Double Portion (1 Kings 19.19-21 and 2 Kings 2.1-14)

Introduction

A few years ago, someone told me about a British agriculture business that conducted a study on efficient farming methods around the world.

·         How do you maximise efficiency? 

·         How do you get the best out of the soil and livestock? 

·         How do you control costs? 

·         How do you farm sustainably? 

And part of this research took their R and D manager to the Australian outback, home to one of the biggest farms on earth. 

Apparently, there’s a sheep farmer there with a holding about the size of Wales. His staff have to travel up and down the farm by light aircraft. How on earth do you manage a business with a land surface as big as that? How can you possibly keep an eye on everything that’s going on? 

When he got there, to his astonishment, he found that there are no physical boundaries on this farm! So, you’ve basically got a 20,000km² sheep pen without a single yard of fencing. How does that work? So he asked the people on the ground there, “how do you stop your livestock from wandering off?” 

The Australians just laughed. They said, “Why would you want fences? We don’t need fences. The sheep always gather around the water. They only go where they can drink. All we need to know is where the wells are. That’s where the sheep will be.” 

When I look at the spiritual landscape of Britain today, I come to the same conclusion. Where are the sheep? Wherever the water is. And where and what are the spiritual wells that people head for? Is it canon law, or church dogma, or liberal theology? 

Maybe some of those wells used to hold water, or probably not to be honest, but they’ve all been dry for eons and the sheep aren’t there. They headed for the river of the Spirit years ago. 

There are wells and springs of spiritual life and blessing all over the world; there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God; that’s where God is at work and that’s where you will find the church healthy and growing. 

Spiritual Deserts and Wells

When you look at the story of God’s chosen people down the years, you find it is peppered with deserts and rivers. Deserts – prolonged periods of dryness and lifelessness. Rivers – sudden flows of blessing and life.

And so a timeline of the history of Israel would not show you a rising graph that goes up and to the right in an even slope. It would look more like an electrocardiogram. There are regular and frequent troughs and occasional high peaks, representing times of ruin and revival. 

The period of the Judges and Kings are the dark ages of Scripture. The leaders don’t get it, they don’t understand God’s ways and the nation goes nowhere, getting constantly raided and attacked. 

But then, some begin to call on the Lord. And the Lord moves in mighty power. God out of nowhere anoints a David, a Hezekiah, or a Josiah and the nation turns back to God and a new river of blessing flows. Or God raises up prophetic schools and centres of renewal; signs of hope and carriers of God’s favour.

Elijah and Elisha arrive on the scene as one of these unpredictable, out of the blue, revival movements. During the dismal reigns of evil kings like Ahab and Jehu, God unexpectedly breaks in and brings light. 

I’ll come back to Elijah and Elisha in a moment, but I just want to say first of all that church history follows exactly the same pattern as Bible history. 

God hasn’t changed. Time and again, for the last twenty centuries, God says, “enough of this!” and he raises up men and women of faith and authority. He pours out the Holy Spirit in power. And, against all expectation and beyond all previous experience, a river of blessing bursts its banks and floods the land once again. 

I read a fascinating book earlier this year called “The Second Evangelical Awakening” by J. Edwin Orr. It documents in forensic detail the tremendous 1859 revival in the United States. You can trace its origin back to one New York City missioner who gathered people to pray. Within twelve months, about one million people had been converted and added to the church there. 

Revival is contagious. From the USA it spread to Ireland, then Scotland, then England and finally Wales. Theatres up and down the land had to be hastily turned into prayer venues because churches weren’t big enough to contain the swell. 

There was a great wave of awareness of sin in the nation and powerful conviction came on the preaching of the word. Over a million people were added to the church in our nation in just a couple of years. 

It’s what God does. May he do it again in our day. We cannot be content to marvel at great stories from the past.

The director of New Wine Paul Harcourt once said, “We have an inheritance from the past. Where rivers have flowed in the past, but flow no longer, there are still pools around if you look for them. We love the pools. But we cannot live off a legacy. Water in pools goes stagnant in the end. Living water, moving water, is found only in the river. Ask the Spirit to overwhelm the land again. Ask for signs and wonders. Ask for a new and mighty work of God the likes of which our generation has not seen.”

Elijah and Elisha

Well, let’s come to Elijah and Elisha. Elijah is an Old Testament superstar. In 1 Kings 17, he abruptly enters on the scene. In 2 Kings 2, he’s gone. One of the commentators said, “He arrives out of nowhere and disappears in a whirlwind.” And in the 8 short chapters between his appearance and his departure he lives by faith. 

For years, in a time of famine, by faith he is fed a balanced diet by ravens which, by nature, horde for themselves. By faith, a dying widow’s last meal lasts for months. By faith, he prays that God will raise a child from the dead; something God had never done up till that point in time. By faith, he strikes the Jordan and the water divides to the left and the right. 

And of course, by faith, Elijah challenges 450 prophets of Baal to a showdown, to prove who really is the living God, calling down fire from heaven. And the spiritual battle in that confrontation is so fierce that Elijah spirals down into something like a nervous breakdown.  

In 1 Kings 19, God says to Elijah, “Go and anoint Elisha as your successor.” So off he goes, and he sees a young man out ploughing a field with his 11 siblings. 

