Call Him John (Luke 1.5-25)

Introduction

I’m going to start with a little quiz. Are you ready? Right. What do the following people have in common? Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Alexander the Great, Napoleon the Great and Herod the Great. Answers on a postcard please… actually, the answer is that none of them were great, as we'll see.

The last of these five so-called “Greats” – Herod was king of the Roman province of Judea at the time Jesus was born and therefore he is in the background to the story. He as half Jew, half Edomite, mixed race – which was never going to work in a place like Israel - and he worked for the Romans which made it worse. He was a client king, a puppet with Caesar Augustus pulling all the strings. Why was he called “the Great”? Because he was a visionary architect. He built amazing palaces and monuments, and harbours, and amphitheatres and breathtaking places of worship including the temple in Jerusalem.

If you go Jerusalem today, nearly all of Herod’s temple is gone. Only the Wailing Wall remains. Jesus said it would be destroyed. Jesus was right. Jesus is always right. But we don’t need the temple anymore as a meeting place between God and man. We have Jesus and we can encounter God through faith in him. 

But Herod, besides being a great visionary, was paranoid and obsessive and controlling. He murdered his own wife and two of his own sons when he suspected they had secret ambitions for his throne.

He killed lots of people. Anyone who stepped out of line was suppressed, anyone who threatened his position was ruthlessly eliminated. He tried to kill Jesus when he was a baby, as we know. He was a megalomaniac.

So when Luke says in v5 that this happened in the time of Herod, king of Judea, he’s talking about desperate days ruled by terror.

But the story is not about Herod. The world calls him “Great” because the world is impressed by power and status and wealth and achievement. But the Bible never calls him “Great” because according to God he wasn’t.

Instead, in v15 it says John the Baptist “will be great” – this hermit who came from a nothing family, ate locusts, lived rough, wore unfashionable clothes, was abrasive in public, and died young. But he was great because his whole life pointed to Jesus. That’s true greatness in God’s eyes.

Does your life point to Jesus? That’s how you achieve greatness for God, and the clearer you point, the greater you are. Herod never pointed to Jesus; he pointed to himself and in God’s eyes he is utterly insignificant.

Zechariah

This story is not about Herod though. It’s about an old priest called Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth.

What do we know about Zechariah? First, he’s a nobody, married to Mrs. nobody, from nowhere important. His provincial village might have a population of about 100, maybe less. He’s nothing special.

But one day (v8-9) his number comes up. He gets a sacred, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Out of the blue, his name is drawn by lot, out of 20,000 priests, and if your name is chosen, you get to go in to the inner sanctuary of Herod’s temple, empty a brazier of ash from yesterday’s incense offering and light the censer for a new one.

And then, after that, that’s it. Your name is removed forever from the list of available priests. So it’s probably the highlight of his career. It’s a great privilege. It’s like getting a chance to meet the Queen or appear on TV. This is a big day. But Zechariah is a nobody who gets lucky one day.

Secondly, v7 says that he and his wife Elizabeth are childless. All they ever wanted was to be able to be parents. But years go by. All the friendly talk about the patter of tiny feet dries up. Years, and then decades, pass. The clock ticks ever faster and eventually it becomes obvious. They can’t have any children. Elizabeth slowly advances beyond childbearing age. They’re devastated. They’re heartbroken.

But look, it also says in v6 that they are righteous in the sight of God. How do you deal with pain and disappointment and sorrow when you’re right in the sight of God?

However painful this is for them, notice that it does not drive them apart. They don’t end their marriage over it even though the Law of Moses gave Zechariah legal grounds to divorce Elizabeth and remarry. Does he ditch her and try his luck with a younger woman? No, they stay faithful to their marriage covenant and love one another and console one another in their shared pain.

And notice that they don’t become resentful towards God either. I’ve known people drift from their faith when tragedy strikes. “Oh, you won’t give me what I want, well I’m not going to worship you anymore then. I’m going to go my own way. I’m leaving church.” But Zechariah and Elizabeth don’t say any of that. They just quietly and humbly accept God’s will for their life.

The Lord gives, the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord. We are going to stay faithful. We’re going to close our tearful eyes, and bow our aching heads, and lift our weary hands and worship him – whatever befalls us.

Thirdly, Zechariah is poor. He’s not a high-ranking or prominent priest with a cushy job in the temple. He’s not a megachurch pastor with a TV show, he’s a vicar with a tiny country parish. This is a simple rural guy, probably in his 60’s, from nowhere important, quietly serving an unknown half-full synagogue, possibly with a day job to make up a salary he can live on.  

But, look, after years of being anonymous, he gets to be king for a day in the temple! He gets dressed in his best robes. He turns up early, anxious to do it right. And the big cheeses tell him what to do. Honestly, it’s not all that hard.

All he has to do is go in, sweep up some ash, light a censer, say a quick prayer, and come out again. It’s not rocket science. Thousands of priests have done it before, all without incident. It’s a once-a-day ritual that should take maybe half a minute.

