Sermon: Mark 1: 14-20 Follow Me

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the Vestry door? While you’re sitting in your pew, waiting for the service to begin, behind that door, lots of things are going on in the five minutes before we begin. We have a run through the service to make sure we know what’s happening. We put all the gear on. We pray. But at the same time, we’re also listening for the signal to start the service. Whenever we hear the Richhill chimes, the clock striking eleven, then we know that the time has come, and we come out to start the service.

Just think how many times you’ve heard or said these words: ‘It’s time.’ It might be when you’re getting up in the morning, when the alarm sounds, and it’s time to get up. Or if you’ve been up and you’re now waking the other people in the house. Maybe it’s when the exams come around, there’s no more revising, you have to sit the exams. It’s time. Or your first day at a new job; an appointment; or whatever. It’s time.

And when 2pm on Friday 16th February rolls around, we’ll be saying it’s time. All the preparations will be completed, the doors will open, the time will have come. Love So Amazing will have begun, after months of anticipation. It’ll be time.

It’s that sense of the preparations being complete that starts our reading today. Remember, in Mark’s gospel we’re reading the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But last week we saw that, before Jesus arrived, John was the messenger preparing the way. John was getting things ready for Jesus.

And now, the preparations are complete. John has stopped baptising, and Jesus appears on the scene. Look at verse 14 with me. ‘After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.’ It wasn’t that John had retired from his baptising work - he had been given his redundancy. He’s in prison - that’s all we’re told here. You have to read on into chapter 6 to discover why he’s in prison, and what happens to him.

But it’s the fact that John is in prison that seems to be the sign for Jesus to begin his preaching ministry. And what is it he is proclaiming? ‘The good news of God.’ Jesus comes to proclaim good news. There can be all sorts of good news - hearing about a baby being born, or an engagement, or an act of heroism, or kindness. Good news is always being told, if we listen out for it. But notice that this is the good news of God. This is God’s good news. You might be asked, did you hear of Ermentrude’s good news? That she’s engaged. Or of Henrietta’s good news, that she had her baby... Well this is God’s good news. And what is the news? We see it in verse 15.

“The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.”

Three short sentences. And they sum up the good news of God.

The time has come. The right moment has arrived, after a long period of anticipation. It’s a bit like in a show, the announcer says, ‘And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for...’ The time has been fulfilled - like one of those egg timers, where the sand has fallen from the top to the bottom, and the very last grain has landed, the time is filled full. And what is it time for?

The kingdom of God is near. Look back to verse 2. Remember last week we looked at the promises made in the Old Testament that the Lord would come, and bring the kingdom? Just how long had they been waiting for these promises? The bit in verse 2 ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you’ - that’s from Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, written about 400 years before Jesus. The bit in verse 3, ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord...’ - that’s from Isaiah, written about 700 years before Jesus.

The other day, someone on Twitter shared a series of cartoons from the 1910s, imagining the embarrassment of having a pocket telephone (as they called them) - it ringing when you’re on the train, or when your hands are full, or when you’re at a concert. And less than a hundred years later, nearly everyone has a pocket telephone. (Is yours on silent?!) But the people of Israel had been waiting for 700 years for the kingdom of God to come.

Such a long wait, but the good news is that the kingdom is near, it’s at hand, it’s here. Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, is here. The rule of Jesus is beginning. But that demands a response.

Imagine this for good news. Imagine that I write you a cheque for £1 million. (It’s just imagining!) In one moment, I could make you a millionaire, or, if you’re already that, then you would become a multi-millionaire. What would be good news, wouldn’t it? But for that to happen, you would need to believe the good news. You’d need to do something with it. You would have to take the cheque, and pay it into your bank account. Only then would you believe it, and benefit from it the good news.

The £1 million cheque is just imagined. But this good news of God is real, and really good news. The kingdom of God is here - and Jesus tells us how to respond. ‘Repent and believe the good news.’ We’ve been living the way we want to; doing the things we want to; disobeying God’s kingdom rule. So we need to repent, turn around, change our mind, to instead obey God - by believing the good news that Jesus is proclaiming. The kingdom is here, because the King is here.

In the rest of the passage, we see what this looks like in practice. Jesus is walking beside the Sea of Galilee. He sees Simon and his brother Andrew. Look at what Mark writes next. ‘Casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.’ As if there’d be another reason for casting a net into the lake!

So they’ve thrown the net into the lake, then Jesus speaks to them: ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Jesus calls them to follow him. And with all the social media, we’re familiar with this idea of following - you can follow people on Twitter, or Instagram, or Facebook.

But this isn’t just keeping up to date with their pictures of their dinner, or whatever they’re tweeting. Jesus calls them (and us) to follow him - to be involved, to walk with him, to be part of what he’s doing. And do you see the purpose of following Jesus? ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’

Up to now, they were fishing for fish. Now, they will fish for people. It’s a picture of making disciples, as we go fishing. Gathering people in, bringing them to Jesus, introducing them to him. So what do they do? Well, they have a choice - Jesus calls: will they follow him or forget him? ‘At once they left their nets and followed him.’

They had thrown the nets into the water, but they left them behind. They believe the good news, so they turn away from what lies behind, and they go to follow Jesus. It’s the same story a little bit farther down the shore. James and John are in their boat, preparing their nets. Jesus called them ‘without delay’ and they left their father Zebedee with the hired men, and ‘followed him.’

What is it that you need to leave behind as you repent and believe the good news? It might not be your job, but there will be some things you leave behind as you follow Jesus. The old life of sin. Your fishing for the things you wanted. Choosing what you do and how you spend your time and money.

And how will you follow Jesus? We’re not literally walking behind Jesus as these two sets of brothers did; but we are called to follow him, to go where he wants us to go; to do what he wants us to do; and more specifically - to be fishers of people.

What a great opportunity we’ll have in a fortnight, as we welcome people in to encounter God’s amazing love. And you can play your part, to welcome and steward, to provide hospitality, to simply chat to people and share how God’s love has changed your life - and how it can change theirs too.

But we don’t need to wait for a special event. We shouldn’t just think of fishing here, in the church building. That’s like only ever fishing in a fish tank or garden pond. Wherever you are tomorrow, you can fish for people. As you might say when someone breaks up with their boyfriend or girlfriend, there’s plenty more fish in the sea. So don’t stay in the fish tank - go deep sea fishing! Look out for the person you can talk to tomorrow about Jesus. Share the good news that Jesus has come.

Jesus says: ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’

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

Sermon: Mark 1: 1-13 Good News about God's Son

Somewhere in my mum and dad’s house, there’s a book that is all about me. If we were to hoke it out of whichever cupboard it’s stored in, we would discover all sorts of fascinating facts about me - my date of birth; what weight I was when I was born; what I looked like when I was born; and so on. There were also pages for when my first tooth came; when I started walking; my first word, all those sorts of things. It’s all about me. And maybe baby Noah has a similar sort of book which is all about him.

This morning we find ourselves at the very start of a book which is all about Jesus. We’re told that in the very first verse: ‘The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ (1)

Mark sat down to write a book which is all about Jesus. And here at the start, he tells us that it is ‘the gospel about Jesus.’ Now that word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’. So this is the beginning of the good news about Jesus. So often when we open a newspaper, or turn on the TV news, it’s only bad news that we hear. But Mark says that he has good news for us - good news about Jesus.

And just so that we’re absolutely sure who Jesus is, Mark tells us a bit more about him in that opening verse. He is ‘Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ Christ there isn’t Jesus’ surname - you know the way the spy introduces himself, ‘The name’s Bond, James Bond.’ (I have a minister friend who sometimes introduces himself The name’s Boyd, James Boyd!). So it’s not James Bond, Gary McMurray, Jesus Christ. Christ isn’t his name, it’s his title - it means the anointed one, the one who has been chosen and set apart for his job as King. You could also say this verse as ‘Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.’

Jesus is the Christ, and he is also the Son of God. He is in close relationship with God, his Father. He is one with the Father. Mark is writing down the good news about Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

So you might be a bit surprised to see what he doesn’t include. There are no details here about Jesus as a baby; no birth weight, or first tooth, or any of those sorts of things. He doesn’t deal with the first thirty years of Jesus’ life - Mark doesn’t have time for the story of the shepherds or the wise men. He starts in when Jesus is about thirty years old. But, did you notice, he doesn’t even start with Jesus at all!

This would be like the first bit of Noah’s baby book with pictures and details all about Sophie instead. So why does Mark include verses 2-8, which aren’t about Jesus, but are all about John?

It’s because John is the messenger sent to get people ready for Jesus. We see that in the Old Testament verses Mark quotes; we see it in what John does, and we see it in what John says.

Back in the Old Testament, God had promised to send a messenger ahead of the Lord. ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way - a voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ (2-3)

Jesus had been promised from long before - but so had John. And for Jesus to come, John had to arrive first. That’s what verse 4 tells us: ‘And so John came.’ And how did he prepare the way for Jesus? He came baptising in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.’