I need to explain something here to help you understand what’s going on. In that culture, you ploughed in order of seniority. 

The stronger, more muscular, elder brothers go first and they break the hard soil. Elisha is the 12th, which means he’s the youngest, the weakest, so his job is to plough ground that’s already been turned over 11 times. He’s the underling who picks up the rear. 

But when God calls into his service here, he overlooks the experienced ones, the strapping lads on top of the pile, and picks out the nobody at the back. 

How many times does God do this in the Bible? 

Abraham is as good as dead. Isaac is younger than Ishmael. Jacob is younger than Esau. Moses has a bad stammer. Samuel is just a schoolboy. David is the runt with the rubbish job out in the fields. Mary is a teenage nobody. Peter never catches any fish. James and John need an anger management course. And the first witness to the resurrection Mary Magdalene has a past so dark, Jesus had to drive seven demons out of her.

No matter how lowly you are, how disadvantaged you are, how little known you are, how young you are, how old you are, how ordinary you are – God can use you. Do you believe that? 

1 Kings 19.19: Elijah finds Elisha out ploughing and he throws his cloak around him. 

In Bible times, when a senior figure goes to a younger one and puts a cloak around their shoulders, it means this: one day, not now, not today, but when the time is right, I want you to take over the family business. One day, you’re going to stand in my shoes. 

(That’s why Joseph’s older brothers were so offended about the cloak of many colours given to him by their father. It’s not that Joseph wore nicer clothes than them; it’s that Joseph, the younger one, was being given the inheritance. It was a public humiliation for them). 

What I love about Elisha is his enthusiasm, his availability. This is always what God is looking for. You can see Elisha’s eagerness because in v20 he says, “Let’s not wait till sometime in the future. Let's do this now. I’ll just say goodbye to my mum and dad and we’re good to go.” 

Remember when Jesus calls people to follow him and someone says, “First, let me bury my father.” And Jesus says, “No.” The reason is that his father is still alive and well. He is saying, “I’ll follow you Jesus once the old man’s dead, at some vague point in the future.” And Jesus says, “That’s not good enough.” 

But Elisha here is saying, “I’ll start today. Start the engine. I’m ready.”

That’s why Elijah says, “No, go back. What have I done to you?” In other words, it doesn’t have to be now. Just some day. 

But Elisha burns his bridges. He slays his cattle and sets fire to his plough, making sure he will never be tempted to return to the farm. This guy really means business. 

In answer to God’s call he is utterly ruthless. It’s a total and wholehearted response. He says, “I’m all in. There’s no going back.” 

Jesus calls Matthew; he leaves his tax booth and follows him right then. Jesus calls Peter, James and John. They leave their boats and nets on the shore and off they go. 

John Wimber used to say, “Remember, the economy of the Kingdom is simple. Every time we come to cross a new threshold; it costs us everything we now have. Every new step may cost us all the reputation and security we've accumulated up to that point. It costs us our life.” 

Jesus said that in order to get into the kingdom of God you have to be like a child. In fact, he said you have to be born again. It’s radical. You have to become a learner from scratch. 

Are you a disciple? If Jesus said, “Drop everything, follow me” to you today, what would stand in the way of you saying, “All right, let’s go”?

In v21 Elijah and Elisha go off as partners. One senior, one junior. But just like Jesus sending his disciples out two by two, they minister together… This is a season of preparation. This is a programme of training, not as far as we can tell, formal, academic tuition. It’s one-to-one, relational mentoring. 

Commentators suggest that there were probably ten years of overlap where Elijah invested in and guided his successor Elisha. In all that time, Elisha is content to do menial tasks. 

It says here “he became his servant.” He did no preaching, he performed no miracles. He just carried Elijah’s bags and watched how he did it. He was an apprentice. 

The dictionary definition of apprentice is “One who is bound to another to learn a craft.” So, you get apprentice joiners, electricians and plumbers. They are coached by someone older who passes on the skills of the trade.

Even Jesus worked in the background, in obscurity, in a carpenter’s workshop for about 15 years, working under instruction before he was anointed by the Holy Spirit and preached his first sermon. 

The church, when it’s working properly, is where life skills get passed on from one to another. Couples with good marriages can pass on some of what they’ve gleaned to younger couples who are getting the hang of it. Because marriage is actually pretty hard work, as statistics show. 

So is managing money. How do I handle money better? I keep getting into debt.” Raising children is challenging. Being a really positive presence on social media is hard. There are so many life skills to learn. 

The Bible says, “Let the older women teach the younger ones.” The church is where people can say, “You seem a bit further ahead in God than I am. How do you do that? Show me how you do it.” 

I’ve noticed how this works when a new baby is born. You hear young parents asking more experienced ones, “How do you get them to sleep when they’re teething? How do I stop them snatching other children’s toys?” 

This is why God has designed us to be part of a church and not isolated individuals. It's part of why we have Life Groups. Some of us have prayer partners. Are you connected?

My life has so often been enhanced and enriched by people a bit further on in God than I am. We so want to encourage an apprenticeship culture at All Saints'. 

Anyway, after that ten-year period, Elisha still wants to be Elijah’s successor. 

2 Kings 2.9. They know Elijah is about to leave this earthly life. Elijah turns to his younger assistant and asks, “What can I do for you before I am taken from you?” 

