by looking towards the young, but it also applies to the older generations too:

For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100:5)

Christ in the Passover: Book Review

One of the benefits of the Church Calendar is the yearly remembrance and reflection on the key aspects of the life of the Lord Jesus. So, every winter, we recall the great miracle of the incarnation, the wonder of Jesus being born as a baby. Similarly, while our focus is always on the cross, Holy Week can be a special time of meditation on the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died.

To help me with these annual events, I like to do some seasonal reading. During Lent, I was able to read John Stott's book, The Cross of Christ. In this Holy Week, which is also the time of Seder, or Passover for the Jews, I read the short book 'Christ in the Passover' by Ceil and Moishe Rosen.

As you might have realised by their names, Ceil and Moishe (Moses) are Jews, but Jewish believers in the Messiah Jesus. Through the short chapters, they trace the development of Passover from the first one in Egypt through the period of the first and second temples, to the contemporary Seder meal. This was a particularly helpful insight into the Jewish background of the Lord's Supper, and helped me to better understand the concept of Passover.

One such insight was that 'The verb "pass over" has a deeper meaning here than the idea of stepping over or leaping over something to avoid contact... The word used here is pasah from which comes the noun pesah, which is translated Passover. These words have no onnection with any other Hebrew word, but they do resemble the Egyptian word pesh, which means "to spread wings over" in order to protect.' (p. 22) Hence the Lord's weeping over Jerusalem wanting to gather them as a hen does her brood under her wings.

There was also an interesting discussion into the tradition of the matza (unleavened bread) whereby three pieces are set apart, and during the meal, the middle one is broken, part of it is hidden, then later on found, and then everyone shares in a part of it. The resonance seems to be the three persons of the Trinity, the Son broken, buried, and raised, and all individually sharing in it. This may come from the time when Jewish Christians were still part of the whole Jewish family before they were removed. This same eating of the unleavened bread is at the point when the Passover Lamb would have been eaten (when the Temple was still in existence), and so there's another resonance with the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

All in all, an interesting book, and one I'm glad I read. I'm not sure how I got my hands on it - possibly at a free book giveaway in college, but one to think through again in the years to come.

The Auld Enemy (1)

After Israel had crossed the Red Sea, their first battle was against Amalek. While the soldiers on the ground may have seen the victory of the children of Israel due to any number of military factors, the Scriptures remind us that it was a supernatural victory.

On a hill overlooking the battle, Moses stood with the staff of God in his hands. While the staff was raised, Israel prevailed, and when his arms grew tired, the Amalekites began to gain ground. What to do? Moses wasn't a young man (he was about 8o by now), and his arms were getting tired.

Aaron and Hur stood on either side, holding up his arms until Joshua led the people in complete victory. Imagine it - a smelly calling that day, to stare into Moses' armpit, his oxter, and yet a vital one to secure victory for God's people.

To remind Joshua of the victory, the LORD tells Moses: "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." (Exodus 17:14)

Why was it that Amalek was chosen for such special treatment? It appears to be because they first opposed the free children of God, and as such were inspired of the devil, to prevent the coming forth (in due time) of the Messiah. As we shall see, their scheming continued through the generations.

What a fearful thing for the LORD to declare war against you. And yet millions of our neighbours and friends are currently God's enemies, as they live in opposition to the Lord Jesus, in rejection of his rightful rule.

The Finger of God

Anthropomorphisms are ways of speaking about God using language we know and understand. So we attribute to God the features of people like us. We talk of God's hands and feet.

I've been reading Exodus, and been noticing such a happening there. Moses has appeared on the scene in Egypt, demanding freedom for the children of Israel. Yet, just as God warned, Pharaoh hardens his heart and says no. So the plagues begin. The river Nile is turned to blood, which the Egyptian magicians copy (which was exactly what Egypt needed - even more blood!). Same with the frogs.

But then Moses does something the wise men couldn't copy. God sends gnats on the land. 'The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.' (Exodus 8:18-19).

The finger of God. The same description Jesus uses of his own work. 'But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.' (Luke 11:20).

Do we see the finger of God at work? Imagine how much power God has in one finger! It was by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm that He brought Israel out of Egypt (Psalm 136:12). How great is our God!

Faithful Midwives

The names Shiphrah and Puah may not mean much to you, but they were two remarkable women in their generation. You see, these two ladies were the Hebrew midwives when the king of Egypt told them to murder the sons born to the children of Israel. Imagine - the slaughter of innocents at birth - legislated and commanded by the state.

'But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.' (Exodus 1:17). The fear of Pharaoh meant nothing to them when their conscience was stricken with the fear of God. The king's command meant nothing compared to the command of the King of Kings. As the apostles declared before the Sanhedrin: "We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29).

Are there situations when we find ourselves in conflict between the laws of the state and the law of God? Let us find encouragement to follow the example of Shiphrah and Puah to take a stand for truth, when it truly is a matter of principle.

We find that God honours those who honour him (1 Samuel 2:30), to the extent that the midwives gave birth themselves. Those who were responsible for helping others give birth, were blessed with children themselves. (Exodus 1:21)

The Remembering God

Have you ever been afflicted with that thing, you know, that makes you forget things? What's it called? Oh yes, amnesia. It's not pleasant when you're telling a story and you forget someone's name, or what happened next. Or you were meant to go to the doctor's or ring someone and you completely forgot.

When you think of God, you wouldn't imagine He could suffer from amnesia. God is, after all, omniscient - all-knowing, so how could He forget? Yet a few times in Genesis, and again in Exodus, we read that 'God remembered'. Does that mean that God had forgotten and then it suddenly struck Him to recall someone?

After Joseph has brought his family to Egypt, and he and his generation have died out, a new king Pharaoh comes to the throne in Egypt, who doesn't know about Joseph. The Israelites are seen as fair game to be exploited and enslaved. Moses, who had been brought up by his mother then passed over to Pharaoh's daughter, has tried to save the Israelites by beating up and killing an Egyptian. But it has all backfired, and he's off in the desert of Midian.

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel - and God knew. (Exodus 2:23-25)

God remembered! God always knew, but here is the decisive time to act - in God's timing He is seen to 'remember'. God's remembering is connected to His acting and saving. Just think of Noah, riding high on the waves in his ark. 'But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.' (Genesis 8:1).

Or think of Lot, sojourning in sinful Sodom, as divine destruction threatens. 'So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.' (Genesis 19:29)

God's remembrance is intimately linked with his saving acts. Little wonder, then, that he calls us to also remember his saving act on the cross with bread and wine.