Imagine you’re one of the worshippers waiting outside in the outer court of the temple. 30 seconds pass. Then a minute. You’re kneeling on a hard marble floor and it’s getting uncomfortable. Then two minutes, then five… Where is he? The worship leader goes through all the optional choruses. The service leader tries to fill time by asking if anyone’s got a testimony. Someone rolls his eyes and says “Why do we get these country cousins in to do these important jobs?”

We know why he’s late. He’s swept his ash, he’s burned his incense, he’s closed his eyes and said a short, heartfelt prayer. “Lord save our nation, send the Saviour that the prophet Malachi said would come. Deliver us from this evil tyrant Herod. And… *sigh* no, it’s too late. My wife is too old.”

He opens his eyes – and is startled to find he’s not alone. You know how it is when you think you’re alone in a room and look round and someone makes you jump because you didn’t know they were there? That’s what happens here, but the intensity of the experience is magnified.

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard (v13). Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call him John” (it means God is gracious). He will be great.” Greater than Herod, who is not great at all in the sight of God.

In fact, Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived. “I tell you, among those born of women” he said, “there is no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Why’s that? I think it’s because John never saw the cross. John could only see the need to repent. You and I can marvel at what repentance leads to; the wonders of the cross, the beauty of forgiveness, the triumphs of grace. Not only does God cleanse you from past sin, he crowns you with blessing and adorns you in his flawless righteousness.

“He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.” Did you hear that? That’s why Christians are pro-life, there it is right there in v15.

The Bible is clear that God knows us through and through, even while our bodies were being formed in your mother’s womb. Every one of us is made in his unique image and likeness. God chooses and appoints before the foundation of the world. You can be called by God and filled with the Holy Spirit even as a foetus.

Mother Teresa: once said, “If we accept that a mother can even kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill each other? … Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.”

She offered a solution for any pregnant women who didn’t want their children: “Give that child to me. I want it. I will care for it. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the child.” She placed over 3,000 children in adoptive homes in Calcutta.

But your own mother’s womb is the most perilous place to be alive in Britain today. 200,000 precious souls, handcrafted by God, are exterminated every year in the UK. People say “It’s a choice.” Fair enough, it’s a choice, but it’s a sinful choice according to God’s word. But if you’ve ever had an abortion or urged someone to have one, it’s not the unforgiveable sin. You can leave this place today forgiven and new.

So anyway, this angelic figure appears from nowhere, he knows your name, he knows your wife’s name, he knows what you’ve been praying about, and he tells you how God is going to answer your private longing in every detail.

The fourth thing we get to know Zechariah is that he’s a simple soul because after this once-in-a-lifetime spiritual experience, with an angelic visitation and a personalised prophetic word Zechariah basically says “Yeah, but are you sure? How do I know you’re telling the truth? I’m no spring chicken, you know. And have you seen my wife?”

I love what Gabriel says. It looks like he takes it personally. I’m not just your bog standard angel you know. “I am Gabriel.” Seriously! “I stand in the presence of God.” And if you’re too stubborn to believe that God can do the impossible, you are going to be silent for nine months and think about it.

Finally, Zechariah emerges - very late - from the Holy of Holies and he has to explain to everyone present without the benefit of speech why he has taken so long.

I wonder if he was good at charades! It says in v22 “they realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.” It must have been quite comical. How do you think he mimed what happened to him? 

Elizabeth

It’s great news for Elizabeth. Although, the timing seems strange, let’s be honest. It might have been easier for her to have the child when she was younger and healthier. As it is, they are already old so they probably died before John reached adulthood.

Sometimes the Lord’s timing seems way off to us. It’s only when we pan back and see the bigger picture, often with a lot of hindsight, that we understand more clearly. God works to his timing, not ours.

But all her life, she’s been waiting for this moment and now she has two for the price of one. She has a baby on the way and, for nine full months, she has a mute husband. How good is that! For the best part of a year she doesn’t have to listen to him moaning about the football and as a bonus she wins every argument.

Waiting

Advent is a season of waiting. The congregation in the temple had been watching and waiting for minutes for Zechariah to emerge from the Holy of Holies and were becoming impatient.

And Zechariah and Elizabeth had been watching and waiting for years for a child and had now all but given up hope.

But Israel had been watching and waiting for centuries for their Messiah. Many were wondering if he would ever come.

·         He never came when the Babylonians marched them off into exile.

·         He never came when the Greeks overran them

·         He never came when the Romans occupied Jerusalem and desecrated the temple.

In fact, since God had said through the prophet Malachi “I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me” no prophet had spoken for 400 years in Israel. People were saying, “God has forgotten us.”

Do you ever say that? God has forgotten me. God has let disaster befall me. God has forsaken me.

No, God will never leave you. In Isaiah, it says he carves your name on the palm of his hand as a reminder; even if a mother forgets her baby he will not forget you. When Jesus came they gave him the title Immanuel, which means God is with us. Jesus gave the Holy Spirit saying he is with you and will be in you. God is for you, and nothing, the Bible says, can separate you from his love.

God made a promise to send an Elijah figure to Israel to prepare the way for the Saviour, and he did that in the form of John the Baptist, the child born to Zechariah and Elizabeth.

God promised to send a Messiah to earth to save the world from sin, and he did that with the birth of Jesus. In both cases, God announced what he was going to do and then he delivered on his promise. God’s track record on promise fulfilment is perfect, 100%.