What would you ask for? Elijah is a miracle worker, remember. He can arrange an unlimited food supply. He can control the weather. He can raise the dead. He makes royalty cringe before him. If a person like that asks you, “What would you like me to do for you?” what would you say? It’s like the three wishes of a genie.

Elisha says, “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” When I hear mention of double portions, I think of... well, rhubarb crumble, custard, fruit cake, trifle… But this isn’t about pudding. What is it about?

Does it mean, “I want to be twice the person you are”? Or perhaps, “I would like to be two times more spiritual than you have been”? Or, “I want double the blessing you’ve had”? Actually, he isn’t asking for more of anything! So what is it?

The key to this business of the double portion lies in the word, ‘inherit.’ “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” Back in Elijah's time, when a father died, his estate was divided up according to the number of sons he had. 

If there were three, the estate was divided into four parts. If there were six, it was seven parts. If there were ten, it was... eleven parts. Why was there always one more share than there were sons? 

Because the eldest (or the firstborn) was given two shares (a double portion), because he was also given the added responsibility of having to manage the family business.

So, Elijah says, “Elisha, what do you want?” And Elisha replies, “I want to do what you’ve been doing. I want to follow in your footsteps. I’m ready now to take that responsibility on my shoulders. I don’t want to just look on and watch anymore. Let me be a man of faith, just like you are.”

And Elijah looks at Elisha and says this, "You have asked a difficult thing." In other words, "Are you sure? Do you think it’s easy to have to step out in faith, time and time again, when the whole world is against you? You still want the double portion?”

So often, the man or woman of faith has to stand out in the family. Or the workplace. It takes faith to not join in the office gossip. It takes faith to be kind to colleagues when people see that as weakness. It takes faith to resist corporate pressure to do something dishonest. I have friends who have lost their jobs because they did the right thing. 

Ending

Elisha will go on to be twice as fruitful as Elijah his mentor. He will preach twice as long and do exactly twice as many miracles.

Who do you want to be like? Who do you look up to? Who are you learning from? Who are you teaching and training and mentoring? It doesn’t have to be a formal arrangement. 

In fact, it’s better if it’s just natural and instinctive. In your stage of life, in Christian service, in ministry, in the workplace, do you have an apprentice, someone you’re investing in? Someone who will inherit a double portion of your spirit?

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 29 September 2019

Be Established in Faith (Romans 16.17-27)

Introduction

As a boy, I spent most of my weekends with my younger brother racing sailboats on the Thames estuary, crewing for my dad. My role was to hang out of the boat in an attempt to keep it upright, pull the jib in and let it out.

My reward was to be constantly sprayed by cold, grey seawater every time the bow powered into a wave, which was about every 5 seconds. O how I loved that icy seawater trickling down my back, inside my wetsuit. And, as a special bonus, we hardly ever won any races.

One of the things I learned pretty early as sailing crew was to quickly duck and immediately scramble over to the other side of the boat whenever I heard dad shout the word “Jibe!”

That basically means, “Watch out!” It signals that the boom (which is the horizontal pole at the bottom of the main sail) was about to swing at great speed from one side of the boat to the other. “Jibe” is a warning to avoid getting clattered round the head and - worst case scenario - knocked unconscious into the sea.

But, being at times a bit dreamy and vacant (no doubt wondering how much longer this purgatory was to last until we got back onto dry land!) I did get a whack on the side of my head on several occasions by a jibing boom, though it never quite knocked me out. Yeah, I really loved sailing…

Watch Out

I mention this not to evoke your pity but because we’re now at the end of our series on Romans, and the dominant note in this last little section comes in v17 with an identical warning to the one my dad yelled out to me when we were tacking against the wind; the key words are: “Watch out!” and “Avoid!”

What do you think a young, growing Christian community would need to watch out for? Maybe persecution? Or could it be about spiritual warfare; principalities and powers, strongholds and footholds?

The sobering thing about today’s reading from God’s word is that the fiercest battles are not “out there” but “in here”.

One of the features of the conflict in Afghanistan – and this is why it was so challenging and difficult – was the regularity with which insurgents infiltrated the local police or armed forces. Then, once armed and on the inside, they would turn on their colleagues and allies with a devastating attack.

And the enemy that Paul warns about in Romans 16, before he signs off, is the one that slips into the church like a wolf in sheep’s clothing to disrupt God’s work. We have to constantly be on alert to a potential enemy within – which is that’s the deadliest type of all.

Truth or Love?

We’ll unpack all this in a moment, but first, let me tell you about two friends of mine; Margaret and Patrick. They are real people and neither is from here.

Margaret (from London) is just lovely. So positive. She’s gentle and affirming; if you’ve got any kind of problem, she’ll love you through it. And she once said to me something like this; “What we need more than anything in the church is unity and love. People go on and on about doctrine. Truth has its place, don’t get me wrong, but if I had to choose between love and truth, I’d take love every time.”

Patrick (from Paris) is nothing like Margaret. He’s austere and a bit abrasive. He’s strict and particular. Newcomers take a while to work him out, and some never really feel at ease when he’s around.

