Is sex something ugly?

There is no or little of censoring of publications in Australia – so it seems. It idea of freedom of choice for every consumer is the principle which rules what we choose to see.

The Government(s) have however thought it good to help the public to make their choices.  The Classification Board serves the public, because, “The Australian public relies on classifications to make choices about entertainment products and to decide what is suitable for those in their care to watch or play.”  (more)

Films, electronic games, books, TV programs, etc, are usually classified as G, PG, M, MA, R, and X. G is for general, PG for Parental Guidance, M for Mature, MA for Mature Audiences.

Apart from the fact that blasphemy is not included in any of the classification system, about everything else goes – provided that what is said, done and promoted do not “offend”, “demean” or “ridicule” or “provoke or perpetuate intense dislike” of a person or a group of persons, “on the grounds of age, colour, gender, national or ethnic origin, disability, race, religion or sexual preference.” (more)

So far so good, leaving alone the undefined meaning of “moral, artistic or other values”. (What, should we ask, defines “moral” and “artistic”?  “What is a “value”, and why are some values good and others bad?)

TV programs containing nudity, sex scenes, bad language, drug use, or violence are announced to contain these aspects.  The bad language, drug use and violence contained in these programs erode our culture and is by definition not beneficial to G, M, MA, or whatever audiences amy be.  But this principle applies not only in films or publications – it is generally bad, and not only bad for underaged children.  To prevent people (and more so children) watching programs containing these things is good, and generally it should serve the purpose to educate them that these things are bad for “moral, artistic or other values.”

There is no room for nudity and sex scenes should in any publicly released material aimed at the general public, more so when depicted outside of marriage (medical journals and other academic research are not aimed at the general public, but should still publicised discerningly).  One can, if looked through a very big magnifying glass to see what is written between the lines, probably see that the Classification Board understands this principle. It is from this premise that one can endeavour to define the term pornography.

But like violence, drugs and bad language, nudity and sex are not intrinsically bad or sinful. Don’t for one moment think that I want programs and films with nudity and sex in it not to be classified, even if it depicts the healthy marriage relationship.  No, what happens between a husband and his wife should remain in the bedroom – we understand this very well: moms and dads for this reason shut their bedroom and bathroom doors.  Nudity and sex is something exclusive and private when it happens within the confines of for what reason God created it.

My concern is that when programs and films containing sex and nudity are grouped in with vices like drug use, violence and bad language. Sex and nudity, as a criterium for what can be seen by adults, and not by children, in this context are construed as something ugly.  Desiring it, looking at it and enjoying it puts one in the section of society that enjoys bad things.

Little wonder that sex is seen as the forbidden fruit which should be enjoyed only when one stretches the rules of what is good and bad to the daring and the immoral.

The solution: keep sex and nudity out of TV programs – not because it is intrinsically bad, but because it can only really be good within the framework for which God created it: the holiness of the exclusive relationship between a married man and the wife he married (or for the gender sensitive out there: the relationship between the woman and the man she married).

Fact is, in spite of all the good intentions of any Classification Board, sex outside of marriage has become the major instrument in the breakdown of morals: family units and the value of family have been undermined, divorce and de facto relationships have increased, the number of one parent children are skyrocketing, teen pregnancies and abortions are out of control, and homosexuality is accepted as absolutely normal, etc.

The way sex and nudity are depicted through TV and films indeed “contain content that children find confusing or upsetting”. (more)

 

Called out of darkness into the light

That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God

Scripture Readings

• Isaiah 59:9-21
• John 12:34-50

Introduction

Omar Bradley, one of the Generals in World War II also went to World War I. He became a General. He actually led one of the largest armies in history during World War II. He spoke at an Armistice Day in Boston, Massachusetts in 1948. He said,

“With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents. Our knowledge of science has clearly outstripped our capacity to control it. We have many men of science; too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.  This is our twentieth century’s claim to distinction and to progress.”

After he made this speech, we had the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Golf War, the war in Iraq, the continuous unrest in the Middle East in and the whole group of other wars in the world. We do not know how to make peace.

