Today we begin the final sermon series for 2011. Rowan has
given me the privilege of choosing the topics and preparing the cell group
notes for this term. After prayer I decided to spend my last term at St. Luke’s
covering some of those lessons which I believe are the most important for St.
Luke’s as a faith-community to grasp. I have titled the series: “A Church after
God’s own heart”, and it is all about how I believe St. Luke’s needs to strive
to become and to remain a church which pleases God. Over the years we have
often, as leaders of St. Luke’s asked the Lord the question: What kind of
church do YOU dream of St. Luke’s being? This series is the heart of the
answers we have received from the Father.

We kick off by laying the most important foundation for any
church. For any church in the world to be the church that God wants it to be
there is only one starting point. That is to submit to Jesus Christ as the Head
of the Church.

Ephesians 4 makes it clear that Jesus Christ is the Head of
His Body the Church. Our role as members of the church is to ensure that we
continue to submit to, respect and obey Jesus Christ in this function! I will
not be preaching a long sermon today because we will also be hearing feed-back
from Mission Madagascar … but I hope to give us all some serious points to
ponder as we go home today.

I will try
to do so by just unpacking what it means to say that Jesus Christ is the Head.

1. He gives the
direction

One of the most obvious things about the head of any body, is
that the head provides the direction! The direction that your head is going is
the direction that your body is going. This is true in any sport … and it’s
even true for just plain walking down the road. Any Christian, and any church,
in order to be pleasing to God, needs to be submitting to the direction of
Jesus Christ. As a church we need to be tuned in to the general principle that
the direction this church moves in is not the direction that I want, or that
Rowan wants, or that the majority of the congregation wants. We have to
understand that this church as a body is not meant to be subject to the will of
any human being. It is meant to be subject to the will of Jesus.

Unfortunately in most churches many members labour under the
illusion that the church as a body is meant to be doing what the members of the
church want! So when the church goes in a direction they don’t like, they vote
with their giving or with their worship attendance to show their disapproval.
But somewhere along the line they forgot to consider that the direction the
church takes is not SUPPOSED to be based on what THEY want … it is supposed
to be based on what JESUS wants!

In the same way, some ministers labour under the illusion
that the church is meant to be going in the direction that they want; and they
might even try to force their direction onto their fellow leaders. This is not
how it is meant to be.

No, the church after God’s own heart always moves in the
direction that Jesus wants! We are
like the Israelites in the desert being led by the pillar of cloud by day and
of fire by night. Where Jesus goes, we go. Where Jesus stops, we stop.

If Christ is the Head of St. Luke’s then St. Luke’s will be a
church that seeks its direction from Jesus and then submits to the direction
Jesus gives.

2. He makes the
decisions

This leadership of the church by Jesus goes beyond just a
general sense of direction … it also extends to specific decisions that we
make. Every individual Christian is meant (as we have seen over the last two
weeks) to be allowing Jesus Christ to live His life through us, and for that to
happen we need to be very carefully making everyday decisions based on what is
pleasing to Jesus.

The church as a body is meant to be doing the same. It is one
thing to have received the general direction from the Lord; for example this
year the general direction the Lord has given us is that we need to focus on
passionately engaging Him in personal relationship and also passionately
engaging with His mission to reach the lost; but once we have heard that He
wants us to focus on mission, we still need to seek Him before we decide which
countries we will visit on mission … or which local areas we need to reach
out to on mission. And whenever the church is in a situation that we need to
make a decision about how to put God’s general direction into specific action,
we need to be making sure that Jesus is actually the One calling the shots.

Yes, its true we will sometimes get it wrong. We may hear the
Lord incorrectly, or in our selfishness and sinfulness, we might not put what
Jesus tells us into practice perfectly. BUT, the Lord is looking at our hearts,
and he wants to see that we are in a position where we truly seek His face for
every decision we make.

3. He nourishes us

One thing we might miss in our initial thinking about Jesus
as the Head is the fact that ancient people, without our sophisticated
knowledge of biology considered that the head was the organ that fed the body.
That makes sense of course because we eat through our heads. So the head is
also the source of nourishment.

A Church after God’s own Heart is one that is seeking God for
spiritual nourishment. A church with Jesus as the Head is a church that allows
Jesus to feed us, and empower us to obey Him. If the physical head of a
person’s body never opens its mouth to eat, the rest of the Body will soon
starve to death. With the church as a Body the danger is not that Jesus will
stop feeding us, it is that we will stop swallowing – if I can use that
analogy. The Lord’s Word is constantly coming from His mouth … but we are not
always receiving that Word or paying attention to it. He is constantly pouring
out the Living Water of His Spirit, but we are not always open to receive His
Spirit!

A Church that allows Jesus to be the Head is a church that is
constantly open to receive from the Lord and is constantly aware that it is
only the Lord who can truly nourish us and give us the strength that we need
for this exciting journey of faith.

Today’s message will be shorter than normal due to our time
of communion.

We continue our series on successful Christian living, and
today we consider the importance of taking initiative and being proactive in
the Christian life. Let’s start this topic by agreeing that when we speak about
taking initiative and being proactive, we’re talking about not sitting back and
waiting for life to happen to us … but rather getting out there and making things
happen. Being “reactive” means waiting for things to happen and then reacting
to what happens. Being proactive means being the one who makes things happen!
It is not only in Christian life, but in human life, that proactive people
achieve the most.

Does God wants His people to be proactive? Yes I believe He
does. God has given us a calling and a mission and He expects us to make it
happen. He does not call us to sit back and watch Him make His Kingdom come. He
calls us to extend His Kingdom by making disciples of all nations. He does not
call us to sit back and watch Him provide food for the hungry, he commands us
to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless! God
calls His people to take initiative to make things happen in this world.

David, whom Scripture calls “a man after God’s own heart”,
was a profoundly proactive person. He made things happen! Today we look at just
one example of how he did that … and I think we can learn from it some very,
very valuable lessons about how God wants us to be proactive … because there
is definitely a right way and a wrong way to go about doing it. Many proactive
people are like bulls in a china shop … many are very self-centred and driven
by selfish motives … many are very rude and have abrasive personalities.
Clearly this is not the will of God for us.

So in a nutshell the steps for achieving success through
pro-activity in the Christian life, David teaches us, are:

1. Knowing the heart of God
2. Seeking the honour of God
3. Trusting the help of God
4. Stepping out in the hand of
   God

Knowing the Heart of
God

A big mistake many Christians make, is that we rush in to
making things happen because it feels right to us that we should do so. We want
to be a catalyst for the things we believe to be the will of God … but we
have not spent time getting to know the heart of God.

One thing that I admire about Rowan is how often he will come
to me and say, “Dave we have to pray this thing through … we have to hear
from God about this or that.” I have always felt that I am a person of prayer
… but I have realised that there are times that my desire to see things
happen can cause me to move before I have heard the heart of God on a matter.

Where did David’s confidence in knowing that God would help
him overcome Goliath come from? It came from the time that David spent with God
out in the fields with the sheep, playing his harp and worshipping God. It came
from his past experiences of God’s divine protection and intervention on his
behalf. It came from the many times his own father and mother had told him the
stories of God delivering His people from their enemies.

So David could look at a situation like the one with Goliath
and he could measure … hang on, here is a man who does not fear or
acknowledge God, openly challenging the power of God and making a mockery of
the people of God. Looking at that, and knowing God’s heart, David could
clearly see that it would be the heart of God in this situation to humble the
Philistine, to glorify God’s name and to protect His people.

When we are considering a particular situation and trying to
discern the will of God and whether we should be taking the initiative and
being proactive in a particular way … it has to start with us knowing the
heart of God in regard to that kind of situation.

2. Seeking the
Honour of God

“Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to
defy the armies of the Living God?” (v.26)

It is vital to realise that David did not decide to take the
initiative to defeat Goliath because of what was in it for David. Saul was
trying to get the soldiers to take up Goliath’s challenge by offering them a
self-centred reward – a wife and tax-exemption. But David was not moved by the
offered reward! David was moved by the honour of God. Goliath was calling into
question the power and the authority of the God if Israel … and David would
not stand for that!

We can not only make a mistake by being proactive before
knowing the heart of God. We can also make a mistake by being proactive for the
wrong reasons. As a Christian our drive … our motivation is not to be what we
can gain from our actions … it is to be the honour and glory of God. This
will often mean that it is not only about what we set out to achieve … but
HOW we set out to achieve it! We must desire that both through what we do and
how we do it … God will be honoured.

One of the greatest tragedies of Christian history is how, in
the Crusades, the church tried to get glory for God through the power of the
sword. With great passion they decided to take the initiative to win Jerusalem
back for the so-called Holy Roman Empire … but somehow conveniently forgot
that Jesus had preached peace, love, forgiveness and self-sacrifice … and had
Himself totally rejected the use of military power to achieve His goals. They
missed the heart of God … and they brought the name of God into disrepute
through their actions.

And in modern-times we see churches trying to make money “for
the kingdom” through gambling, through pyramid schemes, and even through
manipulative appeals for generous giving. We miss the heart of God and we bring
dishonour to the name of Jesus … the name of our God … through being
proactively stupid and un-Christlike.

In everything you do
… and in the way you do it … seek the honour of God!

3. Trusting the help
of God

I love what David says to Goliath in v.45. “Today the Lord will conquer you and I will kill
you and cut off your head.”

David stands in front of Goliath, while grown men and
hardened soldiers have been cowering in their tents for the past 40 days while
Goliath taunted them and their God … and he stands there with a sling and 5
small stones. Goliath is carrying a sword, a spear and a javelin. This is the
equivalent of a 15-year-old “plaas-japie” carrying a “kettie” into battle
against a soldier wearing a bullet-proof vest and riot-gear and carrying an
automatic assault rifle.

But when Goliath mocks David’s armoury his reply is simple.
God is going to “klap” you … I’m just here to clean up the mess. David’s
trust was absolutely in God’s help.

When King Saul had predicted exactly what Goliath was
predicting should David go into battle without armour, David’s reply was, “The
Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from
this Philistine.” The Lord will do it!

Many proactive people make the mistake of trusting in their
own ability. David showed us that our trust ought to be in God’s ability! So
even when we step out boldly – as we should – our boldness ought never to be
based on our abilities, but always on the ability of God!

I love that line from the Christian movie, “Facing the
Giants”, where the coach inspires his team by telling them: “Do your best and
let God do the rest!” That was David’s story in a nutshell … with his faith
firmly in God’s ability to help him and deliver him, he stepped out onto the
battle-field against a giant, and he did the best with what he had … and God
did the rest.

4. Stepping out in
the hand of God

“’I can’t go in these,’ David protested to Saul, ‘I’m not
used to them.’ So David took them off again.”