So this morning, we continue to watch and wait for Jesus Christ

·         that he will come again as he said he will,

·         that he will judge evil as he said he will,

·         that he will bring the reward of a crown of glory to all who remain faithful as he said he will,

·         and that he will save completely all who come to him and trust in him according to his word that is trustworthy and true.

Ending

And as I end, let me finish with a word for those, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, are weary and burdened today.

There was a psychologist who was teaching stress management to students. She raised a glass of water, and asked: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She said, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a few seconds, it’s fine. If I hold it for a few minutes it starts to be a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

The stresses and worries and unanswered prayers in your life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a little while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to weigh you down. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything." Lay your burdens on Christ today.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 1 December 2016

Certainties of the Second Coming (2 Peter 3.3-10, Matthew 24.3-14)

Introduction

Don’t you just love it when God suddenly does something unexpected and amazing?

The vicar at St Michael Le Belfrey Church in York was saying this week that last Sunday evening at a guy came to talk to the speaker after the service. He said, “I've never been to this church before. I don't know why I'm here. I was walking past, and heard the music, and something drew me in. And then I heard your talk on broken dreams. It was just what I needed to hear, because... I was going to take my life this evening. But I won't now. I've become a child of God!”

This is what God does. This is what Jesus is like. Of course, if anyone here is feeling particularly depressed this morning my sermon might just send you over the edge so I’ll be careful, but listen - God is here. He wants to meet with you and he can turn your life upside down if you’ll let him.

Today and next week, we’re going to be thinking about certainties of the second coming. Honestly, how often do you think about that?

The earliest Christians thought about it all the time. The first eyewitnesses of Jesus’ empty tomb, reported that the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head was found neatly folded. If you fold your napkin when you leave the table in the Middle East, it shows those waiting on you that you haven’t finished yet and will be back. The point about the head cloth being folded is included in the gospels because the people who wrote them wanted to say he’s coming back!

And there are, in fact, eight times more predictions of Jesus’ second coming in the New Testament than there are prophecies about his first coming in the Old. Someone with a shocking amount of time on his hands has counted 318 times in the New Testament, that’s every 30 verses, a reference to this event - to the return of the King.

There are many diverse things that Christians believe about the end times, Jesus Christ’s return and the end of the world.

There are for example key differences of opinion on matters like the role of Israel, the Millennium, whether or not there’s going to be a secret rapture, and what sort of figure the antichrist will be. You can find a wide range of interpretations of some of the symbolism in the Book of Revelation.

But Romans 14 says “accept each other without quarrelling over disputable matters.” These are disputable matters. They are not primary, core Christian beliefs. Don’t leave a church over a disagreement about something like whether the Millennium in Revelation 20 is symbolic or literal. We can disagree without being disagreeable on issues like that.

But there are other things to do with the Lord’s second coming that are pretty clear and practically all Christians who take the Bible seriously hold them to be true. Some things are all but undisputed. Those are the uncontroversial things we are going to look at in the next couple of weeks.

The Bible’s record for future predictions is not just impressive; it is flawless.

Every prediction about the rise and fall of nations in the Bible came true in every detail. Every Old Testament prediction about the Messiah, and there are many, was perfectly fulfilled in Jesus.

There is only really one major prediction in the Bible that’s still future, and it’s this: Jesus is coming back! Everything else forecast in this book has already happened.

Arrival and Unveiling

There are several Greek words used in the New Testament that tell you what the Lord's return will be like.

The most commonly used word is parousia. This word parousia is found twice in our reading from 2 Peter. Verse 4 “where is this ‘parousia’ he promised?” and v12 “as you look forward to the day of the Lord and speed its parousia.” It’s in the Matthew reading too. Verse 3: “What will be the sign of your parousia and at the end of the age?”

It’s translated “coming” or “arrival” here but it was originally used specifically for an official royal visit.

Another word used in the New Testament that describes the Lord’s return is apocalypsis which means to uncover, to unveil something hidden so it can now be seen. We see dignitaries drawing a little curtain to reveal a plaque. This is what it means.

There have only been so far in history two recorded unveilings of Jesus’ stunning glory and radiance - and only a few have ever had a glimpse of it.

The first was when Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John. It says it was like direct sunlight coming through his clothes and those who saw it had to hide their faces, such was the intensity of its brightness.

The second was when Saul was converted on the road to Damascus. Again, the brightness of the light was so dazzling, so overpowering that Saul was temporarily blinded in both eyes.

I was driving towards the sun that was low in the sky last week and I had to fold down the visor in order to be able to drive at all. It was completely blinding. This is what the revealing of the Lord’s glory is going to be like.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the brilliance of his appearance was concealed. Nobody saw it. The king of kings, majestic and glorious, appeared in a shed, as a new born baby in cheap clothes, sleeping in a dirty old manger out of which an ox had just lately been eating its lunch. What a shock!

But the shock will be greater when Jesus returns. Because this time he will be arrayed in majesty so awesome, the Bible says, we won’t be able to look at him without falling to the ground or covering our eyes!

When he comes back, his true, magnified, stunning glory will be revealed and the radiance of it will be utterly overwhelming.