If we are going to move into the future, if we want to give hope to our children and next generation, it must come through our commitment to Christ, so that His light can shine in this very dark world.

The Word come to us in these main points:

• Who is the Son of Man?
• What was the mission of the Son of Man
• The light will not always shine
• Persistent, stubborn, sinful rejection of Christ
• An urgent shout

Who is the Son of Man?

The title “Son of Man” was virtually the only title used by Jesus of himself. He has other titles. He is the Lamb of God, the King, the Messiah, the Beloved, the Word, the Son of God, and many others. But Jesus did not prefer to use these titles when He referred to Himself. In his own speech, He was always the Son of Man.

If we would look at the Hebrew, which lies behind this expression, we find something interesting about the grammar.  The “Israelites” in the Old Testament are from the word pair “the sons of Israel.”  With this title “Son of Man” Jesus identifies with the sons of Adam.  But there is more to it.

One Old Testament reference to the expression “Son of Man” is found in chapter 7 of Daniel,. This is the chapter that relates Daniel’s vision of the four great beasts that come up out of the sea and reign in succession earth for a time.  After the four visions of the four different kingdoms are explained, the vision shifts to heaven, and Daniel describes a scene in which thrones are set up and the Ancient of Days [God] takes his place upon one of the thrones and renders judgment. In this judgment, the last of the beasts is killed and all have their kingdoms taken away.

Daniel then writes of the final defeat and the establishment of a new and everlasting kingdom:

“In my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations, and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13–14).

Between the writing of Daniel and before the coming of Christ, this concept of the “Son of Man” was spoken of in different writings, in which “Son of Man” is one term given to the long-expected Messiah.

Through the lens of all Scripture the “Son of Man” refers to “The Man” which means in Christ we have the eternal or man who exists eternally with God and who was to appear in this world at God’s command to complete God’s plan of salvation.

The title “Messiah” denoted a political figure whose primary work would be the deliverance of Jewish people from the Romans. But if Chris used this title publicly, everyone would have expected Him to organise an army and lead a liberation movement.  So He did not make an open claim to be the Messiah. On the other hand, with the “Son of Man” title, people did not know what to think about it exactly in a political sense of the word. Jesus used this title of Himself while at the same time filling it in with the precise meaning his Father would want Him.

This is one thing we need to stop and think about today.  We need to get a fresh understanding do who Jesus, the Christ, is.  It might even be possible that we think of Jesus in all sorts of categories, other than what He actually was send for into this world.

Some see in Him the answer to their financial problems.  The so-called prosperity theology makes a lot of this idea.  It is known by many names, such as the “name it and claim it” gospel, the “blab it and grab it” gospel, the “health and wealth” gospel, the “word of faith” movement, the “gospel of success,” and “positive confession theology”.

Teachers of the prosperity gospel encourage their followers to pray, and even demand, of God “everything from modes of transportation (cars, vans, trucks, even two-seat planes), [to] homes, furniture, and large bank accounts.  God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit then becomes a medium through which one can achieve whatever he wants.

The Jews at the time of Jesus had ideas and longings they wanted to be fulfilled by the promised Messiah.  With the tile “Son of Man” Jesus wanted them to understand that He was from God, God Himself, sent into this world to rescue it from its darkness by giving Himself to be lifted up.  This idea did not fit into their expectations.

Jesus, by using the title “Son of Man” made it very clear that He is from before time began.

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. (John 3:13, ESV)

Our Lord taught the people that if they would not eat the body of the Son of Man, and drink his blood they would have no life in them.  The people were offended by these words and a great many left Him.  He then looked at the disciples and said:

“Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? (John 6:61–62, ESV)

In other words, if they did not understand and believe that He came to shed his blood and have his body broken to save them from sins, they would still be in darkness, how much more will they be offended if He told them that He would return to heaven where He was before He became flesh and lived among sinners.  It was something that choked every teacher of the Law: that a mere man could put himself on equal footing with God.

