Making Marriage Work (Ephesians 5.21-33)

Introduction

A little girl was invited to a wedding and she said to her mum, “Why is the bride wearing a white dress?” And her mum replied, “Oh, it’s because she’s happy.” Then the little girl said, “Well, why is the groom wearing black then?”

Tonight’s talk is entitled ‘Making Marriage Work’ and I’d like to start by giving two very good reasons why some people might say I am wasting my time.

Firstly, its content is irrelevant. These verses are addressed to married couples. Since most of us here this evening are single, it’s just not the right sort of passage for this kind of audience.

Secondly, its teaching is outdated. It says that wives must be submitted to their husbands and that husbands are heads over their wives. This is the 21st century where the vast majority of married couples consider themselves to be equal partners with virtually interchangeable roles.

And now, three reasons why I should - and must - preach on this passage. Firstly, because God wants us to know his thoughts about human relationships, even if they don’t apply to us at the present time. Since when does my marital status dictate which parts of the Bible I need to read? You might not know this but it just so happens that I have never robbed a bank. But that doesn’t mean the eighth commandment; ‘You shall not steal’ is not relevant to me.

Secondly, because whether we like it or not, Ephesians 5 is in the Bible - and is therefore part of God’s revelation, his word. We are not at liberty to ditch this part of Paul’s letter because it’s controversial, offensive, mystifying or politically incorrect; quite the reverse. Not liking what you read in the Bible is all the more reason to wrestle with it and engage with it.

Thirdly, because there is so much marital unhappiness in our society. Marriage has become the butt of jokes. “My wife and I were happy for 25 years – and then we met!” Listen to these definitions of marriage. “Marriage is like a violin; after the sweet music is over the strings are attached.” “Marriage is made in heaven – like thunder and lightning.” “Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other never forgets.” By the way guys, the way round that one is to say, “Well, how do you expect me to remember your birthday when you never look any older?” That usually gets you off the hook – for a few minutes anyway!

Marital unhappiness is endemic. So it is urgent for us to commend God’s vision for stable and happy marriage that glorifies him by showing the world what the relationship looks like between Christ and his bride, the Church.

The Pattern for All Christian Relationships

Our reading begins with v21; “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord…” Before I mention the “submittedness” this scripture calls for from wives in respect of their husbands, I want to stress, strongly, that mutual deference, giving way to each other, is the pattern God lays down for all Christian relationships, no exceptions. Paul himself called himself a servant even though he was an apostle with great authority, and Jesus rolled washed feet before submitting himself to the death of the cross.

So this teaching here is not isolated, it is not focussed exclusively on how a married woman should relate to her husband; verse 21 will not allow that interpretation. No, God is saying here that the meek submitted heart is a pattern for holy living across the board. When people push and shove for their rights, and selfishly assert their beliefs, and control others, and are obsessed with pecking orders they fail to mirror Jesus’ life. Being pushy and domineering – in any relationship – does do not revere or honour Jesus. So “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ…

1) Wives: Submission as to Christ

…Wives to your husbands. I’m going to start by looking at how these scriptures portray the wife’s perspective vis-a-vis her husband – because that’s the way round it comes in the passage. I’ll come to husbands later.

Let’s get a bit of background first. It will help us to understand these words better. We owe it to Paul to read his words in the context of the culture of his day. The Greco-roman world of the first century into which he wrote was, in almost every aspect, different to the environment we live in today. Orthodox Jewish men regarded women with condescension and contempt. Always. Every day, a Pharisee would start his prayers thanking God that he had not been born a gentile, a slave or a woman. According to the law, women were not persons as much as property and they had no rights as such. In Greek life, (and Ephesus to which Paul addressed these thoughts was a Greek city), a loving and permanent friendship between a man and a woman was practically unheard of.

In that culture, men expected their wives to run the home and raise their legitimate children, but unfaithfulness was universal and most married men had mistresses. Marriage was in a shocking state across the Roman Empire. The debauchery of the great city of Rome was legendary. It is no exaggeration to say that the ancient world was institutionally adulterous. Men shamelessly cheated on their wives as a matter of routine. No one was shocked, least of all the wives at home. It came with the territory. That is the background into which Paul penned these words.

Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord (v22). As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything (v24)…

I’ve preached on this passage a few times before, even at weddings at the request of the bride and groom. I am going to say a few words later on about what I think God requires of husbands because, as a married man, I speak from experience. But I’ve never been, and never will be, a married woman, and even though I think I know what the passage is saying, and I will comment on it later, I thought it would be much better if I started by asking two married women what they really think.

So Kathryn and Jan, would you like to come to the front please… While they make their way forward, I would like to assure you that I have not pushed an editorial line on this. I haven’t told them what I think. I haven’t given them anything to read. Nor have I checked them out to see if they agree with me beforehand. I have no idea what they think of this passage or how they work it out in their own lives, (if indeed they even try) so I’m taking a bit of a risk, but hopefully that will make it more exciting.
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Look at what Paul says to children in 6v1. “Children obey your parents.” Then in 6v5 look at what he says to slaves. “Slaves obey your earthly masters.” But at no point is the word “obey” used as appropriate for a wife in respect of her husband. Paul could have used the same word. He could have said, “Wives obey your husbands.” But he doesn’t. I think that suggests that, whatever submission does mean, it is emphatically not the relationship between a subordinate and a superior.

Verse 33 suggests that the sense of the word ‘submit’ is closer to ‘esteem’ or ‘respect’ than ‘obey’ or ‘surrender.’ Why? Because whereas Paul repeats there what he has already said three times to husbands, that they should love their wives as their own bodies, instead of repeating the word ‘submit’, for the wives, he substitutes the word ‘respect’ instead.

In my ministry I submit myself to the Bishop. I do that gladly. My submission to Bishop Tom means I pray for him and incline myself to facilitate his ministry. I esteem his leadership and I give weight his guidance. It happens that I don’t agree with everything he says. But my submission means I try to yield graciously to his authority. I think that is the sense of submission in marriage; to esteem, to yield, to facilitate, to honour, to give respect and show loyalty.

I want to say too (and I insist on this strongly) that submission, in particular that of a wife to her husband, is not absolute, it is conditional and provisional. What I mean is this; any Christian’s first loyalty is to Christ. He alone deserves unqualified allegiance, whether we are male or female, single or married.

So a wife who is being led by her husband into sin and disobedience to Christ should draw a line in the sand there. A woman who is being subjected to physical violence or emotional cruelty by her partner is under no compulsion to stay with him – and I would usually counsel her to leave the relationship for her own safety. The Bible says a man reaps what he sows. A wife whose husband is unfaithful to her is not required to have him back, though she may choose to – and I would usually counsel her to do so if she felt she could.

Somebody once said that men are most fulfilled in marriage when their wives admire them and feel proud of them, while women are most fulfilled in their marriages when their husbands cherish them and are attentive to them. These verses, written 20 centuries before that observation was made, are basically saying the same thing.

2) Husbands: Love as Christ loves the Church

If wives have the difficult task of submitting to their husbands, for husbands it’s mission impossible - loving their wives as Christ loved the Church. I sometimes ask myself if the reason why so many women are dismayed at the suggestion that they should be subject to their husbands is because they have never seen a husband who loves his wife like Jesus loves us, or even a husband who loves his wife as much as he loves his own body?

And if they were married to such a man, would they find submission so hard? A guy who comes home from work, throws himself onto the sofa, without so much as an acknowledgement of anyone else at home, and switches on the TV to watch sport, calling for a cold beer deserves to have it poured on his head!

Here’s what male chauvinism can descend into: A bunch of men go fishing and one of the wives insists on coming too. They get into a boat and head out to the middle of the lake. When they get there the woman suddenly realises she has forgotten her rod and line. So she gets out of the boat, walks on water over to the shore, fetches her rod from the car, walks on water back to the boat. Then one of the guys says, “Typical woman, always forgetting things!”

On the other hand you may have heard the story about the group of men waiting to get admitted into heaven. There are two entrances. There are 99 pathetic looking guys outside the first door which says ‘Men who were hen pecked by their wives.’ And there is one solitary guy outside the second door which says ‘Men who stood up to their wives.’ And St. Peter comes along and says to the guy on his own, “What are you doing in this queue?” And the bloke replies, “Oh, my wife told me to stand here!”

We all know couples where the man is weak or easily led, where the woman wears the trousers and one fearsome look drains all her husband’s testosterone in an instant. That’s not how Christ loved the church; he manfully prayed all night for his church, he set his face to go to the cross for his church, he faced his enemies without flinching, he courageously poured out his life, he went all the way to death for his church. “No one takes my life from me,” he said, “I lay it down myself.” Husbands, that’s the standard; love your wives like that.

