Sermons

Divinity Defining Death. Rev 4 Revelation 6: 9 – 11, 7: 13 – 17; 1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 4, 20 -26 We can never give all to God unless God is all and absolute.   In the West humanity defines death as loss. However, Divinity defines death as gain. Humanity sees death as the destroyer. Divinity sees death as the enemy. These are two distinctly different views about death.   A few evenings ago I caught the latter part of the ABC TV programme, “You Can’t Ask That”. The focus was on centenarians. Most questioned the meaning of life and none seemed to see the possibility of life beyond the grave. Not that the show was about life after death. However it was clear that many questioned what the purpose of life was. Their answers strongly suggested that life was meaningless apart from family and personal stuff. Christianity’s answer to the meaning of life is so profound in its simplicity: to praise our Maker. There lies a sermon in itself, but today I want to focus on what happens to us when we die.   The secularist and atheist argue that death marks the end of everything for us. I am a little bemused when I attend a secularist funeral. Naturally no mention of the resurrection, but the Celebrant must offer some comfort. So we get eternity brought in via the back door. They will talk about your loved one living on in your memory. It’s intended to be comforting. Whether it is I don’t know. The issue remains that the belief is that death ends life for us – full stop.   On the other hand Christians are not so clear. Listen to our conversations and we seem to be all over the place. A notion exists that there is life after death. Unfortunately it is more akin to the ancient Greek worldview of a spiritual realm above the earth, and the Greek view of the soul. Christians have modified this view to include a realm of punishment below the earth. Of course they believed in a flat earth so the language is caught up in that view of heaven above and hell below.   The people of the Bible believed that God began life, sustained life and brought life to its conclusion. Their hope was in God the Creator who will eternally keep us [Ps 121]. By the time we get to Jesus’ life and ministry there is a general view amongst the Jews that God would raise the dead when the Kingdom of God comes. They believed God would establish his Kingdom on this earth. Heaven was not their destiny. As I have said before, heaven is God’s control tower. God’s future kingdom on earth was their ultimate future. The Jewish faith held that God would raise them in a general resurrection and give them new bodies. Paul expresses this quite clearly in 1 Corinthians 15. If we keep this understanding in mind we will find it easier to understand NT thinking.   Jesus’ disciples, who were all Jews and they sensed that Jesus was the Messiah who would bring in God’s Kingdom. (Remember Messiah is the Hebrew for Christ.) They were a little uncertain about Jesus as the Christ when he was arrested, beaten and crucified. But then that amazing event, which was first witnessed by women, changed everything. Jesus’ resurrection confirmed who Jesus is and it told them that God’s Kingdom had come in Jesus. Jesus is seen as the first to be raised from the dead. A new era had begun for them. They didn’t know how it would unfold, but it had begun.   Jesus had turned everything upside down. Everything about Jesus is strange. He was powerful yet humble, self-sacrificing, included women in his group, and he died a death at the hands of the Romans with the collaboration of some Jewish leaders. This should not have happened to God’s Messiah. But the Resurrection of Jesus completely changed their understanding. The resurrection showed that Jesus had conquered death. The ultimate enemy of humanity, death. Amazingly it was sacrificial love that destroyed the power of death not might and force. What the first Christians quickly came to understand was that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ meant that through him they would share in the Resurrection. They didn’t see heaven as a destiny. They saw the Resurrection heralding the Kingdom of God, and that they would share in it.   We have some marvellous lessons from our readings today and the Bible as a whole. I hope the Spirit opens your heart and mind to them.   Firstly, Revelation confirms the truth, as 1 Corinthians does, that when we die as faithful followers of Christ we will be incorporated into the presence of God. The promise of Scripture is that the believer goes to God. Remember that Jesus spoke about being the bread of eternal life and that those who believed in him would have eternal life [Jn 6: 27; 3:16]. No matter what we experience on this earth, if we trust Jesus and walk in his footsteps we will reign with him as priests and kings. [Rev 1:6; 5:10; Cf Isaiah 61:6; 1 Peter 2:9]. This language of ‘priests and kings’ only illustrates our intimate relationship and fine status with God the Creator.   John of Patmos sees that trials and tribulations are coming to the church. However it will not be a total disaster for the Church. Rather the opposite is true. John paints a picture of those Christians, who have died through persecution, sitting under the altar before God in the heavenly throne room [Rev 6:9]. They are told to wait ther in God’s presence until the Resurrection. In other words when we die we go to God and wait until the day of the Resurrection and the conclusion of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Their acceptance and protection is displayed in this marvellous picture of intimacy.