People from all over Judea and from Jerusalem came to John. They confessed their sins to him, and were baptised in the River Jordan. To repent means to turn around - to stop going in one direction, and instead to go in a different direction. That’s what the parents and sponsors will declare later on in the service - turning away from the devil and all proud rebellion against God; renouncing the deceit and corruption of evil; repenting of sins. Then turning to Christ as Saviour and Lord.

In verse 6, Mark tells us what John looked like. He wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. I’m sure that no one is wearing camel’s hair today, and that you’re not going home to tuck into locusts and wild honey. But this tells us a bit more about who John is.

If you’re driving home later and someone in dark green clothing (and a hi-vis coat) is standing in the middle of the road holding their hand up, you’ll stop. Their clothing tells you that they are a police officer. Or because I’m wearing this big white surplice shows that I’m a Church of Ireland minister.

John’s clothing tells us that he’s a prophet. He’s wearing the same things as the prophet Elijah (2 Kgs 1:8). This is the messenger sent ahead of Jesus. Now, a messenger is sent with a message, so what was it? Mark tells us there in verse 7: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the things of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’

Some people might have looked at John and thought that he was the Christ. He had big crowds coming to him. He was baptising people, giving them a fresh start. He was a prophet, sent from God. But John says that he’s just like the warm-up act before the main performer. That while he baptises with water, he will baptise with the Holy Spirit.

So Mark tells us that the good news of Jesus begins with the arrival of John, the messenger who comes before him. John did come, he did preach, and that paved the way for Jesus to arrive. In verse 9, Jesus is baptised by John. Not because he has any sins of his own. Jesus is perfectly sinless.

Back in verses 4-8 we were told what you could see and hear with John. Well here in verses 10-11, we find what Jesus saw and heard, as he came up out of the water at his baptism. Both point to who he is, so let’s look at them briefly in turn.

What Jesus saw: ‘He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.’ On Black Friday there was a BBC news crew inside one of the stores on Oxford Street in London, ready to film the rush of people fighting to get the bargains on offer. They filmed as a security guard unlocked the doors to discover... just one man standing waiting, who calmly walked in and started browsing around. Contrast that to the scenes in French supermarkets this week where people were fighting over Nutella - it had been reduced by 70% and everyone wanted it!

Heaven was torn open, as if the Holy Spirit couldn’t wait, coming down on him like a dove. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power (as Peter says in Acts 10:38). The Holy Spirit is the sign and seal that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is God’s long promised King.

But Jesus also heard something that day. We hear it in verse 11: ‘And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”’ God the Father speaks to Jesus, confirming that he is his Son - but more than that, the Son he loves, and is well pleased with.

In a world of bad news, here is some good news. All the promises of the Old Testament have come true. The messenger came to prepare the way. And now Jesus is here. Jesus who is the Christ, the anointed King, who has the power of the Holy Spirit to save us from our sins. He’s the one who gives us more than a washing in water, he baptises us with the Holy Spirit, giving us the power to live.

And Jesus is the Son of God, the Father’s beloved Son, who has come to save us from our sins by living the perfect life that we could never live, and dying the death that we deserve. The good news is that Jesus has come... for you. Why not take the opportunity to discover more about this good news - read through Mark’s gospel. It would only take about an hour. Or come along this evening, when David will look at another section from Mark 1.

When we hear the news, we need to do something with it. Maybe you think this is fake news, that we’re getting excited about nothing. But it’s a bit like the urgent alert in Hawaii last week - when you hear the news you need to do something about it. We hear this good news, and so we need to do something about it - listen to it, receive it, welcome it. Accept Jesus for who he is: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And this is good news.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 28th January 2018.

Sermon: Ruth 1: 1-22 The Romance of Redemption (1) - Bitter and Empty

What’s in a name? Your name isn’t just the way that people call you; it can also say something about you. Perhaps you know what your name means, and you can decide if it’s accurate or not. Gary means strength, and I can see you all thinking that it’s spot on (or maybe not...). Names communicate something of who we are. But sometimes, people decide to change their name. In fact, in 2016, there were 85,000 who changed their name by deed poll in the UK.

Those name changes happen for a variety of reasons. For some, a name change will be a new start, a new identity, a clean break from an abusive partner. For others, though, it seems to be less serious, like the lady who changed her name to include Penelope Pitstop (from Wacky Races), or the person who is now known as Mr Bacon Double Cheeseburger.

In our reading tonight from Ruth chapter 1, we discover a requested name change, in verse 20. Now, for us, as we read that verse, we might not grasp what’s being said. ‘Don’t call me Naomi, she told them, call me Mara...’ So let me read it in translation, the way the people of Bethlehem would have heard it. Don’t call me pleasant. Call me bitter.

Naomi’s name seemed like a burden to her. It didn’t seem to fit her any more. She doesn’t want to be called pleasant, because she feels far from pleasant. Instead, she wants to be called Mara - bitter. That’s how she feels, and that’s what she wants everyone else to call her.

So how did this come about? How did the change from pleasant to bitter happen? What has gone on to bring about her bitterness? That’s what this opening chapter of Ruth tells us.

Verse 1 gives us an idea of where this story fits into the bigger Old Testament story. ‘In the days when the judges ruled.’ Ruth can be hard to find, snuggled in between the big books of Judges and 1 Samuel, but this is where the story fits. The days of the judges - when God’s people would turn away from God, then they would face opposition, then they would cry out to God, and God would send a ‘judge’ - not someone in a robe and curly wig, but a rescuer, a saviour. And round and round that pattern goes in the book of Judges - you can probably think of the famous ones, Gideon, Deborah, and Samson, but there were 12 in total. Going round and round in this cycle of things getting worse, and each time God sending help.

Well, during this time, we’re told there was a famine in the land. The land is the promised land, the place God had given to the people of Israel, the land flowing with milk and honey. So for there to be famine was a bad sign. A sign that things weren’t well. Famine was one of the marks of the curse under the old covenant (Deut 28:38-42). And even worse, the famine is felt in Bethlehem, which means the house of bread. It’s a bit like the old advert - Fred, there’s no bread. Only this is serious.

This one family decide to move away from home, away from the promised land, to go to Moab. They leave their God-given inheritance to live in enemy territory. And again, names are important. We’ve already met Naomi, and her husband is called Elimelech - God is my king. Except, it doesn’t really look like it at this point.

So the family move to Moab, and it’s here that tragedy begins to strike. First of all, Elimelech dies. Naomi is left with her two sons. After her boys get married to Moabite women, they both die as well. Naomi has lost her husband and her sons within a few years. She’s in a strange place, without a breadwinner - in those days it was the men who went to work, so without a man, there was no pension or social security benefits.

But then Naomi hears (6) that the Lord had come to the aid of his people. He has provided food for them back in Bethlehem. So she decides to return home - to go back. As she sets out, she tells her daughters-in-law to go back. (There’s a lot of going back in these verses!). Naomi is going back to Bethlehem, but the two younger women should go back to their own families.

Naomi prays that the Lord will show kindness to them, as they showed kindness to their dead and to Naomi. She also prays that the Lord will grant them rest in the house of another husband. Immediately, they say that they’ll come back with her. But that leads to Naomi urging stronger for them to return home.

She’s honest that the prospects aren’t great. That, even if she had a husband today, and got married and had sons, were the women going to wait to marry them? And here in verse 13 we get the first hint of Naomi’s bitterness - ‘It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has gone out against me!’

At that, Orpah (not Oprah!) kisses her goodbye and walks away. But Ruth clings to her. Naomi tries to get her to go. Do you see what Orpah is returning to? ‘Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’

It’s not just her family that Orpah is going back to. She’s also returning to her gods. Back to the Moabite religion. Back to the false gods.

At this point we get the famous words of Ruth - words of commitment, loyalty and devotion. Words that are sometimes read at weddings, but are actually words of love from a daughter-in-law to a mother-in-law:

‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.’

Ruth pledges her loyalty and devotion to Naomi. Stuck like glue. But did you notice how Ruth and Orpah differ? Orpah goes back to her people and her gods. Ruth is going to Naomi’s people and Naomi’s God. While we might think that Naomi may not have been a great witness for God, Ruth has captured something of the greatness of Naomi’s God, and commits herself to this God. That’s seen when she prays ‘May the Lord deal with me...’ Even in this life of tragedy and bitterness, Naomi has brought Ruth to know the true and living God.

Now when the two women arrive in Bethlehem, ‘the whole town was stirred because of them.’ (19). Naomi has been away for at least 10 years. She has been beat down by the circumstances of her life, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’ She looks like her, but is this her? Is this the same woman who left here back then?

Well, it is her, but she doesn’t like that name any more. Can this be pleasant? Don’t call me pleasant, call me bitter. Now why does she want her name changed? Do you see the reason there in verse 20? ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’

Naomi knows exactly who’s to blame. It’s all God’s fault. He has made my life very bitter. He has emptied me. He has afflicted me. He has brought misfortune on me.

