Jesus: Faith Makes Perfect (Hebrews 11)

(The following message was preached at St. John’s on the 12/10/08.)

Hebrews 11 is one of the best-loved and most-hated portions of Scripture. Best-loved because we are presented with a catalogue of the heroes of the faith, men and women who have gone before us and lived a life commendable and commended for its faithfulness. Most-hated because, by comparison, we cannot help but feel a little shabby. Speaking for myself, I know that my life does not always reflect my faith. I say I believe in Jesus, but what does that faith amount to? How would my life be different without it? Today we shall attempt to address these questions and more.

One of the great dangers of studying such a well-known passage is that we risk losing sight of its context. Consider, for example, how we read 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s magnificent hymn about love. I have yet to attend a wedding where this text was placed in its proper context - a rebuke to a church intent on showing off their own gifts, rather than using them for each other’s benefit. It is when we understand the larger picture that we feel the sting of the Apostle’s words: ‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal’ (1 Cor. 13:1). Similarly, sometimes, at a low point in my relationship with God, I have turned to Hebrews chapter 11 looking for inspiration. Only rarely have I stopped to wonder why the author turns to the subject of faith at this point in his epistle. So that is where we shall start today, with context.

This discussion of faith does not just spring out of nowhere, although our English translations do their level best to conceal this from us. For the Greek word translated here as ‘faith’ has been used both positively and negatively throughout the letter to this point. Positively, the author has written of trust,¹ faithfulness,² faith,³ belief,⁴ confidence;⁵ and negatively of unbelief⁶ and disobedience⁷ - all of which derive from the same Greek word. No wonder he feels the need to clarify exactly what he means by it!

Most recently, at the end of chapter 10, he has quoted from the prophet Habakkuk, saying:

“He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” (10:37-8; cf. Hab. 2:3, 4)

This in itself is quoted in support of his strong call for perseverance: ‘Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful’ (10:23). So the flow of thought for the entire letter to this point is something like this: Jesus is in every way superior to the teachers and trappings of the Old Covenant,⁸ for he is the mediator and High Priest⁹ of the New Covenant¹⁰ which has superseded the Old; you have accepted him as your prophet, high priest and sacrifice so hold on to him rather than attempting to return to that which is obsolete;¹¹ indeed there is now no sacrifice for sin other than Jesus,¹² and to reject him is to face judgment;¹³ so you need to persevere with Jesus in order to receive that which he has promised.¹⁴ For, he says,

“He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” (10:37-8)

Hebrews 11 follows directly from this and is, in fact, the author’s exposition and interpretation of that passage from Habakkuk: he shows us what it means to ‘live by faith’; and he warns us against shrinking back. This will be our roadmap as we navigate Hebrews 11.

Live by faith!

As already mentioned, the Apostle has used the word ‘faith’ many times in his letter, and done so in many different contexts. Yet even now, he is not terribly concerned with giving us a definition of what faith is; his interest is in showing us what faith does. Thus we get the briefest of definitions - ‘faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’ - before moving on into examples of what it means to live by (or according to) faith.

There are 9 individuals in this chapter who are specifically commended for their faith. Each of them deserves a sermon of their own; you will be pleased to hear, however, that it is not my intention to offer you 9 mini-sermons today! Instead I shall do my best to draw out some of the things the author is teaching us about what living by faith looks like.

1) Faith trusts God’s word… and obeys his commands!

Faith is our response to what God says. Sometimes this means proclaiming God’s truths even when they are unpopular, unacceptable or incomprehensible to our society: ‘By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible’ (11:3). It prompts us to obey God’s instruction: ‘Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going’ (11:8). In Noah’s case, both of these were true, for he was surely ridiculed for his actions yet by faith he obeyed God anyway.

We are told that Abraham left his home ‘even though he did not know where he was going’ (11:8). Sometimes God’s word is a lantern that lights only one or two steps in front of us; trusting God’s word means stepping out along the path you can see and relying on God for the rest. Abel did not have as full a picture of God as Abraham did, yet Abel recognised God as worthy of honour and worship and acted accordingly. Similarly Abraham did not have the law as it was given to Moses, but he did trust in what he had received from God.

There is a gentle rebuke here for the recipients of this epistle. They were possessed of a much greater revelation of God than Abel, Abraham or Moses. Yet whilst they had started out strong¹⁵ they were now drifting back in to the rituals and practices of Judaism. What should have encouraged them to go on was instead causing them to drift away. They had heard but not yet ingested the ‘elementary truths of God’s word’ (5:12) - they were refusing milk let alone dining on solid food.¹⁶ Perhaps they were disillusioned because they could not see how God could possibly be in control when they were enduring ‘great suffering’ (10:32), ‘insult and persecution’ (10:33) ‘prison’ and confiscation of property (10:34). ‘Faith,’ the Apostle says in response, ‘is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’ (11:1).

This rebuke is also for us. Does God’s word lead to a response in your life? Are you worried because you do not understand God’s entire plan for your life? Don’t be, for in this you are like Abraham. Mark Twain once said, ‘It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.’ We must act in obedience to the parts of God’s word that we do understand, then trust in him to make the rest clear when the time is right.

2) Faith trusts more in God than in God’s gifts

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. (11:17-19)

Abraham had been promised that he would become the father of many nations¹⁷ and that it would be through Isaac that this would come about.¹⁸ Yet when God asked him to give up his son, he obeyed. We are told that this is because he ‘reasoned that God could raise the dead’. This is a strong contrast to the story told in Genesis 17, where he had tried to convince God to bless Ishmael as it was clear to him that his wife Sarah would never conceive. Evidently he had learned his lesson about trying to control the way God fulfilled his promises.

Perhaps you, too, have some vision of the way your life is ‘supposed’ to pan out. Maybe God has given you a child or a spouse, a job, a house or something else in response to prayer. What would you do if he called you to give that person or possession up for his sake, in the cause of the gospel? Could you do it? Would you? This requires great faith, but be assured that the one who asks it of you is forever faithful.

3) Faith looks forward, not back

Hope is an intrinsic part of faith, and hope by its very nature looks forward rather than backward. We are told that, whilst these heroes of faith ‘did not receive the things promised’ nevertheless ‘they saw them and welcomed them from a distance’ (11:13). For them, the fact that God had said it was sufficient for them to believe it. Furthermore they were not content to settle for less than what God promised; that is where their eyes were focused. ‘If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one’ (11:15-16).

Are your eyes fixed on the promises of God? Are you ‘longing for a better country’ or are you enamoured of the country you are in… or even the one you have been called out of? It’s true, isn’t it, that we sometimes become comfortable in our routine to the point where change seems too much like hard work, and so we potentially miss out on God’s blessings. Worse still is when we deliberately turn our back on God and return to the situation we were in before he called us. Please don’t settle for either of these - you can’t afford it, and we as a church can’t afford it. You need to press on and ‘persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised’ (10:36).

Don’t shrink back!

The Apostle is desperate to impress upon us this need to persevere. This is evident from the fact that he bookends this chapter with encouragement to press on and not to hold back: he starts by saying, ‘we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved’ (10:39); and he concludes, ‘therefore… let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us’ (12:1).

As we have heard many times in this series, this letter was probably written to Jewish Christians. As persecution arose and intensified against them, however, the prospect of simply merging back into mainstream Judaism (which was protected by Roman law) rather than holding on to their Christian faith (which, increasingly, was not) would have become increasingly attractive. The author’s method of persuasion throughout the letter to the Hebrews has been to show how much superior Jesus is to anything offered by Old Covenant Judaism: he is superior to prophets¹⁹ (including the greatly revered prophet Moses²⁰ ) and angels;²¹ he represents a greater salvation,²² for he is a greater high priest²³ who serves in a greater tabernacle²⁴ as mediator of a New and better Covenant,²⁵ offering a greater sacrifice for sins.²⁶ His consistent argument has been that the old ‘is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves’ (10:1) and that ‘what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear’ (8:13).