Saul wanted David to go in armour. David needed to go in
God’s hand.

Far too often in the Christian life, when we risk for God, we
have a Plan B, C and D just in case God doesn’t come through for us. Saul had a
Plan B for David and that was for him to wear Saul’s armour into battle. But
somehow instinctively, David seems to have known that in order to do this thing
right he had to be completely in the hand of God. He had to be in a situation
where, if God didn’t come through for him, he would be a goner!

This is the radical side of Christian pro-activity. When we
have sensed the heart of God calling us to do something radical for Him …
when we have discerned the way to do it in order to bring honour to God … and
when our trust is squarely in the help of God … then we need to jump out of
the boat and go way, way, way beyond our comfort zones … simply trusting that
God will come through for us.

Against all the odds, God came through for David. Against all
the odds God came through for Mark and Carolle! Against all the odds God has
come through for our Mission Week. But it talks us getting out there and
putting ourselves into a situation with God where if God doesn’t do something
miraculous all is lost. Are you and I willing to take that kind of risk with
God?

This morning, as we continue with our series on “Living God’s
plan for a successful ministry”, we come to the theme, “Success through
change”. I remind you again, as we have been doing each week, that when we talk
about a successful ministry, we are talking about our ministries as friends,
spouses, parents, colleagues, employees, employers, friends, etc. Although
these principles can obviously be applied by those in full-time Christian ministry,
or by those who are involved in a church ministry … they are primarily for
the Christian life in general … because all of Christian life is ministry.

So today’s theme is “success through change”. If you are in a
cell group, you may have been expecting a message based on Joseph in Genesis
41. However, as I prepared for today I felt led in a slightly different
direction, so please bear with me and, in your cell groups, enjoy learning the
same lessons from a different Bible passage.

Change is an exciting, yet very difficult aspect of life.

Change is difficult

It is difficult because of the way we are as human beings.
God has designed us as creatures of routine and habit. It is part of His way of
making life that little bit easier to cope with. It’s as though he has built
into us this ability to go onto autopilot once we have established a habit or
routine. It takes so much less energy for us to do things exactly the way we’ve
always done them. So, for example, when we get up in the morning we normally go
through exactly the same routine every single day, except maybe weekends. I
won’t embarrass anyone by asking what your routine is in the morning … but if
we all sit down and think about it we’ll easily be able to say what we do and
in what order every single morning.

Now this is a blessing from God. It is given to us to make it
easier for us to walk in God’s ways. So we read that Jesus had certain habits.
We read in Luke 4:16 that He went up to the synagogue on the Sabbath “as was
His custom”. The Psalmist also tells us that he had the habit that “every day I
praise You and I will extol Your name for ever and ever.” (Ps. 145:2) Doing the
right thing every day makes it easier for us to do the right thing! We get into
a Godly habit … and that is why God has created us with this innate ability
to form habits and customs.

However, this ability can also lead to evil habits. Psalm
140:2 speaks of those who “devise evil plans in their hearts and stir up war
every day.” These evil men were in the habit of living in such a way as to
cause harm to others. They did it every day. And we don’t need to be told about
bad habits. We all have them … ranging from picking our noses to swearing at
taxi drivers. So an ability that God intended for good, can easily be applied
for evil as well. The choice is ours.

So God made us to form habits … wanting us to form good
ones … but whether our habits are good or bad, they are difficult to break!
The old saying, “I’m in a rut” refers to the days when people travelled by ox
cart. As the carts travelled along they would cut ruts into the veld. As other
carts followed in their “footsteps” (so to speak) they would cut the same rut
deeper. Eventually a cart travelling along that route could desire to turn off
in another direction but find their wheels unable to turn out of the deep ruts
that had been cut in the veld. If you’ve ever driven down a secondary road in
the Free State you know how modern day ox-carts – called trucks – can also cut
ruts into the road and we find ourselves a drivers driving in grooves in the
tar road. When you try to turn out of them the car pulls against your attempts.
It can be quite dangerous.

In life … change is like that! When we want to change
something we find that our will is working against an invisible force. We call
it the force of habit.

Change is exciting

However, change can also be very exciting. Just ask the
teenager who gets a new cell-phone … or the person who buys a new car … or
gets a promotion … or a young person falling in love with a new “significant
other”. At the other end of the scale we see the excitement of someone who goes
for an eye operation and can suddenly see again … the excitement of the
elderly residents of a block of flats when a lift is installed for the first
time … or when the kids move back into the neighbourhood and they get to see
the grandchildren every day! For me personally it doesn’t even have to be that
exciting to excite me. I enjoy change so much that even moving the furniture
around gives me a new lease of life!

Change excites us. There is the power of novelty and newness
that revs us up for change. Yet, some of us are more excited by change than
others. And my personal theory is that a lot of that does have to do with age … but not because older people are meant
to find change less exciting … it’s just that older people generally have
spent longer travelling in the same “rut” and so change can become more
difficult than it is exciting!

Change in Christian
living

This message is about the Biblical reasons why we may be
called to change our course of action – even in the ministry or in our
Christian lives. We need to be open to the call of the Lord to change direction
or to change strategy in a similar way to which Moses had to make corrections
to the Israelites course through the wilderness in obedience to the moving of
the fiery cloud; in the same way that Paul had to change his direction when the
he tells us in Acts that “Spirit of Jesus would not allow us to enter” a
particular place; in the same way that Joseph had to change strategy when the
food began to run out; in the same way that Jesus left places and instructed
the disciples to sometimes wipe the dust of a place off their feet.

When going through life as a follower of Jesus Christ one
thing is for sure … change will always be a part of our lives. Why is that? I
believe it is because for growth to happen change has to happen … and Jesus
always wants us to be growing. The Father always wants us to be changing into
the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ. So change is inevitable in the Christian
life. None of us have arrived … and until we have arrived (in heaven that is)
we will constantly be called to change … in order that we may grow.

I think that what I’m about to say is probably the most
important statement I could make to you as a preacher. It is the most important
realization for every Christian to come to. Here it comes in paragraph form:

God has got every one of us on a
journey. It is not a journey to a promised land of wealth and health and
pleasure. God has us on a journey towards the promised land of CHRIST-LIKENESS!

I need to get that truth into my thick skull if I am going to
find any fulfilment in my Christian life … and you all need to realise it
too. Success in the Christian life is not about being richer or happier or more
successful or more comfortable or more popular … success in the Christian life is about being more CHRIST-LIKE!!

• To
  be a successful Christian pastor is to be Christ-like pastor!
• To
  be a successful Christian businessman is to be a Christ-like businessman!
• To
  be a successful Christian mother is to be a Christ-like mother!

So now does it make more sense when I say that today’s theme
is about success through change??

Let’s briefly look at some of the changes we may be called to
make in order to become more successful in our Christian walk.

Repentance

The most obvious reason for change is when we have wandered
out of the Lord’s will and have drifted into sinful or wicked ways of living.
We call this kind of change repentance.
Repentance is when we make a realisation that the way I’m living … the way
I’m parenting, or being a husband, or behaving at work, or whatever … is not
right! It is not the way God wants me to be behaving. Repentance is also
following up that realization with a decision to make the change to do this
God’s way!

Repentance is the most difficult form of change for a human
being. It involves us surrendering our will to the will of God … and saying
to God, “Lord, it’s no longer about me and what I want or what is comfortable
or pleasurable to me … From now on it’s about You and what You want.”

No Christian life or ministry exists without the occasional
need for repentance and a radical 180% change of direction to get back into the
will of God for our lives and ministries.

Sadly, like for the Israelites in 1 Kings, we often only
realise that we’re far out of the will of God when we start feeling the
consequences of being outside of His will! Remember that God’s will for our lives
is good, pleasing and perfect. Being outside of the will of God leads
inevitably to pain of some kind … most common is the pain of becoming distant
from God and feeling the absolute emptiness of the lack of His presence in our
lives. The Israelites experienced this physically as a sign to us of what
happens spiritually. When they sinned, God allowed them to be taken captive to
a foreign nation. They felt that God was no longer with them because they were
far from the Holy City of Jerusalem and the Temple that held God’s presence.

As I said, this was a sign of what happens to us as people
when we drift out of God’s will for our lives. We drift away from God’s loving
presence. We drift into self-centredness and we cut God out of our lives!
Eventually we begin to feel the empty ache inside of us … a longing for God!
And, as for the Israelites, the only way to deal with that empty longing is
repentance.

1 Kings 8:47-49 is Solomon’s prayer and he pleads with God
that when the Israelites are in exile in a place far from God that, “if they
have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and
plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, ‘We have sinned, we
have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all
their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and
pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have
chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your
dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.”

Friends perhaps today you are in a “far-away country”  of some kind in some aspect or area of your
life. Make the decision today to CHANGE!
Repent and return to God. Change your ways and live God’s way!

Course adjustment

Sometimes we simply need a “course-adjustment”. We may have been
fully obedient to the Lord but He is calling us to adopt a new strategy or way
of doing things in order to be more effective for His Kingdom and His glory.
Things do not always go the way the Lord has planned for them to go and
sometimes, even though we have been obedient to Jesus’ leading, we might still
have to alter the course of our lives to stay in step with what He is doing.
This is about being wise, discerning and obedient to the revelation God will
give us.

We must remember that we are in a spiritual war and the devil
is actively resisting the will of God. So things will not go smoothly in our
lives just because we’re being obedient to the Lord. Many of us have
experienced this truth when we come home from an amazing spiritual experience
like a camp or an Emmaus Walk or some profound breakthrough in our lives …
only to find that the next day all hell breaks loose. Why? Because the devil is
displeased! But then isn’t it better just to cruise through life and not bother
the devil. Yes … if your aim in life is comfort, that would be true. If, for
you, success means comfort and ease … then for heaven’s sake don’t bother the
devil by trying to be like Jesus! But is success for you means what it means to
God – becoming like Jesus – then our whole approach to life changes. We become
rather weird to the world around us because, as James said in James 1:2-4, we “Consider
it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because we
know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must
finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Trials and difficulties actually cause us to become more Christ-like … and so
they become God’s servants in our lives … not always and only a work of the
enemy! Even the negative attacks of the enemy in our lives, Jesus transforms
and uses for our ultimate good!

So … as we go through Christian life … we often have to make
course adjustments … but these adjustments are not made on the basis of what
is easiest or most comfortable … they are made on the basis of the revealed
will of God!

So successful Christian living, in part depends on making
constant adjustments in the way we live and act in obedience to our
Spirit-filled conscience and the gentle whisper of the voice of the Lord!

Attitude Change

Sometimes we need an attitude change more than an actual
behavioural change. There is something of this in Jesus parable of new wine in
old wineskins. The new attitude is like the new wine that fills us and from
within will begin to transform our behaviour – but to get a lasting behaviour
change what really needs to happen is for new wine to be poured into us. A
change of heart is necessary before we can have a lasting change of behaviour.