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18, ESV)

What was the mission of the Son of Man

We need to be extremely clear in this point:  John right through his Gospel points to only one thing:  God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into this world because

• this world is in darkness and therefore it cannot see the Kingdom of God
• this world can’t do anything about its own darkness, because flesh cannot do anything else but give birth to flesh
• this world is in need of a Saviour who is in essence not from this world, but who makes it his business to come into this world to bring light into this darkness

Natural man does not love this message.  The concept of sin is not even welcome in dictionaries these days.  Atheists believe we do not need any concept of sin today because through evolution we have outgrown sin.

Richard Dawkins declares:

“More and more of us realize there is no god, and yet religion still has a hold over us. I think ideas of saints and sinners, heaven and hell, still shape our thinking. I want to give you a scientific alternative.”

With these words Dawkins reveals that he is still living in darkness. To him and others who think like him the Gospel still extends the warning and invitation:

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:36, ESV)

The light will not always shine

While you have light.  This means that the light will not always shine.  Jesus said:

“The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. (John 12:35, ESV)

I think it is meaningful that soon after Jesus spoke these words, we read:

When Jesus had said these things, He departed and hid himself from them. (John 12:36, ESV)

We need to tell the world, those living in darkness, this very unsettling and disturbing truth: We will not always have this light.  Now it is still time of grace for repentance, but this dispensation will come to an end.

There is a imperative, or a command, in verse 35.  It says, “Walk while you have the light.”  It does not say, “Walk in the light.” the command is, “Walk!”  Darkness is coming.  There is an earnestness and urgency in the words of our Lord.  It almost says, “Run to the light while it is still light, for the light will go out in a short while.  Grace is running out, darkness is close behind you, catching up with you.  Run for your life.”

After He withdrew from the crowd, most probably because He understood the significance of the hour, and also what follows immediately after this verse, He needed to be alone with his Father to pray; the Bible does not say why, but fact is He needed time alone.

Persistent, stubborn, sinful rejection of Christ

What followed immediately in the Gospel of John?

Though He had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in Him (John 12:37, ESV)

In Isaiah’s chapter about the suffering Messiah there are words of joy for those who walked to come into the light.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4–6, ESV)

We gladly take these words as words of salvation and bow before our Saviour who has brought us into the light so we could see we need redemption.

But Isaiah begins this very chapter with these words:

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:1,3, ESV)

John then quotes the words of Isaiah 6:10, which talk about the people in Isaiah’s time who stubbornly rejected the words of God because of their hardness of heart.  They stopped their ears when they heard the prophets of God speak to them, and they covered their eyes for the message of God, only to find out that when they took their fingers out of their ears and uncovered their eyes that they had gone blind and deaf:  there was no message for them anymore. God took it away from them.  Time of grace has run out.

So it was even at the end of the public ministry of Jesus.  He revealed the glory of God to them; He preached to them the message of the Kingdom of God; He became to them the light of the world and the bread of life; He was their good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep; He was the Son of Man who was lifted up as the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the word.  Yet, they has their fingers in the ears and their hand over their eyes.

Some showed signs of some sort of faith, but out of fear for the people and their love of praise from men, they did not confess their faith.  This probably describes the lives of so many who warm the pews of the church every Sunday.

An urgent shout

It was only a few hours before our Saviour celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples now.  Then, later that night, He was arrested, taken away, sentenced and crucified.  His personal call to the public to come to the light was never heard again.

Jesus appeared again after He had withdrawn from them sometime earlier.  We read about what He said then in verse 44

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent me. (John 12:44, ESV)

The word for “cry” here is to make a vehement outcry, or to speak with a very loud voice.  He was not afraid for those who wanted to kill Him, but there openly and very publicly in the midst of the thousands of people who came to Jerusalem for the Passover, our Lord proclaimed the Gospel publicly:  He is God, send by his Father to bring people out of darkness into light and to give them light. Faith in Him is faith in the Father.  He calls people out of darkness into the light.