True to form, the Apostle continues this theme. He has presented the heroes of the Jewish faith. ‘These were all commended for their faith,’ he writes, ‘yet none of them received what had been promised’ (11:39). This is not to say that they did not receive any part of what was promised, for this would clearly be untrue. For Abraham had a son according to promise and he entered the land that was promised (11:11); similarly Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Joshua all receive in part according to God’s promises. But they all died before seeing God’s promises completely fulfilled. Their faith was in this sense imperfect. The reason for this is that ‘God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect’ (11:40).

Faith made perfect

Before we go any further we need to understand this word ‘perfect’. The idea is of completion and wholeness, a goal or objective achieved. (It may please you to know that this sermon is nearly ‘perfect’ - i.e. I am nearly done!) Thus Jesus shared in our humanity in order to be made perfect through suffering (2:10) and ‘once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him’ (5:9); the sacrifices made under the old covenant were not able to ‘make perfect those who draw near to worship’ (10:1) but Jesus is able ‘because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy’ (10:14).

Perfection is when the shadow becomes the reality, the dream takes on flesh, and the unseen heavenly reality becomes the seen earthly reality. It comes as no surprise then that the author is not shy about relating the ‘something better’ that God had planned (11:40):

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’ (12:1-3)

The only faith that is perfect is the one that rests in Jesus, ‘the author and perfecter of our faith’ (12:2). And for more on that, you will need to join us again in 3 weeks time when we pick up with Hebrews 12…

Footnotes

1. 2:13
   
2. 2:17; 3:2, 5; 10:23
   
3. 4:2; 6:1, 12; 10:22, 38
   
4. 4:3; 10:39
   
5. 6:9
   
6. 3:12, 19
   
7. 4:6; 4:11
   
8. Chapters 1-4
9. 4:14ff.
   
10. Chapter 8
11. 8:13
12. 10:26b
13. 10:27
14. 10:36
15. 10:32-4
16. 5:12-13
17. Gen. 17:4
18. Gen. 21:12
19. 1:1-2
20. 3:3
21. 1:4
22. 2:3
23. 8:1-2
24. 9:11
25. 8:13
26. 9:14
    

The Word made flesh (John 1:1-18)

The following message was preached at the St. John's 7pm service on the 31/8/08.

‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.’ (14)

The lights dim and the buzz dissipates into stillness. Amidst hushed anticipation, the gathered gloom gives birth to a lone figure, striding purposefully towards her post. Having secured attention, evidenced by swelling applause from behind her and watchful readiness in front, she takes her place and, after the slightest of pauses, signals commencement.

The music that follows is not the feature; this is understood, for the curtains are not yet open. Yet it is of one piece with the show, and none can doubt it, for it is a tapestry of themes that are to come. This is known as the overture, and it is deliberately designed to set the scene for the play that is about to commence. The audience is introduced to the musical motifs that are so closely entwined with the plot as to be indistinguishable: the hero’s theme; the sinister tones of the villain’s refrain; the lovers’ duet; the haunting strains of an aria of loss. Before an actor so much as appears on stage, we are already familiar with the musical anchor points ahead of us. They are never explained; it is only if you know what is to come that it ‘makes sense’.

John opens his gospel in the same sort of fashion. In these first 18 verses, we are exposed to many of the mega themes that will come up over and over again throughout the rest of his message, such as light, darkness, life, rebirth, witness and revelation. Yet there is one thread woven all the way through this overture, like an instrument that plays the same riff in the midst of all the other themes, contributing to each and binding them all together. What’s more, this specific instrument doesn’t actually play again throughout the rest of the show! It is important, then, that we appreciate its contribution now whilst it plays. We will have the rest of this series on John to appreciate the other important themes, but tonight we want to focus on ‘the Word’.

‘The Word...’

John begins:

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ (1)

More than any other creature on earth, human beings love to communicate with one another; words are the way we do it. Some of us communicate with many words, some with few. We write them down, type them out, whisper them and shout them. We constantly invent technologies to allow us to communicate over greater distances more efficiently and effectively: the loud speaker; the radio; the telephone; video; the internet... and the list goes on! Myspace and Facebook are just the latest in a long line of products that tap into our desire to, in words and pictures, communicate ourselves to one another. Can you imagine what those sites would be like if we took the words away?

What about explaining our actions? Who hasn’t heard a child launch in to a long and complicated explanation of exactly how they ended up where they did. Have a look at the following comic:



Calvin’s mum is, naturally, mystified - as are we. How did Calvin end up in this state?



It is only when we understand, in Calvin’s own words, the events leading up to his predicament that it begins to make a (twisted) kind of sense. His words give us a fuller picture of what was going on from his perspective.

We also use words to teach and to learn; I’m using them right now! We express important ideas and concepts that we need to convey using our words. When we go to school, a large part of our education is in learning the right phrases and terms to accurately express ourselves. We take complicated concepts like algebra, art and assonance and condense them down to a single representative word or phrase. We then use these words as a shorthand that allows us to build up even more complicated and interesting ideas, and the process repeats.

We choose our words carefully, because unless we do so they may be misunderstood, or may convey a message other than - or even contrary to - the one we intended.

We can sum these three ideas up - expressing ourselves, explaining our actions, and instructing others - using the word ‘revelation’. Some things cannot be discovered or found; they must be revealed.

God uses words for all of these purposes as well. First and foremost, God reveals himself to us through his Word. He speaks to Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and so on. To each one he shares a little bit more of his essence, who he is. We can infer some things about God based on his creation, but without his words we are unable to understand what makes him tick, who he is.

Who God is defines what God does. If we do not know his character, we cannot possibly understand what drives his actions. Take the story of the Flood in Genesis 6. A massive flood comes and wipes out the population of the Earth, excepting only 8 people; this is a tragedy by anyone’s standards. It is only when we hear God’s words about this event that we realise that God is a holy and just God, who cannot abide evil. Yet he is also a merciful God, who gives grace to those whom he chooses.

Of course, God also uses words for our instruction. Perhaps the most famous example of this is found in Exodus 20; it is the rare person who has not at least heard of the 10 Commandments. These are a series of explicit instructions that outline how God’s people are to act; at the same time, they further reveal God’s character and show what is important to him. They are what distinguished the people of Israel from all other nations, for God had revealed himself particularly to them.

In addition to the aspects of revelation we have already mentioned, God’s words have one more important characteristic: they accomplish his will. Think back to Genesis 1 & 2. God speaks the word - ‘light’ - and there is light. He speaks again and the waters separate from the sky, then recede to reveal dry land... and so on. It is God’s word that is the vehicle for his will. We can not do this. Occasionally I test this. I lie in bed after I wake up and say ‘up’. You might be surprised that often this has no measurable result at all; when it does, it usually only serves to make my wife grumpy enough to kick me out of bed!

These are God’s words; and they are valuable to us beyond measure. We are fortunate to have God’s words written down for us. As I sit at my desk and write this, I can count 11 different translations of God’s word within arm’s reach. From these, from what God has said, I can something about who God is. Yet John speaks not of God’s words, but of his Word. This Word is a person in his own right, for though he “was with God” and indeed “was God”, he can nevertheless be spoken of as distinct from God. John speaks of a revelation greater than that given through Moses. And just in case we have no idea what he is talking about, John makes it clear:

‘For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ (17).

‘... became flesh...’