The novelist Marie Corelli said, “I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home that serve the same purpose as a husband. The dog growls every morning, the parrot swears all afternoon and the cat comes home late every night!

If men want to be good lovers, they should look at verses 25, 28 and 33. You probably know that the Greek language, which is what the New Testament was written in, has several different words, all of which are translated by the one English word ‘love’. Eros is sensual, romantic love and it’s where we get the words erotic and erogenous. Philia and philadelphia, brotherly love, is the love of companionship and includes loyalty to friends and communities. Storgé is natural affection or attachment, like the love parents have for their children. And agapé, which was hardly used at all in everyday talk, means a sacrificial, selfless love, a courageous love that commits.

Eros, philia and storgé describe a love that is mutual, that is returned. But the word agapé has no sense of needing to be requited. It can be one-way. Eros, philia and storgé express our affections and feelings. Agapé doesn’t really communicate what you feel. It is a conscious choice to esteem and hold in high regard another person, even if they don’t appreciate you, and even if it doesn’t make you feel ‘wow’. That’s the love God has for us. No matter what you do to him, he will never love you less. However cold your heart is towards him, he will always lay down his life for you. And that’s the love God calls husbands to show to their wives.

God says, “Even if your wife is objectionable, choose to love her. Even if she burns the dinner every night, love her. Even if she is much less beautiful than your new secretary, love her - and her alone. Even if your feelings about her change, as they will over time, love her. Even if she doesn’t submit to you, like the Bible says, or love you back, love her still.” Husbands and future husbands - that’s leadership, Jesus’ way. Loving a wife as Christ loves the Church means loving till the end and even being ready to suffer and die for her.

John Piper put it this way. “I have never met a woman who chafes under Christlike leadership. But I know of too many wives who are unhappy, because their husbands have abdicated their God-ordained leadership and have no moral vision, no spiritual conception of what a family is for and therefore no desire to lead anyone anywhere.” Well said!

Any fool can have a trophy wife. It takes a real man to have a trophy marriage. And in Christ sinful, self-absorbed men can become real men. And here’s the trick; in committing to love as Christ loves the Church you enter into his joy and instead of being a drudge your marriage reaches new heights of happiness.

3) Marriage: Leave, Be United, Become One Flesh

In v31 Paul refers to Genesis 2.24, a verse Jesus quoted when questioned about marriage. “A man will leave his father and mother, be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

Notice the two become one flesh after the man unites to his wife, not his girlfriend.

It’s the most fundamental statement on Christian marriage there is. Most problems in marriage, in my experience, come down to a failure to put into practice one of the three elements of this verse.

Some couples don’t cut the emotional umbilical cord with their mums and dads. Marriage can make the worst possible start because one or both partners don’t leave home properly. Sometimes it’s because well-meaning in-laws interfere too much and you’ve got to draw boundaries. Other times it’s because husband and wife still look to mum or dad for the affirmation and affection they need to be getting from their spouse alone. God says, “You’ve got to leave your father and mother.”

I’ve known couples in unhappy marriages because, while they’ve cut the umbilical cord, they just don’t connect at a soul level with one another. They fail to communicate deeply and resolve conflicts. Forgiveness gets withheld and tensions get buried. God says “Be united to one another” but many couples live in emotional and relational independence. They’re strangers under one roof and it’s only a matter of time before they drift apart irreconcilably.

Still others have problems in marriage because of unresolved sexual tension. Very often it’s because a spouse is putting his or her own enjoyment above pleasing their partner. Ask any 100 guys if they think they’re good lovers and you’ll get over 90% saying “Oh yes.” Ask their wives and you’ll discover the percentage drops alarmingly. The art of good lovemaking, according to God’s plan, revealed in Scripture, is to seek your pleasure in delighting your spouse. Couples who are both committed to pleasing their partners instead of gratifying themselves are the happiest lovers on earth. You read it here first.

Ending

Martin Luther once said, “Wives, conduct yourselves in such a way that your husbands hurry home every evening! And husbands, respond in kind, that your wives might regret your leaving the next morning!” The challenge is to help couples turn “I do” into “we can.”

Finally, an announcement. Starting June 8th we’re going to be running the Marriage Course on Monday evenings here at All Saints’. It’s a seven week course for married couples with presentations and little exercises you do together as a couple. There is no group work at all. So it’s private between you and your spouse. The themes are good foundations, real communication, resolving conflict, learning forgiveness, parents and in-laws, good sex and love languages. We’ll have more information next week. I’ve done the course myself with Kathie and it’s absolutely excellent. I fully recommend it.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 10th May 2009

God and Sex - An Overview (Song of Songs 1.1-4, 8-1-6)

'The Kiss' by Auguste Rodin

The Next Seven Weeks

I’m not going to speak for long tonight, because I want to give Mike plenty of time to present Evaluate a bit later, but I think it would be good to set the scene for this series of talks on sexuality and relationships that we’re going to do here over the next seven weeks.

In the next two Sundays we’re going to be looking at marriage and singleness, in that order. A little girl was once asked, “What is it called when a man is married to just one woman? And she replied, “Monotony!” Many marriages struggle along in an unhappy truce of boredom and non-communication. That’s not God’s plan.

I would guess that most people here have suffered from close family members getting divorced. For some of you it will have been your parents and that will have hurt you deeply. So many marriages collapse and end in divorce. Christian couples are just as vulnerable to marriage breakdown as non-Christian ones. That’s not God’s plan either. So how can I make my marriage work? What are the keys to a good marriage according to God’s word?

With so much unhappiness in marriage you would have thought that most single people wouldn’t want to go near it. But many people suffer from acute loneliness and low self-esteem by remaining single. So how can I honour God in singleness? We’ll look into that in a fortnight’s time.

Then, the following two weeks, we’re going to think about the broader issue of masculinity and femininity. In the last 30 years or so our culture has embraced and promoted a blurring of male and female distinctives. So we now have less feminine women and less masculine men. That’s not good. We’re going to look into God’s word and try and recapture a vision of masculinity and femininity as God intended.

In early June, we’re going to look at two big, big issues. Firstly, homosexuality. I suspect that many here will privately have major questions about this. Instinctively, we feel from quite a young age that, biologically speaking, homosexuality just doesn’t fit. But the pressure to uncritically accept gay sex in our culture is overwhelming and unrelenting. In fact it’s borderline against the law to openly disapprove of it.

Many people, especially young people, just don’t know what to think anymore. So I’ve invited two people, who have both come out of an openly gay lifestyle since becoming Christians, to speak about their experience and on their understanding of God’s plan for their lives. I suspect that this is a voice that will be completely new to you, such is the aggressive agenda in the Western world to silence it by all possible means.

The second big issue is sexual brokenness; that is to say the traumas that result from abuse, rape, incest and so on. Tragically, a surprising number of people have suffered this kind of ordeal. It can lead to bitterness, an inability to form healthy relationships, guilt, self-harm, depression and a whole host of other consequences. Is there any healing for the victims? Is there any hope of real change for the perpetrators?

The Strength of Sexual Passion

That’s where we’re going. But tonight, to set the scene, I want to start by reading some words from the Song of Songs, chapter 5 which Chris is going to read for us…

I need to say first of all that I don’t think this kind of language has any place in our worship songs. “You’re altogether lovely.” “Let my words be few. Jesus I am so in love with you.” “I’m desperate for you.” “Beautiful One I love you.” “I turn my eyes upon you now, look full in your wonderful face.” “Renew me in your presence and refresh me with your kiss.”

Yes, the Church is the bride of Christ and marriage does point to the covenant love between Christ and his Church, but at no time is our relationship with Christ ever portrayed as erotic in Scripture. If Jesus was my girlfriend the Bible would say so.

The Song of Songs does not primarily have the relationship between Christ and the church in view. Some people disagree. Some say, “This is an allegory.” In other words, it doesn’t mean what it looks like it means. So when she says in chapter 1.12 “My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts” some interpreters claim this is actually a picture of Christ’s appearing between the Old and New Testaments. I just don’t think it does. When I read “My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts” I just don’t think about the incarnation – at all. And I don’t think Solomon was thinking about it either when he wrote those words.

The Song of Songs is an uninhibited, passionate, sensual love poem with strong sexual suggestion and many playful euphemisms – it’s quite hard to read it without your glasses steaming up. It’s sexually and emotionally intense. But its purity and innocence are unequalled in world literature.

The Song of Songs is a poem about human, sexual love with erotic overtones. As C.J. Mahaney put it, and I can’t say it better than this; “This Song is intended to arouse husband and wife to cultivate and experience holy romance and sex… for the pleasure and the glory of God.”