Jesus told people that they needed to change and become like
little children. They needed an attitude adjustment – from pride to humility –
from self-dependence to God-dependence!

Sometimes the Lord challenges us that we need to change our
faithless attitudes and become bolder and more faith-filled in our approach to
life and ministry.

And again I’m going to come back to this point and say that
the attitude of a successful Christian is the attitude of desiring above
everything else to be like Jesus. If that is not our top desire then we will
adopt the ways of the world and say that a successful person is someone who has
an attitude of:

• Arrogance;
  self-confidence; drive; determination; ruthlessness, etc.

But if Christlikeness is our top desire then a successful
person is one who has the attitude of:

• Humility;
  honesty; integrity; patience; kindness; selflessness, etc.

Today we continue with our series on “Living God’s plan for a successful ministry.” For the sake of those who may have missed the first week I want to repeat the point I made last week that when we speak about ministry, we are speaking about anything pertaining to the Christian life. This series is about making a success of my Christian life and of my basic ministries as a spouse, parent, grandparent, friend, employer, employee and / or any other role I may fulfil in society. As a Christian all of life is ministry!

Today, based on the account of Abigail, we consider the theme of “Leading from Godly Character.” Before we jump in to the reading, I think it’s important to decide what we mean by character. Character in essence consists of the unique qualities that distinguish one person from another person. We can understand the concept nicely if we consider the simple question: “Who is your favourite character in 7de Laan?”

A movie or TV character is not the actor or actress who plays the part, it is the personality they are portraying. I remember as a child once watching a particular series (I can’t even remember what it was) and one week a certain character was being played by one actor … the very next week the actor had changed. Do you know how confusing that can be? But before too long I realised that while the look of this person was different, the character being portrayed was still the same. He still behaved in the same way, made decisions consistent with the character, related to other characters in the way you would have expected him to … even though his face was different it was the same character.

“Character” is about the inner qualities that make me who I am. These qualities help to determine how I will act, speak and relate towards others around me in different situations. A distinction that will also help us understand character is that between “character” and “reputation”. While “character” is about the qualities that distinguish one person from another, “reputation” is about the supposed qualities that distinguish one person from another person. Character is what you are and reputation is what people think you are.

Someone has said that you can separate character from reputation by observing how you are when nobody else is around. I agree with that but I would also like to suggest that one’s character is often revealed by what comes out of one when under pressure. You won’t know if someone has an impatient character until their patience is put under pressure. You won’t know if they have a forgiving character until they are harmed in some way. You won’t know if they have an honest character until they are presented with the opportunity to benefit from lying.

This is certainly a Biblical truth. Rom 5:3-5 says: “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character, hope.” Very interestingly, the original translation of the word rendered “character” in Romans 5 is “proof”, or in some old translations, “approvedness”. So according to Romans, suffering produces perseverance … and perseverance proves what is really inside us! As the commentary writer Barnes says on this verse: “The word means trial, testing, or that thorough examination by which we ascertain the quality or nature of a thing, as when we test a metal by fire, or in any other way, to ascertain that it is genuine … The meaning is, that long afflictions borne patiently show a Christian what he is.”

So character is what we truly are on the inside and it is particularly revealed when we are under pressure! So now let’s meet the characters:

1. Nabal

Nabal in this story would probably be played by someone like Robert de Niro. Nabal is described as being very wealthy and as having a very intelligent and beautiful wife. But his character is described as “surly” and “mean” His name, “Nabal” means a fool and a villain! We are also told that he was a Calebite, which seems to have less to do with his family clan than with the fact that the word “Caleb” means “dog” – and hence he was a dog of a man.

As we read the story, his character is developed in verse 10 where we see that he was arrogant and tight-fisted! His own servants describe his character in v.14-17 as insulting and wicked. His wife describes him as “foolish”. And according to verse 36 he was also a bit of a drunkard! In this story, Nabal is a bad character. He has a bad character!

2. David

Now unlike most of the Old Testament stories, David is not completely the hero in this story. He is a good guy … but he is of mixed character. He would probably be played by someone like Johnny Depp. There are some aspects of his character that we could describe as being good, but there is also a fair mix of bad thrown in.

On the positive side, David was helpful, protective and fair towards Nabal’s servants. On the negative side he didn’t seem to have done this out of the goodness of his heart because he wanted some kind of compensation for it from Nabal. It’s true that this was common practice in that day and age, so it’s not a huge negative … but it does water down what we said earlier about his good character.

A larger negative in David’s character is his vengeful spirit. He was not only going up to Nabal to extract what he believed Nabal owed him for protective services out in the wilderness, but he was also going to slaughter every male in Nabal’s extended household – family and servants! He is a violent character! David is a sort of a mixed character … and he has a mixed character.

3. Abigail

Abigail’s name in itself says something about her (as so often in the Bible); it means, “the joy of my father”. She is described as having that rather rare combination of qualities that Gerrida has … she was intelligent and beautiful. In the KJV she is described as being “of good understanding and a beautiful countenance”. She would have been played by someone like Grace Kelly in the old days.

But intelligence and beauty do not make for good character. Beauty is skin-deep and of course intelligence can be used for evil purposes as well as for good. What makes Abigail the heroine in this story and sets her up as an example of Godly character are the following characteristics:

• Discerning – she knew what the right thing was to do in the situation. Discerning is really just another word for wisdom. Abigail read the situation correctly and she was able to sum up what was needed from her in this situation.

• Decisive – she wasted no time but acted immediately. In a situation like this where lives are in danger it is easy to get flustered and to waver between two or three options. Abigail was not only able to weigh the situation and decide what to do but once she knew what to do she didn’t second-guess herself or wait for morning. She acted immediately. One of the diseases of our day is procrastination. Often as Christians we spiritualize this and pretend that we are waiting because we’re patient and because we have to pray about it some more. There is indeed a time to pray about things and seek God’s face, as we saw last week. But often we say we’re praying when in fact we’re just waiting for better days. Abigail acted immediately. She was decisive.

• Daring – she did not let the obvious danger stop her from doing what was right. It’s one thing to be discerning and to be decisive when there’s not much risk attached. But when the risk is high it’s often easy to know what we’re supposed to do, but a whole lot more difficult to actually get out there and do it. Abigail showed great daring … great boldness in facing a fear-inducing situation. She could have fled. She could have left Nabal to his own devices. But she went out to face the man who was coming to wipe out her household. She was a brave and courageous woman of God.

• Selfless – She put her own life on the line to save others. Notice that her life was not threatened. David was after the men. But Abigail was not doing this to protect herself. She was doing it to protect others. This is one of the highest virtues of character which distinguish the good from the great. All of the truly great characters in the movies have this kind of character. The hero who goes back to save his wounded comrade. The fireman who puts his life on the line to save the baby in the burning building. This is the characteristic that true heroes are made of … selflessness!

• Humble – Twice we are told that she bowed low to the ground and in v.41 she declares to the servants over whom she was about to become queen, “Here is your maidservant, ready to serve you and wash the feet of my master’s servants.” It was one thing for her to bow low before David when she was begging him for mercy on behalf of her husband … but quite another thing to bow low before his servants when she was being approached to become queen over them. The greatest leader is a servant leader! Abigail was an amazing character in this story … and she had an amazing character. And for all three of the characters developed in this account, it was the pressures of the situation that revealed the true character that lay within them.

4. The Relevance of Character

Why is character so important? Well character is who we really are, and it determines our behaviour. If we are of good character, we will behave well. If we are of bad character, we will behave badly. Leadership experts say that in determining who to add to your team – whether at work as an employee or in the Church in a ministry a factor far more important than competence is character. Competence can be developed. Character is far less likely to be changed. This is good advice for young people seeking a spouse for life! If that man has bad character before you marry him, be assured that he will remain of bad character after you marry him. If that person applying for the job comes with a warning that they lacked self-discipline in their previous job, don’t believe for a moment that they will be better under your leadership.

But then of course we also have to apply this to ourselves. Today so many people are completely infatuated with outward appearance. We spend thousands of Rands on creams and cosmetics, clothes and haircuts. The world is crazy about youth and outward beauty. Even some preachers fall for the lie that they have to have makeovers and be dressed in the most fashionable outfits if they want a good following on TV. Christians compromise the Biblical values of inner beauty and outward modesty and seem to dress to seduce their fellow worshippers or colleagues. We fall into the trap of giving preference to those we consider to be good-looking people. We ignore the poorly-dressed and “plain” people.

How far we are from the Biblical model of valuing what is inside a person far more than what their outward appearance is. Samuel told Jesse that man looks at the outward appearance while God looks at the heart.

Christianity is a faith where character is vital and appearance is irrelevant. According to Jesus in Matthew 11:11, the greatest man who had ever lived until that time was John the Baptist … but John looked like … well … like John the Baptist … long hair, camel-skin clothes, leather belt, locust-breath. He would never survive in the 21st century church. But John had character. John was fearless, forthright, visionary, and righteous! He had character! And when we live and lead from good character, we can be assured of God’s favour!

Nabal lived in a way consistent with his bad character and he received the displeasure of God. Abigail lived in a way consistent with her good character and she received the favour of God. Like John the Baptist, and of course, like Jesus, living and leading from good character can get you killed … but it is the only way to God’s favour. If you want God’s favour on your life, your marriage, your children, your ministry … live from good character!

5. What makes up a godly character?

We have seen some of the aspects of godly character in Abigail. But for a more complete list we would of course have to look to our Lord Jesus. What follows is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but it contains what I feel are the essential elements of Godly (that is, Christ-like) character: • Loving – even towards one’s enemies; • Selfless • Peaceful • Patient • Kind • Faithful • Gentle • Self-controlled • Merciful • Brave / Bold • God-fearing • Just / fair • Truthful / Honest / Integrity • Prayerful • Every other attribute we saw in Jesus which is not listed here!

6. Developing Godly character

Who can remember who the actor was who portrayed the character of Jesus in the movie, The Passion of the Christ? His name was Jim Caviezel. We don’t remember his name so well … but we certainly remember the character he portrayed. As Christians it is also our responsibility to portray the character of Jesus Christ in this world … to live in such a way that the character of Jesus shines through us. Let me be straight and not beat around the bush here. All of us have character flaws! But the good news is that just like in a movie or in a novel, so in real life, character development is possible!