Worship: The Heartbeat of Creation. Rev 3 Revelation 4: 6-11; 5: 6 – 14 To worship God ironically is to bless ourselves! Heartbeat is defined as the pulse of your heart, or a single short moment, or something that acts as a unifying force. I want to speak of worship as a heartbeat – the pulse of creation and the unifying force of life. My fundamental reason for using this image is that worship gives life to the believer and I suspect gives life to the non-believer as well. Worship is life giving. It keeps us going and going well. Revelation chapters 4 and 5 provide a grand vision of the heavenly throne room and worship.  God, Christ Jesus, the 4 living creatures, 24 elders in white with golden crowns, the multitude of angels, and all of creation both human and creature, worship the almighty Creator God. This God reveals ‘his’ being in Christ Jesus the Slain Lamb [5: 6]. One cannot see this grand vision of worship and not realise that nothing is outside of God’s sphere of influence.  The worship of the Lamb, Christ Jesus, includes the whole of creation – those above, on the earth and below [5:13].  We read: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” This amazing scene tells us that no one is beyond God’s reach and no one is absolutely lost or condemned, for even those in Hell worship God. Both the worship of God in 4: 11 and the praise of the Lamb in 5:13 indicate that God’s ultimate love ultimately includes all. No one is beyond God’s reach.  That’s the majesty of John of Patmos’ theology. It is not the bizarre pictures of beasts and the outlandish images of disaster that are significant. It is the imaginative pictures that uncover the depth and breadth of God’s purposes and love.  The insight of this faithful 1st Century Christian sees God’s love embracing the faithful and the faith-less. In the face of disaster and persecution God is victorious. Nothing is beyond the reach and inclusion of God’s ring of love for the world [Jn 3: 16].  This is how our Sunday worship service works.  We sing praises to God, we acknowledge our sin and seek God’s forgiveness, we hear the Gospel, are encouraged and inspired to live the Christian life, we pray for others and this world and we go out to serve God by living out the truths of love, peace and justice for all.  We may do it rather badly, but we do it.  Every worship service, however messy or extravagant, is a reflection of the heavenly truth that worship is our response to the Creator who created us, and to the Saviour who gives us life. We worship our Creator and we honour our Saviour. Then we go to serve God by serving others. But there is more to worship. Worship does not merely honour the One who deserves it, but ironically, by it the worshipper is blessed. Worship helps us recognise both whose we are and who we are. Worship is all-embracing.  We’ve already seen that all creatures worship God and ultimately all humanity. Nature, as we call it, itself honours God by its beauty and value.  Worship looks not only to God but the whole world. Worship is awe-inspiring.  As we uncover the wonder of God, God’s omniscience and God’s sacrificial love, we can only worship.   Revelation’s imagery of the numerous ‘eyes’ in the heavenly throne room reminds us of God’s all-knowing. The ‘lamb slain’ declares God’s love and the very nature of God’s power – redemptive self-giving love. The 4 beasts around the throne reveal the majesty of God [vv 7,8].  The sea of glass signifies that God has controlled the sea. In ancient times the sea was understood to be the place of chaos. God’s controlling of the sea is a sign of God bringing order out of chaos. The sea of glass represents God’s creative power. These images that are strange to us were understandable to the hearers of Revelation. In turn they might have great difficulty in watching a Grand Final match or seeing our flag! Worship is age-less. Worship transcends the moment and includes past and future in the present. God is the beginning and end of everything. It follows that worship embraces everything God is – the alpha and omega [1: 8, 17].  So when we come to worship we find ourselves remembering the past and preparing for the future in the present moment of worship. Every time we worship the past and the future collapse into the present. This grand vision of worship reflects this truth. Now that the Lamb has been slain for our redemption, those past events along with the creation itself give us reason to praise God, but they also take us forward as the Lamb is the only one worthy to open the seals and take us into God’s future. Take for example, the Holy Communion service. In that service we remember the work of Jesus and the faithful witness of the saints from Abraham and Sarah through to today. We look back to the events of Easter time and we look forward to God’s completion of this world.  We sense our time here is temporary and death is not final. In our worship we continually look back to the past in our lives celebrating the great moments and praying for forgiveness for the weak moments. But then we look forward to God’s future for us.  We go out to live out God’s sacrificial love in sacrificial love for