Patrick says, “Peace, love and understanding, yeah, yeah, yeah. But this is not a hippy colony! Look, only one thing has ultimate value; the truth that Jesus died for your sins on the cross, there making atonement for sin, without which we are eternally separated from God and damned in hell – everything else is basically cosmetic.” You wouldn’t really call Patrick ‘easy going.’

They sound like caricatures – but, as I said, they are real people.

Well, who’s right? Love or truth? Which of them do you incline towards the most? Is it Margaret, where keeping everyone together as a loving, united family is the number one priority, even at the expense of an emphasis on truth?

Or is it Patrick, where the preciousness of sound, apostolic teaching must come first, even at the expense of loving, affectionate relationships?

What does God say? Verse 17-18: “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the minds of naive people.”

Margaret would emphasise, “watch out for those who cause divisions,” because what we need is unity.

Patrick would emphasise, “watch out for those who put obstacles against the teaching you have learned” because what we need is right teaching.

And, of course, we want both, don’t we? It’s not a binary choice of one over the other. It’s both/and which is actually a difficult tension to hold. It always has been. People and churches tend to lean one way or the other but God’s design for his church is that we are united in love and unshakable in truth.

Just to say, we’re not talking about disagreement about side issues. A few weeks back we saw, didn’t we, that God wants us to really stretch ourselves and be tolerant of diversity on disputable matters.

You can become so obsessed with detecting doctrinal error that you lose your joy in biblical truth.

The American pastor and theologian John Piper talks about “dogs that are trained so completely to sniff out drugs at the airport, that even when they’re off duty they greet everybody that way. It doesn’t make for a very welcoming atmosphere.” That’s my friend Patrick right there.

The Truth and Nothing but the Truth

So lets’ really push the boat out to accommodate different views on non-essentials. But when it comes to fundamentals, right throughout the New Testament there is warning after warning to be very cautious about theological novelty, new fads, fresh ways of looking at things that don’t quite fit what God has already revealed.

We’re rooted in scripture, not whatever the latest spiritual craze is. Our instinct has to be “What does God say?” In fact, “What has God said?”

In Hebrews 13 it says, “Remember your leaders who taught the word of God to you.” They didn’t make stuff up that they thought you would like, or go along with whatever was fashionable; no, they spoke from God because they were immersed in scripture.

That’s our authority, that’s our foundation; it’s the word of God that is more powerful than any two-edged sword. It’s not the opinions of men and women, however attractive they seem.

I heard this week about a man out walking with this massive Doberman in the park. This animal looks like it hasn’t been out for weeks and it’s straining at the leash, almost pulling its master’s arms out of his sockets.

Someone passes him and says, “Where are you taking that dog?” And the bloke shouts back, “Wherever it wants to go!” That’s what happens to a church that is no longer anchored in biblical truth. You don’t walk the dog anymore; the dog walks you.

And Paul wants to end his letter with this warning; don’t let the dog take you wherever it wants to go.

What were the issues that Paul is alluding to here? What’s he talking about? Who are these people to watch out for?

Verse 17: They cause schism and unrest. They create obstacles. They promote ideas that are different to what the Bible teaches.

There is such a thing as a doctrinal gold standard, a faithful summary of biblical essentials. In 2 Timothy 1 Paul calls it “the pattern of sound teaching” and “the good deposit that was entrusted to you.” And it’s possible to depart from it – with disastrous consequences.

That brings us the two reasons Paul gives for why doctrinal vigilance is so important. Verse 18: “For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the minds of naïve people.”

Bad teaching is not just unbiblical ideas about God. Behind serious false teachers there is so often an craving for power or luxury or sex or approval.

The letter of Jude shows this was a constant battle in the early church. It says,

“Dear friends… I felt compelled to… urge you to contend for the faith that the Lord has once for all entrusted to us, his people. For certain individuals… have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

Some Issues

What was the kind of thing at stake here? There were two issues in particular and they are exactly the same for us in Britain today.

Firstly, the earliest Christians were hated because they insisted that only Jesus was Lord. No one else. Whatever other religious customs you observed before you came to faith in Christ had to go.

But that set them on a collision course with the government and the general population. Because to be a good citizen, you had to bow down to the Roman gods who were believed to keep the empire prosperous. Christians said, “No, we cannot do that.” So, they were loathed and called disloyal citizens.

In our day, to claim that Jesus is Lord, and that he is the only way to the Father - as he himself claimed - will not win you friends.

Many churchy people want to pick and mix. They like buzz words like “inclusive” and “progressive.” They want “affirming.” They don’t want “challenging” and they certainly don’t want “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.”

They don’t want the Holy Spirit, they just want spirituality. Keep it vague; a bit of mindfulness here, a few unicorns there, throw in some divine consciousness and reiki and don’t forget green crystals.

That won’t wash. Where’s the cross? It is Christ or nothing; it’s all of Christ or forget it. And that is not popular today.

Two years ago, the provost of Glasgow cathedral allowed a Muslim woman to read from the Qur’an in the middle of a Holy Communion service, something she would not generally be allowed to do in a mosque. The verses that were read contained the assertion that Jesus is not the Son of God, but merely a human prophet.

The newspapers that reported this tended to criticise those who protested rather than those who allowed it.

In the USA many young Christians wear purity rings (which go with a promise to practice abstinence until marriage). There’s a Lutheran pastor there who swears a lot and calls Christians to discard these rings so they can be melted down to form a giant genitalia sculpture. She’s been invited as a main stage speaker at Greenbelt and in Southwark cathedral.