The Song of Songs confirms - with divine approval - what we already know; sexual attraction arouses the most ardent passions we are capable of. In the Song of Songs romantic love fills the senses. It is intoxicating. It can be almost hypnotic. Verse 1; “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride, I have gathered my myrrh with my spice... I have drunk my wine and my milk...” “Drink your fill of love.”

This is a celebration of those passions that get the blood pumping, the heart beating and the mind racing. In v2-8 the girl has a vivid dream. She is longing for lover all the time. She imagines he’s there. In v5; “I arose to open for my beloved and my hands dripped with myrrh.” Her hands are sweating, he’s not there. She longs to see him again. Every minute they are apart seems like hours. Verse 6; “I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him.” Verse 8; “Tell him I am faint with love.”

Sexual attraction is potent and very physical. In chapter 4 he describes her – to her face – and says how attractive he finds her. Her eyes, her hair, her teeth, her lips and mouth, her temples, her neck and breasts… He stops there! “All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you” (v7). “You have stolen my heart” (v9). Notice this; he initiates.

In chapter 5, verses 10-16 she, in turn, picks out features and describes the effect looking at him and being with him has on her; his head, his hair, his eyes, his cheeks and lips, his arms, his torso, his legs, his kiss. “His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.”

Ending

I only want to briefly set the scene for the rest of the series before handing over to Mike who is going to present Evaluate.

So let me wind up here. Along with the will to survive and the quest for significance, the sex drive is the strongest urge we have. The Song of Songs reveals it as explosive, volatile, excitable and almost unstoppable. It is designed by God for our pleasure and for his glory. It is healthy and good.

We know too that the devil corrupts it, society trashes it and sin perverts it. It can be horribly abused and defaced. The biggest heartaches in life can come from wrong thinking and wrong choices about sex. We need to hear from God, be educated in his ways and walk in the light of his revelation – and that’s what the ministry Evaluate is all about.

So Mike, let me pray for you and then I’ll hand over…


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 4th May 2009

Weathering the Storms of Life (Mark 4.35-41)

Introduction

Our reading from Mark’s gospel this morning is about a dozen solid, strapping blokes in their prime, four of whom virtually lived at sea, scared witless by a spot of bad weather.

We know this gale must have been strong because the geography of the region is like a miniature of the Caribbean. The Sea of Galilee lies at the foot of Mount Hermon, which is high enough at the summit to be capped in snow all year round. At the same time it is only a bus ride from the Mediterranean Sea. When warm air rises from the sea and cold air descends from the mountains, the two fronts collide producing sudden and dangerously violent storms.

There’s a story about Queen Victoria’s ship running into some bad weather in the Irish Sea. A freak wave made the ship lurch to one side, almost knocking the queen off her feet. She sent an attendant to the bridge with the message, “Give my compliments to the captain, and tell him he’s not to let that happen again!” It seems to have escaped Her Majesty’s notice that the captain was only human.

And at the beginning of our short reading Jesus looks very human too. In v38 we catch him asleep after an exhausting day’s work. Jesus was a real man who needed to rest sometimes but he can also stop storm force winds by ordering them to calm down. Not everybody can do that. Not even the captain of the royal yacht.

I’m going to invite you to look at this story from three different angles; the storm, the disciples and then Jesus. Let’s look at the storm first.

1) When Storms Happen

Weather forecaster Michael Fish famously laughed off reports about a small hurricane heading towards the U.K. the day before Britain’s worst gales on record. I remember the day afterwards going out in the car and getting nowhere. There were fallen trees blocking roads, phone lines were down, advertising boards in shreds, whole towns were without power – southern England was like a war zone.

Michael Fish knows now that rainstorms break into your life when you least expect them to. They don’t phone you to make space in your diary for them. They mess your life up. They are inconvenient.

And here it’s the same. Verse 35 tells us that evening was drawing in. By the time they get out into the lake it must have been dark. That makes a bad storm feel worse. Matthew’s parallel account (chapter 8) says that it had been a long, stressful day. The disciples probably wanted a bit of time to unwind. How bothersome is it to have to battle with a life-threatening minor tornado in the dark when you are already shattered?

But isn’t that just life? Have you noticed that people lose their jobs and fall sick and discover their kids have been taking drugs and lose a loved one and discover their teenage daughters are pregnant at the most appallingly bad times – like when your marriage is struggling, your bills are going up, Boro are going down, someone dents your car without leaving a note and the boiler gives up? Don’t even mention swine flu, bird flu or what have you. Storms kick you when you are down.

To be frank with you, I think we have been weathering something of a storm at All Saints’ over the last month. Both Sylvia and I have had close family members in hospital at the same time as some difficult pastoral situations to attend to besides illness and exhaustion in the staff team, as you know. I’m not going to name them but some of your leaders here have spent long evenings trying to sort out some of the crises that have suddenly appeared. At the same time, there’s been malicious gossip coming from outside the church that we’ve had to set straight. I’d like to say more about that but the Diocese have advised me not to. And wouldn’t this just be the week that the church computer breaks down, creating additional work? Wouldn’t this be the week someone accidentally walked off with my keys, leaving me looking for them all afternoon! Then to cap it all I was awoken by a neighbour this morning to tell me that someone had vandalised the church centre overnight. I quickly got dressed, ran over to the church and found this.

Storms kick you when you are down and it all comes at once. But that’s not all. Storms are not just inconvenient, they’re indiscriminate too. Bad times don’t just visit people who have wandered off from God. We’d understand if they did. We’d say, “Ah, God’s trying to say something to you.” But in the real world storms often blow up – guess when? When you are plumb in the centre of God’s will for your life.

Notice Jesus says in verse 35, “Let us go over to the other side.” They could have replied, “Oh, not now! Lord, we need a rest. We are not going anywhere till tomorrow.” Suppose Jesus had said, “Look, it’s late now. Let’s bed down here and take a boat tomorrow morning.” Then we could all say, “See what happens when you ignore God’s will for your life – you end up in a storm.” But life isn’t that easy. If the disciples had refused to go out on the lake, they would have settled down for the night on dry land they would have slept in their beds like babies and never even known about the storm on the lake. The truth is they were right where Jesus told them to be - and they were still struck by a raging gale! Some people talk as if walking in God’s will means life will be a breeze. No. Walking in God’s will means life will be an adventure.

2) What Are You Supposed to Do in a Storm?

So much for the storm. What about the guys in the boat? What would you have done if you had been in that vessel with the twelve? Let’s say it; they were pathetic bunch. One of them, Thomas, must have been something of a pessimist. Only three things he ever said are recorded in the Bible. There’s the famous “I don’t believe it” speech after Jesus was raised from the dead. Then he says (in John 13), “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. So we’re completely lost.” And the other quote is when they get bad news about Lazarus and he says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” What a blessing it must have been having Thomas in the boat...

Then two others were enemies; there’s Matthew, the ever-popular taxman and de facto supporter of the military occupation, and Simon the zealot (who was an insurgent). I’m guessing they were seated at opposite ends of the boat.

Then four of them were fishermen; Peter, Andrew, James and John. You would have thought that their maritime experience would have been a comfort to the others in this crisis but these guys seem to have been a special case. There is no record in the Gospels of any of them catching a single fish, not even a dead sardine, except by a miracle. Look it up. If you can find one fish that Peter, Andrew, James or John caught without Jesus having do a miracle I’ll eat my Bible. If you can find two I’ll eat yours.

So sharing a boat with this lot would not inspire confidence. And I haven’t even mentioned Judas… Now here’s the question. What would you have done, in a storm, with this rogues’ gallery of losers and lame ducks as travelling companions? I can see four options.

Option 1; you leave Jesus alone in the stern and bail water over the side like men possessed. There are twelve of you. That’s 24 hands on deck. Many hands make light work… I think that’s what I would be tempted to do, if I’m honest; handle the situation myself, to boldly bail like no man has bailed before.

But this appears to have been a serious storm. Verse 37 says that “waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was nearly flooded.” For every cup you threw overboard there was a bucket coming back in over your head. For all my boldness, I would have gone down to the seabed a heroic failure.

Option 2. You panic, wake Jesus up, grab his lapels and shout faithlessly for help… which is what they did do of course. And what happens? Jesus tells them off. “What are you so scared about?” he says, “Do you still have no faith?” Remember this; Jesus has a problem with having his sleep disturbed over the trifling matter of a small tornado.

So to option 3. Perhaps the problem was not that they woke Jesus up, but that they were so terribly loud and vulgar about it? You still wake Jesus up and appeal for help, but without panicking. In that phlegmatic stereotypically English way you tap him on the shoulder and go; “I say old chap, sorry to disturb you and all that, but it’s a tad bracing here. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind giving us a bit of a hand, there’s a sport.” But no, Jesus’ reply in v40 seems to suggest that he detected in their manner a serious lack of faith.

