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“Honouring
Christ" |
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“Honouring
Christ" |
Sermon
six in the 40 Days of Purpose programme Rev.
Dr Robert Iles
at Golden Grove Uniting Church, S Australia.
21.11.04
Last Sunday morning I shared with you in my sermon,
Many ways in which Christians impacted their world, from leprosariums
To hospitals and orphanages. All this started to happen rather rapidly from the C2 after the ministry of Christ.
If you came from another planet and did a serious study of history, you would discover something.
That amidst the wars and sins of history, amidst wonderful inventions from cars and anti-biotics to squash racquets, amidst the achievements and follies of humanity,
There was a turning point in history that far exceeded them all.
This coming was so momentous even now, in the third millennia since it happened
We can scarcely grasp the magnitude of what happened.
Even in the third millennia, ripples from the original event
Still wash over us, like radiation from the outer reaches of the universe
Reflecting the Big Bang of the Creation.
And the ripples all come from this era in human history where something happened.
An outside observer would ponder some of the events of this time.
This special event all revolved around one person, a Judean, from Galilee
And a poor little town called Nazareth.
This person was a Jew who spoke mostly amongst other Jews.
But he received a mixed reaction.
The leaders of his religion did not welcome him. Most were hostile
And one of the earliest records tells us that plans were made to kill him
Within days of his starting his ministry. Mk 3: 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
This would puzzle an outsider. What did these people have to fear?
Surely he was helping them to sharpen and improve what they believed.
This observer would also notice how there are many stories of how
Contrary to the religious leadership he mixed with ordinary people
That the religion tended to despise.
The people recognised the difference. Matthew 7: 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
And some amazing things happened. A few people were healed,
Crowds listened rapturously, there was the occasional huge picnic.
And this man had a little group of followers who would seem ill suited to learning, studying, following him.
Rabbis only took as students, people with the right background and qualifications.
Jesus took 12 diverse men, as if to say, “If I can make this group into my followers I can make any group of people of any time the same”. How encouraging.
The observer would also note how before long Rome became involved.
When the religious leadership was threatened by him
They pressured Roman leadership to arrest him. They treated him like a criminal.
Then Rome eventually weakened, siding with the religious leadership and had him crucified, the normal Roman treatment for accused criminals.
It was one of the only trials in history where the judge declared a person innocent,
But then had the accused killed anyway.
The observer would ask: What did he do?
Was he an anarchist, a terrorist, did he kill, steal, plunder, lead an army?
He was a gentle but powerful man of peace who never
Compromised himself or others in any way, morally, spiritually, religiously.
Why would people kill him?
Then the observer would note how this figure died an awful. tortured death on a cross, shared with two criminals, guards and flies.
Then he died with great courage forgiving his accusers and
All people who in any way contributed to his death Luke records in 23: 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots
People were amazed at the grace with which he died, not cursing in anger like many,
But with forgiving grace, so that one hardened soldier could say. Mk 15: 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"
He was buried and great sadness descended on all who had known and loved him.
The observer would then note a major change in those people.
They unbolted locked doors and went to a garden where some claimed he had risen from the dead.
They went from tears of sadness t tears of joy.
From bring fearful they became fearless, from being quiet and fearful they became vocal, verbal, excited and spoke of this man who was once
Dead being alive.
Then from there, the ripples spread outwards. Before long they were persecuted. As these Christians were persecuted in Jerusalem they went to other towns and countries and eventually into the whole world. Acts 8: 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
A W Tozer has put this well. “Our great honour lies in being just what Jesus was & is. To be accepted by those who accept him, rejected by all who reject him, loved
By those who love him and hated by everyone who hates him.
What greater glory could come to any man?”
The world began to change, spiritually and socially.
They fed widows, began schools, wrote out their stories,
And were leaven in the loaf of a superstitious and violent world.
And from there the world changed. Prisons were reformed, slavery stopped, hospices opened, science advanced, the dignity of people rose, races were reconciled, cannibals now ate the Body and blood of Christ instead of each other.
Those who spent their life in self-accusatory torment, in guilt, in fear of death and dying found healing, freedom, hope, meaning and purpose along with power over sin.
Hoarders broke the power of possessions, the mean in spirit became the generous, the proud; servants,
The lost and lonely found themselves coming into churches where people prayed, loved, served, and supported.
All from this one event, this time, a few years when a special man appeared.
He fitted no one category but even a multitude of categories
Could not describe and encompass him. He was bigger and greater than all our concepts.
People searched for ways to describe him.
Many titles and descriptions were applied to him: prophet, Nazarene, priest, Son of God, Son of Man, the wisdom of God, the Word, Lord, Saviour, the true vine, the door, the way the truth, the life; lamb of God, the mediator, the last Adam,
The Messiah, Bread of life, light of the world, God, the gate for the sheep, the Good Shepherd, High Priest,
The resurrection and the life, Lord God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Living one, the almighty, the first and the last, creator, lion of the tribe of Judah, Lord and God.
He was all of them but fitted none of them completely. How can God becoming a human being fit easily into any category?
He was human in every way: he hungered, he wept, he laughed, he was glad of good friends, he liked good meals and dining out, he would not have liked the presence of the Romans any more than anyone else in Israel.
But he would not allow himself to be reduced to the role of a politician
Or military leader.
He would go to the heart of the human problem,
Which transcends social issues.
Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah and their
Son John all knew there would be more to him than met the eye.
Andrew said to his brother Peter in John 1: 41 …… "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ).
In all this we need to be drawn back to Scripture. For one of our modern
Foci, even amongst us evangelical churches and preachers
Is we focus so much on the benefits arising from Christ we
DON’T DWELL enough on his person. As Tozer said, again,
“The “work” of Christ has been stressed until it
has eclipsed the person of Christ ……What he did for me seems to be more important than what
He is to me”. He calls us in faith to honour who He is
Ahead of what He has done for our benefit.
You know how children do this. They think of parents as a perpetual source
Of all that they want and sometimes need. And they are sometimes even thankful.
But what most blesses a parent is when a child, of any age, say “Thanks mum and dad for being such a good parent to me”
How we cherish such words. We come to matter to them, more than what we have or did; we are seen as persons ahead of power and possessions.
So with our Lord. He longs us to focus upon his nature, his personhood, his fatherhood, his sonship, his Holy Spirit heart
Before all his benefits.
He is the hinge on which the door of history swings.
He is the door that opens up the new and living way for all people.
And he is yours and you are his.