I wonder have you ever considered changing your name? Have you ever felt the same as Naomi - bitter, and empty. Perhaps you’ve been through a period of time when it seems that everyone is against you - even God. Maybe that’s your experience right now. Don’t call me by my own name, call me bitter.

Names matter - we’ve seen that with Elimelech, and we’ve more than seen that with Naomi / Mara. But look at the names Naomi uses for God. Twice she calls him the Almighty (Shaddai) - the God who is all powerful, who can do anything. That speaks of God’s power and strength, but to her it feels as if that power has been used against her. And yet she still recognises that God is the Almighty. That’s who he is.

But more than that, he is also the LORD. The capital letter LORD is the covenant name of God - the I am who I am - the pledge and seal of the promise making, promise keeping God. So what if this God hasn’t been afflicting her, but is at work in her circumstances to fulfil his purposes? What if this Almighty God is working to keep his promise and bring about his covenant through her?

Well, we’ll have to see. but already there’s more than a hint that actually, Naomi’s perspective is skewed - that she isn’t seeing things clearly. How does she describe herself? Bitter, afflicted, but also empty. She claims to have nothing, to be empty.

Has she forgotten? Or does she not care? What does she have? She has Ruth, who has pledged her loyalty and devotion. Naomi, despite what she might think, is not entirely empty. She has her daughter-in-law, stuck like glue. Sometimes it can be helpful to take time and think - what do I have? What do I have to be thankful for? And we realise that we have more than we first realised. As the song puts it, count your blessings... And the story is only really starting. But there’s another hint of what’s to come in the last words of the chapter.

When do they arrive in Bethlehem? ‘As the barley harvest was beginning.’ As we finish, it’s like those dum-dum-dum-dum-dums in Eastenders. We’re at a cliffhanger. Naomi may feel bitter and empty, but the harvest time is coming, and God has not abandoned her. There’s more to come. And more discover of how the Almighty LORD is at work in her life.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 21st January 2018.

Sermon: Psalm 90 Gaining a heart of wisdom

So how has the first week of 2018 been for you? Have you got used to writing January 2018 yet? When I was preparing the service sheet for tonight I had to make doubly sure that I got the right year! We’ve already made it through one week of the new year - and in another 51 of those, it’ll be 2019 before we know it.

Time seems to be flying. It seems to pass so quickly. And, as I’ve been told, the older you are, the quicker it seems to go. We might think that time is passing so quickly because of all the technological advances of the last century. Is the quick passing of time because we’re in the modern (or post-modern) era?

Our Bible reading tonight, Psalm 90, shows us that it has always been the same. The superscription, the little title before the first verse, tells us that this is a Prayer of Moses, who lived about 1500 years BC. This Psalm is over 3500 years old, and yet in verse 10, speaking of a lifetime of seventy or eighty years, ‘for they quickly pass, as we fly away.’ (10).

So this is a human experience, not just a modern experience. Moses says that time flies. So how do we respond to that fact? Some might go the ‘let’s eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die appraoch.’ (Maybe we need to change that in the new year to let’s eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we diet...) Or perhaps you’ve heard someone say, I’m here for a good time, not a long time... As time passes, as our life whizzes by, as we begin this new year not knowing what will come of it, how should we respond?

Moses, the man of God, wants us to get things in proper perspective. He wants us to see things the way God sees them. Because the meaning and purpose of life is vastly different depending on our perspective. And that’s brought out by a series of contrasts throughout the Psalm.

In the opening six verses, we see the contrast between God’s eternity, and our mortality; God’s power, and our frailty.

In our almost ten years of married life, we’re now into our third home. Hopefully we won’t need any more removers for a very long time. My family moved into the house I grew up in about a week after I was born, so it had been the only home I had known, but it was just built, so it was all new for my mum and dad. But sometimes, you hear of families that have lived in the same house not just for one person’s whole life, but for generation after generation. In Fermanagh they talked about the homeplace, the family homestead for many generations.

Or to think of it another way, last September we celebrated 180 years of St Matthew’s. Just think of the generations who have worshipped here. The generations have come and gone, but St Matthew’s remains.

Well that’s getting on to the idea of verses 1-2. ‘Lord, you have been our dwelling-place’ for how long? ‘throughout all generations.’ God has always been around. God is the eternal one, the one all generations have been able to dwell with. Moses expands that thought in verse 2: ‘Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.’

Before the world existed. God was. God is eternal, from everlasting. And that is beyond our thinking. Beyond our comprehension. And to this everlasting God, time is nothing. If we think time is flying, to God, who is outside of time, well, ‘a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch of the night.’ Have you ever had one of those nights where you sit and think - where did that day go? It went by in a blink. That’s what it’s like with God - a thousand years just like a day, as Peter says in our second reading.

It reminds me of the old story. Someone read this verse once and so they say to God, God, is it right that a thousand of our years are just like a second to you; and a million pounds would be to you like just a penny? And God says, yes. So the person says, God, would you give me a penny? And God says, yes, just a second...

It’s just a joke, but it helps us to try to get our heads around God’s eternity, his power. And we need all the help we can get, because, as Moses also says in these verses, we aren’t around for ever, like God. It’s God who returns us to dust - recalling the words of Genesis, and the words of our funeral service - dust to dust...

Compared to God, we’re so finite, so weak. ‘You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning - though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.’ Here today, gone tomorrow.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, well isn’t this a cheerful message to start the new year with? And it might seem as if it’s going to get worse before it gets better. But remember we’re seeing things from God’s perspective.

If the first section shows us God’s eternity and power, compared to our mortality and weakness, the second section (7-12) shows us God’s holiness contrasted with our sinfulness. And the aspect of God’s holiness in view is his wrath, his anger.

‘We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.’ And why is God angry? ‘You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.’

Those secret sins that no one else knows about - God knows, God sees, God shines his light on them. God knows all about all our sins, even if no one else does. A preacher once said that if you knew my heart (and all that it desires), then you wouldn’t want to listen to me... but if I knew your heart, then I wouldn’t want to talk to you either.

God is angry at our sin. And whether we make it to the three score and ten, or even four score, 70 or 80, ‘yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.’

This isn’t the quickly kindled anger that you sometimes find in people - you might know the sort of person, you’ll never know how you’ll find them; you’re afraid of saying anything in case they erupt; it depends on what side of the bed they got out of... But God’s anger is not unpredictable like that. God’s anger and wrath is a settled, continuous opposition to anything that mars or spoils his creation; a slow burning consistent anger.

The question is asked in verse 11: ‘Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.’ The answer to God’s anger is to fear him, to take refuge in him, to properly respect him. To see things from God’s perspective.

And that’s where verse 12 comes in. ‘Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.’ It’s when we realise that some day will be our last; that we can’t go on forever; that we won’t know when our end will come - then we have a heart of wisdom, we live rightly in the world, numbering our days, as God sees them.

As we live in the light of eternity, as we realise that we are frail, and mortal, and sinful - then we are moved to flee to God; to take refuge in him. That’s what’s happening in the final section of the Psalm - recognising that the eternal, powerful, holy, wrathful God is also the God who hears and answers prayer.

In these final verses, we see a series of prayers, one per verse, as Moses cries out to the God who will hear and answer.

V13: ‘Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants!’ Relent means to stop the pursuit, to ease off, to provide relief. The prayer is asking for compassion, for God to suffer alongside, to have mercy.

V14: ‘Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.’ To have ended at verse 10 or 11 would have been really bleak. Yeah, life’s hard, God’s wrathful, end of story. But here, the prayer asks God to satisfy us with his love - so that we know joy and gladness, even in the midst of the difficulties. It’s only the knowledge of God’s unfailing love can give us this joy. (Notice, it’s not happiness - which depends on happenings. It’s joy, which flourishes whatever is happening.)

That thought of gladness continues into v15. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us... Do you see what he’s asking. If I’ve been afflicted for ten years, then let me be glad for ten years. He’s asking God to restore us, and bless us, for at least as long as we’ve suffered. It’s what Paul says in 2 Cor 4:17, only even more abundantly: ‘For our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.’ It’s not that God will bless us in heaven for the same length of time as we suffered. No, his everlasting glory continues forever!

V16: ‘May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendour to their children.’ Here Moses is asking that the next generations will see God’s works and his glory - as God worked in the exodus to rescue his people...

V17: ‘May the favour of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands.’ The Psalm ends with a prayer for grace - God’s favour, God’s grace. The grace that will establish the work of our hands - so that whatever we do in this life, it will be worthwhile, established, that it will echo into eternity.

This morning we thought about growing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and people. I hadn’t planned it this way, but God has been at work to tie these two messages together at the start of the new year. Here’s how we gain a heart of wisdom - seeing ourselves in the light of God. We might be mortal, frail, sinful, while God is eternal, powerful, and holy (and wrathful). Yet he is also the God who hears our prayer, who acts on our behalf, who answers his prayers according to his grace. This is the way of wisdom, to recognise God as God, to bow before him.