Jesus combines all of these aspects of revelation in his person, works and words. He is the new and better - indeed the final and complete - revelation of God. He expresses God’s character in his own character, for he is God. When Jesus shows compassion, it is because his Father is compassionate; when Jesus is angry, we know that the Father is angry. Similarly, Jesus explains to us why God does what he does. He teaches us the response that God desires. And ultimately he accomplishes God’s purposes in the way that no other can. John summarises this at the end of tonight’s passage:

‘No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.’ (18)

There is an important question to be answered here: if God has expressed himself fully and finally in Jesus, why do we need the rest of the Bible? Perhaps the New Testament is OK, for at least it is talking about Jesus, but why should I read the Old Testament? The answer is at the same time both simple and profound. The Bible as a whole gives us the vocabulary to understand Jesus. Let me see if I can explain.

Let’s say that Rod’s four year old grandson Josiah sits down by himself in front of the television to watch a Bledisloe Cup match. Unless his indoctrination has already commenced, chances are good he won’t be able to make much of the game. If you asked him about it afterwards, he might be able to tell you that some of the people wore yellow and some black, that the yellow people were cheering at the end and the black ones looked sad... but that would probably be extent of it. If he sat down with Grumps, however, who explained what a try is, a lineout, a scrum, a drop-goal and so on, he would be starting to develop the vocabulary with which to understand and explain the game. As his knowledge and experience increased he would be able to grasp the more complicated aspects of the game, and the words associated with them - rules governing who is offside, what merits a penalty, tactics etc. Eventually he would reach a point where he could describe in detail all the events taking place on the field, and appreciate a Wallaby victory in all its glory! (If, on the other hand, the All Blacks won, he may well learn some vocabulary from his grandfather of an entirely different nature!)

Is it any wonder that God, preparing the greatest event in history, wanted us to have the words and concepts with which to appreciate it? So we find that both the Old and New Testaments are riddled with ideas which we can use to understand Jesus. They are important ideas in their own right, and certainly had meaning to their original audience; but in addition to that role they also provide a context for catching some small portion of Jesus’ purpose, words and works. So we can say that Jesus is the new and better Adam, who faced his temptation in the garden yet remained without sin; he is the new and better Abel, killed because the sacrifice he brought was more acceptable than his brother, whose blood cries out, not for vengeance, but for forgiveness; the new and better Joseph, sent ahead by God to make preparation for the salvation of his people; the new and better Moses, through whom come ‘grace and truth’ not just ‘law’. I could keep going like this all night - but I won’t, because to do that would be to miss out on the rest of what John has to say to us. But before I leave this subject let me say that if you have no idea what I am talking about, let encourage you to make some time to spend reading through the Old Testament; don’t settle for a four-year-old’s perspective on the most important event the world has seen or will ever see.

‘... and made his dwelling among us.’

Let us return, then, to the subject at hand: Jesus is the full and final revelatory Word of God. John points out very clearly that there are only two responses to this Word. On the one hand, it is possible to ignore him and even reject him; we know that many do. ‘He was in the world, but though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him’ (10-11). What a tragedy! Imagine that, instead of Rod explaining the game it is now the inventor of Rugby; what a shame it would be if Josiah decided to ignore him or reject him, because he could have no better opportunity of understanding it than that! Or, to shift the illustration, let’s say you were trying to act in one of Shakespeare’s plays and by some freak occurrence of time and space the author appeared to you and wanted to explain your part to you. Would you ignore him? Take this situation and multiply its magnitude many millions of times, and you might be starting to get close to the enormity of what John records: the Author of Life wrote himself into history in order to communicate with his creation.

It is far better, it seems to me, to take advantage of contact with the author, to develop relationship with him. According to John, ‘to all who received him, to those who believed on his name, he gave the right to be children of God’ (12). This is important: in fact, it is what John has been leading up to. The reason Jesus, God’s Word, became flesh, was in order that we might become children of God. It is for this that ‘the Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us’ (14).

How does this relationship come about? According to John, it is ‘to those who received’ the Word that God gives the right to be children of God. How then do you receive Jesus? The first thing is to be sure that we are receiving the right person... and not some other pretending to be him. What’s more, our relationship must be founded on who he has revealed himself to be. Imagine I introduced myself to you as Tim, but you persisted in calling me Ralph, because that’s how you prefer to think of me; or that I told you I couldn’t stand eggs and the next week you serve me up omelette for dinner. Our relationship would not be going good places! This may seem obvious, but it is often overlooked as we choose to receive the Jesus of our imagination rather than the Jesus revealed to us in Scripture. If you do that, you end up worshiping an imaginary God; if, instead, you commit yourself to seeking out the God of the Bible, he will not hide himself from you. After all, ‘the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (14) for this very reason. ‘No one has seen the Father, but God, the One and Only, has made him known’ (18).

Read your Bible, and ask that God would reveal his Son to you through it; then ask that he would reveal himself to you through Jesus his Son.

Miracles

Question

How does an understanding of miracles as a limited foretaste of the consummated kingdom help us in approaching the question of miracles today? Should we expect similar miraculous occurrences today as are recorded in the NT? At a practical level, how should we go about dealing with sickness and other personal needs in our congregations?

Abstract

Miracles are a dividing issue for Christians and non-Christians alike. This essay will show that this is as it should be, since they are intended to provoke a response; that a concentration of miracles around the apostles does not mean that they are limited to the apostolic age; but that the Christian is to respond prayerfully, rather than powerfully, when facing needs of all kinds.

Essay

Miracles are inextricably linked with Christianity. Ask the man on the street what he knows of Jesus and he will likely describe one of two things: Jesus the Great Moral Teacher; or Jesus the Miracle Worker. Their motives and attitudes in doing so are many, across the entire spectrum from awe to skepticism. Opinions amongst Christians are scarcely less diverse. Most will agree that Jesus worked miracles himself, although that opinion is not universally held, even amongst Christians.¹ Where the most substantial divergences of opinion occur, however, is in how we are to understand the significance of scriptural miracles in general and Jesus’ miracles in particular. Should Christians aspire to emulate this aspect of Jesus’ ministry? The question is not idle for, particularly in the case of healing miracles, the stakes are high; it is literally a question of life or death. To begin to answer this question, we must carefully consider the rôle miracles played in Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus declares his mission at the commencement of his ministry (Luke 4:16ff.), quoting from Isaiah 61:1-3:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for all those who mourn in Zion - to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

This is a messianic prophecy, and Jesus here proclaims himself as God’s Messiah. ‘Then he began to say to them. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”’ (Luke 4:21). His listeners cannot have missed the royal implications of his statement; the Kingdom of God is ready to be inaugurated, the LORD’s favour is to be proclaimed; and miracles are the signposts that it is near. As Wayne Grudem (1994, 360) writes, the miracles of Jesus serve to ‘bear witness that the kingdom of God has come and has begun to expand its beneficial results into people’s lives’.

Saucy (1996) points out that Jesus seeks more than establishing the fact of the presence of the inaugurated kingdom. It is response that he desires, and Jesus’ teachings and works, including his miraculous works, are all geared towards eliciting a response. Thus it is no surprise that miracles form a point of divergence for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Wallis (1992) refines this: miracles free people to respond to God. This expectation of response is seen most clearly in Matthew 11:

Then [Jesus] began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. (Matt. 11:20).

John the Baptiser was the first to proclaim Jesus as Christ (John 1:29); later, in prison and facing death, John sends messengers to Jesus for confirmation that he was not mistaken (Matt. 11:2-6). To answer, Jesus points to his works: ‘the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them’ (11:5) - referring to another messianic prophecy in Isaiah 35:5-6.

At least some portion of Jesus’ ministry, then, is a function of his unique identity as the Christ. But how much is unique, and how much is exemplary? Should Christians today seek to emulate Christ’s miraculous acts, or are they to follow another way? Were Jesus’ acts the works of incarnate God, or are they the works of Spirit-filled man?

For Warrington (2000), the answer is clear cut: Jesus’ miracles, and particularly his healings, ‘are uniquely linked to his mission to initiate the Kingdom’ and thus ‘it is difficult to see how believers today may emulate him’. Williams (1993) goes the other way, arguing from Luke 6:40 that Jesus trained his disciples to do as he did. ‘If Jesus trained His disciples to reproduce His message and ministry of the kingdom, then we should expect that they, in turn, were to train the Church to do the same.’