Option 4. What else is there? You take authority in faith. Why is it so annoying when someone suggests prayer in an emergency?

When our daughter Anna was about three, we had to get to Bible College in our old Citroën 2CV on a cold February morning. 20 minutes of turning the ignition key, waiting, turning again, giving it more choke and pumping the gas pedal got us nowhere. Kathie knows that in these situations it’s best to say nothing. After about 25 minutes of fuming and muttering and, like a typical man, looking under the bonnet (as if I knew what to look for), I was ready to give up. That’s when Anna, only just able to talk, said in a loud voice from the back seat, “Come on Jesus, start the car!” I put the key back in the ignition, turned it again and the engine fired first time.

People were praying when the Titanic went down. Then again, people were playing chamber music as if nothing was wrong when the Titanic went down… Which activity do you think was most useful?

I think Jesus wanted his disciples to realize they could take authority in faith themselves. Jesus’ primary rebuke is that they still had no faith. “Still.” So much of Jesus’ ministry up till that point had been focussed on building his disciples’ faith and encouraging them to imitate his own simple trust in his Father. “How is it that you still have no faith?”

“Why are you so fearful?” he says. Verse 40 describes them as afraid. But in verse 41, after Jesus has turned the raging waters into an oily calm, the Bible says they were “terrified.” In other words they were frightened about the bad weather but – you know what? Not as much as they were when God moved with power and might in their lives.

I think they wanted a domesticated God, a safe God, a nice God - and not God Almighty, the great and awesome God of Scripture. God deliver all of us from that.

I feel sorry for the disciples. I bet when Jesus said in chapter 1, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men,” they thought, “Ah, fishing, this sounds good.” By chapter 4 I think they were probably saying, “If I had known it was going to be like this, with him, I wouldn’t have come.” Do you know that feeling? I’ve heard people say, “If I knew all the trouble I was going to get before becoming a Christian I wouldn’t have bothered.” I’m sure the twelve apostles, with all the trouble they got into following Jesus around, often wondered why they hadn’t just stuck to tax collecting, fishing or armed revolt - and had a quiet life.

I want to encourage you this morning. God knows that troubles in life often precede new triumphs. God knows that your troubles can precede your triumphs. I’ll show you how in just a minute.

3) Looking to Jesus

But first, having looked at the storm and the disciples, let’s quickly look at it this story from Jesus’ perspective. How does he respond to it?

From first to last, he is in control. Even when he is off duty he’s totally in charge. Bear in mind that he is shattered. He can’t keep his eyes open. I think we can safely say that Jesus has been putting in serious overtime. The squall is jostling the boat this way and that, but Jesus is out for the count. And then his deep, dreamy sleep is abruptly ended by twelve noisy blokes. You can see why he sounds a bit cross.

But then what does he do? He rebukes the wind and tells the sea to be quiet, to put a sock on it (the word means literally “be muzzled”). Jesus addresses the storm and says, “Shut up!” That is profound. Jesus knows that the storm has a voice. It says to you, “You’re no good, you’re a loser.” It shouts, “You’re going down, nothing can save you now.” It yells, “Look at your kids! Call yourself a good Christian parent?” It roars at you and intimidates you and harasses you until you believe everything it says to you. “God doesn’t love you! Why would he let you have so many problems if he really cared for you? Don’t bother witnessing to your colleague; you’ll fail.” Have you been listening to the storm? Is it time to take authority in the name of Jesus and say, “That’s enough talk from you! Be quiet!”

Ending

I’m going to end by telling you how one ordinary person took authority in faith to still the raging storms in her life. She turned troubles into triumphs by refusing to fear and by telling the storm to be quiet. Her name was Wilma and was the 20th of 22 children! She was born prematurely and weighed only 4.5 pounds but she and her mother were not permitted to be cared for at the local hospital which was for whites only. There was only one black doctor where she lived, and money was tight, so Wilma’s mother spent the next several years nursing her through one illness after another: measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox and double pneumonia. Then it was discovered that her left leg and foot were becoming weak and deformed. She was told she had polio, a crippling disease with no cure. The doctor said that Wilma would never walk.

But Wilma’s mother was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and she knew better than to listen to the storm. Even though it was 50 miles away, she took her daughter to a special hospital twice a week for two years, until she was able to walk with the aid of a metal leg brace. When Wilma was 8 she watched her sister Yolanda play basketball and, even though her legs were in braces, she refused to listen to the storm and she said to her mum, “One day I want to do that.” And her mum said to her, “Honey, if you believe, you will.” And Wilma said “I believe, mamma.”

On her twelfth birthday Wilma said to her parents, “I have a birthday surprise for you.” And she took her leg braces off and walked unaided for the first time in her life. Soon after, when the basketball club selected youngsters for the new season, Yolanda was taken by the team but Wilma was not chosen. So her dad, refusing to listen to the storm, looked the coach in the eye and said, “You take one of my daughters, you take two. I am not going until you take Wilma as well.” So he took them both but he didn’t play Wilma in a single game for three years. She was the only member of the team to suffer the indignity of having a vest with no number on it. But Wilma still didn’t listen to the storm and finally, she got a few games.

It was then that she was spotted by Ed Temple, the coach for the women's track team at Tennessee State University. He saw straight away that Wilma was built for athletics, not basketball, and he invited her to a summer sports camp. Wilma got better and better. She even started to win races, first in her town, then in her state, and then nationally, even going on to the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 at the age of 16, where she won a bronze medal in the 4x400 relay.

“Honey, if you believe, you will.” “I believe, mamma.” Four years later in 1960, Wilma Rudolph went to the Olympic Games again in Rome, where she took the 100 meter gold, the 200 meter gold, and the 4x400 meter relay gold, breaking three world records.

People of God, we too can turn troubles into triumphs in the name of Jesus by refusing fear and by telling the storm to be quiet. It says in 2 Corinthians 4, “Therefore we do not lose heart... For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Faith hears the inaudible, sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible, because when we do what we can God does what we can’t. “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you still have no faith?”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 3rd May 2009

The Resurrection of the Body (1 Corinthians 15.35-58)

Introduction

Everybody seems to be concerned about their bodies. That’s not a bad thing. Nobody here wants to look bad and there is nothing wrong with spending time in front of the mirror. I hope you all own, and use, a toothbrush and that you take a shower regularly.

The Bible teaches us that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made and, if we are Christians, they are temples for the Holy Spirit. God thinks our bodies are very good. So it is right that we should get exercise and eat well, make time to rest properly, get enough sleep, and not subject our bodies to abuse or neglect. It is absolutely right to look after your body. But in our culture, body image has become a bit of an obsession and it is possible to get our proportions out of all proportion.

For example, Julia Roberts said in a recent interview, “I don’t want to change my life. Just my butt.” She’s desperate for symmetrical perfection on an already attractive figure but not interested at all in changing her Hello magazine private life.

Or what about Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, now 66, who was talking with George Melly on a TV chat show once and describing the creases on his face as “laugh lines”. George Melly just smiled and said, “Nothing’s that funny”!

Many of us, if we’re not paranoid about fat, we’re in denial about aging. Our culture dictates that wrinkles must be removed, grey hair must be tinted, blemishes must be eradicated. We have become used to talking about lipro-suction, breast enhancements, hair transplants, face lifts and nose jobs. I wouldn’t bet money that any more than 20% of Michael Jackson’s face is actually really him.

I prefer the approach of NBA basketball coach Rick Majerus, who doesn’t take himself too seriously. “Everyone’s worried about the economy this year”, he said; “hey! my hairline’s in recession, my waistline’s in inflation and altogether, I’m in depression.”

The truth is all our bodies are getting older, tireder, greyer, wrinklier and maybe even balder every day. Or maybe not. Even if we are all getting older on the outside, the Bible says that those who are recipients of the grace of God are all getting younger on the inside. “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

We are, by faith, a new creation; new men, new women. So the truth is, in Christ, you're all getting younger every day. Isn't that good news? And if you value your inner life more than your so-called vital statistics, I’ve got good news this morning. So let’s take a look at what God’s word has to say about our bodies.

A Bit of Background

Paul devoted the entire 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians to this matter of what’s in store for our bodies, because thinking clearly about this has a direct impact on the state of our spiritual health. Let’s quickly recap on what the chapter says so far.

You may remember that Paul starts out by saying in v3 that all this is of “first importance”, it’s top priority”. He explains that Jesus himself was very dead once and that he was placed in a tomb, just as the Old Testament had predicted. He was then physically raised from death and was seen alive by about 600 different people on a number of separate occasions. He even says that most of those witnesses were still alive at the time of writing, so you could go and check it out with them if you weren’t convinced. We saw all this a fortnight ago.