However, there is only one way for the Christian leopard to change his spots … to be changed by the Spirit of Jesus from the inside out!! Only the Holy Spirit can change the character of a person. That is why Christian character is also called the “Fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5. And, because He is a gentleman, the Holy Spirit can only change our character to the extent that we WANT Him to and deliberately allow Him to. We have to do what we always do to overcome sin:

1. Admit our character failings;

2. Invite the Holy Spirit to change our character in those areas;

3. Make every effort – strive – to change our behaviour while the Spirit changes our character;

4. Co-operate with the Holy Spirit by filling our hearts and minds with the truth of God’s Word as far as Godly character is concerned – as Romans 12 says we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This also entails raising our appreciation of the value of Godly character;

5. Surround ourselves with people who have a better character than we do.

Today we start a brand
new term and a brand new sermon and cell series. The title of our series is
“Living God’s plan for a successful ministry”. Now before you start thinking,
“But I’m not in the ministry, what has this got to do with me?” allow me to
read you Ephesians 2:10.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Every person who is “in Christ Jesus” is also in ministry … because everyone in Christ Jesus has
good works which God has prepared for them to do … and the act of doing those
good works is the act of ministry!

It is similar to what Paul teaches in Ephesians 4:11-12:

“Christ gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some
pastors and teachers for the equipping
of God’s people for the work of ministry.”

All of God’s people
have a work of ministry to perform … a work of service … a work of doing
the good things God has prepared in advance for us to do.

This series is all
about how you and I can be successful and effective at living out our God-given
lives on planet earth. This series is not only for us to apply to the church
ministries that we are involved in … but also to apply to the following
ministries which most or all of us have:

• Our
  ministry as a spouse (a husband or wife) – which entails loving each other
  sacrificially;
• Our
  ministry as a parent – which entails leading our children to Christ and
  discipling them;
• Our
  ministry as a Christian employer – which entails treating our employees fairly
  and using the work environment to display Christian values and principles to
  them;
• Our
  ministry as a Christian employee – which entails working at our jobs to the
  absolute best f our ability in such a way as to please Christ;
• Our
  ministry as a friend – which entails building each other up in our faith and in
  our relationship with Christ.
• Naturally
  it also includes the ministries we are involved with in the Church as well!

Today is the first
week in this series and as is fitting we start at the beginning. There is a
foundation stone without which no successful Christian life or ministry can
ever be built. There is a foundational principle without which we will always
fail to live up to the calling of our Lord. It is a foundation to which we
ought to return time and time again throughout this series and throughout our
lives … and here it is … God first!
God first!

So let’s allow the
story of Jehoshaphat to instruct us in the question of placing God first.

Fear God

Jehoshaphat was one of
the very few righteous kings of Judah – the southern Kingdom of Israel. In 2
Chronicles 19 we read of how he reformed Judean society and the instructions
that he gave to the leaders of Judah is reveals to us what was at the heart of
the matter for Jehoshaphat. In 2 Chr. 19:9 he commands the leadership:

“You shall act in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and with a loyal
heart.”

For King Jehoshaphat
the starting point of his leadership was that everything he did was to be done
in the fear of the Lord! The fear of the Lord seems an almost outdated concept
but it is part of the foundation of living a successful and Godly Christian
life. My own simple definition that I use for myself to help me to understand
this concept of the “fear of the Lord” is that it means that a person should
fear displeasing God more than they fear anything else. Our relationship with
the Lord should be so important to us that we would rather lose anything else
than lose that relationship. The fear of the Lord is about holding God in
reverence and in such high esteem (knowing the power and the glory of God) that
we will do anything he wishes because we desire to please Him more than we
desire to please anyone else.

As Christians we are
not afraid of God. We know that He loves us perfectly … and this knowledge of
His perfect love has driven out the need for us to be afraid … because if He
would die for us … it is proven that he is for us! But while we do not feel
afraid of the Lord … we do still live in awe of His power and glory and we
live with the desire to please Him and never to incur His displeasure and
wrath. And that desire outweighs our fear of anything else.

Jehoshaphat lived in
the fear of the Lord.

2. Do not move out of fear of the
enemy

Like all of us, when
Jehoshaphat was faced with danger, v.3 says, “Jehoshaphat feared!” When the
messengers brought him the news that a mighty army of 3 nations allied together
had come up to make war against the tiny nation of Judah … the king feared.

Was he sinning by
being afraid? No. Fear is not a sin. I’ll repeat myself. Fear is not a sin!
Fear is an instinctive reaction that God has built into us to act as a
protective force in our lives. He has given us the ability to foresee the pain
that might be inflicted on us and to take evasive action!

The danger is that we
are tempted in our fear to take evasive action that is displeasing to God or
which is not God’s best way! And if we as Christians do that … then our
ministry is bound to fail! So let me give you a few examples to illustrate what
I mean:

• The
  boss threatens you that if you don’t lie to the client, you will be fired. You
  fear the consequences of being fired and so you do what he wants … and your
  Christian witness has just exploded.
• Your
  child comes home and tells you that they have decided to live a gay
  lifestyle.  You fear losing your child if
  you refuse to accept their sinful lifestyle and so you don’t confront them or
  challenge them on it … and your ministry as a parent has just failed!
• Your
  circle of friends tells you that they don’t want you to speak about Jesus on
  the golf course any more … it’s uncomfortable and irritating to them. You
  fear social rejection, and so you agree and talk about the same rubbish they’re
  all talking about instead … and your ministry to your unsaved friends has
  fizzled out.
• Or
  a mighty army rises against you and your people … and you know that if you go
  out to face them in a straight battle you will be defeated hopelessly! You fear
  defeat and the torture of imprisonment or a gory death on the battlefield …
  and you are sorely tempted to give up anything they might name, just to make
  some kind of treaty with the enemy! That was Jehoshaphat’s fear. And he just
  didn’t see a way out!

Fear is an important
part of life. But the only fear that is supposed to determine how we behave is
the fear of the Lord (as explained above). The great revivalist John Wesley
said:

“Give me one hundred men who fear
nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether
they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up
the kingdom of heaven upon earth.”

The point is that we
will always have fear in our lives but we must not act because of any fear
except our fear of displeasing God. Our fear of displeasing God should outweigh
every other fear. Our love for God and our desire to please Him must outweigh
our fear of even our greatest dangers and enemies.

And that is why
Jehoshaphat’s first action is such an example to us and such a key to living a
successful life of ministry. His first action was …

3. Seek the Lord

Vesre 3 continues:
“Jehoshaphat set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all
Judah,” and verses 5-13 record the prayer that he prayed. It was a prayer that
reminded himself of just how great and how glorious God is. It was a prayer
that asked God to intervene on behalf of His people. And as part of a
nation-wide fast, it was a prayer that sought God’s guidance and direction and
wisdom to know what to do.

I firmly believe in
praying for 2 things every day as Christians:

1. Wisdom to know what God wants me to
   do;
2. Courage to do what God wants me to
   do!

And I see this in
Jehoshaphat’s prayer. He was praying in such a way that his faith and courage
would be built up … while in the same breath seeking the will of God.

Out of that time of a
national seeking of God, the Holy Spirit came upon one of the Levites called
Jahaziel … and Jehaziel’s words confirm what I’ve been saying all along! He
says:

“Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because this
great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s”

At this point in
Jehaziel’s prophecy, if I was Jehoshaphat I would probably have been jumping up
and down for joy thinking that I would be able to stay safely in Jerusalem and
maybe sit on the wall and watch as God sent down fire from heaven to destroy my
enemies. God would simply fight for me. And, man, that is how most of us
Christians want life to operate. We want to be able to pray and then sit down
and have God solve all our problems for us … without us having to lift a
finger.

But then Jehaziel
continued:

“Tomorrow go down against them…”

Although he did
promise them that God would fight for them and that they would “stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. And although he also instructed
them, “Do not fear or be dismayed,” he still also commanded them, “Tomorrow go
out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

God’s will is not for
us, His people, to do nothing but pray and watch Him save the day. His will is
for us to bravely go out into battle with the enemy in our lives … and while
we are putting ourselves on the line for the Lord … the Lord will come
through and save the day. His will is for us confront evil … to refuse to
give in to temptation and the easy way out … but to fight the good fight of
faith … and thereby release His power into the battles of our lives. His
desire is to fight for us while we fight with Him on our side!

4. In all things WORSHIP

What an appropriate
reading for today’s worship celebration! The army of Judah received the message
from God to go out for battle. And the first thing Jehoshaphat did to engage
the enemy was:

“He bowed his head with His face to the ground, and all Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshipping the Lord!” (v.18)

And then, as they
marched out to battle, Jehoshaphat appointed those who should sing to the Lord,
and who should praise the beauty of His holiness, as they went out before the army.

And it was when they
went into battle in worship that the Word says, “the Lord set ambushes against
their enemies and they were defeated.”

The army of Judah went
into battle lifting high the name of the Lord God Almighty … and the battle
belonged to the Lord.

When we put God first
in our lives … when we fear the Lord more than anything else … when we seek
God’s will and God’s ways and God’s help and approach our battles with faith
instead of fear … and when we lift high the glory f the Lord Jesus Christ in
the midst of the battle … the Lord will give us the victory!

The result of living
in such a way as to bring praise to Christ … of facing our battles in such a
way as to bring praise to Christ … is always victory.

Please notice that I
am saying, it is always victory. It is not always easy! Unlike for Jehoshaphat
it does not always end happily. We need only look as far as our Lord Jesus
Christ to see that sometimes victory looks a lot like defeat. For Jesus’
victory included the cross. But on the other side of the cross was the
resurrection! And sometimes a faith-filled, God-fearing, worshipping child of
the Most High will go through what seems to be complete and utter failure and
even destruction … but it is when we hold on and keep lifting Jesus high …
that He is able to turn even our seeming defeats into victory and bring
resurrection from our initial defeat.

Conclusion

The foundational
principle of a successful Christian life and ministry is this: Put the Lord first! Be a person who
fears the Lord! When the battle comes and the temptation is there, fear God
more than anything else … seek the Lord’s will and ways … and with worship
and reverence for the Lord in your heart … go forth and conquer!

Last week Rowan
preached from the passage in John 4 where Jesus ministered to the Samaritan
woman by the well. His focus was particularly on how Jesus released the woman
from her past. Having ministered to the woman and then, later, having
ministered to the whole town, that part of Jesus’ ministry ends with the
townsfolk saying: “Now we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man
really is the Saviour of the world.” There had been no healing, no miracle or
heavenly sign, except that Jesus revealed supernatural knowledge to the woman.
However, John explains that “because of His words” many more became believers.
So the visit to the Samaritan village had the powerful effect it had, all
because of Jesus’ words.

The next scene in
John’s gospel is the scene that plays itself out as Jesus arrives back in
Galilee from Samaria. In fact Jesus returned to Cana – the village where He had
performed His very first miracle of turning water into wine. Here He is met by
a certain royal official whose son was very ill at home in Capernaum. When the
man begs Jesus to heal his son, Jesus says something very interesting: “Unless
you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.” Jesus’
words are proved true when the royal official returns home and finds that his
son had been healed at the very hour that Jesus had pronounced him healed. And
John then says: “The father realized that this was the exact time at which
Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he and all his household
believed.” Why did he believe? He believed because of the miracle.