So let’s be wise in this new year, whatever it might hold. Let’s look to God, our dwelling-place, our refuge, our rescuer.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 7th January 2018.

Sermon: Luke 2: 41-52 Home but not alone

Every family seems to have some sort of traditions and customs. So maybe when it’s someone’s birthday, they get to choose what’s for dinner, or where you go to celebrate. You might take the day after New Year’s Day to take down the tree and do a spring clean. Or you always take a certain week or fortnight on holiday, every year, without fail.

Family traditions are usually seen at Christmas. Whether it’s who hosts the dinner, or there’s a pattern of which ‘side’ you go to on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, or when you open your presents - there’s a way you tend to do things. Family traditions that help make Christmas what it is. One of our family traditions (although, I’m realising we didn’t do it this year...) is that at some point in the run-up to Christmas, we’ll watch a movie. Not just any movie, though, the same movie, every year.

Some of our friends watch It’s a Wonderful Life. Maybe for you it’s The Great Escape. In our house, almost every year since we’ve been married, we’ve watched Home Alone. Or else Home Alone 2: lost in New York.

If you’ve never seen Home Alone, then perhaps the name helps you to grasp the idea. A little boy called Kevin is, well, home alone. Through a series of mishaps, Kevin gets left behind while his family head off on holiday. As the movie progresses, you follow Kevin overcoming his fears, enjoying having the house to himself, and finally defeating the wet bandits as they try to break in to steal from the house. While Kevin is having a great time, the camera keeps cutting back to his frantic parents as they try to get back home to find their son.

In our Bible reading this morning, we find a situation a bit like the Home Alone story. Every year, Joseph and Mary went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. It’s one of the big Jewish festivals, recalling the escape from slavery in Egypt. It was a requirement for everyone who could to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival.

And so this particular year, Jesus was twelve years old. When they’re travelling back to Nazareth, they were likely in a big group, everyone walking and talking together. But after a day’s travel, they discover that Jesus is not with them. He’s nowhere to be found.

Now, imagine that you’re Mary. You’ve given birth to this special son, announced by an angel, witnessed to by more angels and visited by shepherds and wise men. And he has... disappeared. Aged 12. Imagine the agony, the sense of blame, the panic as you begin to search for him. Where is he? Where could he be? What’s going on?

Before we discover where Jesus was, I’ve a question for you. Why are we told about this incident? This is the only record we have of Jesus between the visit of the wise men in Matthew 2 (when he was under 2), and the moment when Jesus begins his public ministry around the age of 30. This is the only detail we have of his childhood. Why?

Back at the start of Luke’s gospel he tells us his purpose and method in writing this book. He talks about eyewitnesses and servants of the word. He talks about carefully investigating everything from the beginning. and he does that careful historical work ‘so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.’

It seems that Luke has interviewed Mary, and got this story from her. Back on Christmas morning we looked at the unforgettable Christmas, as she ‘treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.’ So in v51 ‘his mother treasured all these things in her heart’ - even though she didn’t understand what Jesus said to her. (50). Time and again, she would return to this day, think about this day, run over the words her son said, trying to work it out.

So we’re given this bonus DVD material only in Luke’s gospel, because he thinks it’s an important step along the journey. It adds something to the gospel, it helps us to see Jesus more clearly. So what does it show us about Jesus? We’ll see, as we return to Mary and Joseph in verse 45.

They return to Jerusalem to look for him. There wasn’t any Twitter or Facebook to put out a missing persons appeal. They just keep searching... for three whole days. And where was he?

‘After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at this understanding and his answers.’

He’s in the temple, talking to, asking and answering questions with the religious leaders. Just a twelve-year old boy, yet with great understanding. It would be like one of our Sunday School members attending a meeting of the House of Bishops and holding their own with them in theological debate. Everyone is amazed at his understanding.

Everyone, that is, apart from Mary and Joseph. We’re told in verse 48 they were astonished. They were also probably annoyed. Look closely at verse 48. How is Joseph described there?

‘When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”’

And look how Jesus replies: ‘Where were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ At the time, they didn’t understand what he said, but Mary remembered those words. Do you see what Jesus is saying about who he is?

Mary says, ‘Your father and I’ meaning Joseph, but Jesus says, ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ While it’s a bit like Home Alone, Jesus is saying that he’s home, but he’s not alone. He is in his Father’s house, the temple, the place where God is at home.

Back in Luke 1 we’re told that Mary conceives Jesus as a result of the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Joseph was not Jesus’ father. Yet Joseph adopts Jesus as his own, he becomes his earthly father by adoption. But Jesus reminds Mary and Joseph that he belongs to another family, that Joseph isn’t really his father - that God is his Father. Jesus is growing in the awareness that he is the Son of God, not the son of Joseph.

At the tender age of 12, Jesus already knows who he is - his real identity, and with it, his mission. For Jesus, his primary loyalty is to his heavenly Father, in recognition of the fact that he is the Son of God. This is then confirmed in the next chapter, at the age of 30, at his baptism: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ (3:22). Nothing will sway him from his primary identity, yet he willingly submits to them in obedience as he grows up. (51)

Boys and girls - there’s a challenge here for you. The Lord Jesus was perfect, sinless, and yet he submitted to sinful parents, who didn’t always get it right.

As he did so, ‘Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.’ What about taking that verse as an aim for this new year? In 2018, seeking to grow in wisdom - godly wisdom, knowing God better through his word; seeking to grow in stature - maybe for the boys and girls to grow up taller, but for each of us to grow in reputation, to be known for our Christian witness; and to grow in favour with God and people.

These things won’t happen by themselves. We don’t drift into godliness - we need to work at it, need to make an effort. Whether that’s by taking some extra time each day to read and pray; or by taking up a good Christian book; or committing to be regular at worship; or starting to come along to the Bible study fellowship. What steps will you take this year to grow in wisdom, stature and grace?

How do you see Jesus? Is he just a man, the son of Joseph? That’s how some of the crowds saw him in Nazareth, in Luke 4:22 - ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ Or again in John 6:42 - ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven?”’ The son of Joseph would be just a man, unable to save us, mired in sins like the rest of us.

But Jesus is the Son of God, in his Father’s house, about his Father’s business, even knowing that from the age of 12. He knows who he is, and why he is here, and nothing will sway him from his mission. Do you know Jesus as the Son of God, as God come down to save us?

Jesus, God’s Son, was home, but not alone, fulfilling his mission to save his people and make us children of God. It’s through Jesus that we can grasp the promise that ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms’ - as he welcomes us into his house. It’s through Jesus that we are welcome today, to share his table, to celebrate his love and sacrifice, and to wait for our heavenly home with him.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 7th January 2018.

Watchnight Sermon: Lamentations 3: 19-33 New Year Mercies

It seems to be the done thing at this time of year to look back on the events of the past twelve months and review what has gone before. It seems that most TV channels have been doing their own celebrity quiz of the year, and the newspapers have been reminding us of the big stories of 2017.

It was the first year of President Trump; the year of elections - to Stormont (which doesn’t seem to have achieved much since March) and to Westminster in Theresa May’s snap election, after Brexit had been officially triggered. It’s been the year of revolution in Turkey, the independence referendum in Catalonia, and the end of Robert Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe. And that’s just a small sampling of what’s been going on.

But what about you? How was 2017 for you? As you look back on the year, what will you focus on? Will it be thought of as a good year, or a bad year? I’m aware of so many people who found Christmas a difficult time this year because of the loss of a loved one, or some bad news concerning their health, or for a multitude of reasons. And as we face into 2018, we face the unknown. We simply don’t know and can’t know what the future holds. That might leave you apprehensive or fearful, but I trust that our reading from Scripture tonight will give us hope and comfort on this new year’s eve.

Yet even as I say that, you might think to yourself, hope and comfort from a book called Lamentations? It doesn’t sound like a cheerful read! For the most part, it isn’t. Just as we remember a particular year because of some wonderful or terrible event, so it was for the people of Jerusalem. A few years ago, the Queen spoke of her annus horribilus, a year of horrors; Lamentations is the response to those horrors by the prophet Jeremiah.

Jersualem has been conquered, captured and destroyed by the Babylonian armies led by King Nebuchadnezzar. The temple is no more, its treasures stolen and removed. Most of the people have been taken away into exile. And for the first three chapters of Lamentations, Jeremiah spells out the horror of what has happened. Just before our reading, he says this: ‘He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.”.’ (3:16-18).
As he walks through the remains of the city - just imagine it as one of the TV news reports showing the aftermath of the California forest fires. Darkness, despair, sadness and suffering. He’s at the lowest he could possibly go. All hope seems to have vanished.