Then Paul says that Christ’s resurrection is totally pivotal for the Christian faith. Paul says, in v14-17, that if Christ is not raised, there is nothing left to preach about. There is, in that case, no point in being a Christian, all faith is useless and we’re better off having a wild old time instead of sitting here looking miserable in church. Ladies and gentlemen, if Christ is not raised, then death ends it all and living for the moment is all that matters.

But v20 insists emphatically that Christ has been raised. Christians really are on the right track. It’s all true. And Christ’s victory over the tomb guarantees that death will not have the last word over us either. Jesus was raised from the dead (v1-11). That means we will also be raised (v12-34). Now then, what’s the rest of the chapter about? It’s all about the kind of body we will be given after these ones have decomposed and returned to the pool of elemental matter.

1) What Will Happen to My Body After I Die?

Paul explains that we will all be given new resurrection bodies after we die. The people Paul was writing to imagined that our personalities and feelings, our mind and all our emotions, our “self” (in other words, the soul) would float around in a kind of happy heavenly atmosphere. For them, the body was bad, dirty, something to discard. It would just waste away in the grave, and, frankly they thought, “good riddance”, and that was the end of it.

But the soul, they thought, would never die; on the contrary, it would just get liberated from the body when it stops breathing, like a bird flying free at last out of a rusty old cage. So all talk of bodies after death just gave them the creeps. They couldn’t see beyond the decay, but Paul was imagining a supernatural, indestructible, glorious body.

These days, most people have only a sketchy idea of what the Bible says about life after death. Ask a work colleague what they think and you’ll probably get one of three answers. Some will say, like these Corinthian believers, that our disembodied souls will kind of float around in a conscious state. That’s Greek philosophy. It’s Plato – and has nothing to do with the Bible.

Secondly, some will talk about reincarnation; that we reappear in a different form at some future point on this earth. That’s Hindu or New-Age thinking and has nothing to do with the Bible either. Thirdly, atheists believe that there is absolutely nothing at all after death. They say, “Why write, “Rest in peace” on gravestones? Dead people do not rest, they decompose. That is all.”

So someone in Corinth says in v35, “Hang on: Everyone knows that corpses decay and disappear. So if we’re not talking about the actual physical skin and bones, flesh and blood, old body making a reappearance – what are we talking about?”

Paul replies, in v36, “How foolish”! meaning, “Category error.” And he goes on to give quite a long explanation with numerous illustrations. He makes comparisons with seeds and birds and flesh and fish and stars. And dust and heaven and falling asleep exhausted and waking up renewed and changed. You know what it’s like trying to spell something out to somebody with a mental block don’t you?

Most of us understand the basic principles of golf. Well, suppose you had to explain golf to someone who had never seen it before. They might find it strange. “Why are they trying to punish that ball by hitting it with that stick?” So you explain, “They’re not. They are trying to drive it. They want to put the little white ball in the hole way over there.” “Oh. Well, let’s just walk over and drop the ball in by hand. It would be easier.” “Well,” you say, “nobody wants to do it the easy way. In fact, we pay an expert lots of money to make sure the ground around the hole is especially tricky. See the woods over there, and the rough grass and the pond and those sand bunkers? These are all places where the little white ball can get stuck or lost.”

“Oh, now I see!” says our friend. “If it takes a long time to put the ball in the hole, everyone is happy.” So you shake your head. “No, no, no; if it takes a long time to put the ball in the hole, someone usually gets angry. See that man over there, throwing his clubs around and cursing? He’s upset because he just hit his ball into the pond for the third time!” So our friend asks, “Well, why does he bother to play golf at all, if it only makes him annoyed?” To which you reply, “He comes here twice a week to play so he can relax!”

This is the sort of category misunderstanding Paul is trying to address. So, from v37 to v52 he attempts to explain the unexplainable so that the unimaginative can imagine it. Human beings have no categories in their minds to fully grasp all this.

All these images (seeds, birds, flesh, fish, stars, dust, falling asleep and waking up) are examples of a different quality of existence. Just as an oak tree is totally unrecognisable from the acorn it grows from, which may be hundreds of times smaller, and completely different in shape, so we will be transformed beyond anything we could imagine. And yet, the genetic make-up of a seed, its DNA, is identical to the plant it becomes. It’s totally the same thing only completely different.

Jesus, after he was raised, was the same Jesus - but different. People knew it was him and yet, curiously, there was something about him, so that people hesitated to go near him and, in fact, didn’t always recognise him at first.

Let me show you a photo of one of someone you might know. Who’s this? It’s today’s service leader, John Belmont! Or rather it’s not! Since our body cells are dying and being replaced all the time, every seven years or so, our bodies complete a process of total transformation. That picture was taken about 15-20 years ago. Every atom of John Belmont has completely changed twice or three times since that time. Yet it’s still John. You can see it is.

Here’s another picture. You’ll probably have more trouble with this one because the picture quality isn’t great. It’s Terry Doyle. If you can’t see the resemblance, it was over 100 years ago! Once I knew it was Terry, I could just about pick out one or two features.

What about this one? That’s Kathie Lambert, 26 years ago. You can tell it’s her I think, though she’s changed a lot – and is, I hasten to add, even lovelier now than she was then.

And here’s the last one. That’s this morning’s preacher when he was three years old. What a difference 25 years makes… Note the unconventional dog collar… Didn’t comb his hair then and doesn’t need to now...

So, that’s a little detour to say that we will be different, but it will still be us. I believe the Bible indicates that we will be more or less recognisable. There are things we don’t fully understand about the resurrection body. How old will we look? Will those who have died in childhood be childlike or mature? Jesus still had holes in his hands and feet. Will our scars show? Will we care? We don’t know, we can only guess. What we do know is spelled out for us in v42-44.

We die with perishable bodies; they go downhill, die, then decay. We will rise with imperishable - indestructible ones. All the indignities of our present bodies will be history; the dishonour of our aged, tired and wrinkly frames will be replaced, says v43, with glory. The handicaps, the limitations, the weaknesses the sickness and the vulnerability will also be a thing of the past when we rise on the day of judgement with powerful, glorious and spiritual, supernatural bodies.

2) Why Will I Need a New Body?

That’s what this passage teaches us. Our earthly bodies are only a dull, limited prototype of what they will be like in eternity. Why will we need new bodies? So we can feast and enjoy God’s brilliant presence for ever without that pleasure and glory and happiness and delight ever fading through ill health or weariness. That’s what it says in v50. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”.

In other words, it’s no good if a magnificent, indestructible, unshakable kingdom has subjects going round moaning about ingrown toenails and being allergic to milk and honey! And what’s the point in having a great banquet in heaven if half the guests decline to eat because they’re worried about getting flabby hips or a double chin!

To the human eye, caterpillars are just hairy worms. But at just the right time in its life the caterpillar goes grey and hangs upside down on a branch and weaves a cocoon. It looks like it is dying and creating its own coffin. But inside the cocoon, the caterpillar is undergoing transformation. It uses the same atoms as it had as a caterpillar, rearranges them, recycles them, in order to emerge, rise, if you like, as a majestic butterfly, no longer crawling but flying! Its environment is not longer limited to the earth. It can now travel in the heavens. The same is true of us when we die. Our bodies will be transformed, using the same stuff, into a body equipped to exist on a different level. Just exactly what we will be, look like and how we will be composed has not yet been fully revealed.

That’s a bit like what Paul is saying in v51-52. Our present bodies are fitted only for the time we have here. We’re going to need to be kitted out for eternity.

Everyone will need a new body, whether they are believers or not, in order to live in heaven... or in hell, which the Bible describes as everlasting loss, suffering, torment and regret. In April 1860, Charles Spurgeon spoke on this passage saying, “The eyes that are full of lust will one day be full of horror; the ear with which you listen to lascivious conversation must listen to sullen moans and hollow groans... of tortured ghosts... (You will have) the power to agonize, power to suffer, power to die and yet to live uncrushed by the stern foot of death”.

I take no delight in quoting that, but it would be a neglect of duty if I did not say that Christ will surely come again to judge the living and the dead, the righteous and the unrighteous. And as Jesus himself said, talking about the last judgment, “Some will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life”.

So our new bodies will be able to overflow with unspeakable joy, never again limited by aches and pains. But the awful flip side is that they will also be able to suffer the agony of regret, eternally away from God, and never to be put out of their misery.

3) How Should These Truths Shape My Life Now?

To finish, I want to ask the following question; how should these truths about the bodies we’re going to have tomorrow shape our lives today?

Given what I have just said about heaven and hell, my answer will be obvious. If you have never been a Christian, or if you have fallen away, you are at a fork in the road. You must decide whether to continue on the path you are on, which, Jesus said, leads ultimately to destruction, or to take the alternative road, which leads to heaven. Oh, what a reckless gamble ignore Christ’s words and end your days on the wrong path, from where there is no way back.