Unfortunately, Jesus does not provide us clear and explicit teaching on the difference between the unique and exemplary components of his works, nor does he offer us nice neat categories in which to understand his actions. We may, however, learn much from the commandments given to his disciples, and the example they set for the church that followed them.

In Luke 10, parallel to the passage we have just considered from Matthew 11, the judgment on the unrepentant cities is offered immediately following the successful mission of the 72, where the acts of power were done not by Jesus himself but by his disciples. Similarly, in the miracles of feeding the 5000 (Matt. 14:15-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:4-13), it is entirely possible that the multiplications took place in the disciples hands rather than in Jesus’. One must be wary of appropriating a mission not one’s own, particularly if unwilling to be subject to the same restrictions imposed on that mission, such as not going to the Gentiles or the Samaritans (Matt. 10:5) and not taking a bag (Luke 10:4) etc. (Carson 1992). Nevertheless, the impetus is clear: ‘proclaim the kingdom of God and… heal’ (Luke 9:2). The kingdom of God is here, and this is what it looks like.

John Wimber, in his influential work Power Evangelism (1985), seizes upon this idea. His reasoning is that the Kingdom is still here, and is still to be demonstrated. Many of the miracles recorded in Scripture, he suggests, have the effect of freeing people to respond to the gospel; he calls these events ‘power encounters’. Examples from the gospels include Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) and his numerous exorcisms (Matt. 8:28ff.; Matt. 9:32ff.; Mark 1:21ff. etc.). Wimber seems more interested, however, in the ‘power encounters’ found in Acts, which he considers to be normative for Christian experience. In Acts ‘we see the birth of a warrior nation, the army of God, the church’ (Wimber 1985, 134). The inauguration of God’s Kingdom brings it into conflict with the powers and principalities of the earthly kingdom. Though the decisive battle has been fought and won by Christ, the war rages on to this day.²

James Montgomery Boice, in his critique of Wimber’s teachings, notes that any Christian reader of Ephesians 6 cannot help but acknowledge the truth of spiritual warfare.
However, we will also remember that Ephesians 6 does not promote miracle-working as the way to do battle against Satan but instead admonishes us to be clothed with Christ’s righteousness and to be armed with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (v. 17). The Spirit’s weapon, therefore, is not additional revelation, nor “power encounters,” but the written text of Holy Scripture. We are constantly reminded that the way to defend ourselves against Satan’s onslaught is not by miracles but by the effective proclamation and teaching of Scripture. (Boice 1992, 123)

According to Boice, Wimber’s writings demonstrate a serious shortcoming: they make much of the church working ‘signs and wonders’ and no mention of the gospel. It is ‘an evangelism without an evangel’ (129).

Aside from this issue, Boice’s primary criticism of the so-called ‘signs and wonders’ movement is that they appropriate the ‘signs of the apostle’ (Acts 2:43; Acts 5:12; 2 Cor. 12:12) for themselves. This is, in his view, an unwarranted hermeneutical leap as the apostles played a unique rôle in testifying to the risen Jesus and establishing the church. Boice is not the only one to draw this distinction; Warfield ([1918] 1972), Woodhouse (1987) and Carson (1992) are all in agreement with Boice on this point. This is not to say they teach a full cessation of genuine miracles after the apostles, but rather that the authority granted the apostles for miraculous signs and wonders is not transferable to their heirs. ‘We believe in a wonder-working God; but not in a wonder-working church.’ (Warfield [1918] 1972, 58)

Wayne Grudem (1994) argues strongly against this teaching. He outlines the scriptural evidence for limiting miracles to the apostle, claiming that the case rests primarily on two key texts: 2 Corinthians 12:12 and Hebrews 2:3-4. He then goes on to argue that, in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul is attempting to distinguish himself from non-Christian pretenders to the apostolic office, rather than non-apostolic Christians. Similarly, Grudem discounts arguments from Hebrews 2 as drawing more from the passage than is actually there. Even if it can be understood to mean that God confirms by miracles the words of those who heard Jesus, it says nothing of whether or not God will do likewise for those who have not directly heard him. Just because there is a particular concentration of miracles surrounding the apostles does not necessarily imply that they are only for the apostles.

Thus far we have considered miracles only on an a priori basis, but some adopt an a posteriori line of reasoning. Wimber (1985, 151-174), for example, furnishes us with a list of miracles attested throughout the history of the church, as well as a separate list for miracles of the 20th century. His implicit argument is that we should start with the fact that miracles in a Christian context occur today and we therefore should read and interpret Scripture in the light of this reality.

In a similar vein, Wenham (1986) notes the ebb and flow of miracles throughout the Old Testament, with peaks at the times of Moses, Elijah & Elisha, and a relative scarcity at other times. He sees a similar trend in the New Covenantal era, with miracles clustered around fresh movements of God’s Spirit in what are often termed ‘revivals’.

Contrast these with Warfield ([1918] 1972), who provides a more detailed list, drawn from much the same material, yet with vastly different conclusions. His stated argument is that there are few well-attested miracles in the 1st century; that those of the 2nd and 3rd centuries are syncretistic adoptions of heathen aretalogy; and that most, if not all, subsequent accounts of miracles are suspect as fiction legitimised by tradition. Clearly all three authors have their own agendas, and each claims historical evidence in his argument. Such an approach then is fraught with difficulty.

Even should one be able to establish beyond all doubt that genuine miracles have or have not occurred since the apostolic age, the application to the subject at hand must be carefully considered. Miracles have no intrinsic meaning; they are given meaning by the words that accompany them. Jesus warned that many would come working miracles in his name in an effort to deceive the elect (Matt. 24:24), and people on both sides of some of the most crucial theological divides claim miracles as vindication of their cause. As Warfield puts it, ‘heretics of all ages are at least as well provided with supporting miracles as the church itself’ ([1918] 1972, 67).³

We may summarise our findings thus far as follows: Jesus worked miracles, as attested by the canonical gospels, but there is doubt as to what proportion of his miraculous acts are paradigmatic for today’s Christians. Instead we look to the example and teaching of his disciples, who worked miraculously in the regular course of their ministry. Whilst noting the unique rôle of the apostles in establishing the church, there is no compelling reason to suppose that their miraculous works were done solely for this purpose, nor that they were intrinsically tied to their office as apostles. Thus we may rightly expect miracles today, as a foretaste of the Kingdom of God.

But how much of God’s Kingdom should we expect to see manifest here on earth today? Casual readers of James 5:13-18 may be forgiven for believing that all illness and disease should be overcome through the simple expedients of confession, prayer and anointing. How then are we to reconcile this with our experience of suffering and death even amongst the most faithful of Christians?

‘Are any among you sick? They should call the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.’ (James 5:14). Kendall (2002, 288) rightly points out that the context is members of a church; this is not a mandate for us to go out and heal people in the street. Furthermore, he argues, the sickness described must be serious⁴, and the initiative lies with the person who is sick to call the elders; the elders are not instructed here to wander around the church looking for aches and sniffles to heal.

Kendall goes on to explore the link James draws between sickness and sin, noting that whilst sin is not always the cause of illness, sometimes it is (2002, 287). God does this for disciplinary rather than punitive reasons (Dickson 2006, 111-2). For this reason, it is one’s own elders to be called when sick, as they are the best suited for enquiring about sin and facilitating repentance (Shogren 1989).

What of the oil? It has been variously understood to represent: the medicine of the day; the Sacrament of Extreme Unction; a Psychological Reinforcement, i.e. a placebo; and a symbol of divine favour (Shogren 1989). Shogren, Kendall and Dickson all find agreement on the latter, with Kendall arguing that the oil performs the same symbolic function as the bread and the wine of the eucharist: ‘It’s a visual, tangible reminder of the Spirit and his power to heal’ (2002, 292).