I say this because the earliest Christians also stood out from the world because of their counter-cultural sexual ethics. Roman citizens commonly had multiple sexual partners, including temple prostitutes, and wife swapping was just routine. As Romans 1 shows, what Paul calls shameful lusts and unnatural relationships were widely promoted and embraced. But Christian communities did not live that way - and they were hated for it and suffered greatly.

The cultural values and pressures around us have so much in common with those surrounding the first century church.

That’s why I’m full with hope actually. Why am I hopeful? Because that small, marginalised, persecuted church not only survived, it prevailed. And, in the end, it subdued the empire that had attacked it so ruthlessly.

That didn’t happen because the early Christians decided it would be better to blend in and avoid offence. The church emerged victorious in the end because they refused to bow the knee to idols. They refused to tolerate strange new ideas and unbiblical fads that went against to the apostolic teaching they had received. They said, Jesus is Lord, to the exclusion of all others. And they refused to compromise on sexual purity.

How to Resist

Paul goes on to explain, “I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.” In other words, keep your brain switched on, be level-headed, check stuff out, don’t just swallow what someone says because they’re on TV or write books. The Message translates it, “I want you to be smart, making sure every ‘good’ thing is the real thing.”

What about “Be innocent about what is evil?” It means, “Don’t fall for the sucker punch. Don’t be easy to fool. Again, the Message translates it well; “Don't be gullible in regard to smooth-talking evil.”

And, v20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Do you need to claim that today? Our spiritual enemy is getting beaten back every day by Christ through believers like you and me wearing the full armour of God and declaring the word of truth.

Ending

Well, as I end, I was listening to a podcast with Kathie in the car this week, produced by the church where Erin is doing her gap year. And the speaker was talking about a married couple, whom he knows personally, and who minister to the underground church in Iran.

They take biblical literature in Farsi to believers who must meet secretly. They daily risk their lives because if you get caught with a stash of Bibles in Iran, you're in real trouble.

Anyway, they’re driving along in their car with a boot full of Bibles, and they pull into a petrol station to buy some bottled water. And waiting there by the door is a mujahidin fighter, all dressed up in his combat gear.

The woman says to her husband, “You’ve got to give that man one of our Bibles.” Well, he stops the car, goes in, buys some water, gets back in the car and drives off. She says, “Oi, what are you doing, driving off? You didn’t give that man a Bible, did you?”

He says, “Oh, it’s all right, don’t worry about it.” She says, “No, it’s not all right; God has spoken to me and if you don’t go back and give that man a Bible, his blood is on your hands.”

You’d better not argue with a feisty, prophetic wife like that so, he does a three-point turn, heads back to the petrol station, and says to his wife, “If this goes badly, goodbye; I’ll see you in heaven.” Then he goes up to this guy, this fighting man, armed with his Kalashnikov and says, “I have a gift for you. I want you to have this Bible.”

As he turns away, his heart in his mouth, he hears a sudden noise and, in that fraction of a second, he thinks he’s been shot in the back. But once he realises he is okay, he turns around and he sees this warrior has fallen to his knees, sobbing as he clutches this Bible. Then he looks up and sees the man’s puzzled look and says, “Three days ago, I had a dream, and in this dream a voice told me to come here and wait and I would receive the words of eternal life.”

Watch out for anyone who would seek to replace this with fine-sounding human wisdom which cannot save. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 22 September 2019

Honour Outstanding Service (Romans 16.1-16)

Tilemahos Efthimiadis - flickr.com - Creative Commons 2.0

Introduction

Close your eyes for a moment; I’d like to start with a little experiment. I’m going to say a word, just one word, and I’d like you to make a mental note of the first image that forms in your mind. Is that OK?

The word is… church….

All right, you can open your eyes again if you want. What did you think of, I wonder?

Some, perhaps most people in this country, would think immediately of a building, probably an old one. Badly heated, a bit musty, lacking toilet facilities and quite possibly hosting more bats than regular worshippers.

Other people when they hear that word “church” think of the hierarchy; grey people dressed in strange gowns, with words like chancel, synod, chasuble and absolution in their vocabulary. For these people church means the pope, bishops and a parish priest. They are “the church.”

The Church Is People

The word “church” in the New Testament is a translation of the Greek ecclesia 

from which we get “ecclesiastical.” But ecclesia doesn’t mean ecclesiastical. Ecclesia simply means ‘a gathering of people.’

In fact, the very first church was just a coming together of quite ordinary people. They owned no buildings for the purposes of worship (so they met in homes). They used ordinary language, with no special jargon. They dressed like everyone else. And they didn’t have ordained clergy as such.

What we find in Romans 16 is basically a list of names isn’t it? At first sight, it’s only slightly more interesting than the telephone directory. But look beyond that and you get a great insight into what the church is and should be like.

  

It mentions by name 29 different individuals as well as other unnamed groups like “those who are in the household of Narcissus” and “the other brothers and sisters.”

Paul is now drawing his marathon letter to a close. But before he signs off, he just wants to say, “Oh, say hello to so and so for me.” And, as he does that, he deliberately picks out a dozen of them for special commendation or honour. That’s what I want to focus on particularly this morning.