But if you reject sin, abandon unbelief and turn to Christ, you will already be on the new path. And Jesus has promised to never let go of anybody who comes to him. So I am inviting you to do that today if you need to. I do not pretend it will always be an easy route. But I am sure you will never regret your decision to take that path.

How should this teaching affect those of us who are already Christians? Is it just information? Did Paul write these things so we can say to ourselves, “Oh right, that’s what it’s going to be like when we die?” Is it just an interesting curiosity? The answer is that glimpse into the resurrection doesn’t just inform us about the future, it empowers us in the present.

That’s why Paul finishes the passage with v58. Notice he doesn’t say, “Therefore, remember all this because it’s rather fascinating”. He says, “Therefore, stand firm. Keep going. What you’re doing for the Lord is not a waste of time”.

Ending

If the resurrection is a big fairy story, our faith is futile, says v14. But no. Big issues of how we spend our time, and where we spend our eternity, hang on all this. So press on. Don’t go back now. Always stand firm. Your work in the Lord’s service, your praying, your encouragement of fellow believers, your stand against evil, your love for others, the tears you shed, the faith you share, the temptations you resist, are not in vain.

For as surely as you use your body to serve the Lord in the time available you have, he is preparing for you a body able to enjoy him forever in the eternity to come.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 26th April 2009

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15.1-11, Mark 16.1-8)

Introduction

Happy Easter to you all. Jesus is alive! Alleluia!

Of all the characters in the New Testament, Joseph of Arimathea is surely one of the most mysterious. He was a secret, “under the radar” disciple. He had followed Jesus from a distance presumably because he was afraid of the consequences of being identified as a sympathiser. It was dangerous for a member of the Jewish Ruling Council to be seen to approve of Jesus of Nazareth and his radical, provocative message.

Everyone knew that the authorities were hatching a plan to do away with Jesus. So Joseph kept a low profile. But when Jesus died, it was Joseph of Arimathea who went to Pilate (Mark 15.43 says “he went boldly to him”) to ask for the body. It was this Joseph who supplied the tomb; a rich man’s sepulchre, cut into a hillside, prepared for his own death when the time came.

There’s a rumour going round, you know, that Joseph’s request that day provoked some dismay in his circle of friends. “Why did you give up your own superb stone crafted tomb, to that troublemaker, that no-good rabble-rouser and common criminal, Jesus of Nazareth? And they say that Joseph replied, “Well, he only needed it for the weekend!”

Mark’s Strange Ending

A few years ago, Kathie and I went to see a film by David Lynch purely on the strength of the critical acclaim. “A cinematic masterpiece,” “Magnificent,” “An astounding achievement…” So we were very keen to see the film and not at all surprised that there was a long queue outside the cinema. Oh, but the film was a complete disappointment! It was the most absurd, disconnected, pretentious film we had ever seen.

It was obscure to the point of being unfathomable. The plot was incoherent and disconnected. The dialogue was ambiguous. The roles were confusing and interchangeable. But I remember saying to Kathie when the titles came up “Do you think that’s the end?” because it would not have been entirely surprising if the titles had come in the middle. The ending, such as it was, was bizarrely unclear. Apart from that, it was a good film…

Have you seen films like that, or read books, that sort of finish suspended in mid air? There’s one in the Bible and it’s the Gospel of Mark. The old ending of this Gospel says literally in v8; “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid of…”

Our translations tidy the grammar up a bit and make the sentence coherent by removing the word “of” but no one knows why this Gospel ends so abruptly in mid sentence. Certainly v9-20 in our Bibles were added later by another author in an effort to tidy up the very unsatisfactory ending.

I mean, in a document designed to announce to the world the good news of the risen Christ you really want to end on a more positive note than; “Nobody said a word to a soul because they were scared.” By the way, the meaning is; “They said nothing to anyone as they hurried back to the city.” We know from Matthew and Luke that they did tell Peter and the other disciples what they had seen once they arrived.

But why this ending that is more confusion than conclusion? Why do the oldest manuscripts we have finish in mid-sentence? Was Mark about to finish writing up his Gospel when the authorities burst in and arrested him? Was the edge of the papyrus burned in the great fire of Rome? Mark’s Gospel was almost certainly written there, probably based on shorthand notes from Peter’s preaching.

Did the original ending offend Peter, who tore it off? We can speculate, as we love to do, but the reality is that will never know. When I meet him in heaven I shall remember to ask; “Now tell me Mark, what on earth happened to the end of your Gospel?”

What we do know is that the earliest Christians tried several times to add a postscript to round things off and make the ending more coherent and appropriate. And, I believe, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they concluded the story with what they knew from the other Gospels and the Acts, backed up by their own experiences and observations.

When you think about it, v9-20 are the best evidence possible that signs and wonders were a normal and recurring accompaniment to the preaching of the gospel in the first and second centuries. It would be a bit embarrassing if people added a new ending to Mark’s Gospel two centuries later claiming that amazing signs would occur whenever the gospel is preached if everybody knew perfectly well that they did not.

1) Foretold by Prophets

We’ll come back to Mark in a moment. But we’re going to look now at 1 Corinthians 15, (page 1091) which is the earliest explanation of the resurrection we have. We don’t always realise this, given the order that things appear in our New Testament, but the letters were mostly written before the Gospels.

The Apostle Paul had to write this letter because the church in Corinth was going badly wrong. In v12 he asks them a blunt question; “How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” So one of the main causes of the moral scandal, spiritual immaturity and relational disarray there was that they had already lost their grip on how central and foundational the resurrection is. “Jesus rising again? Oh, it’s not that important what you think about it really…”

Yes it is! In v3 Paul describes it as being of first importance. It’s at the very top of the list of absolutely essential things. Paul has to get very serious here. In v2 he spells out what is at stake. “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”

In other words, if you let the resurrection go, you’ve lost everything. So he says in v1 and 3, “Look, I just need to tell you again, I need to remind you of what I said to you before. You received it, you took a stand on it, remember?”… And this is totally non-negotiable. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” He’s saying, “Look. It’s like I told you before. It’s just as the Bible says.”

Now, as I just said, when Paul wrote this letter, the Gospels hadn’t yet been written. So what Scriptures is Paul talking about here? He’s talking about the Old Testament. So where does it mention in the Old Testament about Jesus dying and rising again? Everywhere.

In the very first book of the Old Testament, there’s a story about a lamb, with its head in thorns, on a hillside outside Jerusalem, which God has provided as a sacrifice. In the very last book of the Old Testament there’s a prophecy about the sun of righteousness, risen with healing in his wings. From Genesis to Malachi, the death and resurrection of Christ casts its majestic, royal shadow.

And supremely so in Isaiah 53, written 700 years before Christ and yet describing his virgin birth, his innocence, his silence at his trial, his humiliations, his bleeding wounds, his violent death on behalf of others, his burial in a borrowed grave, his resurrection and his great reward.

So Christ died, was buried and was raised. The Scriptures had said it would happen exactly as it did - but who could have seen it at the time? Now, with hindsight, you can see that Isaiah was scarily accurate. That’s where Paul starts off in 1 Corinthians 15.1-4. “Look,” he is saying, “I didn’t invent this, I received it unembellished as it is and handed it on to you without changing it at any point.”

In every age up to this present one, people have not failed to keep passing on this gospel of grace to the next generation. A friend of mine, who is a retired minister now, once told me about an old parishioner of his who was lamenting all the changes and innovations being introduced in church, “I don’t know,” he said, “if Jesus could see all this, he’d turn in his grave!” But he’s not in his grave!

That’s where Paul is coming from here in v1 and v3. Jesus really is alive. I received it. I passed it on to you as my top priority; “first importance” is the phrase he uses.

2) Authenticated by Eye Witnesses

Apart from saying that it was prophesied that all this would happen, what else does Paul say? He runs off a list of people who saw Jesus after he was raised.

In v5-8 he says that Jesus appeared to Peter, then the twelve, then five hundred others, then to James, then everyone else, then me.

But wait a minute! Hey! What about the women then? All four gospels agree that Jesus appeared, first of all, not to Peter, nor to any other man for that matter, but to a number of women, (Mark specifically names three of them) who had got up before dawn to anoint the body, while all the men were still snoring away in their beds, it must be noted. Why did Paul not mention them as well? Didn’t the ladies count? Is the Bible really that sexist?

The answer is that in that culture, in the great and noble Roman Empire, no woman was admitted as a legal witness. Their testimony in court was not considered reliable enough to be valid. It’s the world that was chauvinist. It was into this male-dominated culture that Paul wrote, in about AD 50, “Men and women are one in Christ.” Nobody had ever written anything like that before.