James continues: ‘The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective’ (James 5:15-6). Prayer is key in James’ thinking. It is prayer that saves, rather than elders, oils or even faith. Kendall puts is aptly when he writes: ‘The prayer of faith takes place… when there is a simultaneous coinciding of the believer’s faith and God’s will’ (2002, 299).
As yet, we have only a limited foretaste of the Kingdom of God; we must live, act and teach accordingly. As Wallis (1992) writes,

if we stress the in-breaking of the kingdom in Jesus’s ministry, we raise hopes that freedom from suffering and healing will be experienced now; but if we offer the cross as the controlling symbol for Christian discipleship, we encourage the view that suffering is a necessary - if unpleasant - travelling companion through this life.

Reference List

Boice, J. M. 1992, “A Better Way: The Power of the Word and Spirit”, in M. S. Horton (ed.), Power Religion: The selling out of the evangelical church?, Homebush West: Anzea, 119-136.

Carson, D. A. 1992, “The purpose of signs and wonders in the New Testament”, in M. S. Horton (ed.), Power Religion: The selling out of the evangelical church?, Homebush West: Anzea, 89-118.

Dickson, J. 2006, James: The wisdom of the brother of Jesus, Sydney: Aquila.

Grudem, W. 1994, Systematic Theology, Nottingham: IVP, 355-375.

Kendall, R. T. 2002, The Way of Wisdom, Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 285-319.

Saucy, M. R. 1996, “Miracles and Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 153 (July-Sept 1996), 281-357.

Shogren, G. S. 1989, “Will God Heal Us - A Re-examination of James 5:14-16a”, EQ, 61/2 (1989), 99-108.

Wallis, I. G. 1992, “Christ’s continuing ministry of healing”, Expository Times, 104/3 (Nov 1992), 42-45.

Warfield, B. B. 1972, Counterfeit Miracles, London: Banner of Truth (first ed. 1918).

Warrington, K. 2000, Jesus the Healer: Paradigm or Unique Phenomenon? Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1-29.

Wenham, D. 1986, “Miracles Then and Now”, Themelios 12/1, 1-4.

Williams, D. 1993, “Following Christ’s example: a biblical view of discipleship”, in G.S. Greig & K. N. Springer (eds.), The Kingdom and the Power: are healing and the spiritual gifts used by Jesus and the Early Church meant for the church today?, Ventura: Regal, 175-196.

Wimber, J. & Springer, K. 1985, Power Evangelism: Signs and Wonders Today, London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Woodhouse, J. 1987, “Signs and Wonders and Evangelical Ministry” in R. Doyle (ed.) Signs & Wonders and Evangelicals, Homebush West: Lancer.

Bibliography

Adamson, J. B 1976, The Epistle of James, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 196-202.

Brown, C. 1985, That You May Believe: Miracles and Faith Then and Now, Grand Rapids/Exeter: Eerdmans/Paternoster, 151-175.

Johnson, B. 2005, The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind: Access to a Life of Miracles, Shippenburg: Destiny Image.

Lewis, C. S. 2002, Miracles, London: HarperCollins.

Marshall, C. D. 1992, “Ghostbusters - Then and Now”, Reaper, 74/5 (Oct-Nov, 1992),14-16.

Motyer, A. 1985, The Message of James, 2nd ed., Leicester: IVP, 186-214.

Footnotes

1. The Jesus Seminar, for instance, discounts the majority of Jesus’ miracles recorded in the canonical gospels, including his resurrection, as fanciful interpolations by later editors. [↩]
2. Wimber uses an helpful illustration here, borrowed from German theologian Oscar Cullman. The turning point in World War II was D-Day, when troops landed on the shore of Normandy, but peace was not declared until V-E Day, some 11 months later. We live, he says, in the time between Christ’s decisive victory on the Cross (D-Day), and his parousia (V-E Day) - and there are still battles to be fought. ibid., 33. [↩]
3. This, in large part, appears to be the motivator behind Warfield’s animosity towards what he calls ‘ecclesiastical miracles’. He is implicitly fighting the Roman Catholic assertion that God vindicates the Roman church over against the protestant church through provision of miracles. [↩]
4. He argues this based on James’ choice of sōzō (I save) rather than therpeuō or iaomai (I heal) in verse 15. [↩]

1 Peter 5 - Anxieties: To Be Cast Not Carried

What makes you anxious? I mean really anxious, not just, “I hope the guy in front of me doesn’t order the last cheese & bacon pie,” or “Will I catch some disease if I don’t wash my hands?” I’m talking gut-wrenching, break out in a sweat, unable to sleep anxious.

Does the Bible have anything say to you in your anxiety? Does God care about what you care about? Yes and yes! Tonight we will examine just one of many passages that demonstrate how much God is involved in our pain, our trials, our doubts and our cares. What’s more, he understands the causes... and he has plans for dealing with them! Does that sound like useful information to have?

1 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
"God opposes the proud 
 but gives grace to the humble."

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

- 1 Peter 5:1-11

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (7). That is the heart of tonight’s message. God’s love for you is without parallel. He desires that you should bring all the things that weigh you down, that hold you back and burden you, and give them up for him to deal with.

In this passage, Peter shares with us three common causes of anxiety. More importantly, however, he lets us know how he has already put plans in place to deal with those causes.

God’s plan for Lions: Shepherds

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, many people found themselves increasingly fretful: where would the next attack come? Would terrorists take issue with Australia because they were involved in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? One friend of mine was afraid to catch the train to work, because that would inevitably involve sitting at Circular Quay for a while, and that was, in her eyes, a prime terrorist target.

The problem arose because we believed we had an enemy who was out to do us harm - and we did not know when or where he might show up next, or what he might do when he did.

This is not a new problem though. The events of the 11th of September, 2001 may have made it more real and immediate for some of us, but the threat was always there. In Peter’s day it was even worse. Instead of being a handful of extremists, the source of the threat was his own government. We are not sure whether we are a target; he knew he was! Again and again in this letter, Peter returns to the theme of suffering, reminding us that we share in the sufferings of Jesus... and it was Jesus’ own government that arrested him, tortured him and ultimately put him to death in the most horrible way.

In 1 Peter 5, Peter goes one step further, acknowledging the ultimate source of this persecution is spiritual as well as political.

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

The image he uses is a strong one, particularly when you join it up with the image at the start of the chapter, where he writes to those who are to be “shepherds” of the flock. Lions were a fact of life in first century Palestine. They were dangerous to anyone, but they were particularly dangerous for unprotected flocks.

The role of the shepherd, then, was to guard against such predators. He or she would do this, first and foremost, by keeping the flock together in one group. If one wandered off, they must be found and returned, otherwise they would be vulnerable to attack.

That’s how it is with us. God has appointed men and women to be our shepherds. Theirs is the responsibility to keep us together, to stand between us and our enemy. They are the ones best equipped to recognise and defend against the attacks of the enemy.

But we have our own part to play too. “Be self-controlled and alert,” (8) Peter says, keep your eyes open, and when you see signs of our enemy, get the word out and make sure your brothers and sisters are alerted. When you hear the lion roaring, you have two choices - fight or flight. If we all scatter and go our own way, then what hope have our shepherds of defending us? Peter calls us to “resist him, standing firm in the faith” (9). In the face of outside attack, let us stand together and support and defend one another! In short, we need to be alert, but not alarmed.

No doubt in writing these words, Peter was reflecting on his last encounter with the risen Jesus. (John 21) Three times Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?” and three times Peter’s affirmative response was met with an instruction: “Feed my lambs”; “Take care of my sheep”; and finally “Feed my sheep”. Jesus is committed to seeing that his flock is tended, and his logic here is simple: if you love me, you will care for my flock.