Wonderful Assurances: Revelation 2. Revelation 1: 1 – 11a;  3: 14 – 22 If we are hardwired for bad news what may we be missing? We like bad news don’t we?  We must surely!  We give a lot of time to following the news and it is mostly bad news. Graft, crime and tragedy are the stuff of our news. There is some good news buried in the bowels of the news. We have become conditioned to see and expect bad news. I think we read the Bible attuned to bad news. Our aeriels are hardwired for what is sad and bad. So we pick up the anger and judgement and discount and discard the good news.  I want to say there is more good news in Revelation than bad news. You could rightly accuse me of being a glass half-full person than a glass half-empty person, but I would rather be one who looks for positivity and hope than one stuck in the rut of bad news. Today I am asking you to tune your antennas to see the wonderful assurances and hopefulness of Revelation. I am reading Revelation differently. Revelation is filled with word pictures. I am reading seeing the pictures. The first word picture is of Christ Jesus standing in the midst of the seven lampstands and holding seven stars in his hand. Christ Jesus tells John that the seven lampstands represent the seven churches and the seven stars represent the seven angels of the seven churches [1:12f]. The Bible uses numeral 7 as a symbol of perfection and completeness.  So I am reading seven as meaning all the churches; that is, the Church. Another reason for taking the seven churches to mean the Church is that the message is so comprehensive that it includes the whole church. I also see that what those Christians were doing is not unlike what we are doing. A study of Revelation shows us that the Church existed in an hostile environment. John and others have experienced persecution.  The Church is pressured to accommodate itself to the Greco-Roman culture. The Church has had to discern what is the true faith. The Church was small, weak and faced a change in leadership. Most of the first Christians were either very old or dead. Revelation addressed the church some 50 years after the first Easter.  What is said to the seven churches is equally true of the Church today. The Church is either facing persecution or rejection, the Western Church is enmeshed in its Western materialistic culture, it needs to discern what is the orthodox faith, it is weak and it faces a crisis in leadership and direction. The message in Revelation to the Church is one of God’s deep concerns.  Jesus stands in the midst of the Church and walks amongst the Church [1: 12ff; 2:1].  God sends messengers to the Church to warn them to stand firm.  Hold fast to the faith. They are commended for their patient endurance [1:9; 2: 2,3,19; 3:10]. God holds the Church accountable. The Church is confronted with its shortcomings. Some Christians have lost their first love for Christ Jesus; some have failed to love their neighbours; some followed false teaching; become lukewarm in their commitment; and, accommodated the culture. The Word of God calls the church to repent. Now repentance is not feeling sorry, but turning around and facing the right way. Repentance is the call to re-orientate ourselves to following Christ Jesus. The result of holding fast to Christ Jesus is the rich reward of the fellowship of God. Or to put it another way: we enjoy God and are filled with joy. Of these seven churches mentioned only five are criticised, but all are encouraged to turn to Christ Jesus and enjoy the rich rewards of true Faith. We are presented with an amazing set of word pictures of what God’s companionship entails for those who stand fast, who keep the faith and endure patiently to the end. The Ephesus church, which has lost the enthusiasm of its first love, is told that if they stand firm they will eat the fruit from the tree of life [2:7; cf. Gen 2: 17]. The Smyrna church, where some have followed false teaching, is offered the crown of life if they hold fast to Christ Jesus and his teachings [2:10] Pergamum and Thyatira are churches, which have allowed the Greco-Roman culture to lead them into sexual immorality, but are offered the hidden manna, special names and share in the authority of Jesus. [2:17, 26 &28] The Sardis church is promised that Christ Jesus will confess their names to God. [3:5] Philadelphia is a faithful church and they are promised to become a pillar in the temple of God. [3:12] The Laodicea church has been lukewarm, but if they turn to Christ they will be given a place on Christ Jesus’ throne [3:21]. Consider these images, which are not to be taken literally. They convey what God has in store for us if we follow Christ Jesus. I will take just two of these images and expand briefly on them.  The notion of being a pillar in the temple is not a literal description. In the first century the Christians understood that the gathering of worshipping Christians formed the temple of God. Jesus taught this. A pillar in a build supports the roof and strengthens the walls. The image of a pillar in a building conveys the notion of support and strength. That is, faithful Christians will be pillars in the church – pillars of strength. The second wonderful image is that Jesus will give the faithful place on his throne.  We are not talking about a big throne, but that the faithful will enjoy not only intimacy with Jesus but also ruling with him. These images all convey the message that God wants the best for us. I hope you can see why God works with us. Indeed I find an equally beautiful picture