Worthy of Honour

What does it mean to honour someone? A leader in children’s church somewhere was teaching the Ten Commandments with her five- and six-year olds. After explaining “honour your father and mother”, she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat brothers and sisters?” In a heartbeat one little boy answered, “You shall not murder!”  

But before we look at honouring, a quick reminder that Paul has never visited this church in Rome before and yet he knows nearly 30 individuals by name.

In how many local churches, that you have never been to, do you know the names of even six members? I don’t think I know any.

But you see, the early church, the blueprint church as I think of it, wasn’t flags on a map in a dreary head office. It wasn’t a faceless organisation. It was a living organism.

Romans 16 tells us that it was profoundly relational. People knew each other. People loved each other deeply. This ecclesia was a living and breathing network of interconnected people and ministries, with one focus – Jesus Christ – and one mission; to reach the ends of the earth with the gospel. This is how God wants his church to be.

You know the saying “all roads lead to Rome.” Well, they don’t, not anymore. But they did then, in the first century. Rome dominated the world. It was the undisputed centre of political power. It was easily the world’s largest commercial hub. It was focal point the of art and civilisation. So, people found their way there from all over; like London today, it was a magnet.

That’s why Paul knows many of these people or knows about them, even though he has yet to visit that city.

There are clues here that point to the sort of people we should expect to find in any gathering of people that calls itself church.

Starting with Phoebe in v1-2, She is a deacon which means ‘servant’ and she is set aside for a recognised role. 1 Timothy 3 lists the qualities deacons should have; they have earned respect, they’re sincere, they don’t drink too much and they don’t take cash in brown envelopes. So, Phoebe is trustworthy and that’s why she is probably the postwoman who hand delivered this letter to Rome from where Paul wrote it in Corinth.

It says, “[Phoebe] has been a benefactor of many people, including me.” So, she is a woman with plenty of money in the bank, but she uses her wealth to supply others’ needs. In fact, Paul says she supported “many people.” She is known to be incredibly generous.

And look. Paul says in v1, “I commend her to you.” He’s saying, “Phoebe is just great. She’s amazing. You don’t know her yet, but I’m telling you, you can absolutely trust her.” She’s the real deal.

Would your boss, your teacher, your youth leader, your life group leader, commend you? What would they commend you for?

Priscilla and Aquila in v3-4 are old friends of Paul. He worked with them in Ephesus and Corinth, and now they are back home in Rome. What does he say about them? “They risked their lives for me.” We don’t know what that refers to exactly, but at some point, they put themselves in mortal danger out of love and loyalty to Paul. How far would you go to help a Christian friend?

Paul says, “I’m so grateful to them.” Priscilla is always named first in this couple, contrary to conventions of the time, perhaps because she was high-born. Or perhaps she was converted first (and led him to Christ). Or maybe she just played a more prominent role than he did in the life and work of the church.

But significantly, they are always named together. Nothing keeps a marriage happier and stronger than serving the Lord together.

What about Epenetus in v5? What about him? “Greet my dear friend Epenetus who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.” “My dear friend” – I love that, there is such affection and warmth in the early church. There’s no “Reverend Lambert and Mrs. Belmont.” It’s “my dear friend” – the expression occurs four times in this list of names and it ends with, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.”

Paul has just planted 12 churches in 9 years, and met hundreds of people, but this guy Epenetus is special. He is Paul’s very first convert in Asia and now he’s ended up in Rome, but Paul has never forgotten him.

In our first year of marriage, Kathie and I took in a lodger for a few months. While she stayed with us, she became a Christian so Gill is special to us, because she was the first. We’ve never lost touch. She’s a dear friend.

Have you ever led someone to Christ? If so, you know how thrilling it is. If not, why don’t you pray today, and every day, that God will give you that privilege in the next year?

Andronicus and Junia in v7 have shared with Paul the glorious disgrace of imprisonment for Christ.

They were Christians before Paul, so possibly they were amongst the 500 mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15 who were witnesses of the risen Christ. That would qualify them as apostles, witnesses of the resurrection, which is what Paul calls them here.

But notice how Paul honours them, calling them “outstanding.” “These are just exceptional people,” he says. Kathryn is outstanding among the youth pastors. Martin and Karen are outstanding among the church wardens. I could go on, we are blessed with many outstanding people here.

Who are the Christians that stand out for you? Who do you look up to? Andronicus and Junia are not stars. We don’t know anything about them except in this verse. They didn’t light up conferences or have churches named after them but they are troopers; they stuck it out with Paul in jail and have kept the faith all those years.

Then what about Ampliatus (v8)? Another dear friend. Ampliatus is a slave’s name. It doesn’t actually say here that he is a slave but let’s put it this way, (and this is going to be politically incorrect).

What are the odds that Megan and Prince Harry will name any future children they have Kylie or Dwayne? I mean, it’s not impossible, but it's not going to happen is it?

Similarly, how many babies born this week on the neediest housing estates in England are going to have Hugo or Felicity on their birth certificate? Most likely, none.

My point is not to pigeonhole but to show that different names are more or less popular in different social groups – it’s always been that way. And if you lived in Rome in the first century you would just know that Ampilatus is a slave because of his name.