It’s at that moment that he remembers something that brings him hope - something that even the darkest night can’t remove - something that strengthens him to continue: ‘Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ (3:21-23)

Did you notice the timespan of the Lord’s love in that verse? The steadfast love of the Lord ceases when? Never! His mercies come to an end when? Never! His steadfast love never ceases - it is always with us, no matter what the date on the calendar is; no matter what we may be going through right now, or what the new year has in store for us. The Lord’s steadfast love will not cease tonight, or this year. His mercies will be new every morning, whether you wake early or lie on until lunchtime.

This is something to hold on to as we get used to writing 2018. This is something to cling to when things don’t work out as we planned. This is something to hold us up when we are brought low - God is in control; and his love is still for us. That love was demonstrated on the ultimate day of horrors, as the sinless Saviour died for his enemies in order to welcome us as his friends and give us the sure and certain hope of life with him.

God’s love has been displayed for all time on the cross. His love will never come to an end. It helps us to stand and endure and look forward with hope and confidence, through our pains and disappointments, our struggles and shocks; looking forward knowing that through all that happens God is working out his purposes, and making us more like the Lord Jesus. Do you know his love tonight? Will you trust in this faithful God this new year?

The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will trust in him.

This sermon was preached at the Watchnight Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 31st December 2017.

Sermon: Luke 2: 21-40 Simeon's Bucket List

What do all the following things have in common?

Swim with dolphins
Learn a new language
See the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)
Throw a dart at a map and travel to wherever it lands
Get a tattoo

Any ideas? They are among the most popular items on people’s bucket lists. So what’s on your bucket list? You may not know the term, but you might just have a bucket list.

It’s not a list of the buckets you own (if indeed, you own more than one bucket, just in case, like Liza in the song, there’s a hole in your bucket...) It’s a list of things you want to do before you... kick the bucket. The things that you could say, ‘I’ve done that, now I can die happy.’

So what would your bucket list include? What would you prioritise? As the new year dawns tomorrow, what would you like to have done by next new year’s eve?

I’m not going to share my bucket list, because in my last church, I mentioned that I would love to make it to the top of Cuilcagh mountain, the highest point in Fermanagh (and Cavan). You might have seen the photos of the stairway to heaven, the wooden walkway and staircase built over the bog. Well, I foolishly mentioned that I wanted to climb it, and so before I left, one of our parishioners marched me to the top of the staircase, in the snow and ice, to say that I’d done it!

So what would your bucket list include? What would you want to do so that you could die happy?

This morning in our reading, we meet a man with just one item on his bucket list. And the one thing on his list might not seem like a big deal for us. His bucket list says: ‘See a baby.’ He lives in Jerusalem, he must see loads of babies, as their parents brought them to the temple for dedication, as the Old Testament commanded.

But it’s not just any baby. It’s actually see ‘the’ baby. Simeon is described (25) as righteous and devout. He trusts in the Lord, he’s living by faith. But more than that, he is ‘waiting for the consolation of Israel.’

Now, when do you need consoled? It’s when you’re in distress. When things aren’t going right. You need someone to console you, to provide comfort. I haven’t played any bowls here yet, but in my last parish I sometimes played. And at Christmas there was always a party night. Everyone played three games, with the teams drawn at random, and at the end of the night, the scores were added up. There were prizes for the top scoring men and women.

I played as well as ever, and needed to be consoled, because I finished with the lowest score. But I was consoled - I for the booby prize, or the consolation prize. It made up for what was lacking. When I unwrapped my Terry’s Chocolate Orange, the pain of my terrible performance was forgotten!

Simeon is waiting for the consolation of Israel. Israel was in a bad way. They seemed to be far from God. God hadn’t spoken to them for about 400 years. The Romans had conquered the land. Israel was occupied, ruled over by the Romans. Israel needed to be consoled.

Look at v26: ‘It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.’ Another version puts it that Simeon wouldn’t SEE death until he had SEEN the Lord’s Christ. So Simeon knows that he won’t die until he has seen the Christ, the one through whom the consolation of Israel would come. So Simeon’s bucket list reads: ‘see the Christ.’

Out of all the babies in the temple that day, Simeon is guided to the right one. He takes the baby Jesus in his arms, and breaks into song. ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’

I can die happy, because I have seen your salvation. He may not know how the salvation will come, but he knows who will bring the salvation. And by the Holy Spirit, he seems to base his song on our first reading, the servant song of Isaiah 49. He links Jesus to the servant in that song, who is the means of the Lord comforting his people; the way Israel will be gathered back to God; but also as a light to the nations.

Out of all the moments of Jesus’ life and ministry, which one would you most like to see and experience? If we could crank up a time machine so that you could be there, which would you choose? To sample the feeding of the 5000? To watch his crucifixion? To hear him tell the parable of the Good Samaritan firsthand? To see him raise Lazarus? It would be hard to choose.

Yet Simeon is pleased to simply see Jesus as a tiny baby, just 40 days old. Even though Simeon sees only the seed, he knows that the full flowering of salvation will come - by this baby. God’s word is sure. Just as God promised Simeon he would see his salvation, so God will fulfil that salvation in the Lord Jesus.

The baby didn’t stay a baby. He grew up, in lifelong obedience to God’s word and will. He lived the perfect life of obedience; he died the perfect death, to bear our sins, to bring us forgiveness. Through his death, we have life. Through his name being proclaimed to this day, Jews and Gentiles are bring brought back to God.

So what’s on your bucket list? You might have 1001 items on it. You might have so many ideas about what you should do before you can die happy. but Simeon tells us that only one will really matter after we die. That only one is important. And it’s the one that Simeon had on his bucket list - to meet and know Jesus. To see him as your Saviour. Because when you have his salvation, you can die happy - but more than that, you can die confident that you will live with him for all eternity.

Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation. Amen.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 31st December 2017.

2017 Books

I like to keep track of the books I've read each year, and then select my top five. We're coming towards the end of the year, so here are the 2017 books! I'm glad to see that my reading has picked up again, breaking into the 30s again after a run of three years in the 20s. Still, not as many as my 78 in 2007!

Here are the books I read in 2017:

1. The Doctrine of God - Gerald Bray
2. Devoted to God - Sinclair Ferguson
3. Nine Inches - Colin Bateman
4. God in my Everything - Ken Shigematsu
5. Growing Leaders - James Lawrence
6. In the Name of Jesus - Henri Nouwen
7. You Can Really Grow - John Hindley
8. You Are What You Love - James KA Smith
9. What Does The Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality? - Kevin DeYoung
10. To Be Told - Dan Allender

11. Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership - Gary McIntosh & Samuel Rima
12. The Whistler - John Grisham
13. No Little Women - Aimee Byrd
14. Luther and the 9.5 Theses - Kenneth Brownell
15. Transgender - Vaughan Roberts
16. Convinced by Scripture - Andy Johnston
17. Assisted Dying - Vaughan Roberts
18. Is God anti-gay? - Sam Allberry
19. A Better Story - Glynn Harrison
20. Silence - Shushaku Endo

21. Us - David Nicholls
22. To Kill the President - Sam Bourne
23. Because of Bethlehem - Max Lucado
24. The Big Ego Trip - Glynn Harrison
25. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
26. Serving the Church, Reaching the World - Richard Cunningham (ed)
27. Katie Watson and the Painter's Plot - Mez Blume
28. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
29. The One True Gift - Tim Chester
30. Challenges of Christian Leadership - John Stott

31. Dark Matter - Tony Watkins


My top five of the year?
1. A Better Story - Glynn Harrison
2. Devoted to God - Sinclair Ferguson
3. No Little Women - Aimee Byrd
4. To Kill the President - Sam Bourne
5. Convinced by Scripture - Andy Johnston


Here are the links to previous years' book blogs: 2016 (23); 2015 (21); 2014 (26); 2013 (45); 2012 (49); 2011 (37); 2010 (52); 2009 (41); 2008 (23); 2007 (78).

Sermon: Luke 2: 1-7 O little town of Bethlehem

Well, ready or not, Christmas has arrived. And even though we know it’s coming, the date is the same every year, yet still we find ourselves running about, getting things sorted. And this year it seems strange that Christmas Eve is on a Sunday - giving us a pause before Christmas Day itself.

This morning gives us an opportunity to look back to the very first Christmas, to see what really happened. And we’re in the hands of Dr Luke, the writer of this gospel, who tells us in the very first verses of the book that he has ‘carefully investigated everything from the beginning.’ (1:3). Dr Luke gives us the true story of the first Christmas.

And in this morning’s seven verses, he tells us about the events of the first Christmas - the time, the place, and the circumstances of the birth of Jesus. So let’s look at each in turn, starting with the time of Jesus’ birth.

V1: ‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)’

The focus at the very start of the passage is on the people in power. There’s Caesar Augustus, who is the Roman Emperor; and that hard-to-pronounce-at-carol-services name, Quirinius, the governor of Syria. Augustus was ruling over the entire Roman world - and one word from him impacted on lots of other people.