It’s still radical today. Did you know, for example, that even in enlightened France, the secular torchbearer of liberty, equality and fraternity; women were denied the vote until 1945! In Islamic Pakistan it was 1956 and most of the Gulf States have only just got round to it in this 21st Century! I want to contest what you sometimes hear about Christianity being the origin and guardian of global misogyny. It is, in fact, the exact opposite.

So Paul, from v5 onwards, is simply running off the official list of legally authorised witnesses for his Corinthian readers, who had only heard about the resurrection second hand. And it’s quite a list, starting with Peter and then the twelve. Nitpickers might say that technically it was eleven, Judas having already committed suicide. In fact, the disciples were always called “the twelve” even when that description was not numerically exact.

Back to Mark’s Gospel (page 967 if you want to look at it yourself): v2-3 give some incidental details that bear the hallmarks of eye-witness testimony. Whenever the police interview people about an event they may have witnessed they always seem to want to know what time it was when such and such occurred. Here, it was “just after sunrise.”

In the numbness that is characteristic after an unexpected death, and there being no time to prepare the body for burial before the holiday, it occurs to the women only now that there will be a hefty stone blocking the tomb entrance. “Ah! Who’s going to roll this thing away from the entrance to the tomb?” “Oh dear! You’re right, I hadn’t even thought about that.”

Someone might say, “But so what?” Three women and eleven men might have invented it. Well, what would be the point of making the story up? It certainly wasn’t to get their hands on the Life Insurance was it?! However, for the sake of fairness, let’s say that they may have made the story up. But history shows that ten of the men were harried, tried and executed for spreading the story of Christ’s resurrection.

Would they accept beheading and crucifixion if they knew their message was bogus? Wouldn’t at least one of them cave in when the heat was on and say, “Actually, we made the story up. We actually buried the body 300 yards away.” Or whatever… in fact, they would never have got past the guards to steal the body.

Perhaps they were just deluded? What if they just made a big mistake and there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this apparent extraordinary miracle? What if, for example, the authorities moved the body and didn’t tell anyone. (Incidentally, that couldn’t have happened because the authorities were desperate to put an end to the disciples preaching about the resurrection and could have easily done so by producing a body – but they never did).

And anyway, in v6 Paul makes it quite clear that human error on the part of the disciples cannot be possible. “After that, Jesus appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still alive today.”

If I said to you that my Uncle Reg really existed, you might or might not believe me. Right. I could show you a photograph of him, but you might say it could be a picture of anyone. OK. If I said to you that I know a handful of people who knew him, you could say that they might have been set up by me to deceive you.

But if I told you that I could call about five hundred people who knew him, who spoke with him, who ate and drank with him, who worked with him on his farm and that you could meet them for yourself if you want, you would have to conclude that what I was saying was true.

That’s what Paul is saying here in verse 6. “Shortly after his death and burial, Jesus appeared alive to over 500 people at once. If you don’t believe me and you don’t trust the apostles,” the implication here is: “Go and check it out with someone else who saw it with their own eyes. Any one of five hundred plus people. Take your pick. They’ll tell you that this is no hoax, it really happened.”

So Paul begins this long chapter on the resurrection by patiently laying its vital foundation once more. The ancient writings predicted Jesus would die and rise again. He was seen alive by many witnesses. Lives were changed and nearly two millennia later, lives are still being changed; men and women, rich and poor, young and old, highly educated or illiterate, on every continent, in every culture. The reality of Christ’s resurrection is being discovered and experienced every day, all over the Earth.

Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday

I’ll finish with this thought: Everybody knows where Jesus was at the moment of his arrest - in the Garden of Gethsemane, several hundred metres from Jerusalem’s city walls. Everybody knows where he was at the moment of his resurrection three days later - in another garden; this time in a burial garden close to Golgotha. For Friday and Sunday it all seems clear enough. But where was he on Saturday?

This is the question the Bishop of Sheffield asked a class of sixth formers a couple of years ago. “Where do you think Jesus was between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?” Dead silence… And then a sixteen year-old girl raised her hand and gave a breathtaking reply. “I don’t know where he was exactly, but I wonder if he was in deepest hell, looking for Judas his lost friend?”

I don’t know how theologically precise that is; the Bible doesn’t exactly put it that way. In fact, as I explained a few weeks ago, the First Letter of Peter says he was actually in the place of the dead preaching to imprisoned spirits, victims of Noah’s flood who, unlike every generation since, never experienced God’s mercy.

But I do think that young person’s reply shows a remarkable understanding of the scope of the love of Jesus. This is the Good Shepherd who goes looking for one lost sheep. This is the Jesus who forgives and restores the most wicked, the most fallen, the most evil. This is the Jesus who saves every sinner who humbly turns to him, who heals the sick, who restores the strength of the weary, who renews hope of the desperate, who binds up those with a broken heart.

Open your heart to Jesus and experience his grave-busting power for yourself. Jesus is alive today. He brings real forgiveness today, true freedom, deep healing today, new life, fresh hope and a bright future today to all who come to him in faith.

Christ is risen!


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 12th April 2009 

In the Ark (Genesis 7.17-8.22)

Introduction

In 1989 the successful businessman Robert Fulghum wrote a book about management called “All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” It was a global phenomenon. In fact, it was at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List for 21 months, becoming the second longest number one bestseller in 23 years. The most important things anyone needs to know in life are relatively simple to understand.

One day somebody is going to make a lot of money writing a book called: “All I Need to Know I Learned from Noah.” Here are the top ten lessons from the ark.

1. Stay alert; when God is doing a new thing, don’t miss the boat.
2. Plan ahead; it hadn’t rained a drop when Noah started building the ark.
3. Keep fit; when you get to 600, God may ask you to build an ocean liner.
4. Always travel in pairs; it could save your life.
5. Slow down; the snails got on the boat eventually, as well as the cheetahs.
6. Learn to laugh; if you ever spend 40 weeks with your extended family in a crowded boat, you’ll need a sense of humour.
7. Watch your heart. A couple of woodpeckers inside can be just as bad as a rainstorm outside.
8. Do it yourself; the ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic was built by professionals.
9. Remember, when catastrophe strikes, we’re all in the same boat.
10. Cheer up. With God, there’s always a rainbow after every storm.

Is It True?

In 1929 the archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley excavated a layer of silt, about five metres thick, under a site he was working on near the shores of the Persian Gulf. He announced that he had uncovered indisputable evidence of the Biblical flood. Interestingly, the layers below and above this flood deposit both showed signs of human occupation, while the layer itself showed no evidence of human life other than a few burials that intruded into it from later times. Later research has shown that the silt was indeed dumped by a huge mass of water, about 3,500 years before Christ.

But later digs have shown that this particular flood, though vast and devastating, was not universal because in more distant sites, that are known to have been inhabited at the same time, no silt layer was found. Later still, archaeologists uncovered other flood sediments that date back to different times. So there is certainly some geological evidence of an ancient flood - or floods. But it is sketchy and inconclusive at the present time.

I think it is an open question whether this disaster literally covered the face of the whole earth or whether it was limited to the surface of the then-known world. When you first read Genesis it looks like it means the whole planet, the complete animal kingdom (except two from each species) and the entire human race (bar 8 people). But many Bible scholars have suggested it can mean the entire world described in the Bible up to that point, in other words what we call Mesopotamia. Not all Christians agree here but I think a vast, if not global, flood probably fits best with the scientific data we have. And I think that view is consistent with the belief that the Bible is God’s inspired word.

The Big Picture

Anyway, the Bible’s message in Genesis 6-8 is not so much material as moral, so our interest in this story should focus primarily on God’s agenda; God is reminding us here about the seriousness of sin, the certainty of judgement and the opportunity of salvation.

Billy Graham used to say that there are three things that happen to everybody. Firstly, everybody has to be born. Nobody just arrives on the earth out of nowhere. Secondly, everybody has to die. Unless Jesus comes back beforehand you and I will all one day pass away. The comedian George Burns once said, “If you live to be one hundred, you’ve got it made. Very few people die past that age.” Never mind the devastating logic, enjoy the irony; George Burns lived to be a hundred, and then died! Everybody has to be born. Everybody dies in the end. And thirdly, everybody will have to stand before God to face the music.

Every now and then we lift our eyes up from the furious detail of existence to think about the ultimate meaning of it all: Why was I born? What is my destiny? Where is my life going? When, and if, I have to give an account to God for my life what will I have to say? If you’re famous enough you’ll get a brief obituary in the paper and a short report on the news. For most of us, not even that. Whoever we are, people will say a few lines about us at our funerals, mostly emphasising the good bits – this sermon is designed to depress everybody! - but the reality is that the final verdict on your life will be God’s and he will assess all of it; achievements as well as failures.

Saved!