Vulnerable in Troubling Times Revelation 1: 1 – 11a;  3: 14 – 22 What we believe about death informs the way we live our lives. In troubling times we become vulnerable. Sickness, natural disasters, stress, loss, death, uncertainty, political unrest and threats all shake our confidence. We question our existence. The economists tell us that if we are anxious about financial affairs we spend less. This in turn cools the economy. When these things affect us directly we become uncertain, over protective, cautious and we question our beliefs. We may wonder where God is. We doubt our faith and ourselves. When we’re under threat we will go where we feel safest and do what we think will be for the best, even if that means compromise.  In troubling times we risk compromising what we hold dear. We feel we must do something. Of course, we must. However we often act too quickly. Christian thinking suggests we act before we pray.  We end up doing what we think rather than what God thinks. I appreciate the latter is not always easy to determine. The study groups have commenced a reading of Revelation. It is a letter to the churches in ‘troubling times’. I was a little surprised, as I prepared for the reading of Revelation, how much we have in common with those Christians addressed by the writer of Revelation. Their world was not very secure. Their faith was threatened by persecution. Their livelihood was threatened by political unrest and economic inequality. When Revelation was written Domitian was the emperor. Domitian was a very authoritarian ruler and he promoted emperor worship. Christians were executed if they failed to worship the emperor at the local shrine. Though not universally and systematically applied the reality was there. The church had to face the question of loyalty to ‘king’ Domitian or loyalty to King Jesus.  The writer of Revelation, John, was exiled. Revelation is written to encourage the church in a time of threat and vulnerability.  Revelation provided the Christian with the understanding, that though they may face persecution and even death, God was Lord of history and Jesus had conquered death.  So Revelation provides many pictures of the saints around the throne of God with Christ Jesus.  Its final scene is that of heaven coming to earth and God’s welcoming, inclusive and beautiful city, the heavenly Jerusalem, being established on earth. A key to Christian theology, then and now, is that in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has established the final word on death. Death has lost its sting.  So John, the writer of Revelation, encourages Christians to stand firm in the faith. But it wasn’t only the threat of persecution by the State that caused the anxiety.  It was a time of general uncertainty and unease.  After decades of peace in the Empire war erupted.  In 62AD the Roman army suffered a major defeat at the hands of Persian horsemen each armed with bow and arrow. By the end of the sixties Rome had to respond to uprisings in France, Germany and not least Judea. The Roman army prevailed.  The Judeans were conquered and Jerusalem and its Temple destroyed completely.  Politically unrest continued after the death of the mad emperor Nero. Within 30 months of Nero’s death the empire had seen three emperors come and go and the fourth enthroned. There were also natural disasters. In 79 AD Mt Vesuvius erupted utterly destroying the city of Pompeii.  The Church was facing an identity crisis and major change. The founding leaders, the Apostles and first Christians, were dying and new leaders where emerging who could no longer base their leadership on being an eye witness.  The Church was small and vulnerable. Christians from time to time faced economic marginalisation. They had to worship outside work hours. That meant they met before the sun rose on the Lord’s Day, Sunday. Christians faced the possibility of being falsely accused. The Roman governor, Pliny who witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius, has left us his correspondence with the Emperor on how to deal with Christians. One of the things he had to deal with was the false accusations against Christians.  Up until the Judean uprising in 66-70 Christianity had been seen as a Jewish sect. Christians had enjoyed the same hard fought religious freedom the Jews had won. But now they distanced themselves from the Jewish war. Christianity had to stand-alone. This too contributed to its vulnerability. Wars, economic uncertainty, political uncertainty, natural disasters and a vulnerable Church were part of the scene. Do you see the similarity with us in the West today? We face wars, the threat of war, economic uncertainty, natural disasters associated with climate change, and a vulnerable church trying to find itself again. Once we were strong, or appeared to be strong, but now we are numerically weak. The other day I was invited with other ministers in this area to discuss the future of the local Uniting churches. When I arrived in 2010 I was asked to lead such a discussion. Now we are returning to that after a few interruptions from the Uniting our Future saga.  Notwithstanding the frustration of these processes we must face this weakness and respond graciously and boldly to the inevitable changes that will come. Of the UCA churches in our area, Black Rock, Beaumaris, Sandringham, Cheltenham and Moorabbin (LUC), Cheltenham and Leighmoor are the strongest. But both are vulnerable. I believe engaging with Revelation we can learn so much and also be encouraged. I ask you to read the book. I suggest you read it aloud to yourself. Read and listen and look at the word pictures it provides.  (I have provided a few copies of an introduction to Revelation in the Narthex. More are available if needed.)  I understand that the message of Revelation is simply a one of standing firm in the faith, worshipping Christ Jesus only, relying on God alone for our salvation, and believing that our future lies