The Timetable

What everyone wants to know of course is when it’s going to happen. Despite Jesus saying “nobody knows, not even me,” people have tried to be cleverer than Jesus and work it out.

Jesus does know now by the way. His omniscience was laid aside only temporarily for the 33 years he walked the earth, which is why he was surprised by people’s great faith or lack of faith as we saw a few weeks ago. But now he has been highly exalted and has been given all authority. Now he knows exactly when it’s going to be.

But people (who don’t know any better) have tried to work out the date.

·         A mystic in medieval times called Joachim of Fiore said it would be in 1260.

·         The Anabaptists in Munster said it would be in 1534.

·         The Quaker James Milner (who went on to play midfield for Liverpool and England) said it would be in 1652.

·         The Methodist George Bell said “No it won’t. It will be in 1790.”

·         The Baptist preacher William Miller said “You’re all wrong, it’ll be in 1844.”

·         The Jehovah’s Witnesses said it would be in 1914. When it didn’t happen they said “Yes it did. It happened secretly.”

·         And the Fundamentalist Jerry Falwell said in 1999 that it would definitely happen within ten years. Do the maths…

Can I give you some friendly advice? Don’t be stupid and waste your life working out when the end of the world is going to happen.

But this is what was happening in Peter’s time as well. It says in v3: “In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing (that’s what scoffers do best) and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this 'coming' he promised?’”

It’s a good question. Where is it? When’s it going to happen? Will we know when it has happened?

Fixed or Flexible?

Acts 17.31 says that the Lord has fixed the day. He knows when it is. From God’s perspective, the engagement is written in his diary. There will be no last-minute change of plan. The alarm is set. The clock is ticking.

But our perspective is different. This is one of those areas in which God’s absolute sovereignty touches human real free will in a mysterious way. Because 2 Peter 3.12 says “you look forward to the Day of God and speed its coming.”

There’s something you can do to hurry it up. So is the day fixed in God’s mind? Or is it flexible and dependent to some extent on us? Which is it? And the answer is… yes.

It’s like this: you respond to a call to turn from sin and believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation - and you come to faith. O happy day! But then you open your Bible and discover that actually you were chosen from the creation of the world. Was becoming a Christian your choice? Yes. Was it already decided, predestined, by God? Yes. Both are true and it’s too grand a thing to fully understand.

The day of the Lord’s return is fixed for God, but flexible for us.

Why the Delay?

But “where is this coming he promised?” says 2 Peter 3.3. Have you ever asked that question? Peter says four things in reply.

Firstly, he says in v5 that mockers deliberately ignore the fact that God warned about a great disaster before, Noah’s flood, and he did exactly what he said he would do then.

We now have unmistakable geological evidence of an extensive natural disaster in the Middle East; deep layers of flood sediment that date to ancient times. Furthermore, not just in the Bible, but in other ancient writings in other cultures, there are references to a widespread and overwhelming deluge.

In other words, the evidence is there if you want to look it up in a library or on the Internet but, Peter says, people deliberately ignore it. They shut their minds to it. They did then. They still do. People just don’t want to know. But the point is that God warned, then did it then, and he’s warned again and he’ll do it again.

Secondly, he says in v6-7, that God used elements that were already on the earth to bring disaster before as promised, and he will do so again – the next time though it will be fire, and not water.

Everything we attach ourselves to on this earth; our houses, our cars, our stuff, our savings, our pursuits… reality TV, politics, business empires; all of it will just vanish in a vapour. And in the case of reality TV good riddance…

Thirdly, in v8, Peter says that God experiences time differently to the way we do.

One day for us is like a thousand years to him and a thousand years is like a day. So the time when the Flintstones lived in caves and hunted mammoths is like last Tuesday afternoon to God. But the Battle of Hastings in 1066 is just like yesterday.

If this sermon feels like it’s been going on for days, maybe you’re just becoming more like God! Two minutes can feel like months when you’re stuck with a boring preacher.

And Peter explains in v9 that the reason why it’s taking so long for Jesus to return is not because he is slacking, it’s because he’s patient. And he’s patient because he’s passionate about more people coming to faith.

If yesterday was an average day, 80,000 people become Christians, that’s 3,300 precious lives every hour. That’s a good reason to delay the return of the Lord Jesus isn't it?

If God just waits 10 more years, nearly 170 million more people will have given their hearts to Christ in Africa alone. He wants heaven to be full. So he waits a bit longer.

Fourthly, in v10, Peter says that when Jesus does return it will be sudden and unexpected. Jesus said the same thing; “You also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

And Peter tells us, in v11 and 12, all we need to know about the Lord’s return, and how to be ready for it.

Those who are ready will be looking forward to it, not dreading it, and they will actually be hastening it by living holy and godly lives.

Living holy and godly lives means a clear contrast between the way you live and what society accepts and promotes around you.

It has become unfashionable to speak of living a godly and holy life, even in the church. People feel uncomfortable about it. But you and I will only be ready for the Lord’s return by living in a way that stands out from the crowd.

That’s how you know you’re ready. The trick is to stay ready. I was ready yesterday, but what about today?

But How Will We Know?

But how will we know that the time is drawing near? What sort of things did Jesus say will happen?