Last week were thinking about life before the flood. But our reading this morning from Genesis tells the story of what happened during and after it. 7.17 talks about five and a half weeks of constant, heavy rain. Rivers burst their banks, valleys and then hills were slowly submerged. There was massive loss of life and untold environmental damage. If you add up the days in chapter 8, you realise that those who were safe in the ark spent a total time of 280 days - about 40 weeks - at sea before it was safe to disembark on dry land.

Are you are grumbler? I wonder if there was anyone in the ark who liked a good moan. After all, life inside the ark must have been beyond belief - conditions must have been very cramped. There was the overpowering stink of all the animals, and the attendant task of constantly mucking them out. The boat must have swayed to and fro on the seas, leading to seasickness, (to say nothing of the monotony; ten months with the same boring old view). “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with… w.” “Water?”

John Ortberg in his latest book called When The Game Is Over It All Goes Back In The Box talks about a client he had in his graduate days in psychology. “She complained frequently about how her husband’s drinking made her unhappy. ‘But you could take action,’ I suggested. ‘You could go to Alcoholics Anonymous. You could pursue an intervention. You could tell him he must pursue sobriety or you will separate. You can begin to pursue your true life without waiting for him to sober up. You could stop providing excuses for his boss or for his friends, and the painful consequences might provoke some change.’ She batted away each of these suggestions with ease... The truth is she preferred the status of victimhood that goes with complaining… She obligated her friends to give her sympathy rather than the hard truth.”

Are you are complainer? Do you enjoy having a good gripe? For the manifold inconveniences of life in the ark, read the day to day hassles of being me or you. O.K., being cooped up in a boat for ten months is no fun. Granted, the view isn’t great. Certainly, it’s cramped. Sure, 40 weeks of nausea is not a barrel of laughs. And yes, it stinks on board. But count your blessings! Thank God, for example, you weren’t outside when the ark door slammed shut and it started raining! When you think of the riches of God’s grace towards you; his love, his provision, his forgiveness, his gifts, his many answers to prayer, his fantastic blessings; count them - Christians ought to be the least grumpy people on earth. Thank God he showed mercy to me when I just didn’t deserve it. I still marvel at that. Thank God for the incomparable kindness of being in his will and not out of it; of being inside the ark, and not outside of it. 7.23 talks about the scale of the disaster, a vast extermination of life, and then says; “Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.” This is a story about salvation.

In October 2007, 54 men in Western Australia got trapped underground because of a flood in the mine where they were working. Thankfully, all were rescued several days later.

I want you to imagine for a minute that you are one of those guys. You are working 80 metres below ground. Suddenly the wall of an abandoned mine shaft collapses. A surge of water rushes towards you with great power. You run for safety with half a dozen fellow workers, but you see immediately that there’s no way you will make it to the mine entrance. You desperately scramble over rocks, searching for an air pocket as the water rises around you. After what seems to be hours, you find a small space with a little bit of air. You huddle together with your colleagues. It is cold and dark. As the water continues to rise, you wonder how long you can survive. It begins to dawn on you that there might not be enough air for all of you. Slowly the reality sinks in. You are 80 metres underground. There is no way out. You can do nothing to rescue yourself. You cannot swim to safety. You cannot dig your way to the surface. You are trapped in the gloom. If someone above does not come to your aid in time you will die where you are.

You don’t know it at all, but far above you rescue workers are drilling a hole to send in hot air to keep you warm and push back the rising water. Unknown to you, hundreds of people are working together without rest to dig rescue shafts. Millions are praying for you. Finally, the rescue team breaks through, a capsule is lowered, and they lift you to safety. When you were trapped, someone came for you. When you could do nothing to help yourself, someone rescued you. When your life was nearly gone, someone dug through and found you. Someone far above cared about you and you were saved.

That is what God’s mercy is like. Just when you were hopelessly trapped in the darkness of sin, someone far above came down from heaven to rescue you. He left the splendour of heaven to dig through layers of sin and guilt to set you free. Christ knew where you were. He reached out to you in your darkness and he released you from it and brought you into his marvellous light.

As for Noah, mercifully saved by God from terrifying judgment, so it is for all those who trust in Christ.

Judgment

Noah tells us that God saves. But Noah also tells us that he is a God of justice who will call all wrongdoing to account. There are two popular notions about God’s judgment in our culture, neither of which finds its origins in the Bible. The first is that God will weigh our good deeds against our bad deeds and decide our eternal destiny on the basis of which way the scales tip. If we have been rather more virtuous than wicked - all well and good. If not, oh dear. You go round any shopping centre in Britain today and ask people about the last judgement and you will hear a version of this time and time again. But there is nothing true about it at all. The reason is that entry into heaven has nothing whatsoever to do with our good deeds. Nothing. Isaiah called the sum total of our righteous acts “filthy rags” - that’s just the things we feel good about!

There was a man who reached the gates of heaven and he saw Jesus standing there. He suddenly felt deeply ashamed of all the bad things he had done in his life. He said, “You can’t let me in here. I’ve lied, I’ve hurt others, I haven't loved people around me, I’ve been so selfish...” And Jesus looked at him and said, “Oh yeah, I know. I know everything you’ve done. And you know what? You're a lot worse than you think you are! But you asked me to be your Saviour and Lord, remember? And when they open up your dossier and take a look at the record of your life, to see whether you can come in here, all they’ll find is the record of my life. They’ll just see my faultless, perfect, textbook righteous. So come on in, my friend, there’s nothing to fear.”

You and I are more sinful than we could ever measure and we are more loved than we could ever hope for. The only way to find favour with God and have the gate of eternal life opened before us is to turn from all that we know is wrong and come to Christ, just as we are, with no bargaining chips except simple, childlike faith.

There’s a second popular idea about God’s judgment in our culture and here’s an example of it... (video)

Some people think that God will give us another chance to put everything right, post mortem. If we’re not quite ready for heaven when we die, no matter. They think God will say, “Ah, there’s a bit a problem; you’re just a tiny bit light on the old righteousness here, but - ha, ha, ha - nothing to worry about, there’s plenty of time to top up your account, would you like to go through the Purgatory door..?”

But this second idea doesn’t have any more biblical foundation than the first. God has spelt out very clearly, in Hebrews 9.27, that his timetable doesn’t leave any room for any kind of second chance. “People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” it says.

That means everyone has to be absolutely clear about their response to God in this life. It is urgent to think this through and make a clear commitment to Christ before it is too late. The opportunity for salvation ends permanently at death. Our eternal destiny will be determined by the spiritual choices we make in this life.

There is though, I believe, one - and only one - exception to this in Scripture; that is the unique, never-to-be-repeated opportunity given to the people who died in Noah’s flood. If you’ve ever read 1 Peter 3 you’ll have been puzzled, I’m sure by what it says there. This is what v18-20 actually say;

“Christ… was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. In that state he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits - to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built…”

Then a few verses later it says, “The gospel was preached even to those who are now dead.”

That’s weird! What’s that about? Unsurprisingly, many suggestions have been offered. I once heard there are over 200 different interpretations for those verses. But the plain meaning of the passage is that Jesus, between his death and his bodily resurrection, descended to the place of the dead and preached the gospel to the spirits of all those that perished in Noah’s flood. Not to anyone else, just to them. Why would Jesus single them out? Why not anyone else?

I believe the answer lies in what God says in Genesis 8.21. “Never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” Jesus gave a unique second chance to those who perished in the flood, because that generation alone was denied God’s promise of mercy that every generation, including ours, has enjoyed before and since. Now nobody can dispute God’s perfect impartiality from hell, shouting, “God wiped us out and promised never to do it again. He treated everyone afterwards better than he treated us. We have been denied justice! God is not fair!”

Ending

No, God is scrupulously fair. And for us, the picture is perfectly clear. God will never again send a flood like the one in Noah’s day. He has said so and he always keeps his word. He is full of mercy - meaning he doesn’t give us what we deserve. And he is full of grace - meaning he does give us what we don’t deserve.

Robert Fulghum was right. The most important lessons in life are simple. All I need to know I learned from Noah’s ark. The thing is, are those eternal questions settled in your mind? For most of us, I guess, the answer is “yes.” But we all know people for whom the answer is “No,” or “I’m not sure.” Well, we live in urgent times. Let’s pray with tears and persistence. Let’s give more of our lives to the end that more people in our generation come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Let’s open our hearts and our mouths and commend the Gospel with great patience and all sincerity. Let’s live wholesome, joyful lives that attract others to the light of Christ. Let’s make the most of every opportunity. It is a privilege to suffer for righteousness’ sake, so let’s gladly accept the dishonour and insults that come with the proclamation of the Gospel until Christ comes again.

“The coming of the Son of Man” said Jesus, “will be just like in the days of Noah… Until the day that Noah entered the ark, they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 29th March 2009