It’s a bit like today. Our focus and attention can be on the few very powerful people who control the world. With us, it’s Teresa May leading the Brexit negotiations - whatever she decides (or, ok, agrees to with the EU), it will have an impact on all of us when we finally leave the European Union. Or think of Donald Trump. There are fears that he might decide to launch a nuclear missile - which will certainly impact lots of other people. Well, at this point in history, it was Augustus who was calling the shots.

Whatever his reasons, Augustus decides to take a census. It may be that, as the King James Version puts it, everyone should be taxed. It was at least, some form of registration. So the word goes out from Augustus, and everyone is caught up in his demands. We see this in verse 3: ‘And everyone went to his own town to register.’

Someone on Twitter the other day said this: ‘For too long I thought that it was awfully inconvenient for the King to call a census at Christmas time.’ (@ngorlly)

They thought that it’s busy enough at Christmas, without having to deal with a census as well. but it’s not that the census was called at Christmas, but that Christmas called during the census.

Caesar Augustus decided he would call a census, but behind the scenes, God was calling the shots. And God was working through the decisions and decrees of the powerful to bring about his purposes.

The time of Jesus’ birth was the time of the census, but as we saw in Galatians 4: ‘But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.’ (Gal 4:4-5).

In the next verses, we see the place of Jesus’ birth. We’ve already sung about it this morning - O little town of Bethlehem. And in these verses we see how the decree of the Roman emperor impacts on one particular family. The focus shifts from the powerful and important, to the ordinary and (in the world’s eyes) unimportant.

‘So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.’ (4-5)

Joseph is living in Nazareth, in the province of Galilee. But he can’t register there, as he’s not from there. At some stage he must have been a blow-in. And so he sets off, along with Mary his betrothed - his fiancee. A journey of about 70-80 miles - from here to either Londonderry or Dublin. With no planes, trains or automobiles.

Think of the upheaval, the uncertainty, the inconvenience of having to move, having to travel. And yet, God is at work when we’re being shaken up.

Now why does Joe have to go the whole way to Bethlehem? It is the city of David (as we heard in our Old Testament reading). And Joseph belongs to ‘the house and line of David.’ There hasn’t been a king of Israel/Judah for about 500 years. But Joseph is from David’s family, and David’s line.

The old promises that David would never fail to have a son on the throne seems to have fallen aside. But it’s not been forgotten. And perhaps Joseph has the promise given to Mary back in 1:32 singing in his ears - ‘The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end.’

Through the decree of Augustus, Joseph and Mary move from Nazareth to Bethlehem, getting them there just in time for the birth of the baby - as promised in Micah 5 - ‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel...’ (Micah 5:2).

You can see how things are coming together - the right time and the right place to fulfil God’s purposes, to bring about the birth of the king. But even as I say those words, the birth of the king, you know that it’s not quite as fancy as the birth of Prince George, or even Princess Charlotte, or the new Prince or Princess to be born in April.

The birth of this king didn’t take place in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in London, with the world’s journalists outside. Nor was it in a royal palace. In fact, try to hear these words as if you’ve never heard them before.

‘While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.’

No maternity ward; no midwife; nobody, it seems, except for Mary and Joseph. The circumstances are humble, poor, and - I was going to say ordinary, but this is far from ordinary. Mary herself wraps the baby in cloths - swaddling bands as the hymn puts it - strips of cloth to provide some warmth. A sign of poverty, of making do with whatever comes to hand. Perhaps, even, a pointer to the strips of linen that would encircle the body of Jesus after his crucifixion.

Mary also places the baby, not in a Moses basket, or a cot, but in a manger. We’re so used to it, we fail to realise how odd this is! It’s the sign that the shepherds will be given to find the baby, because babies don’t normally lie in the livestock’s lunchbox. The feeding trough becomes the king’s bed.

And why did these things happen? The strange circumstances of Jesus’ birth? ‘Because there was no room for them in the inn.’ A thousand nativity plays hone in on this little detail, providing a part for two, three, four innkeepers all saying ‘no room at the inn’ before one takes pity on them and offers his stable.

The inn could simply be the guestroom, with someone else already ‘in’ it - and so the birth may have been in the lower part of the family home, where the animals stayed, rather than a separate stable or outhouse. But however, even in these circumstances, God was at work. Later Jesus would say that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head - at his birth, a borrowed manger was his bed.

Dr Luke shares his carefully researched history - the time, the place, and the circumstances of the birth of Jesus. And through them all, God was at work - to use the census decree of Caesar Augustus to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, the city of David; where in the strangest of circumstances, the Son of David would be born.

On that first Christmas, there was no room for Jesus. This Christmas, are you making room for Jesus?

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Christmas Eve, Sunday 24th December 2017

Carol Service Epilogue: Luke 2:12 Christmas Unwrapped

Richhill 17/12/17 pm
Luke 2:12 Christmas Unwrapped

Are you all set for Christmas? Have you all the presents wrapped and under the tree? It’s one of the most exciting parts of Christmas - seeing all the beautifully wrapped gifts with coloured paper and bows - and the best bit: the gift tag that says it’s a present for you!

When we were growing up, dad had a rule that we weren’t allowed to open any presents until Christmas morning. Now that wasn’t too bad, except our great-aunt and uncle lived in Belfast, and always came to visit granny early in December, bringing presents with them. The mysterious presents (and they were always brilliant) sat under the tree for several weeks. We weren’t allowed to open them, but that didn’t stop us from poking and prodding them, trying to work out what was inside. You see, the wrappings were nice, but they’re not the most important part.

Up until the big day, it’s the wrapping that holds the attention. But come Christmas Day, the wrapping paper is torn away, the gift inside is revealed, and the real enjoyment can begin. Whether the paper ends up in a plastic bag, carefully collected at the time, or the room looks like it’s been re-carpeted with fragments of wrapping paper, the wrapping is forgotten, and the presents are finally present.

But sometimes, you hear of the child who takes more enjoyment from the box, rather than the expensive gift inside. The box becomes all sorts of things in the imagination, the toy itself is left abandoned. If it’s your child, you want to show them the real present, not just the wrappings. Otherwise, they’re missing the precious gift.

We might laugh when it comes to a child, and yet sometimes we too can be so caught up in the tinsel and trappings, and yet miss the treasure. We come round to another Christmas time, and we think we’ve heard it all before. We know the story so well, we reckon it’s just for the kids. We get wrapped up in the wrappings of Christmas, that we miss the gift itself.

You see Christmas is about more than cooking the perfect brussell sprouts and attending the parties and being visited by the jolly man in red and spending time together as a family. If we unwrap the Christmas package, what is it we find at the centre? What is the heart of Christmas? Our Bible readings tonight help us to discover Christmas unwrapped:

Take away the tinsel and turkey and tree; pass on the parties and puddings and mince pies; strip away the shepherds and angels and wisemen; and gaze on the glorious gift - which is wrapped up, but not in paper and bows. Luke tells us that the gift is wrapped... in strips of cloth, and lying in a manger, where the animals feed. This is THE Christmas present: He is the Christmas gift: a tiny newborn baby.

But this is no ordinary baby. Every parent knows that their baby is special, their child is amazing - but none can compare with the baby in the manger. We discover that this is the long-awaited king, the rescuer. As the angels told the shepherds: ‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’ (Luke 2:11)

Isaiah helps us remove the wrapping to see just who Jesus is: ‘He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ It’s the message of the most famous verse in the Bible: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.’

You might be a present-poker; you might have sneaked a peek; or you might be waiting patiently to see what’s under the tree. But don’t get caught up in the wrapping paper and miss the real Christmas gift.

The gift tag has your name on it. The gift is for you. God gives us his Son, the Saviour. Will you receive him this Christmas time?

This sermon was preached at the Carols by Candlelight Service in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 17th December 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 6: 1-18 Freedom to do good

We’re getting into that time of year when you start thinking about the year that is almost past, and you start thinking about the year that is coming up. It’s three weeks today until New Year’s Eve, and 2017 will be behind us, a new year will be opening up before us. And perhaps that makes you think of New Year’s Resolutions.

Maybe you think back to 1st January this year, to see how you got on this year with those resolutions... if you kept them past January, or if you’ve still been keeping them up. So, with January coming, you think to yourself, next year, I’ll give it a go. Next year I’ll make a change. New Year, New Me, and all that.

But you don’t have to wait for the new year to have a new you. You don’t need to have a new calendar or diary to make a change. You can do it today. As Paul closes his letter to the Galatians, he calls us to do good.

But this isn’t the Santa Claus is coming to town kind of command to be good - you know, he’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice... he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake!’ Be good or you won’t get anything. Now it seems it’s the elf on the shelf doing the same job of you better be good...

But as we’ve seen throughout Galatians, we can’t be good without God - it’s only God who gives us the freedom to do good, because we are his.