In Matthew 24 he gives a list of signals, like warning sirens, that should make us take notice when they happen.

In v8 he talks about the first of pains of childbirth. I’ve been in the delivery suite four times. I kid you not, it’s exhausting! I needed a proper lie down after all that.

I think it must be universally true that contractions begin with more moderate pain. But each contraction grows in intensity and they come closer together and they hurt more and more as the birth draws near.

So there’s a light groan at first, maybe every half an hour, but by the end, when the baby is about to be born, its mother is yelling like Mel Gibson in Braveheart almost constantly!

Jesus said that two things in particular are going to grow in intensity, like a woman in labour, as his return draws nearer. Here they are: we’re going to notice increasing trouble in the world, and intensifying trends in the church.

Trouble in the World 

The trouble in the world (v4-8) includes things like wars, rumours of wars, famines and earthquakes. Natural catastrophes, conflicts and cataclysms are going to increase exponentially. Climate change may well contribute to a sudden growth in all this. But how much worse it will get and how long it will take we cannot speculate.

What we do know is that when this sort of thing kicks off, people feel alarm and insecure and they panic. They look for strong leaders to get a grip and sort things out and Jesus says (v4-5) there will be plenty of them – plenty of false messiahs and personality cults that will spring up and people will follow them.

Trends in the Church 

The trends in the church start with a noticeable increase in opposition; Christians will be hated everywhere says Jesus (v9) and that will lead to a spike in martyrdom. We’re going through one of those now actually – watch that. This may not be “it” but who knows?

The trends will also include growing apostasy (v10-12); people will fall away as their love for the Lord will cool. False teaching will infiltrate the church and lead some astray – that’s why you should know your Bible so you can tell truth from error. Watch carefully for popular fads in the church that make light of sin.

Another trend though as the Lord’s return draws near will be church growth and the advance of the gospel to all nations (v14).

Even though opposition and martyrdom increases, the church will grow. That’s because a church purified by persecution becomes a church empowered for mission. Look at China today, look at Iran.

We’re going to see a growth then in church corruption, like a cancer, and at the same time a growth in church vitality, healthy growth, as the day of Jesus’ return draws nearer.

That’s what Jesus said and that’s what I’m watching for.

Ending

Let me end here. I started by talking about a guy who came in off the streets with thoughts of taking his life and came out at the end with the gift of a new life.

And I said “Don’t you just love it when God suddenly does something unexpected and amazing?”

One day, Jesus will come back – and that will be the most sudden, the most unexpected and the most amazing experience everyone living on earth will ever have.

Will it be in our generation? Will it be in our time? I hope it is. Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Let’s stand to pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 27 November 2016

Remembering Deliverance (Remembrance Day Sermon 2016)

Psalm 3.1-8

From 7 September 1940 to 10 May 1941, a total of 245 days, London was pounded from the skies. There were widespread rumours of imminent airborne gas attacks and the entire population was issued with gas masks. Fears of a chemical weapons attack turned out to be without foundation, which may sound familiar, but every day except one for over eight months, tons of deadly ordnance were dropped on the major cities of these islands, and London was the most targeted and worst hit. Overall, 18,000 tons of high explosives and 1.5 million incendiaries fell on London alone over that time.

Probably the most deadly attack of all occurred on the night of 29 December 1940. 300 high explosive bombs were dropped on the capital that night every minute. This particular assault caused a huge firestorm that ran out of control throughout the City of London. It was terrifying. People called it the second Great Fire of London. 

This whole sustained campaign came of course to be known as the Blitz. Over a million houses were destroyed or damaged. Civilian casualties in London alone during the Blitz amounted to 28,556 dead, and 25,578 wounded. I think all of us were deeply moved by Sonia’s interview. (Earlier in the service she told of being adopted at about 3 weeks old, discovered hidden in a chest of drawers in the rubble of a bombed house; she has never known her original identity, or who her parents were, and often wonders what her life might have been). It brought home to us very personally the human aspect to all the history and statistics and of course this was magnified on a scale of tens of thousands of lives.

The historian Norman Davies, in his authoritative book Europe at War – No Simple Victory (which has been my bedtime reading over the last month) says this about the Blitz, “Death from bombing can be particularly gruesome, not least because the life-stopping injury is often preceded by a period of sustained terror. Those who are close to the point of impact and who die instantly are the lucky ones. Most are burned or buried alive, crushed by falling masonry, asphyxiated, choked, pierced by flying glass or splinters, blinded or deafened, or otherwise struck down by insurmountable multiple injuries.” On reflection, that may not be the best material to read just before nodding off for the night…

Of course, it wasn’t only the Germans who went in for the indiscriminate bombing of civilian neighbourhoods. The Japanese in Rangoon and the Americans in Tokyo and Hiroshima, and the British in Dresden and Hamburg, and the Soviets throughout the eastern front - amongst many others - adopted similar tactics in an effort to break the resolve of their adversaries.

As you can see from the London photos in today’s service booklet, efforts to crush national morale didn’t work. Three homeless children in the East End on page 5 seem quite unfazed sitting on a pile of debris. What was going through their young minds as they looked around to see everything they’d ever known pounded to dust and hardcore?  