In contrast to the
Samaritans who had come to believe because of Jesus’ words alone, without any
miraculous sign … the Galileans were people who wanted sign after sign. We
could fairly say that their faith was not based on the words of Jesus, but on
the works of Jesus.

And so, even before
we really get in to the passage for today we are already faced with a
challenge: What does it take for me to believe and trust the Lord? Am I
satisfied to believe on the basis of the Word of the Lord … or do I demand
evidence before I will believe?

The passage we touch
on today will introduce us to a man who received a miracle and yet even the
miracle did not cause him to believe. I want to suggest that this man is most
like the majority of other human beings. There are a few people who will
believe purely on the basis of the Word
of the Lord. They are blessed and (to use a common phrase that is probably
theologically incorrect) they are fortunate. There are many who will believe on
the basis of a combination of the Word
of the Lord and the works of the Lord. We will hear the message but we will
also find confirmation of that Word in a variety of things – for some it’s the
beauty of nature, for some it’s a circumstance that the Lord works in our
favour, and for some it may be a healing or other miracle. But I have found
that by far the majority of people can
both hear the Word of the Lord and experience His works in this world (both
natural and supernatural) … and will still not believe. Our cripple
friend from John 5 is one of these. Let’s meet him and let the Lord speak to us
through him.

1. The miracle is done by grace (v.1-9)

Lying at the pool of
Bethesda was a great number of disabled people. Some were blind, others lame,
still others paralyzed. And as they lay there they were waiting to be healed.
Verse 3b-4, (which modern translations tend to exclude because they are missing
from the oldest Greek manuscripts) help us to understand that they were waiting
because every now and then the waters stirred. They believed this stirring was
done by an angel of the Lord. And they believed that after the stirring, the
first one into the water would be healed. The man whom Jesus singled out was
one of the crowd of disabled people. He had been lame for 38 years. We don’t
know how long he had been lying by the pool hoping somehow to be healed … but
we do know that the object of his faith was not the Lord God Almighty …
neither was Jesus the object of his faith! When Jesus asked the man if he
wanted to be healed, the man’s reply is: “Sir, I have no-one to help me into
the pool when the water is stirred.” His entire faith for healing was focussed
on the superstitious belief that the only way for him to be healed was to get
into that pool first! He was one among many people at that pool who had had the
focus of their faith subtly shifted from God … to the pool.

In that is a
warning! Human beings … and Christians too … are so easily led astray to
superstitions that become the focus of our faith. I will be healed if only I
get that person to pray for me … if only I go to this church or that church
for ministry … if only I make a sacrifice to
the ancestors … if only I get rid of all the sin in my life … if
only I can get my aura in balance. {{The “Auras Expert.com explains that “Aura healing is also known as spiritual healing,
energy healing, or psychic healing. Energy healings are an excellent way to
release blocks and unwanted energies, and get your own energy flowing, so you
can heal.”}}

As Christians we
need to understand that God has placed healing properties in nature and has
allowed humans to be able to study scientifically and discover the truth of
those healing properties in nature, and also to discover how to intervene in
human illness to bring back health. But God remains the source of that healing.
When I take a pill prescribed by my doctor my faith is that God can bring
healing to me through the healing properties that HE has given to the contents
of that pill. My faith is not to be in the doctor or in the pill.

AND God also heals
supernaturally. This was a supernatural healing the man by the pool was waiting
for. The problem was that he was trusting in his ability to do something to
achieve that healing. His faith was in the wrong place. His faith was in his
work of getting into the pool first.

But here is the
point of all this: When Jesus heals, he heals by grace. He does not heal by our
works. This man does not even ask Jesus to heal him. And even when Jesus asks
him if he wants to get well, he doesn’t have the faith to understand that Jesus
is offering to heal him miraculously. He simply gives Jesus the reasons why he
cannot be healed! Yet Jesus heals him anyway. Praise the Lord! You may say that
the man had faith and that’s why he picked up his mat and walked. But I would
point out to you that John records in v.9 that “at once the man was cured. He
picked up his mat and walked.” The cure came before he could do anything to
contribute to the cure.

Yes by God’s grace
we are encouraged to seek healing … and Scripture is full of promises that
God responds when we seek His healing. But the point of this healing in John 5
is that whether we seek that healing or not … healing is always by God’s grace. It is never something we have to
earn or deserve. It’s grace all the way! When we come to the Lord needing
healing we come knowing that God owes us nothing … and that nothing we ever
do can make us worthy of His healing power. We come trusting in His mercy and
grace! The man at the pool is like the person who says: “I don’t deserve to be
healed by God!” That’s what he said (in different words). The good news of John
5 is that no-one deserves to be healed or has a right to be healed
supernaturally by God … but God in His mercy and grace DOES heal and invites
us to come to Him for healing! And when we come … we come trusting in His
grace and His love for us as His children!

2. The Jesus who heals the body wants to heal the soul
(v.10-14)

It’s very interesting
to me that Jesus is able to heal this man’s body without his co-operation …
but He cannot heal his soul without his co-operation. This is one of the
saddest miracles in the Gospels. This man is miraculously healed by Jesus after
38 years. For a short moment after the miracle he obeys Jesus. Jesus has told
him to pick up his mat and walk, and that is what he does. But he has not gone
very far before he is confronted by religion. The Law of Moses did not say you
may not carry your mat on the Sabbath. It said you may not work. The Pharisees
had decided that this meant (amongst many, many other things) that you were not
permitted to carry a burden from one home to another. So the man was going
against their religion. The moment this man is confronted by a cost of his
obedience to Jesus … he bails out!

This shows us the
danger of basing our faith in Jesus on a miracle. People who come to Jesus
because of some miracle he did in their lives are far more likely to fall away
when the miracles end. That is why despite millions and millions of people
making public confessions of faith in Jesus at miracle healing crusades all
over the world … the world is not a very different place! Why? Because 99% of
the people who confess faith in Jesus on the basis of some supernatural event
lose their faith in Jesus when the supernatural event is over and the rubber
hits the road. Someone who comes to
Jesus because Jesus made my life better is VERY inclined to turn from Jesus
when following Jesus makes my life more difficult!

So the irreligious
Westerner who confesses faith in Jesus because of a miracle they experienced
will very often soon stop obeying the Jesus who taught us to turn the other
cheek when they get physically harmed by someone. Their religion of me-centred
comfort will resist the call of Jesus. The Hindu who confesses faith in Jesus
after a healing will very often abandon their obedience to the Jesus who calls
them to abandon their religion of idolatry and be baptised into a faith in
which they worship only the Creator God!

The traditional
African who comes to faith in a healing crusade will often abandon Jesus when
they realise that this means they can no longer fulfil their customs of
honouring the ancestors.

Let me state my
point again: Someone who comes to Jesus
because Jesus made my life better is VERY inclined to turn from Jesus when
following Jesus makes my life more difficult!

This is what
happened to the man in the story. He followed Jesus after his miracle … but
only until Jesus’ commands brought him into conflict with the culture and
religion of the day. When confronted by the religious leaders, the man points
his finger at the one who healed him. But the problem was that he didn’t know
who the man was. So the religious leaders left angry with the healed man.

Jesus then finds the
man in the temple courts. His warning to the man is: “Stop sinning or something
worse may happen to you.” Now we already know that sickness is not always a
direct consequence of our own sin. People get sick because we live in a fallen
world. Sometimes we get sick by our own foolishness like smoking or excessive
drinking or careless use of power tools! But often our sickness is not caused
by our own foolishness or sin. And Jesus said as much in John 9:3 in reference
to the blind man at Jericho. So Jesus is not inferring that he stop sinning or
he’ll get sick again. It’s far worse than that. I believe He’s telling the man
that if he continues in his rebellion against Jesus he will be separated from
God! Jesus is more concerned that the
man return to fellowship with God and be healed spiritually!

Jesus healed the man
physically without the man’s co-operation. But Jesus could not heal him
spiritually without the man making that decision for himself. Jesus had told Nicodemus
in John 3:16-18: “For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him
is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because
he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Every human being retains the freedom to
choose whether to spiritually healed or not. Very sadly many people whom Jesus
heals physically never allow Him to heal them spiritually. Spiritual healing
comes when we turn our lives over to Jesus Christ and follow Him as Lord and
Master!

The Conclusion of the matter (v.15)

The man by the pool stopped
short of following Jesus because the cost was too high for him. He was
physically healed and happy to receive that from Jesus. But when Jesus
confronted him with his sin and invited him to be spiritually healed by turning
away from sin and following Jesus, verse 15 tells us: “The man went away and
told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well.” And even sadder is the
consequence of his actions. Verse 16 says: “So because Jesus was doing these
things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted Him.”

Jesus had met this
man with grace and had changed his life physically. But when Jesus confronted
his sin he wanted nothing to do with Jesus.

And before we get on
our high horse let us examine ourselves. All too often we are so happy for
Jesus to do miracles for us and to provide for us and to make the sun come up
in the morning and the force of gravity keep us on the ground. But let Jesus
just dare to tell us to change our behaviour … and we often not only turn
away from Him but TURN ON HIM. More common is that we turn on the messenger!

Friends today’s
passage has presented us with many challenges. Allow me to conclude by
reminding you of what they have been:

• Believe in Jesus
  because of who he is, not because of what he does for you;
• Put your faith in
  Jesus for your healing … not in what you can do or what someone else can do
  for you, or in some superstitious action!
• Follow Jesus even
  when the miracle doesn’t come your way.
• Allow the Jesus
  who heals to heal you spiritually by turning you away from sin. Don’t turn away
  from Jesus when He calls you to turn away from your sin.

Today we come to the final sermon in our series entitled, “Life Interrupted”. It has been a very interesting journey of
discovery as we have observed Jesus interrupting people’s lives for different purposes. Today’s theme could probably best be entitled “Bitterness interrupted” and it looks at the issue of how Jesus responded when hurt by a Christian.

When we first become Christians and join a church, I think we usually labour under the illusion that this is going to be a perfect
community. Because it is a community of people who all confess faith in Jesus Christ and profess to be doing their best to follow His Lordship in their lives, we assume that it is going to be a safe place where everyone gets on with one another and no-one is nasty or rude or selfish towards anyone else. But sooner or later we discover the sad reality that Christians are weak and
fallible and that at some point in time we are going to get hurt in the church.

Some of the ways we may get hurt is:

• Other Christians gossiping about us or talking negatively about us behind our backs;
• Christian leaders making decisions that we don’t like as members of the church; or the other side
  of the coin; viz.;
• Members stirring up dissension against leaders who make decisions they don’t like;
• A fellow-Christian betraying a confidence;
• Being manipulated by someone in the church.