The Galatians were suffering from false teachers, who were promoting a kind of DIY religion - you can Do It Yourself, by obeying the law and earning your place by your own efforts. But the whole way through the letter, Paul has been showing us that we can’t do it by ourselves. We’ve all broken the law - it only condemns us. We can only be ransomed, freed through the death of Jesus for us, giving us his undeserved grace - received by faith alone in Jesus alone.

But now that we ARE saved, we have the freedom to live by the Spirit. We saw that last week, as the Spirit wants to grow his fruit in us - that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control that only he can bring. It’s as we keep in step with the Spirit that we become more like Jesus. And this morning’s reading shows us how this works out in a church community. How can we, together, live out our freedom by the power of the Spirit? How can we do good?

Church should be the place where we bear one another’s burdens. V1: ‘Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’

Paul doesn’t say - if someone is caught in a sin, then go and tell everyone about it; gossip it far and wide. No, if (or when!) someone is caught in sin - then we are to restore them gently. Gossiping relentlessly, or gently restoring? And who is to do it? You who are spiritual - those who belong to the Spirit, the Christians. Not just the pastor or elders. We’re to be a community of caring Christians - bearing one another’s burdens - and watching out in case we are tempted in the same way.

Is this a picture of what St Matthew’s is like; or something we need to grow into?

The next verses (3-5) ask us to evaluate ourselves individually - to take a good hard look at ourselves. I was reading recently about Illusory Superiority. What it means is that people tend to think more highly of themselves. So, in an American survey, 93% of people thought they were an above average driver (but only 50% can be above the average...). This effect plays out all the time in surveys where people are asked to rate themselves.

And Paul says it can happen with us as well, in the spiritual realm. ‘If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.’

Paul says we’re deceiving ourselves if we think of ourselves more highly than we should. Rather, we should test our actions. Don’t compare yourself with anyone else - because at the end of the day, you’ll stand before the judge by yourself - carrying your own load.

We’re to share one another’s burdens, but we have to carry our own load (a different word, a different idea). (And therefore not a contradiction!)

As we think about ourselves, our actions, our choices, Paul wants us to consider what it is we’re sowing; what we’re investing in; what we’re working towards. That image of sowing and reaping runs through verses 6-10. The principle is in v7: ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’

The farmer decides what he wants to harvest, and then has to sow that very thing. It’s no good sowing potatoes if you want to grow carrots. Or planting apple seeds if you want strawberries. Whatever you sow, you will reap. Whatever you invest in is what you will receive in return. ANd it’s no good deciding at the harvest time what you want to get - you’ve already made that decision beforehand.

So if we sow to please our sinful nature - we will reap destruction. But if we sow to please the Spirit - we will reap eternal life.

So what are you sowing towards? How are you investing your time, your money, your talents? When you have a free half hour, what do you turn your mind to? We’re called to sow to please the Spirit, to do good. John Wesley put it like this: Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as ever you can.

And yet, sometimes, you can get a bit fed up of doing good. When you give, and give, and give. Or when you’ve given up your time to serve in an organisation so that boys and girls get to hear about Jesus. Or when you see how much easier people without faith seem to have it. So in verse 9 Paul becomes a cheerleader, urging us on, wanting us to keep going, like the people cheering on the marathon runners... ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ Don’t give up. Don’t become weary. Keep an eye on the harvest to come. And therefore, v 10: ‘Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.’

Our doing good is for all people, everyone, but with a special focus on the family of believers. We have been freed from our sins in order to do good, as we sow to the Spirit. So let’s do it. Let’s share the good news as we do good.

It’s at this point that Paul takes the pen to write a bit himself. Normally there was someone acting as scribe, writing down the letter, but here, Paul writes: ‘See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!’ He’s wanting to emphasise this last bit of the letter. It’s as if we’re using bold type, underlined, font size 50 (this sermon is font size 12).

So how does he close the letter? What is it he wants to leave with us? He returns to circumcision, and to boasting. All the way through the letter, Paul has been warning them about the dangers of being circumcised. And there’s one last warning here. Why did the false teachers want them to be circumcised? So that they wouldn’t be persecuted for the cross, so that they would boast in the Galatians’ flesh.

The false teachers could avoid the persecution from the Jews if they could show that they were obeying the law. In that way, the cross wouldn’t matter to them. The important thing, the thing they would boast in, was their circumcision. The false teachers wanted to boast in the flesh, the skin of the Galatians. That was what they valued above everything else.

But Paul says there’s only one thing to boast in. It’s not our achievements; not our religious observance; not our goodness or our good deeds; it’s simply the cross: ‘May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’

The only thing to boast in; the only place to find our value; the only thing that frees us from our sins, and frees us to live lives of good by the power of the Spirit - it’s the cross. We can’t boast in ourselves, we must boast in Jesus, what he has done for us. Because it’s only his death for us, that makes us a new creation - the only thing that matters.

Circumcision doesn’t matter. uncircumcision means nothing. ‘What counts is a new creation.’ As Paul says elsewhere, ‘if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.’

Have you been made new? Forget about new year’s resolutions, or diets that always start tomorrow. Jesus will make you new. A new creation. A fresh start. It comes as you trust in Jesus. So have you trusted in Christ for your forgiveness and salvation? Then boast only in Christ and his cross. See the whole world as your mission, to live out the life of love that Christ has set you free to live. You’re free to love, free to do good, so don’t be weary. Look to the harvest, and keep going.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 10th December 2017.

Sermon: Luke 1: 39-56 A People Prepared (3) - Mary's Melody of Mercy

We haven’t been to London recently, but whenever we’re there, we like to take in a show. And if you’ve been to London for the West End, or New York for Broadway, you’ll know that musical theatre is big business. Packed theatres, telling a story through song and dance. One of our friends regularly takes trips to London to make it to two or three shows per day, and then writes reviews of them.

But musicals strike me as slightly strange, if you think about them logically. As you watch in the theatre, or maybe as you watch the Sound of Music on TV this Christmas - think of it this way. It’s a normal day, people going about their business, when suddenly, someone starts singing. They burst out into a song, and everyone else is able to join in! If you were walking down the street after church and you started into a song, people would wonder what you were doing! It just doesn’t happen in real life - this spontaneous singing... or does it?

As Luke tells us about the preparations for the first Christmas, the things that God was doing to make a people prepared for the coming of Jesus, so far he has told us about the important missions of the angel Gabriel. Bringing news of two babies to be born in unlikely circumstances - John, to Zechariah and Elizabeth, the elderly parents; and Jesus to Mary the virgin. This week and next, we’ll hear the responses of Mary and Zechariah. And we’ll see that, just like musical theatre, they both break into song, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We’re told that when Mary heard the angel’s news, she packed up, and went off to visit Elizabeth, where she stayed three months. When Mary arrives, Elizabeth is filled with the Spirit, and declares: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!... Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!’

Elizabeth recognises the blessing God has given Mary - and even the baby in Elizabeth’s womb recognises the mother of his Lord - leaping for joy in her womb! And then Mary begins her salvation song; her melody of mercy.

Now if you’ve been around the Church of Ireland long enough, you’ll recognise this song as the Magnificat, from the opening line in the prayer book, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord.’ Well our version here has ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.’

Whichever word you use - magnify or glorify, they both have the same idea. If you have a magnifying glass, it helps you to make something bigger, to make it easier to read the newspaper or your Bible. For Mary to magnify the Lord is to glorify him, to ‘big up’ his reputation; to rejoice in him.

So why is she rejoicing? Her song seems to divide into two sections, each of which end with the theme of mercy. The words and phrases are Bible words and phrases - you might even notice links to Hannah’s song, sung when she gave birth to the great prophet Samuel. So why is Mary rejoicing?

Mary rejoices because of 1. What God has done for Mary. ‘...for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

We’re nearly at the time of year when the next round of the Queen’s Honours will be announced, at the new year. All over the country, people will receive letters from the Queen, inviting them to receive an MBE or OBE for their community service, or charity work or whatever. Now, the Queen doesn’t sit down herself, going through the phonebook thinking, who will I honour this year? There’s a network of nominations, advisors, and yet it’s a great honour to go to Buckingham Palace to receive the award.

Put yourself in Mary’s sandals. The God who is mighty, ruling over the universe, the all-powerful one - he has chosen and blessed Mary! That’s why all generations will call her blessed - she has been blessed by God, chosen to be the mother of the Messiah - not even a once in a lifetime opportunity - a once in the entire history of the world opportunity!

As Mary finishes off her first section, she celebrates God’s mercy - mercy for her, yes, but mercy extending ‘to those who fear him, from generation to generation.’ God is holy - holy is his name (his character) - but Mary knows that she is a sinner, there’s nothing special about her. She wasn’t chosen because she was sinless or immaculate; yet she fears God - she acknowledges him as God her Saviour. And she says this mercy is for all who fear him

I wonder if you can echo these words? Just as Mary speaks out about what God has done for her, I wonder if you could do the same? Testimony might not be a very Church of Ireland thing, yet there’s power in being able to say what God has done for you. this past week, I marked 25 years since the night I became a Christian. What’s your story? Has the Mighty One done great things for you?