And the woman on page 7 looks almost carefree sitting down on the rubble of what was her home. As long as she’s got a nice cup of tea, she can face the day. It's so English isn't it? My grandad’s favourite expression was “Mustn’t grumble“ and he learned it living in London with his wife and two little girls at that very time. Keep calm and carry on… This is what became as the Blitz spirit.

We are quite good as a nation at holding it all together. The French speak admiringly of 'le phlegme brittanique' (we just calmly get on with it and don't make a fuss) but to whom do we turn at times of sheer terror? Of course, for want of anything or anyone else, many turned to God. Everyone else and everything else had been taken from their lives.

Like Saint Paul’s Cathedral, surviving intact whilst the streets around it were flattened, in the same way, our faith in God – in times of distress and ordeal – can seem like the only thing we know that’s not falling apart.

I have talked to people, just hours before their death, who are aware of little else but God’s presence around them, it’s a remarkable thing.

Our Psalm, written at another time by a man under sustained attack, expresses the entire range of emotions those who lived through the Blitz must have experienced. The Psalm can help us feel what they felt.

The hopelessness of feeling overwhelmed and outnumbered: “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!”

The worry that hope is fading and this might be end: “Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’”

A desperate cry for protection when familiar buildings are tumbling like skittles: “Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God!”

The disgust at those who are pounding your city night after night: “Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.”

There is a “but” though; a confidence and assurance that comes from God’s presence too.

“But you, Lord, are a shield around me… the One who lifts my head high.” Even when you are overwhelmed and outnumbered, grace enables you to look up in hope and not down in despair.

And despite the chaos, peace: “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.” Anxiety can keep you tossing and turning all night but peace is when you can sleep restfully even though everything you know, including your very life, is uncertain.

Defiance: “I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.” Getting married, as planned, in a blitzed church. There’s defiance for you. I’m not sure what Health and Safety would say about that…

And faith: “From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”

I have told this story before but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think it’s worth it.

It’s about a church in London that was preparing for its harvest service in October 1940. People had been in decorating the building and filling it with the fruits of the earth. Marrows, potatoes, carrots, apples – the church looked like an overstocked greengrocer’s shop.

But the Saturday night before the harvest festival a Blitz bomb fell on the church and completely flattened it. Not a brick was left on another, not a pew, hymn book or Bible survived; everything was totally obliterated.

But the following spring, amidst the rubble on that site, a new shoot appeared. It was from the seed of some of that harvest produce on display back in the autumn. You can raze a brick building to the ground in an instant, but all the dynamite in Europe could not destroy the life stored up in that one seed.

Today, as we remember the indescribable cost of war, as we honour those to whom honour is due, as we show respect to those to whom we owe it, we also affirm that even from the epicentre of destruction itself, we can pray for a better tomorrow.

That’s what they did in our first reading in Joshua 4; they built a monument to show for generations to come that all the living owe a debt of remembrance for national deliverance at a time of great peril. It’s why we do this today.

Jesus said, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’

May God grant to the departed, rest; to the living, grace; and to all the world, peace.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 13 November 2016 

Faith: The Now and the Not Yet (Hebrews 11.32-40)

Introduction

We’ve been looking at what faith is these past few weeks. All of Hebrews 11 is about people who we are told lived “by faith.”

So far, we’ve heard nothing at all about the doctrines they believed in. We don’t know anything really about which theological schools they identified with.

Don’t get me wrong; the content of what we believe is of crucial importance. Churches that welcome and spread ideas contrary to God's word become unhealthy and slowly die. God save us from embracing any other gospel!

But just holding onto correct beliefs is not what living by faith in Hebrews 11 is about. Living by faith is not about the propositional truths you personally assent to, it’s about decisions and practical actions you take in life.

So, as we’ve seen, for Noah, faith meant getting out his tool kit and building an ocean liner in a dry, landlocked country.

For Abraham, faith meant leaving behind a cushy retirement and literally stepping out into uncharted territory.

For Moses, faith meant rejecting his identity as a privileged Prince of Egypt and identifying instead with a nation of slaves. It says he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. “That’s not who I am” he said, and it changed forever the direction of his life.

So faith is much more than something you think. Faith is above all something you do and who you are - and it usually involves adventure and risk.

What are you doing in your life at the moment that requires you to take a step of faith?

Only twice in the gospels do we read that Jesus was astonished. Jesus knows everything – so it takes a lot to surprise Jesus. But he did show amazement on two occasions and both times it’s to do with faith. Let’s have a quick look at them.

Firstly, (Mark 6.1-6) is when he goes to his home town of Nazareth and no one believes in him. There is no faith there at all. There is just hardness of heart everywhere.

“Oh, this is just Mary’s son, we know his brothers and sisters.” They take offence at him. And it says he was amazed at their lack of faith – and that he couldn’t do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

To be honest, I’d settle for that, wouldn’t you? To lay hands on an invalid, a blind person and a deaf-mute, and actually see them healed straight away is a great Sunday for me. It would all over Facebook!

A normal day for me is when I pray for someone with a bad cold and catch it myself through the laying on of hands!