I know that has been my experience, and sadly I’m pretty sure that it has been your experience too. But what is sadder than the
fact that Christians get hurt by other Christians in the church is the way many of us Christians tend to deal with the hurtful situations we have faced. This may be:

• Striking back with derogatory words of our own;
• Spreading a counter-rumour about the person who spoke ill of us;
• Getting ourselves into groups of like-minded people (that is “us”) and stirring up our dislike for another group of people (that is “them”);

But let me not get ahead of myself. Instead of all this talk about how things are … let’s take a moment to learn from our
Master. After all, if only all of us Christians were living more like Jesus, we would certainly be getting on a lot better, and our churches would be a lot healthier. So today we’ll try to learn a lesson from Jesus about how we should handle hurt caused by fellow Christians … but we’ll also learn from Peter how NOT to do it! But first let’s set the scene.

Setting the scene

The scene is the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus and His disciples have completed a three year ministry tour of Israel. They have walked together, talked together, done miracles together, and seen the world together. Jesus has helped them, healed them, calmed a storm for them, fed 5000 people for them and with them, protected them from hostile crowds, raised the dead in front of their very eyes, and made them privy to some of the most intimate details of His life and of the Heavenly Father’s plan for this created world.

All the way, Judas Iscariot has been one of them. He tasted the water Jesus turned into wine … he saw Jesus walk on the water …
He watched the dead son of a widow from Nain get up after Jesus touched his lifeless body … He heard the words of life from Jesus lips … he smelt the stench of death in Lazarus’ tomb just before Jesus called him out … he touched the skin of the leper who came back to thank Jesus for healing him.

Like all of the other disciples, Judas lived in deep, intimate fellowship with Jesus for three years. Jesus gave Judas His time, His
energy, His affection, His friendship, His teaching … and Jesus entrusted his money and his heart into Judas’ hands.

But as we all know … at some point … and for some reason known only to himself and God … Judas decided to betray Jesus for 30
silver coins. That was the lowest legal price for a slave. The worst, cheapest slave on the market would be sold for 30 silver coins … and that was the price tag Judas put on a man who had invested everything He could into Judas’ life. Jesus was Judas’ pastor … and Judas sold Him to die for 30 silver coins – the Son of God sold for the price of a worthless slave! Do you think maybe that was a case we could equate to someone being hurt by a fellow-Christian? I certainly do.

So this is an ideal opportunity to learn from the Master what to do in a situation like this!

So the scene plays itself out in the garden of Gethsemane. Judas has gathered the religious leaders and the troops, and he enters the Garden where he knows Jesus has been going every night to pray. This is coldly calculated to deepen the pain for Jesus – the injury is to be inflicted in the Church (so to speak) – in the place of prayer. With a deep cynicism, Judas draws near to Jesus and greets
Him with the traditional Jewish greeting: “Shalom Rabbi!” The cynicism is that the greeting Shalom means, “Peace,” and Judas intended nothing of the sort by his greeting … and the term Rabbi was a term of endearment and respect … and yet it was used with the profoundest disrespect of a traitor selling out his teacher. The greeting, of course, also include the traditional kiss on both
cheeks – an act of tender love and respect – while all the while Judas was in the very act of betraying Jesus to His death.

This was a two-faced act of cynicism … cruelty … disrespect … dishonour … mockery … and public humiliation towards Jesus!

 The Wrong Reaction: Peter

As is so often the case in the gospels, Peter proves to be a good model for how a Christian should NOT behave. You have to love
Peter because he is so much like us. Peter’s emotional reaction to the moment of betrayal is anger. It’s a natural reaction. Anger is an instinctive reaction to being hurt by someone – it is a God-given mechanism which moves us to do something about being hurt – a part of our self-defence instinct to ensure that what just happened to us does not happen again. Anger in itself is not wrong. That’s why Scripture can say: “In your anger, do not sin.” The issue is not Peter’s anger, but what He does with it.

Violence:

While Matthew and Luke don’t mention which disciple did the deed, John reveals that it was Peter. Whipping out his sword, he cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Peter’s reaction is one of anger. It’s a natural reaction to such a dastardly act of betrayal. But instead of controlling his anger, Peter allows his anger to control him and he strikes out with hatred and violence.

It is important to note that while Peter is reacting to being hurt by a “Christian” … what he does injures a non-Christian. How
often the witness of the church is all but destroyed when the actions of a Christian or of a church harm those who do not yet believe in Jesus. An unbelieving world stands on the outskirts of the church and watches in bemusement as one Christian belittles or slanders another … and in its heart it says to itself, “If that’s what being a Christian is about, you can keep it thank you very much.”

Peter’s actions just go to prove that uncontrolled anger and violence are never fitting in the Church of Jesus Christ. The cycle
of hurt, anger and violence has been fuelled by Peter – a Christian who should have known better.

Running away:

Once the whole drama in the garden had played itself out, Peter’s next reaction was to run away. Along with the other disciples, Peter fled into the night. And while he did continue to follow Jesus, we are told that he did it “from a distance.” To me this says
that Peter’s wrong reaction to being hurt by a fellow-Christian not only put distance between himself and Judas, it also put distance between him and Jesus.
We need to note this very clearly, that holding our anger against a fellow-believer will serve the function of not allowing us to be hurt by them again – but an unintended side-effect of our bitterness will be that we are lso distanced from Jesus.

Peter reflects the most common mistakes Christians ake when we are hurt by others Christians – we hit out – often not physically
but rather socially and personally – and we distance ourselves from them. And hat is the gap Satan needs to squeeze in and cause destruction in the Body of Crist. Paul, in Ephesians 4:26 quotes Psalm 4:4 to the local church members. He says: “In your anger do not sin.”
And then he goes on to say, “And do not give the devil a foothold.” Today in the Church of Jesus Christ the devil doesn’t only have many footholds; he has handholds and strongholds too … because we as Christians are behaving more like Peter than Jesus.

The Right Reaction: Jesus

Now we turn to learn from Jesus. When confronted in the Garden of Gethsemane by his spiritual son and brother, Judas, what does
Jesus do?

According to Matthew 26:50 Jesus, knowing what Judas was about to do, greets him with the unexpected greeting, “Friend”. The word literally means companion and it reminds us not only of the close relationship between Judas and Jesus over the past 3 years, but also of  Psalm 55:12-13  which says, “If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.” It reminds us of the awful emotional pain this act of betrayal must have caused Jesus, and yet He still calls Judas, “Friend”. Jesus was keeping the door open for Judas right to the end. Jesus was determined not to give the devil a foothold by allowing himself to be drawn in to the cycle of hatred and retaliation.

As Judas draws closer to Jesus he stretches out his arms to take Jesus in the traditional embrace of greeting someone by kissing
them on both cheeks. “Shalom Rabbi,” he says and reaches out to kiss Jesus cheek. You and I, knowing we were about to be betrayed, might not have waited for Peter to cut the servant’s ear off later, we might have started by biting off Judas’ ear as he leaned in to plant the first kiss. Gerrida often speaks about how her dad would force her and her sisters to make up when they had
fought as little girls, and they would have to kiss each other. She says she usually felt like biting her sister’s lip off. I imagine that is how Jesus felt. But, unlike Peter, Jesus in His anger did not sin. Instead Jesus kept the door open for Judas. He accepted and even returned the kisses of this man who was selling him out to his death. Jesus was doing what he had taught His disciples to do in the Sermon on the Mount – “When someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Jesus, as always, chose the path of non-violence.

Why did he do this? I’m sure there are many reasons.

• As always, He wanted the watching disciples and the watching soldiers to see what the love of God is like. Jesus’ whole life was about reflecting the love of God to a watching world, and he was still doing so in this moment. After all, it was in
  Jesus that God, who had been constantly rejected and betrayed by His people, was reaching out to the very people who had rejected and betrayed Him to invite them to come home. In this moment with Judas, Jesus was merely continuing the
  mission that had begun in a manger in Nazareth.
• Jesus also did it because He wanted to keep the door open for Judas to repent of his sin and come back to Jesus. Would Judas ever return to fellowship with Peter after what he saw Peter do to the servant’s ear? Probably not. Would Judas be able to return to Jesus after the way Jesus treated him? Yes. The fact that he didn’t later repent and return to Jesus is because he believed Jesus was dead and buried … but if he’d waited until after the resurrection I am quietly confident Judas
  would have been given the opportunity to return to Jesus … because Jesus’ reaction had kept the door wide open for him.
• Jesus did it this way because fellowship with His friends was always more important to Jesus than the easy way. It is the Spirit of Jesus in Paul that made him say later to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6:7, that instead of taking each other to court over petty issues they should rather allow themselves to be wronged and cheated. Jesus would rather be wronged and leave the door open for Judas to come home to fellowship than stand on His right to judge Judas! Thankfully that is
  the way of Jesus because if that was not the way of Jesus then you and I would not have a Saviour! We would have to face the wrath of God on Judgment Day because we too have betrayed and denied Jesus over and over again!

Conclusion

So what is the heart of the lesson from Jesus today?
It is that when we are hurt by a fellow-believer or by the church we are not to follow the way of Peter – the way of angry retaliation and distancing ourselves from the ones who have hurt us. Instead we are to follow the way of Jesus – the way of non-violent grace, portraying our willingness to forgive if there is repentance. Yes there does need to be repentance … genuine, heartfelt repentance … before Jesus expects us to forgive … but our attitude must be such that we are willing to forgive when that repentance is  forthcoming … and this attitude of grace needs to be shown through the way we relate to and approach the people who have hurt us.

Of course matters are seldom as clear-cut as they were with Jesus and Judas, where Jesus is clearly 100% right and Judas is 100%
wrong. And we also need to accept that in the church – that when I am hurt by a fellow-Christian, I am probably also partly to blame for the way things went … and not get on my high horse of judgmental anger! The way of Peter is the way of judgmental anger. The way of Jesus is the way of grace and love. Let us choose to follow the Jesus way!

Today we have been celebrating the Day of Pentecost. This is the day the Christian church remembers the events which played themselves out in Jerusalem, 50 days after Jesus resurrection from the dead. On that day, as the disciples of Jesus met together praying in a house in Jerusalem, the Heavenly Father baptized them in the Holy Spirit. Immediately they ran out onto the streets and began to praise God and His wonders so loudly that a huge crowd gathered. Peter then stood up and explained to the crowd that the disciples had been filled with the Holy Spirit through their faith in Jesus Christ and also explained how Jesus had been raised from the dead and had opened the way to God! When the crowd asked him what they should do, Peter replied that they should all repent of their sins and be baptised in the name of Jesus … and that if they did so, they would also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That day, 3000 people accepted Peter’s message, received Christ and were baptised in the Holy Spirit!