But isn’t that even more wonderful that Paul qualifies him as “my dear friend in the Lord” rather than “so and so’s dogsbody”?

When God designed his church there was no pecking order, no class structure, no cliques, no in-crowd and no outcasts.

Then what about Mary (v6), Tryphena and Tryphosa (which means Delicate and Dainty) and Persis (v12)? Here are four individuals singled out for having worked hard, and in one case “very hard” in the Lord.

They are all women’s names! Only women in Romans 16 are honoured and commended for working hard! I don’t know what that says about the men! And, and I’m just putting it out there but, in my experience, in most churches I’ve been part of, women are on average far more likely to respond to a call to volunteer than men.

When I was a very young Christian, in about 1980, someone handed me a copy of a popular magazine called Buzz with the provocative headline on the cover page, “Why are so many Christian men wet?” It wasn’t about baptism or swimming either…

The article lamented so many passive, lukewarm men in church. It said, Christian men; where’s the fire? Where’s the energy? Where’s the get up and go? Where’s the passion?

I was reading about Samson this week; when the Spirit of God fell on him in power, he would rise up and tear a lion apart in his bare hands like one does a young goat. You know, like one does a young goat…

Maybe that’s a little excessive, but sometimes us guys need to step up. (I can almost hear female voices in my head, saying, “Preach it man, preach it baby, preach it, preach it preach it…”

Well, Paul doesn’t rebuke men for being passive here, but he does honour and commend some of the women for putting in a shift. Is that he would say of you? Do you work hard in the Lord?

And then I love what Paul says in v13. “Greet Rufus” he says, “chosen in the Lord, and also his mother, who has been a mother to me.”

What a blessing it is to know we have been chosen by God to belong to him like Rufus. Do you know you’re chosen and precious to God?

And how wonderful it is to have spiritual fathers and mothers in the church. People who are real and just ground you. Kathie and I have a spiritual mum and dad who discipled us both as young Christians; I honour Ian and Lynda King today – exceptionally dedicated followers of Jesus. I love them and owe them so much.

Rufus' mum is a mum to Paul. Isn't that special? This dynamic leader, this towering apostle, this energetic missionary, this brilliant scholar sometimes just needs someone to ruffle his hair, knit him a new scarf, serve up some good home cooking and wash his smalls. We sort of all need a bit of that sometimes, don’t we?

Ending

Well, that’s the church, full of lovely people worthy of honour – because they’re like Jesus – to whom all honour and praise ultimately belong. Isn’t it beautiful?

As I end, I want to quote Bob Kauflin in his book “True Worshippers.” He says this:

“Every person who has trusted in Christ will be an honoured attendee at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Looking around, we’ll be amazed to see table after table stretching endlessly beyond what our eyes can make out. Men and women of every background, ethnicity and nation will be eating, laughing, perhaps singing awash in peace, joy and an overwhelming sense of loving and being loved. We’ll notice people whose faith we questioned in this life. Individuals who irritated us, who seemed immature, who actually made our life harder. We’ll see people we thought had no chance of eating at this table. And before any shred of self-righteous judgement rises up in our hearts, we’ll be rendered speechlessly grateful.”

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15 September 2019

Jesus Came to Serve (Isaiah 53.1-3 and Mark 10.44-45)

Image by TanteTati from Pixabay

Introduction

There was a survey carried out on the streets of Tel Aviv some years ago. The survey asked, “Who do you think the 53rd chapter of Isaiah describes?” Most people answered that they did not know who, but a significant minority said it sounded a lot like Jesus.

Written over 700 years before Jesus’ death, Isaiah 53 describes his afflictions and death so unerringly, and in such detail, that some have speculated that it was altered by unscrupulous Christians after Jesus died.

But in 1947, 900 parchments, dated at about 100 BC, were discovered in a deserted cave. We know them as the Dead Sea scrolls.

How would the Isaiah parchment compare with the oldest manuscript available until that time (dated about 700 years later)? It was practically identical. Any doubts about the authenticity of Isaiah 53 were settled there and then.

Who is the tragic figure that Isaiah 53 describes? The Jews tend to see it as a personification of Israel. And certainly, who can deny that they have suffered greatly as a people down the years?

But there’s a problem. Verse 5 says, “He was crushed for our iniquities.” Verse 8 says, “For the transgression of my people (the Jews)… he was punished.”

The song itself presents the servant as an individual who suffers in the place of others, including the nation of Israel.  

It is in fact the clearest and most stunning portrait of Jesus we have in the entire Old Testament. If I was washed up on a desert Island, if I could have only one chapter of the Bible with me to pass the time, I would choose this one.

I’m sure that, even after years of meditating on this song, I would still not have unearthed all its treasures.

In Hebrew, this is not just a poem; it’s a song. It actually starts in chapter 52, verse 13; (the chapter divisions are in the wrong place). We don’t have the music now, but the poetic form is that of a mournful lament. And Christians have always seen it as a vision of Jesus and his death for us. What does it say about him?

1. He Will Be Exalted

‘My servant’, says God in 52.13, ‘will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted’.

For centuries, the Jews had imagined that their Messiah king would be revered. No one imagined that he would be humiliated and crushed. God says that he will be raised up - but only after he has suffered.