But sometimes I do see people healed or much improved when I pray for them and when that happens no one is more surprised than I am! On the outside, I try and look calm and humble and give God the glory – on the inside I’m punching the air!

But seeing a few healed is a footnote on a really bad day for Jesus. That’s one of the many reasons we worship him and not me. If ever you think I’m acting a bit full of myself, you have my permission to say to me “John - the Lord has already appointed his Messiah – and it’s not you.”

The second time Jesus was astonished (Luke 7.1-10) is when he meets a Roman Centurion. This time, he is amazed not at the absence of faith, but at the evidence of it.

The soldier’s servant is at death’s door. The Centurion meets Jesus and says, “Look, you’re Jesus, you don’t even need to come all the way to my home to see him. You’re a busy man. Don’t waste your time. You just give the order right here - that’s all it takes. He’ll be fine.”

This time, again in his amazement, Jesus says, “I haven’t found faith like this anywhere.”

If Jesus were to be amazed by meeting you, do you think he would be more likely to be impressed by your great faith or shocked by your lack of it?

Maybe for most of us the honest answer is “it depends what day it is.” That would be my answer, truth be told. I want to learn more about faith and I want to grow in it – I hope you do as well.

The Now Crowd

Hebrews 11 wraps up by introducing us to two contrasting groups of people. It’s not people who had amazing faith and people who had little faith. They all had great faith.

The first group is in v32-35 and these are people who, through faith, saw awesome signs and wonders, amazing miracles and did great exploits.

This is what it says: “I do not have time to tell about Gideon, [he defeated the formidable Midianite army with just 300 losers using bugles, candles and jam jars].

Barak, [he was the first black President of the United States – actually, that was another Barak; this one refused to go into combat without the prophetess Deborah and, acting on her prophetic word to the letter, he won a mighty victory].

Samson, [you know about him from Sunday School] and Jephthah, [he overcame family rejection to become a mighty leader] about David and Samuel and the prophets, [you know about them as well] who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, [that was Daniel] quenched the fury of the flames, [that was his three friends] and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; [there’s Samson] and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies [there's Gideon and Barak]. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.” [Elijah and Elisha both raised widows’ sons from the dead, such was the incredible anointing on them].

We read all this in Hebrews 11, and when we hear similar reports of signs and wonders today, and we can all say “Praise God!”

My friend Mark Aldridge got off a plane a few years ago in Siberia and met the leader of a church where he was going to do some Bible teaching. His first question to Mark, before “How was your trip?” was “How many people have you raised from the dead?” Mark wondered if getting teenagers out of bed might count but he had to admit that he hadn’t ever raised anyone from the dead. The pastor looked at his shoes and said in disappointment, “I’ve only raised five.”

I suppose the most amazing healing miracle I’ve personally witnessed is in the life of a cockney friend of mine called Arthur, who went to be with the Lord a few years ago. But about 30 years before that he was healed of spondylosis. This is a painful condition of the spine resulting from the degeneration of the vertebral discs. Arthur used to be bent over and in constant pain and was only able to move slowly and laboriously. He was prayed for one day in the name of Jesus and he was instantly healed.

Kathie and I are witnesses of the before and after. When I went to see him, he looked at me with a big grin and said “Watch this.” Then he ran up and down the stairs of his house shouting “Look, I’ve been ‘ealed, ve Lord Jesus ‘as ‘ealed me!” It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

People sometimes say that the day of miracles is past. But in reality there has never been a 'day of miracles.’ There's only a God of miracles; he’s been doing them since the beginning of time when he spoke a word and made everything out of nothing. He’s still at it today, and he says in Malachi 4 “I am the Lord and I do not change.” Hebrews 13 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

The Not Yet Crowd

But, as Louie Giglio says, “When you get to the New Testament, most of the good guys die, and those who don’t suffer terrible persecution.”

Starting with Jesus – they tried to kill him as soon as he was born. Several times in his ministry people tried to kill him. People actually got together and looked for a way to do it. In the end they did kill him.

Stephen was the first follower of Jesus to be killed – stoned to death.

According to the most reliable traditions we have, all but one of the twelve disciples were murdered. Paul was beheaded. Dozens were thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. Others were used as human torches to illuminate Nero’s palace garden at night.

And in Hebrews 11, after talking about great signs and wonders, the tone changes abruptly. Verses 35-38 are about the second group of people who, by faith, get absolutely battered and who die violent deaths. No sign and no wonder delivers them from peril.

It says, “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawn in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.”

A group of 12 Syrian followers of Jesus working with the Christian Aid Mission were serving Christ in villages near Aleppo this summer and, despite the obvious dangers, they all chose to stay in order to provide aid in the name of Christ to desperate people in that city.

Their ministry director wrote a few weeks ago, “I asked them to leave, but I gave them the freedom to choose. As their leader, I should have insisted that they leave. Every time we talked to them, they said, ‘We want to stay here – this is what God has told us to do. This is what we want to do.’ They just wanted to stay and share the gospel.”

The team leader on the ground led nine house churches and he helped to establish all of them. In a place like Syria – that’s one anointed guy. His son was two months away from his 13th birthday.