From that day onward, everyone who comes home to God through faith in Jesus receives the Holy Spirit. In John 3:6 Jesus says that the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life in us. When we say yes to Jesus, he places the Holy Spirit within us and from within us, the Holy Spirit gives us the new life that Jesus died and rose again to make possible for us. This is certainly an event worth celebrating!

But our reading for today is Acts 10 … an event which we could call the Pagan Pentecost! It is the story of the apostle Peter and a Roman centurion called Cornelius. Now Cornelius was not really a pagan as such. He would have grown up in a Pagan family who worshipped the idols and the mythological gods of the Romans. But at some stage Cornelius had come to know the God of the Jews. He became a devout God-fearer who gave generously to the poor and prayed to God regularly. However, as you know, being a good person doesn’t make you right with God. Cornelius and his household desperately needed a Saviour. At this point in history, no Jew … not even a Christian Jew … would have thought of reaching out to a Roman. There was a huge cultural and racial barrier between them. For a Jew to enter the house of a person like Cornelius would make them unclean. If Cornelius was going to hear about Jesus it was either going to be by accident or through a sovereign work of God. Well … God was not leaving it to chance!!

Let’s cut back to Peter and remember that Peter was a good Jew. Jesus had never told him that he needed to abandon his Jewish roots. Together with Jesus he had gone up to the temple to worship, they had kept Passover and the other Jewish festivals … and Jesus had clearly said that He had come for the lost sheep of Israel. So Peter was a Jew who had found the Messiah! But the furthest thing from Peter’s mind was reaching out to Gentiles with the Gospel. Yes, all the Jews needed to hear that the Messiah had come and had ushered in an age of living in the Spirit of God! But Gentiles … what did they have to do with any of this. Yet Peter was God’s chosen instrument to take the Gospel to Cornelius and his family. This was also only going to happen by accident or through a sovereign work of God … and God was not leaving it to chance!

So like a heavenly match-maker, God sends an angel to Cornelius and divinely instructs him to send for Peter … and then, just as Cornelius’ messengers are approaching the house where Peter is staying, God sends a vision to Peter which loudly and clearly instructs him not to call anything unclean which God has made clean. Having completed the vision, the Holy Spirit then gives Peter a clear word of prophetic knowledge that three men are looking for him downstairs and that he is to go with them. In obedience to God Peter goes with them, and the result of all of this is that Peter preaches the gospel to Cornelius and his whole household.

What is so beautiful and remarkable is how the entire household gets saved. Peter doesn’t lead them in a prayer of salvation. Peter says this: “Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name.” While Peter is uttering those words, the members of Cornelius’ household believe in the message in their hearts and in that instant they receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit! God also, in His sovereignty, makes it evident to Peter that there is no difference between what is happening to the Gentiles and what happened to Peter and his fellow-disciples on the day of Pentecost, by giving the gentile believers exactly the same manifestation of the Spirit as He had given to the apostles in Jerusalem – they spoke in tongues and praised God! And through this remarkable, God-inspired succession of events, God causes the Jewish Christian Church to accept that God had also decided that Gentiles could be saved by repentance and faith in Jesus! (Acts 11:18)

What do we learn from this?

We learn that it is the desire of God to give new spiritual life to anyone and everyone who will repent and believe in His Son Jesus Christ … no matter what background, race, nationality or language group they might come from! God will baptise anyone with the new life of the Spirit if they only turn away from their sins and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. And God will make them into exactly what we are through the work of His Spirit within them … no difference … children of the Most High God! But if we are going to fully embrace this truth then we have to allow the Lord to do a work in our lives like He did in Peter’s. We have to believe the truths that Peter believed and learn the lessons that he learnt!

Why? Because, just like Peter, we also all have our prejudices which make us feel towards certain people the same way Peter felt towards all gentiles … and which also make us unlikely to reach out to them with the gospel message. Now I don’t know what your prejudices are but let me name a few common ones and you can identify them in your own life:

• People of different race groups.

• People of different nationalities.

• People who are poor and live in squalor.

• People who have homosexual desires.

• People who are addicted to drugs or alcohol.

• People who have committed crime.

And you know what makes it fairly easy to see that these particular groups of people are often the targets of our prejudice? It’s because we have derogatory names for them: “uMlungu / K…r / Coolie / Slit-eyes / Hoboes / Faggots / Druggies / low-lifes / scum / Metal-heads / you could go on and on. Depending on our particular prejudice we will feel about a particular kind of person that we would never be expected to share the gospel with them.

So here are the lessons Peter learnt and which we MUST learn:

1. “God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean” (10:28).

There is no-one who cannot be saved. There is no human being or category of human beings on the face of the earth who are not loved by God. That person may be different from me but they are not excluded from the heart of God. And so I should not treat any person or group of people as unclean and impure just because they are who they are.

2. “God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.” (10:34-35)

I am not better than any other human being. My group of people is not better than another group of people. Yes it is easier for me to relate to and identify with people who are just like me … but God actually does not love us more just because of our culture than He does anyone else. It is only me inside my culture who thinks it is any better than anyone else’s culture. My culture contradicts and rejects Christ in just as many ways as their culture, it is just that I am used to my culture so I am blind to its anti-Christian tendencies.

3. Everyone needs to be saved by Jesus.

What strikes me is that even though God had taught Peter the lessons that he should not call anyone unclean and that God does not show favouritism but accepts everyone who fears Him and does what is right … Peter still had to go and explain to Cornelius how to be saved through Jesus. The danger we face when we hear that God loves criminals and rapists and gays and poor people and Christians … is that we will think that because he loves them they are already saved. And that is not true. Only those who call on the name of Jesus are saved. So we need to take the good news to everyone.

And then today we also celebrate the glorious good news that when any human being, no matter what their background, race, nationality or past, comes to accept Jesus Christ by faith – they are baptised by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. And just like us they begin life in the Spirit – new life – life in Christ! And despite all our differences we begin to have this one thing in common – we are children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We are the anointed ones. And the same Spirit who dwells in me dwells in you!!

Today is a very, very important day on the Christian calendar. It is the day we set aside to celebrate the historical fact that
Jesus Christ physically ascended off the earth and entered the glory of God, where He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father – in the place of highest honour.

The day of resurrection – what many call Easter Sunday – is the day the Christian church celebrates the fact that death could not hold Jesus! The power of God, poured out into the body of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, raised Him from the dead once and forever. That is certainly a day to be remembered and celebrated. But today is the day that completes the glorification of Jesus – it is the day that we celebrate that none of the normal limitations of time and space apply to the risen Jesus Christ anymore. Jesus is
no longer limited in any way as he was when He walked the earth. During His life on earth, and even after His resurrection,
Jesus could only be in one place at one time. He could only speak to one group at a time. He could only do one miracle at a time. But as Jesus Christ ascended, the clouds of glory / the clouds of heaven hid Him from their sight and He moved from the physical realm of this universe in which we live … into the spiritual, heavenly realm where time and space are totally irrelevant.

Jesus had promised the disciples that after a while they would experience Him in a different way. He had said in John 14 and 16 that after He went away, He would not leave them as orphans but would come to them. In Acts 1 Luke recorded for us that Jesus told them to go and wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit was poured out on them from on high. That is the same promise simply restated – for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God … the Spirit of Jesus … who comes to minister the presence of Jesus to us … now
that Jesus is no longer physically with us. The Holy Spirit is the way that Jesus continues to be present in our lives ALL THE TIME! And Jesus Himself taught that unless He left the earth, the Holy Spirit would not come. Now the reasons for that are a sermon in themselves … and today is not about a theological lesson … it is about a celebration of the truth! Which truth?

This truth: Jesus Christ is God the Son who has ascended to heaven and from there, with the Father, has poured out the Holy Spirit into the life of every person who has put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Now for the remainder of this reflection I want to try to answer the question: “So what?” What does this mean for my life as a Christian?

1. Choose

“And they worshipped Him” Luke 24:52

I want to state boldly, just as Joshua did on the plains of Moab before the Israelites crossed over in to the Promised Land, that God
places before every Christian a choice today. It goes something like this: Choose for yourselves this day Whom you will serve!

To the Israelites the choice was between the One True God who had revealed Himself to them in the desert, and the gods of the land they were entering. The One True God had revealed Himself as a God who was invisible and could not be captured by any image or idol. He was a God who wanted to be worshipped without idols and who demanded that he would be their only God!
Waiting in Canaan was a system of worship that was pagan – that worshipped many gods through idols, and through sexual immorality and perversion. And so God placed the choice before them: Choose today whom you will serve!

Now today every Christian faces the same choice. There is a major world-wide movement to demote Jesus Christ from being GOD to being just an excellent figure in history – a great moral teacher! I believe that this movement is the beginning of the great falling away prophesied in 1 Timothy 4:1:

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”

And so the Christian today is put to the choice: Choose today whom you will serve! Will you serve the Jesus Christ who revealed Himself as God and was proven to be God His teachings, His miracles, by being raised from the dead, and by ascending to
heaven … or will you serve a god created by humans? Will you believe in the Jesus who is the Saviour of all humankind … or will you believe that He is no such thing? Will you lay hold of the promises of Jesus the Son of God … or will you choose to believe that Jesus was a liar and a con-man!

Those are our only two options. Either Jesus was a liar and a vicious conman who has ruined the lives of billions of people by leading them astray to worship and serve a LIE … or he is who He said He is – the Son of God … God the Son … eternal … ever-living and fit to be worshiped and adored. Which Jesus will you believe in?? Choose today whom you will serve.

Ascension Day puts that choice very clearly before us. Either you believe what the Bible says about what happened on that day … or our faith is in vain! Because a human teacher cannot save anyone from their sinful nature. The Law could not do it … and Jesus cannot do it … unless He is God! You choose this day whom you will serve and whom you will believe! If the Ascension is true … and it is … then it means that Jesus Christ is no ordinary man. He is who He said He is! God! Worship Him!

 2. Pray

“They all continued in one accord with prayer and supplication.” Acts 1:14

Besides worshipping Him the disciples also responded to the Ascension by going to Jerusalem as Jesus had commanded them and by praying. What did they pray for? They prayed for the final promise of Jesus to be fulfilled. What was His final promise to them? “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now!”

That was the last promise Jesus gave them … and they were praying for its fulfilment. Ten days later at Pentecost their prayers were
answered!