Mary rejoices because of what God has done for her. but Mary also rejoices because of 2. what God has done for all his people. Her song is connected to her son, and what he will achieve as the kingdom is unleashed. And yet, you might see, that it’s all past tense. Every sentence starts ‘he has...’ Why is that? It’s a bit like the prophets - when God says something, or promises something, it’s as good as done, it’s so certain, you can say it as if it has already happened. So, he has performed mighty deeds with his arm...

Things are being turned upside down, as God performs his mighty deeds, as he shows strength (old BCP). The proud, the rulers, the rich, they are scattered, brought down, sent away empty; while the humble and hungry are lifted up and filled with good things.

Remember that Mary lives in Israel, under occupation, under the evil King Herod, who was under the even more evil Caesar. Various Zealot movements had tried to get rid of the Romans, and had failed miserably, their leaders executed on crosses. But Mary can celebrate because God us putting his plan into action, and nothing will stop it. God’s kingdom will turn these earthly kingdoms upside down. The mighty rulers will be dethroned, the meek will inherit the earth.

And all this, in fulfilment of those promises of mercy for Israel, for God’s people going right back to Abraham. God had promised that through Abraham’s seed every nation will be blessed - and it’s in Mary’s child these promises are going ahead, and God’s mercy is spreading to all who fear him.

What Mary sings about, Jesus puts into action when he says that those who humble themselves will be exalted, but those who exalt themselves will be humbled. This song is like the gospel before the gospel, the first taster of life in the kingdom. But the question remains - where will we put ourselves? When the world is turned upside down, where will we be? Will we be clinging to our pride in our achievements or our goodness? If so, we’ll be brought down in the judgement to come.

Or will we humble ourselves, acknowledge our sin and poverty, our low estate, and find his rich mercy in Jesus, and so rejoice in God our Saviour?

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday evening 3rd December 2017.

Sermon: Galatians 5: 16-26 Freedom to live by the Spirit

Sermons can sometimes be lengthy affairs. A few years ago, the former rector of Lambeg preached a record-breaking sermon, which lasted for five hours and fifty minutes without a break. But the Guinness World Record for the longest speech was a sermon preached by Pastor Zach Zehnder from Florida, which lasted 53 hours and 18 minutes. Now, as Roy Castle would have said on his TV programme, dedication’s what you need if you want to be a record-breaker, so, if you’re sitting comfortably, let’s break some records!

No, don’t worry, we’ll not try to beat five hours or fifty-three hours today. In fact, this could have been the shortest sermon ever. Could have been - not will be! You see, we can sum up the whole sermon in four words that Paul gives us in the first verse of our reading. Just four words. Do you see them there in verse 16? ‘Live by the Spirit.’ That’s what Paul wants to emphasise; it’s what God wants us to hear today; it’s the application right at the very start of the sermon.

God says: Live by the Spirit. So go and do it.

It might have been the shortest sermon, but I’m not sure it would be the most helpful sermon. So let’s take some time to unpack those four words, to understand what we’re being told to do - and then how to do it.

You might have noticed that we’re near the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And in quite a few of his letters, Paul arranges them into two parts. First up, the doctrine; and then the doing. He gives us the truth, and then shows us how to live it out. It’s a bit like doing your driving test - you do the theory first, and then the practical.

So over the autumn term, we’ve worked our way through this letter. And we’ve seen that the Galatians were in danger of forgetting the free grace of God. They had started by believing, but now they were trying to earn their way by observing the Old Testament law, and by submitting to circumcision. So Paul has reminded them of the grace God has given us in the Lord Jesus - how he was crucified for us to redeem us, and so that we would receive the promise given to Abraham - the promise of the Holy Spirit. That’s the theory bit. As we trust in Jesus, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now comes the practical instructions.

We have the Holy Spirit if we’re believers, but we need to live by the Spirit - not being like Walt Disney’s housekeeper whose story I told a few weeks ago. Remember? She was given these bits of paper for her birthday and Christmas, and put them away safely. She died a millionaire, and she didn’t even realise. She didn’t know the resources she had. So don’t be like her. Live by the Spirit.

You see, God has given us his Holy Spirit in order to help us live out our Christian faith. We just can’t do it by ourselves. And yet many of us think that we CAN do it by ourselves. That’s what the Galatians were trying to do, as they tried to add what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Or, to think of Roy Castle again, we think that to live out the Christian life, to defeat the sin that so easily entangles us and the powerful sinful desires that rise within us, dedication’s what we need.

But Paul tells us what we need to do. Look again at verse 16. ‘So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.’ Notice what he doesn’t say - he doesn’t say try really hard to resist your sinful desires, and then you’ll be able to live by the Spirit. He doesn’t even say, live by the Spirit and then try really hard... No, he says, live by the Spirit (by his power), and you WILL NOT gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Live in this way, by the power of the Spirit, and you will not gratify those desires.

You see, there are two ways to live presented in these verses. We either live by the Spirit, or we live by the sinful nature (the flesh). But it’s not a take it or leave it kind of choice - that it doesn’t really matter which you follow. Rather, they are in conflict. It’s like the line from Dad’s Army - ‘Don’t you know there’s a war on?’ But the battle isn’t out there somewhere else - it’s a battle on the inside, for our heart, our choices, our actions.

Have you ever had a time when you want to do something good, but then you follow a different prompting and so something selfish, or downright evil instead? Like, maybe seeing someone waiting for a bus, so you think to yourself, I’ll stop and give them a lift... only for you to instead drive up close to the kerb and splashing them... I hope that hasn’t happened, but you get the idea? We’re in a war - or rather, a war is in us, between the Spirit and our sinful nature.

Whenever you do not do what you want - this is what’s going on. Now that’s not to give us a way out, an easy excuse, to just go and be nasty to someone and then say, sorry, it’s my sinful nature just getting the better of me! No, Paul calls us to live by the Spirit, and so not gratify those desires that rise within us. As he says in verse 18: ‘but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.’

The law has no hold on us if we’re led by the Spirit, because if we have the Spirit, then we’ve already been justified, declared righteous. So what are you being led by? Your sinful desires, or the Spirit of God?

To follow our sinful desires is to follow a path of destruction. That’s the point of v19-21. Paul lists out the acts of the sinful nature - obvious things. And he seems to group them into four categories (indicated by the semi-colon in the NIV) - sex; religion; relationships; and drink. When you’re following your sinful nature, these are the outcomes - sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.’

And look at where these lead: ‘I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ To live by the sinful nature, to do what we like, is to end up outside God’s kingdom. To go through life saying, ‘my will be done’ will end with God saying, ok, your will be done.

But there is another way to live. Not following our sinful desires, but living by the Spirit. Taking our lead from him, letting his power guide us, and grow us. Do you see the contrast at the start of verse 22? The acts of the sinful nature are like this... ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is...’

Have you got your Christmas tree up yet? What’s the difference between a Christmas tree and an apple tree? The decorations are hung on the Christmas tree (and getting the lights untangled...), but the apples on the apple tree are produced by the tree itself. And the Holy Spirit wants to produce his fruit in our lives. As we live by his power, and we allow him to lead us, he will produce the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Do you see how they contrast with the acts of the sinful nature?

Some writers point to the three groups of three - the first three (love, joy, peace) all about our attitude to God; the next three (patience, kindness, goodness) in relation to other people - ‘social virtues’ (Stott); and the last three (faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) in relation to self.

We can’t work these things up by ourselves - they come as the power of the Holy Spirit works through us, moulding us, shaping us, changing us to be more like the Lord Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit point us to Jesus - his life of perfect love, perfect joy, perfect peace and so on. There’s no law against this fruit.

So how do we do it? How do we live by the Spirit, triumph over our sinful desires, and produce the fruit of the Spirit? In our final two verses we’re told how - one past, one present continuous.

V24: ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.’ If we are Christ’s, then we have crucified our sinful nature. We’ve nailed it to the cross. We have put it to death. We don’t need to listen to it any more.

And instead of following our sinful nature, we’re told the positive steps to take in v25. ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.’ A long time ago, the BB World Council was held in Newcastle. On the Sunday, all the companies from Down Battalion took part in the parade to church - which was in the Slieve Donard hotel. But our company made their way up the street like Brown’s cows. What was the problem? We were a good bit back from the band we were following, trying to keep in step with it. But the band behind was keeping a different beat, a different step. So some of us were in step with the band in front, some with the band behind. Brown’s cows.

Paul says we’re to keep in step with the Spirit. March to the beat of his drum. Live by his power, following what he wants us to do, and what he wants to do in us. And one of the ways we do that is by not being conceited (proud); provoking and envying each other. (26)

Well, it didn’t turn out to be a short sermon. But it does have just one point, and one big application - live by the Spirit. You’ve crucified your sinful nature, so don’t listen to it; yield to the power of the Spirit, producing his fruit, keeping in step with him.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday 3rd December 2017.