Lions require shepherds. And when you have Jesus as your Chief Shepherd, you can, and should, “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (7).

But this meeting served another purpose. Jesus was interested in more than seeing his flocks tended to; he also wanted to deal with Peter’s pride.

God’s Plan for Pride: Humility

One imagines that Peter would have been awash with emotions when he met the resurrected Jesus: joy, obviously, at seeing his friend whom he had thought dead restored to life; but also, I am sure, no small amount of embarrassment and hesitation. Peter, overcome with excitement, impetuously dives out of the boat to swim back and be the first to greet Jesus; the closer he came, however, the less certain he was.

“Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37) ... “even if all fall away, I will not.” (Mark 14:29) With words like these, words spoken out of pride, Peter declared his undying devotion to the man he knew to be God’s Messiah; within 24 hours, he was doing his best to deny any knowledge of him at all. How would Jesus respond to him? Would he mention it? Would he even speak to Peter at all?

Jesus asks his question - “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” - three times in order to break Peter of his pride. Peter was hurt, (John 21:17) but Jesus was reminding him that he wasn’t perfect, that even he who had spent so much time with Jesus, had no reason for pride in his position, and certainly not in any sort of moral superiority. Even Peter, the first to acknowledge Jesus as God’s Messiah, even he had failed when push came to shove. Jesus deliberately humbled Peter in order that he might also restore him.

Peter relays that same lesson:

5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

At its heart, all sin can be traced back to pride: we believe that we know better than God, and so we act according to our own judgment and desires rather than God’s will for us. As a result, we bring needless worry upon ourselves, because we don’t actually have the capacity to make right judgments, or even the will to always follow through on our own convictions. We make mistakes, and those mistakes have consequences.

More significantly, when we are proud we are in opposition to God - and God hasn’t lost a battle yet! We cannot expect to go on sinning and yet be free from anxiety, for if we are sinning then we are right to be anxious. The Judge of all the Earth sees and knows, and will act in justice. Peter has just finished reminding us that “it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:17)

Peter’s solution is simple... at least simple on paper. “Humble yourselves... under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (6) As Peter was humbled, so too must we be - and better if we do it ourselves, rather than waiting until God has to do it for us! If you find yourself in opposition to God, then confess that to him and ask his forgiveness. Seek his help in overcoming your own pride that would otherwise draw you away from him. Recognise that he knows best and wants the best for you, and that you are not capable of making those judgments for yourself. That is what humility looks like.

When you humble yourself before God, he goes from being against you to being on your side - not just “not against you” but actively for you! Only then can you “cast all your anxiety on him” (7) for he will “lift [us] up in due time”.

But what about when we just don’t know what is going to happen?

God’s Plan for Uncertainty: Purpose

Let me tell you about the most anxious day of my life. Some friends and I came up from Nowra to visit another friend who had recently moved to Sydney. The plan was that we would go into Darling Harbour and catch a movie at Imax, then do some shopping and generally just hang out together. This was great, because I love spending time with those guys... but this day I had something else on my mind. You see there was recent addition to our group, a particularly lovely young lady upon whom I had my eye. And I had decided that today was the day I was going to do something about it.

Having spent most of the morning trying to separate her out from the others and get her alone (I was the prowling lion this time!) I finally found my chance. With all the calm sophistication I could muster, I asked, “So... do you have a boyfriend?” “No.” “Would you like one?” Something about her expression caused me to rush on with, “Because I’m really interested in you, and I will understand if you’re not interested in me, and how about I give you some time to think about it.” And with that, and not waiting for a reply, I clutched the tattered remains of my dignity tightly around myself and beat a hasty retreat.

Six hours later, I finally got the answer I was looking for. (In the interests of journalistic integrity, I should tell you that she claims it was only two hours... but believe me, it was 6. After all, I should know - I was there!)

There are few things more likely to cause stress and anxiety than not knowing what the future holds. Those six hours were agony for me, because I had no way of knowing if what I hoped for would actually come about.

Those of you who know me well know that one of the deepest desires of my heart is to one day be a dad. It is something that I long for - but which I cannot be certain of until it actually happens. And even then, that is hardly the end of anxiety! Those who are parents hope for good things for their children: that they will be safe; that they will grow up to love Jesus; that they will get married and have children of their own... but there are no guarantees that any of those things will happen.

Peter addresses this kind of anxiety too - in fact, you could almost say that this entire letter has been about addressing it!

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Overcoming anxiety about the future will only happen when we understand our identity in Christ. If you are in Christ, then you have been called by God for a specific purpose - and unlike us, he is able to bring his purposes to completion. Whilst we may suffer in the short term, God promises that he will restore us and bring us to completion in him. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (7).

This list of Peter’s is not meant to be exhaustive - not every care or concern will fall under one of these three categories (although I suspect most will). But there is an underlying thread to all of his solutions: if you want to deal with anxiety, you need to know Jesus. He is the Chief Shepherd; he is our model of humility; and he is he one who will bring about God’s ultimate purposes for the future.

Consider what a difference knowing someone makes. Nearly 3 years after my 6-hour ordeal, I stood at the front of a church, waiting for my bride. Was I anxious then? No, not really, for I had spent the intervening time getting to know her. I knew her heart, and I knew that she was going to do everything in her power to be there, and to be there on time.

Ultimately, all of the promises Peter offers rely on knowing God. He is writing to those who are “God’s elect... chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Sprit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood” (1:1,2). He is speaking to those who have received new birth into the family of God, who are heirs with Christ of an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade (1:3-4). This is good news for those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ - we have a shepherd to care for us; we have been shown the way of humility before God, and allowed the grace to cover over our inevitable stuff-ups; and we have the sure knowledge of our purpose in Christ and God’s will to bring us to fulfillment of that purpose. But what if you don’t know Jesus?

If you’re here tonight and you are not a Christian, we’re really glad that you’re here... but I’m afraid that I can’t make any promises about your worries and concerns. Unless you know Jesus, you are a sheep wandered away from their shepherd; you are in opposition to the God of the universe; and even if you have your own sense of purpose, you haven’t the power to see it through. You are right to be anxious!

But there is good news: Jesus Christ invites you to meet him, and to know God through him. He is the Chief Shepherd, and he invites you into his flock. He promises that if you repent of your sin and turn to him then you too can be an heir of all the good things that you have heard tonight, as well as many more found in God’s word. Let me urge you to grab hold of that promise - and do it now! Don’t carry those worries around any longer! If you want to do that, grab someone after the service - perhaps one or two Christian friends, or a leader, or some other Christian that you respect. Whilst you don’t need anyone else involved - it’s between you and Jesus! - it often helps to have someone to share your decision with, who can pray with you and for you and encourage you.

Perhaps you’re not sure you want to become a Christian, perhaps you want some time to think it over. I did: I heard the very same good news that I am sharing with you tonight, but wanted to make sure I was making a decision with my head not just with my heart. I wanted to be sure that everything added up. And so I didn’t take Jesus up on his offer straight away. But all the next day I kept thinking about it and thinking about it, and every way I looked at it it made more sense than anything else I had ever heard, any other way of life I had ever come across. So I did it, I gave my life to Jesus, convinced that he cares for me better than I can even care for myself. 17 years on, I have no cause to regret that decision. So it’s OK to take some time to think - but make sure you do think, don’t just use that as an excuse to put off having to make a decision. If you need more information then ask; if you need someone to talk it through with then grab a Christian friend or two.

Perhaps you are a Christian and your life is beset with worries, cares and concerns. Perhaps you have heard God’s invitation to cast your anxieties upon him but you’re not quite sure what your next step should be. The best thing that you can do is to pray. You can come and pray with someone, or grab a Christian friend or just pray by yourself, but whatever you do, pray. Ask God to show you the steps that he has already taken to care for and protect you, as well as his plan for your future, and then trust in him. He cares for you more than you can know, and invites you to cast your anxieties upon him.