On August 28 this year, some Islamic State militants found them and asked them if they had previously renounced Islam for Christianity. They said that yes they had. The militants demanded that they return to Islam. They all replied, including the boy, “We will never renounce Jesus Christ.” That sealed their fate.

They were separated into groups of four and eight. Before a gathered crowd, they cut off the boy’s fingertips one by one and beat him severely. Still the boy refused to deny Christ.

They told the boy’s father they would stop if he returned to Islam. He refused too. So they tortured and beat him also and the two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy were then crucified and left on their crosses for two days. No one was allowed to remove them. They died beside a placard branding them as infidels.

The eight other ministry team members, including two women, were taken to another site that same day and were asked the same questions. The women, aged 29 and 33, said “We are only sharing the peace and love of Christ.” They were then publicly raped. They didn’t stop praying aloud during their ordeal. So they were beaten all the more.

As these two women and the six remaining men knelt before being beheaded, they were all praying. Some were exalting the name of Jesus, others were praying the Lord’s Prayer, and some of them lifted their eyes to commend their spirits to Jesus. After they were beheaded, their bodies too were hung on crosses. This happened just over two months ago.

The Kingdom of God Is Now and Not Yet

Why is it that there are, at one and the same time, extraordinary advances of the gospel and nauseating atrocities like this?

It's because the kingdom of God is both now and not yet. When Jesus came, he spoke about the kingdom of God. He said it was close. He said it was at hand. He said it was all around. And he said to pray that it comes more and more.

The kingdom of God is a way of talking about God’s sphere of influence. When that is total and complete, as it will be one day, then there’ll be no more sickness and no suffering at all. That’s the future aspect to the kingdom.

It’s not yet here in its fullness. It will be when Jesus returns. He’s coming back one day. There are about 300 references in the New Testament to this. It’s going to happen.

And the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8 that it’s like this: “We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our redemption.”

We know this world needs sorting out. We know things aren’t meant to be this way. We know there’s something more. But that will only happen in the future. That’s the future aspect of the kingdom.

But, Jesus says, that the kingdom of God also has a present aspect. It’s like you get foretastes of what is going to happen one day.

Last March there was a really warm sunny day. Everyone was walking around in t-shirts and summer dresses, there were one or two butterflies and it felt like summer had come. But it hadn’t; the following day it was cold and wet again. It wasn’t summer; but you knew it was on the way. It was a foretaste.

And when God does something amazing; when someone is dramatically healed, or when there is an extraordinary answer to prayer – that’s a foretaste. It tells you what it’s going to be like all the time one day, and that day is coming.

This is what we call the now and not yet. This is the environment today in which we live out our faith.

You see this man? He’s an Iraqi Christian. Look at his emotion. Look at the passion in his expression. What's this picture about? Is he mourning another atrocity against his people? No.

He is taking part in a 100 hour continuous prayer and worship meeting organised about ten days ago by a group called Burn 24-7. Five days non-stop... He’s praying for the salvation of the jihadis of Islamic State. When v38 says “the world was not worthy of them” this is what it means.

Ending

I want to end by telling you about a man called Mehedi Dibaj. Mehedi was an Iranian Pentecostal pastor who was arrested in 1985 and imprisoned for nine years, where he was systematically beaten and tortured.

In 1994 he finally went on trial for apostasy and his written testimony to the court was widely circulated at the time by the underground church he had led.

It’s 1,300 words long, so I can’t read it all, [a link to the full statement is here] but I want to pick out a couple of paragraphs because they are really powerful.

“With all humility, I express my gratitude to the Judge of all heaven and earth for this precious opportunity, and with brokenness I wait upon the Lord to deliver me from this court trial according to his promises. I have been charged with apostasy. An apostate is one who does not believe in God, the prophets, or the resurrection of the dead. We Christians believe in all three! They tell me, "Return!" But to whom can I return from the arms of my God? I owe him so much for his fatherly love and concern. The God of Daniel, who protected his friends in the fiery furnace, has protected me for nine years in prison. And all the bad happenings have turned out for our good and gain, so much so that I am filled to overflowing with joy and thankfulness. May the shadow of God's kindness and his hand of blessing and healing be and remain upon you for ever.”

He also clearly articulated the gospel, called the court to repentance and faith in Jesus, and testified to miracles he had seen God do.

This testimony was leaked to the world’s media, there was a global outcry, and amazingly he was released in January 1994. Five months later, he mysteriously disappeared and his body was later found in a park in west Teheran.

That’s “the not yet.” But here’s “the now”: in the 22 years since Mehedi went to be with the Lord, more Iranians have become Christians than in the previous 13 centuries put together since Islam came to Iran.

In 1979, there were an estimated 500 Christians of Muslim background in Iran. Today, there are hundreds of thousands, some say over a million.

In fact, last year the mission research organisation Operation World said that Iran is now home to the fastest-growing church in the world. The second-fastest growing church is in Afghanistan - and Afghans are being reached in part by Iranians.

That is why we live by faith. Because God is good, and Jesus is alive, and he’s coming back. Satan wins many battles, and they can be absolute carnage, but listen; Jesus wins the war!

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Don’t let setbacks and discouragements knock you off balance. They’re part of the story. We’ve read the end of the book – and Jesus wins.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 6 November 2016