 Living the Resurrection. Jeremiah 31: 1 – 7;  Colossians 3: 1 – 7;  Matthew 28: 1-10 The Christian life is not doing good things but being joyful? I remember reading about a Buddhist monk saying to a Christian monk that the problem of the church today is that we don’t live the resurrection life! I can’t find the reference but the concept that we should live the resurrection life struck me.  I mean we tend to think of ‘Christian living’ as being good and charitable. At one stage in the Commonwealth a good Christian was a gentleman. I actually heard that being said in the 80s in Wales. I was shocked. There is a tendency to reduce the Christian life to being a good citizen, an honest person, a caring person and today our denomination speaks of the Christianity as ‘doing justice’.  There are a lot of people who do all those things and they are not Christians. I put to you that the Christian life is not doing good things, but being joyful. I don’t mean happy. Joy is something deeper. I have adjusted our readings today. I added a verse to the beginning of the Jeremiah reading and a few verses at the end of the Colossian reading. Jeremiah speaks of God’s promise to restore his people in spite of God’s anger with them. In fact God is very angry. He is furious.  I often say that if you or I were God would we not be angry at the way people are behaving?  The beauty of Jeremiah’s understanding is that though the people have behaved very badly and brought shame and destruction upon themselves, God, though angry, has not given up on them. They will be brought back. There lies the joy. Paul addresses the Christian life issue from the perspective of the Resurrection.  Paul knows we have been raised to life with Christ. We have died with Christ to sin. Sin no longer has power over us if we believe Jesus. We are no longer slaves to sin – we are set free.  Paul sees us as hidden with Christ in God. Paul sees the Christian life as freed from the power of sin and death. He argues forcefully in Romans 6 & 8 that death no longer has a hold on us. We will leave this earthly life, yes, but we will do so only to enter the presence of God. The Resurrection life is living life to the full. Jesus taught that too. To think we are no longer bound by sin, that death does not have the final say and we will be revealed with him in glory should give us great joy. Think of it – we are free from sin, death and are promised the presence of God. Did you know that joy was the mark of the first Christians? In Acts 2: 47 we read that the first Christians ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. We read in Acts 13:52 that the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. What characterised the first Christians was their joy. Joy arises from a deep spirit of thankfulness for all things. Thanking God in all situations is the key to unlocking the joy. [1Thess 5: 16&17]. Paul is simply saying to the Colossian Christians as he says in Romans and other writers have expressed as well, that when we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour we are accepted as right with God and put on a path of rightness with God. God welcomes us into fellowship with Christ and we become one with Christ Jesus. That is the past is set aside, not overlooked, but set aside. A new life begins. It is a life of joy – fullness of life. Let me illustrate this profound truth by first using a common experience. We’ve all had some experience with dogs. Imagine that you and your partner go for a walk with your dog. You decide to do some training. So one of you stays on one side of the oval with the dog on the leash. The other goes across the oval and when on the other side calls the dog over. It is let loose. The dog in moving across to its owner on the far side is constantly distracted by the smells, sounds and other animals. So you call its name repeatedly. We need to encourage the animal and help keep it focussed; otherwise it will follow every smell and anything else. We know that some dogs will take a while to come, others less. No dog will not be distracted. Some will be more distracted than others. You know that such training will make you dog more obedient and therefore safer and enjoyable. (A dog that is untrained and undisciplined is not a safe animal unless bounded by fences.)   In the end the dog learns to come to you with a smile on its face and tail vigorously wagging to enjoy your company. You bend to pat the animal or reward it with a treat or hug. The dog is delighted to be in your presence and have your affection, and you too are equally delighted. This picture of a dog being called by its owner across the field may help us understand the Resurrection life, and what the source of our problems are: our distractions. St Augustine spoke about the reversal. The reversal is moving from using God to enjoy the world to using the world to enjoy God. We humans are largely governed by the belief that everything must be useful. So religion is valued in terms of its usefulness. How many times have I heard a parent say with respect to Christianity that they wanted their kids in the church to get some moral teaching? Religion has been used to control behaviour, order society, and explain the things we don’t understand.