Today...

Psalm 95 is a wonderful psalm. For many years, Anglicans used to recite Psalm 95 every morning of every day. Here's how it goes:

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

3 For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.

5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.

- Psalm 95:1-7

It starts out with a call to worship God, to sing for joy to the Lord. This is every Christian's duty and privilege. But that is not the reason why Psalm 95 was incorporated into everyday prayers. The important bit comes at the end.

Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the desert,

9 where your fathers tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did.

10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways."

11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
"They shall never enter my rest."

- Psalm 95:7-11

Sometimes when I read the Bible, my heart is hard; I do not want to hear, because hearing God's word often means I should make some change in the way that I live my life, and that is too hard. Other times my heart is merely numb, or apathetic. Either way, I miss out on entering God's rest, the peace and comfort that God is offering me... or perhaps I remain at peace and comfortable when God wants me to act!

I believe that the "Today" of verse 7 is important. It is easy to say to ourselves, "I will deal with this sin, or that injustice, tomorrow." But God calls us to act today. The letter to the Hebrews makes this abundantly clear. After quoting Psalm 95, the writer goes on:

12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

- Hebrews 3:12-13

We must encourage one another daily in our walk with God - this is why Psalm 95 was included into the daily prayer for Anglicans of old.

My prayer for myself and for you is that today, when we hear God's voice, we would be stirred into action, and that we would allow him to transform us. I want to be a man after God's own heart, like David, rather than a man of hard heart like Pharaoh. And so, I pray, we will enter into God's rest.

Children of God

One of the great gospel truths is that we have been adopted as God's children, his heirs together with Christ.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

- Romans 8:15-16

What does it mean to be a child of God?

Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

- Romans 8:17

J. I. Packer explains what it means to "share in [Christ's] sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory":

In this world, royal children have to undergo extra training and discipline, which other children escape, in order to fit them for their high destiny. It is the same with the children of the King of Kings. The clue to understanding all his dealings with them is to remember that throughout his life he is training them for what awaits them, and chiselling them into the image of Christ.

- J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004) p. 251.

This chiselling may well be painful, but it is necessary for us if we are to attain to our "high destiny" as children of God.

The Authentic Church: Serving, Preaching and Winning

Authenticity is a big deal. When you buy something, particularly something precious, you want to be sure you are getting what you paid for. Whether it is a house, a car, a watch, a computer or anything else, if it's not the real deal then you are getting ripped off. Some time ago, I bought some microphones on eBay that appeared to be genuine; I very quickly discovered, through their poor performance and the rate at which they fell apart, that they were not.

Rolex manufacture very expensive, very valuable watches. In order to give their customers confidence that what they are buying is a genuine Rolex, and not some copy that has been cheaply manufactured, they embed all kinds of tell-tale signs that are very difficult to fake. Similarly in this country, as in others, our currency is marked with special security features that are very difficult to emulate. So long as you know what to look for, it is very easy to spot a fake, and thus to judge between what is valuable and what is not.

Over the course of this term we have been delving in to the world of the early church, as recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. They certainly weren't perfect, as tonight's passage highlights... but they were authentic. As you read through, ask yourself, "What are the signs of an authentic church?" Then ask, "Is our church authentic?"

The Choosing of the Seven
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."

This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:1-7)

The authentic church deals with problems

I rate perfection as one of the biggest problems Australians face today. Not so much its absence, and certainly not its presence... but just that we expect it. We are always in search of the perfect latté, the perfect tan, the perfect teacher, the perfect job, the perfect holiday. If it's not perfect then it is not good enough: if the service is slow we don't go back; if we aren't good at something first time then it 'wasn't meant to be' and we move on.

We take this attitude into our relationships. It comes as no surprise to us to hear that the official divorce rate in Australia is that just over 40% of marriages in this country end in divorce. Australian social researcher Hugh Mackay traces this, in part, to what he calls our "cult of perfectionism". (Mackay, Advance Australia... Where? [Hachette 2007] pp. 176ff.) As he says, our expectations "can infect our experience of love and happiness by introducing the gnawing doubt that this isn't as good as it should be; that perfect bliss is eluding us; that romantic love should never fade; that we should be able to establish perfect (or even excellent) relationships without too much hard work." (Ibid. p. 177) And so whenever we come across evidence to reinforce our doubts, when disappointment inevitably comes our way, it is easier to conclude that this is not the real deal; we deserve better. (Of course, the wedding day is ultimate evidence of "the cult of perfectionism" in full flight: dress, hair, limo, location, video, photos. Mackay quotes the average wedding today as costing more than $30, 000! [Ibid. p. 179] )

As if that weren't enough, many Christians apply the same reasoning to their churches; they won't commit to a church that is anything less than perfect. If the music is too loud or the wrong style; the congregation too big or too small; the sermons too long or too short then it is not perfect, and therefore cannot be an authentic church. (A good friend of mine, when asked what it would take to keep him at a church he was visiting, responded, "1000 virgins"!)

Well, it is clear from tonight's text that the church in Jerusalem was not perfect. Very early in their life together a problem arose. Luke wastes no words in getting to the point: In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food (1).

The church was the Centrelink of its day - if you were getting any kind of welfare payment at all, then you were getting it from the church. In particular if you were a widow without family to support you then you were utterly reliant upon the church for your livelihood. So it's a big deal if certain groups in the church are missing out. Luke is not entirely clear whether the complaint was actually justified, he simply notes that the complaint arose. And in some ways it doesn't really matter as it is the result that is important: the church was divided, split into factions and arguing with one another.

Do you think we face these kind of issues in our church today? You bet we do! How often have you heard someone complaining, "Why do they have to do that?" Or, "I wish this was different." You might have even done it yourself - I'm pretty sure I have. And sometimes those whinges become a little more significant, gain a little bit of support from someone else, and someone else again. Meanwhile, someone else is arguing the other side of your case and before you can blink you have 2 or more factions, each absolutely adamant that they are in the right and unwilling to budge.

When I was leading youth group at another church, we had a new youth pastor come to our church. He had some new and exciting ideas about how the youth group should be run. Chief among them was that the youth group should be divided in to two groups: a senior and a junior high school group, much the way that we have Zion and the Cross here at St John's. There were 2 main reactions to this. Some were interested to explore this new idea and see where it led. Others were convinced that this would be the worst thing ever, and opposed it every way that they could. As a result, the group, already intentionally divided into smaller groups, further divided; and ultimately disintegrated altogether, eventually culminating in most group members leaving to go and join other groups.

Unlike us, however, the church in Jerusalem didn't have the option of just moving down the street to Trinity Baptist Church, or All Saints Uniting, or even Christian City Church Jerusalem. For good or ill, they were all in it together. So how did they deal with their problems?

Here's how it went down: So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn the responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (2-4).

It sometimes amazes me how quickly a big problem can be dealt with when you take it to the right people. If you have a busted up car, you take it to the panel beater, not the dentist; if your dog is sick you go to the vet, not the butcher; and no matter how good a photographer your neighbour is, you don't necessarily ask them to fix your plumbing. Well, the same is true in this case: the problem (perhaps straight away, perhaps eventually, we can't say for certain) reached the ears of the apostles - the only ones with the authority and respect to not only come up with a solution but also put it into practice.

I think we can learn a lot from that. How often have you seen something wrong, or something you didn't agree with, and done nothing about it? Or perhaps just had a quiet whinge to your friend, your family or your Bible study group? Let me tell you that, unless you take it to the right person or people, nothing is going to happen. Let's say you have a suggestion for how we can improve things here at the 7pm service. You could tell your friend about it, or your mum, or your work-mate... but whilst they might give you a pat on the back and tell you what a good idea it is, chances are that they are not going to be able to do much more than that. If, on the other hand, you raised it with Jake, or with the 7pm team, then there is a much better chance that something will be done about it. At the very least, your idea will be considered by those who have the ability to make a decision.