Now we don’t have to pray for the Spirit to be poured out like He was at Pentecost … because that was an historical moment and it was the moment that Jesus’ promise was fulfilled. From that moment on the promise of John 7:37-39 was released:

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let
him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

From the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit is available and freely given to those who receive Jesus Christ by believing in Him … and that means entrusting their lives to Him. (See John 1:14)

But we, like the early disciples, need to respond to the Ascension of Jesus by praying for Him to keep us FULL of the Holy Spirit! Jesus is the One who has made it possible for the Spirit to be poured into our lives … and His will is for us to remain constantly full of the Spirit … to be filled with and by the Spirit day after day after day. He was crucified, raised from the dead and He ascended SO THAT He would be able to pour out the Spirit into us … and if we settle for a life that is less than 100% full of the Spirit … we make His ascension less meaningful! We make His sacrifice on the Cross less valuable … not worthless … but worth less.

Let me use an analogy. When Jacob journeyed around the promised land he was continually re-digging the wells his father Abraham had dug. He and his shepherds fought battles to retain some of those wells. Now imagine that Jacob had spent weeks digging open a well to provide a constant source of water for his family and flocks … but the man charged with protecting the
well and drawing the water up daily decided that it was too much trouble and allowed it to fall in … or simple stopped drawing the water. How happy would Jacob be?

Jesus gave His life to dig open the well of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Sin had clogged the well … but Jesus on the Cross dug it open.
As the disciples prayed to be filled with the Spirit for the very first time they were in essence drawing up the water of the Spirit from the well Jesus had dug … Now we need to be praying to remain filled with the Spirit ALL the time! As we pray we are drawing up the water of the Spirit … receiving Him afresh daily from Jesus so that we can live in victory over sin and  death!

So today choose not only whom you will worship … but choose also whether you will use the well Jesus has dug and be daily filled with the living water of the Holy Spirit … or whether you will allow the walls of well to become clogged with sin again and treat the precious Water as worth less than He is!

As I’ve been doing over the last few weeks, please allow me again to remind you that we are busy with a series called “Life Interrupted” and are looking at different encounters between Jesus and people, in which their lives were in some way interrupted by Jesus for the sake of His Kingdom. So far our themes have been “Life interrupted for: • The Great Commission • Discipleship • Salvation; and • Healing”

Today our focus changes a bit. Our theme is “Work Interrupted” and we will be seeking to ask and answer the question: “How can I allow Jesus to interrupt my work for the sake of His Kingdom?” I want to make it clear that I am talking here about work in the broadest sense of the word. Each and every one of us has a job of some kind. Whether we are a scholar at school, a home-executive working at home, a retired person who has to cut their own grass or practices a hobby, or a regular working person going off to our job every day, these things comprise work in the broad sense of the word. When I speak today about having our work interrupted, I’m talking about all of the above.

For today’s message we consider the life of a man best known as Paul the apostle, who started out life as Saul of Tarsus. And in Saul’s working life I believe we find a few different ways that the Lord Jesus interrupted His career for the sake of the Kingdom: 1. Resetting! (career-change) 2. Excellence! (do it all for the glory of God) 3. Finance! (tent-making) 4. Discipleship (Aquila)

1. Resetting

Saul’s first job was an interesting one. He had studied as a teacher of religious law under rabbi Gamaliel. Once qualified, Saul carved out a bit of a niche for himself as a religious crusader who hunted down and persecuted heretics. In this pursuit, his favourite targets were Christians. In his own words this is how he gave a description of his first job: Act 22:4-5: “I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.”

This was Saul’s day-job – tracking down and imprisoning Christians. Ironically it was one day during work hours, as Saul was in the course of his job, that he had a life-changing encounter with Jesus. Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus. Jesus seriously interrupted Saul’s work. In a flash … through encountering the living Jesus … Saul’s life was completely transformed. Not only was Saul born again in the days that followed this event … but he also received a calling from Jesus to completely change careers.

In Acts 22:15 Saul describes it and says that Ananias spoke prophetically into his life, saying: “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth. You will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard!” There could not have been a more radical career change for Saul than this one. He went from being a persecutor of Christ – a religious crusader seeking to destroy the witness of Jesus – to being a preacher of Christ – a religious crusader seeking to spread the witness of Jesus to the four corners of the globe.

I firmly believe that you and I also need to be willing to have our lives interrupted by Jesus in this way. There are people here today whose careers the Lord may want to “reset”. In fact there are a few of us for whom he has already done that. Certainly my career was reset (from lawyer to pastor) … Jeanne’s career was reset (from working at Pick ‘n Pay to running a worship school and being a worship pastor) … Mark’s career was reset from being a youth pastor to being a missionary.

But it’s not only about being called into ministry. If Saul had not been called to a world-wide mission of preaching the Gospel, he still would have needed to change careers. He could not have been a Christian and still continued to persecute Christians. So you may not be called into the full-time ministry but it is possible that Jesus may want to interrupt your career and reset it onto a different course altogether. He may convict you that the industry you’re in or the job you’re doing is inconsistent with His will for you as a Christian. Then you have to be willing to allow Jesus to reset your career. This is the first answer to the question, “How can I allow Jesus to interrupt my work?” – be willing to obey Jesus even if He tells you to completely change the direction of your career!

2. Excellence

Listen to how Paul describes the extent he went to in his work as a witness for Jesus: 2Co 11:24-28: “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”

That description is partly the reason I described Paul’s new career as ‘a religious crusader, seeking to spread the witness of Jesus.’ Paul was absolutely focussed on doing what he was doing with every fibre of his being and every ounce of his energy. It was out of this commitment that he made a call to all Christians in Colosse: Col 3:22-23: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men!”

Paul understood that a Christian was called by God to perform every task they performed with the same excellence as if they were doing it for Jesus Himself. And before you say: “But you haven’t met my boss – he’s a slave-driver!” allow me to remind you that Paul was here talking to slaves. Even they were expected by Jesus to work at it with all their heart. So I believe the second way Jesus might want to interrupt our work, is by calling us to excellence in what we do.

Perhaps today the Lord is convicting you that you have been going through the motions at work – trying to get away with doing the bare minimum, or even just being satisfied to turn up for work, go through the motions and collect a pay-cheque at the end of the month. But that is not on for a Jesus-follower. A Jesus-follower works in such a way that their work is a witness to the saving, transforming grace of Jesus Christ! This is the 2nd way to be open to Jesus interrupting your work – be ready for Him to call and challenge you to higher and higher degrees of excellence in your work!

3. Finance

The third way Jesus may want to interrupt our work comes from the events described in Acts 18. Here we read that Paul was not only a world-wide missionary, but he was also a maker of tents. Jewish parents, then and now, believed in all their children learning a trade. So as a child called Saul, Paul’s parents not only sent him off to study as a rabbi … they also first made him learn the trade of tent-making. There always had to be something to fall back on. Historians will tell us that this is one of the reasons that Jewish families have flourished despite so often being persecuted. They always have a means of doing business and surviving.

So while Paul was in Corinth he stayed and worked with a tent-maker called Aquila. This is also a challenge to us. Paul financed his ministry by working as a tent-maker and preaching on the Sabbath. Now there were other times that he didn’t follow this model … and he also clearly believed in the model of full-time ministry because he taught about the churches taking proper care of their pastors in 1 Cor. 9 and in 1 Tim. 5. But my point is that Paul and Aquila both worked in order to finance ministry and mission.

That was why they worked. They worked to enable ministry to happen! And it could very well be that one day the Lord Jesus will interrupt your comfortable work schedule and command you to use your work to finance a ministry for yourself like Paul did. It could be that He will interrupt you to call you to use your work to finance the mission or ministry of others. If you are a Christian and you are doing well financially, there is a reason God is allowing that – there is a reason He is blessing you – and that reason is not only for your own comfort and luxurious living – He is blessing you in order for you to be a financial blessing to the poor and also to others who are serving the Lord full-time. Cliffie and Neal Clarke will be moving to India at the end of this year along with their children. And they will not only be relying on support from others … they will also be working in India to make ends meet and to facilitate their ministry. When Mark and Carolle move to Russia with their children, they will also have to work day jobs there to finance their ministry and mission. Most ministers’ wives minister alongside their husbands and also work another job to help finance their family’s ministry.

So Jesus may want to interrupt your way of thinking about your job and help you to see that your work is a source of income for ministry – either your own or someone else’s. He may be calling you to see that the wealth He has allowed you to produce is intended for the furtherance of His Kingdom and not for the furtherance of your very own kingdom of comfort! The first and foremost place our finances grow the kingdom is in the local church through our tithe of 10% of our income. But over and above that 10% the Lord is calling us to use every means at our disposal to further His Kingdom. And so you may be called, over and above your tithe, to give to mission through supporting Team Madagascar … or the Hope Fund … or the Clarkes or the Jacksons … or to use your financial means to go on mission yourself and spread the Kingdom of Jesus’ love in this world. Just be open and willing to Jesus telling you how He wants to use your finances for His glory … and begin to see your job as a means of creating finance for the Kingdom.

4. Discipleship

When Paul went to stay with Aquila we are not told that Aquila was a Christian. In fact it says that he came to Corinth from Italy because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. And then it says clearly in 18:2 that Aquila was a Jew. But by the time Paul left Corinth he took Aquila and his wife Priscilla with him and then left them behind in Ephesus, and when a young man called Apollos came to Ephesus and started speaking about Jesus in the synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila took him under their wing and discipled him. In fact in Romans 16 Paul later referred to them as his co-workers.

So at some point Paul had led Aquila and Priscilla to Christ. Paul had used the fact that he was working with them to gain entrance into their lives in order to lead them to Christ and to disciple them. As they made tents together day in and day out, Paul was explaining the gospel to them until they accepted Christ … and then he was teaching them the way of Christ … day in and day out as they sewed their tents. And Jesus may very well want to interrupt your work by using you to lead a co-worker to Christ … or to disciple them.

We should never see our work as being something other than an opportunity for mission and ministry. Our work-places are our number two mission field (#1 being our Family). Before we go off to India or Russia on an international mission, we need to see the mission field that lies on the opposite side of our desks, or across the floor of our workshops, or on the other side of the till, or in the school desk next to us. Your work-place … and mine … is a mission field, and it’s time to start using it as such. Don’t see it any other way … see it as a mission field … and pray for opportunities to reach out with the love and good news of Jesus to those with whom you work … like Paul must have done with Aquila.

This may entail you making yourself available to pray with co-workers … to run a lunch-time Bible Study or prayer group … or it may just mean having conversations about your faith in Jesus at every opportunity. But I’m more convinced than ever that Jesus wants to interrupt our workplaces and make them mission fields in a very deliberate way!!

Conclusion

Today’s challenge is a very simple one. We are challenged to call a prayer meeting at work over lunch or before work … take a tabernacle slot over lunch and bring a colleague with you … or simply to have a conversation about Jesus with a colleague this week. Whatever we do and however we choose to do it … let us be sure of one thing … that we invite Jesus to come and interrupt our work for the sake of His Kingdom.