2. He Will Look Quite Ordinary

Isaiah 53.2 says that there was nothing about Jesus that would cause you to take a second look. He was no handsome Hollywood star blessed with beauty or majesty.

Since there is no physical description of Jesus in the New Testament, we don’t know if he was tall or short, blue eyed or brown eyed, clean shaven or bearded, curly haired or bald. His face and physique weren’t what you noticed about him at all. People flocked to him, not because he was fine-looking, but because he made them new.

3. He Will Be Humiliated

Verse 3 describes one who will be turned upon and rejected.

He was despised and rejected by others,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Have you been rejected? Maybe in the school playground? By a girlfriend, boyfriend, or a spouse? By work colleagues? By one of your children? I know people who, as children, were told by their parents, “We wish you’d never been born.” The pain of rejection is a devastating experience.  

The Gospels tell us that Jesus was rejected by his own siblings. He was deserted by his band of followers, he was disowned by his most loyal spokesman, and betrayed for money by a trusted friend.

4. He Will Suffer Injustice

Jesus was manifestly innocent of every charge laid against him. Pilate couldn't find a single fault in him. Just as Isaiah says in v9.

He had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53.9)

His trial was a joke. The witnesses couldn’t even get their testimonies to agree. They kept changing the charges against him, making it up as they went along. Isaiah foretold that his trial would be a miscarriage of justice in v8.

By oppression and judgment, he was taken away

yet who of his generation protested?

Nobody objected, did they? No one could be bothered. Everyone passed the buck. Pilate appealed weakly to the crowd, but then washed his hands of him.  

5. He Will Be Disfigured

What of the physical details of his death? What did Isaiah see 700 years before the cross?

He saw that the gruesomeness of his beatings would be so savage that people wouldn’t recognise him. Isaiah 52.14 says:

Many… were appalled at him -

his appearance was so disfigured

beyond that of any human being

and his form marred beyond human likeness.

His flogging was an unrelenting tearing of his back, his arms and legs. His crown of thorns masked his face in blood. 

Isaiah in v5 saw that his death was going to be, not from strangling or poisoning or a blow to the head – but from wounds punctured in his flesh.

He was pierced…

6. He Will Stay Silent

What of Jesus’ attitude to his suffering? Luke’s Gospel confirms that Herod plied him with questions but Jesus gave him no answer. At no point did Jesus try to argue his way out of trouble.

Isaiah saw a man who went quietly and willingly to his execution. Verse 7 says:

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus died as Passover lambs were slaughtered in the temple to symbolically take away sins for another year. But Jesus was the Lamb of God slain to actually remove sins forever.

7. He Will Be Assumed as Guilty

Beyond his rejection, Isaiah (in v4) goes further saying that, in his distress and crucifixion, people actually believed that he was getting his just deserts.

We considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

The irony is that they were right. Verse 10 says it will be no tragic misfortune but God’s plan from beginning to end.

Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

8. He Will Pray for His Oppressors

What did his executioners think when Jesus began to pray “Father, forgive them” as he hung there dying? Isaiah foresaw that too in v12.

He made intercession for the transgressors.

9. He Will Actually Die

Isaiah also makes it absolutely clear that his suffering servant will die of his injuries. Verse 8:

For he was cut off from the land of the living.

The Gospels describe how Jesus’ death was certified beyond doubt. Tests have proved that the flow of blood, followed by the flow of water described in John’s Gospel are clinical proof of death by cardiac rupture.

10. He Will Be Abnormally Buried

The Gospels explain that Jesus died between thieves but was buried in the tomb of a wealthy man called Joseph of Arimathea. The Romans disposed of crucified criminals by throwing their bodies in a mass grave. But v9 shows that, though Jesus will die with criminals, his lifeless corpse will be laid to rest in a wealthy man’s tomb. Isaiah saw that too.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.

11. He Will Die on Behalf of Others

But the main emphasis of this vision is the spiritual meaning of it all.

No less than ten times between v4 and v12, Isaiah says that in his death, the suffering servant will somehow take upon himself all our sicknesses, sorrows and sinfulness. He himself will bear the punishment of death that our sin fully deserves.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering… (v4)

He was crushed for our iniquities… (v5)

By his wounds we are healed… (v5)

The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (v6)

For the transgression of my people he was punished. (v8)

The Lord makes his life an offering for sin… (v10)

This is what it’s all about. Sin is ruin! It cuts us off from God and spoils our relationship with others. Even our good works cannot save us, they are filthy rags and only the blood of Christ washes the guilty clean.

Think of it: We all thoroughly deserve to perish for our sins - but he died in our place. 1 Peter 3:18 puts it like this:

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

12. He Will Rise Again in Triumph

Is this song just an appalling vision of undeserved suffering? Is there anything more? Did Isaiah predict anything else? Yes, there is one last thing.

700 years before the events, Isaiah saw that after his trial, his suffering, his death and burial, this servant will rise.

Though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days. (v10)

After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. (v11)

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great…

because he poured out his life unto death (v12)

Ending

As I close, and as we come to the Lord’s Table this morning, let’s ponder the excruciating agonies Christ endured. Let’s thank God that he went through it willingly for us. He himself said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”

Let’s give our lives to him - or back to him - in humble service. Draw near to God – and he’ll draw near to you. 

Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 1 September 2019