Coming back to the passage, the first thing to note about the apostles' response is that they recognised there was a problem. It would have been all too easy to simply say, "We don't have time for this now," or "This is not terribly important in the scheme of things," either of which would no doubt have been true. The apostles, however, accepted that this was a problem - if not the stated issue of food distribution which, as already mentioned, may have been an issue in perception rather than reality, then certainly that there was division and factionalism.

Let's be very clear about one thing here: conflict by itself is not a problem. Actually it's a normal part of any group of people. A community without conflict is more than likely a community that has given in to apathy. But when conflict causes us to turn away from our purpose as a community, that is when it becomes a problem. As Jesus said, "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall." (Luke 11:17)

The sign of a truly healthy and authentic church is that it deals with its conflict. No denying that it is there; no sweeping it under the carpet; no suppression of the minority in the name of democracy. This last one is probably the most common in today's church - it is all too easy to put it to a vote and leave it at that, whilst not really meeting the needs of some people just because they are in the minority.

Finally, having decided upon a course of action - a decision, by the way, no doubt reached through a great deal of prayer - they implemented it. They stood up, presented their plan, and asked the disciples to follow their lead. They were committed to dealing with the issue, and dealing with it quickly - and in this commitment they demonstrated their love for all of those involved. It is this love at the heart of our conflict-resolution that makes the authentic church distinct from any other organisation. Clearly Jesus' words still rang in their hearts: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)

What kind of church are we? Do we:

• Take our problems to the people that can deal with them?


• Recognise and accept that there is an issue, rather than ignoring it and hoping it will go away?


• Follow through and deal with the problem, rather than just endlessly talking about it?

The authentic church focuses on its calling

There is an interesting verse in the middle of this story: "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables" (2). For the record, I don't think the apostles had anything against waiters and waitresses! When you sat down to a meal in those days, it was the head of the household's responsibility to distribute the food - a very important and prestigious job. (cf. Jesus' role at the Last Supper) Nevertheless, the apostles are quite clear that what they have been called to is even more important - so important, in fact, that they cannot afford to be distracted.

When you go to see a doctor, you want them to be focused on the most important thing first. No point your doctor pouring all their energy into healing your acne if you are dying of liver disease in the meantime. The same is true in the church. In this case, the distribution of food was important... but the ministry of teaching and preaching God's word was even more important. So the apostles chose to pursue what they had been called to, and to seek others whom God would raise up to meet the practical needs of mouths to feed.

And others were found, men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom (3), men whose passion and gifting combined to allow them to serve in this way. And by stepping up to take responsibility for that, they freed the apostles up to pursue their main calling of prayer and the ministry of the word (4).

That is why we, as a church, employ Sue and Graham: they use their gifts to deal with things that would otherwise prove a distraction to Rod and to Jake. That is why we have wardens and parish councillors; why we have a variety of people leading services and preaching; why we form teams of people to take responsibility for areas of our church life, rather than just relying on Rod and Jake to do it. And by doing so, we free them up to pursue their vital calling to preach and to teach God's word.

God gives us gifts in order to bless the whole church. Whilst we don't have time to pursue this now, I encourage you to ponder what gift or gifts he has placed in you and how you can use them to strengthen our church. Even when it looks as though everything is 'covered' and under control, speak up anyway; it may be that in exercising your gift, you will free someone else up to exercise gifts in other areas.

Let me make this a little more concrete with an example from my life. Many of you will know that for some years I acted as the webmaster for this church. I enjoyed doing it, but it took up quite a lot of my time, meaning that I was unable to properly devote that time to other important things: my wife, my job, music ministry etc. Then Patty came along and took that role over, and all of a sudden I was able to focus on those other things. And as a result we as a church were strengthened in our ministry. If Patty had sat back and said, "Well, Tim is doing a good job, I don't need to get involved," then we would all have missed out: Patty on the opportunity to grow and develop his gift in IT; me in being able to focus on the other priorities in my life; and the church as a whole because less would have been achieved, and we would have been less effective in our overall ministry. So please, even if you are thinking to yourself, "There are so many service leaders or musicians or preachers or scripture teachers or... there's no need for one more," or, "I'm not really sure I have that gift anyway"... please talk to someone! You getting involved makes us all stronger!

Once you have identified what your gift and your calling is you will need to develop and grow it, and you also need to guard from being distracted. This is what the apostles were doing. They knew that they were meant to be preaching the gospel and so they could not afford to be distracted by the details of allocating food day by day. Perhaps you have been blessed with one gift, one special gift that God has given you to serve the church with... if so, use it! Perhaps you have been blessed with a number of gifts... my advice to you is to ask God to show you which one he wants you to be focusing on at the moment and use and develop that gift. God may call you to use different gifts over time, but for now focus on the one that he has put in front of you.

To me, this is one of the most powerful signs of an authentic church: church members are enabled and encouraged to use their gifts to strengthen the church. And the result of this is that the church as a whole is better able to focus on its main priority: spreading the gospel.

• What are you called to? Are you pursuing, developing, growing and protecting that calling? Are you focused on it?


• Does our church enable and encourage people to use their gifts in Christ's service?


• Does our church prioritise sharing the gospel?

The authentic church grows

If you watched any of the election coverage last night, you'll know that some people love statistics. We count votes, then calculate margins and swings and all kinds of other things that tell us how successful each candidate and party is in getting people on board with their message. The tricky thing with statistics, though, is that they can be very easy to collect, but much harder to interpret. For example, does the fact that Labor had such an overwhelming victory at the polls yesterday mean that the Australian public genuinely approves of their policy? Or were they just sick of the old government, and Labor were the best of a bad lot? We are at risk of the same issues when we start thinking about church growth.

Luke starts and ends this passage with growth: In those days when the number of disciples was increasing... (1) and So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (7). The word 'so' there is important, as it suggests that the word of God spread as a consequence of the story just told. In other words, a church that deals with divisions in a God-honouring and loving way, a church that focuses on its mission, will eventually see growth.

Notice I said ‘eventually’. One of the easiest traps that we can fall into is that of playing numbers games - our church is increasing faster than the church down the road, so we must be a healthier church. Whilst this may be true, it is not necessarily so. For example, if I offered money to people to come to St. John’s, we might see an increase in the number of people showing up on Sundays, but that is not really what I would call growth. Sometimes you might find church numbers dropping off immediately before a huge growth spurt.

Of course, there other kinds of growth that having nothing at all to do with the number of people attending a church, and which are much more difficult to measure than a simple head count can achieve: are church members growing in the way they understand and act out the Christian life?

Growth is a useful indicator in combination with the other marks of authenticity that we have already looked at, but not so useful on its own. It’s very easy to collect statistics, but much harder to interpret them - to ask the difficult questions like “Why is this so?”, “What does it mean?” and “What should we do about it?”

Part of being an authentic church is asking these hard questions.

• Is our church growing? If so, is it growing for the right reasons?


• Are members of our church growing into more mature, God-honouring Christians?

The authentic church is full of authentic Christians

So there you have it: the authentic church. Committed to dispatching division; minding its mission; and going for growth. Whilst these are not the only requirements for an authentic church, they are certainly good signs that a church is healthy.

But what is true for a church is also true for a Christian; after all, churches are made up of Christians. How can I expect my church to deal with arguments if I cannot overcome my differences with others? If my mission is out of focus, is it reasonable to expect my church to be focused? How will my church grow unless I am growing?

Take some time and look over your list of problems in the church... do you have stuff you need to deal with first? Are the church’s problems your problems too? You bet they are!

The best sign of an authentic church? It is full of authentic Christians. Are you one of them?