He also cried out very loudly and clearly for all to understand:

The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. (John 12:48, ESV)

Can you in your mind’s eye see our Lord urgently warning the world not to reject his word?  Can you hear Him say that all sermons preached about Him, and all chapters read about Him in the Word – things we know and have heard thousands of time, and which we maybe not believed – will one day stand up against us – screaming at us as a judgement because we have not walked to the light at the command of Jesus, the Son of Man.  We rather loved darkness.

The last thing Jesus proclaimed publicly is a repeat of the first verses of the Gospel of John:  He is from the Father, God Himself, and He only does what his Father commanded Him.  Believe Him, and one believes in the Father; reject Him, and one rejects the Father.  This action has severe consequences

Conclusion

John wrote his Gospel with this purpose:

“…these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31, ESV)

It is important to understand this.  The Son of God was lifted up, crucified, so that by believing in Him we will be able to see, hear, and believe – and have eternal life.

The alternative is too dreadful to even think about.

Sermon preached by Rev D Rudi Schwartz on Sunday 12 May 2013

 

Definition of Family now a Political Issue

We thank God regularly for the privilege of freedom of religion in our country – which seems to be the case in most western democracies.

What we however need to have an open eye for is that matters of faith, and therefore traditionally seen as matters of the Church, are taken from the domain of the Church and relabeled as political issues.

Marriage, an institution of God, is one of the issues which has now been labelled as a political issue. All other related issues like same-sex marriages, homosexuality, abortion, genetic engineering, etc. fall within this “political” field. The freedom of the Church in these matters are taken from the Church and put squarely in the political domain.

To claim that we have freedom of religion in our democracy, is only true in as far as the Church remains within its assigned (by politicians) corner.  The principle that the Church can do its work in freedom, which includes preaching and spreading the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in its fulness, including the impact of this massage on society, is now compromised:  the definition of what the work of the church is, is now in the hands of the law-makers.  The principle of separating the spheres of work between Church and State has seen a paradigm shift – the State oversteps its limits and destroys this principle.  After encroaching on the sphere of authority of the Church and assuming more and more rights by enlarging its own sphere of authority, it is now easy for the State to charge the Church for interfering with the work of the State.

Fact is, the boundaries have shifted.  And it seems it is going to shift a lot more.  The sphere of authority assigned by the State to the Church will shrink dramatically if this trends continues.  Yet, in the same time, what is left for the Church will still be sold as “freedom of religion”.

For the Church to have courage and stand up for its God-given authority in the sphere assigned by Him for the Church, will be the challenge.  It is probably at this junction where many martyrs of the past stood and decided it is their duty to obey God rather that the State.

The Case of Family First of New Zealand is a good example.

During the same-sex ‘marriage’ debate prior to the April 17 passage of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, Family First was a major force in educating and mobilising the public to stand up for marriage being between one man and one woman.

After passing of the Bill, Family First was deregistered as a charitable organisation.  The reason:

Brendon Ward, the General Manager of Charities Services, said “Family First’s main purpose is to promote particular points of view about family life.  Under the Act promotion of a controversial point of view is a political purpose.”

 “The Commission argues that Family First’s efforts to represent the voice of 80%-plus of families on the anti-smacking law or half of New Zealanders on attempts to redefine marriage, for example, have no ‘public benefit’, and that it is in the ‘public interest’ for Family First to be deregistered.”

Read more.

Jesus Christ glorified: The kernel died and produced many seeds

That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God

Scripture Readings

• Psalm 6
• John 12:20-36

Introduction

Dear friends in the Lord Jesus Christ,

In the past week I have read two major authors, one is Richard Dawkins, the well-known atheist.  Dawkins makes this statement in his book River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life:

In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

I, however read another book this week.  It is the Bible, written and inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Of itself the Bible states:

“… no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20–21, ESV)

What Dawkins says brings confusion and hopelessness to my mind, because the Bible to the believer is exactly not what Dawkins claims it to be.  The Bible, and more so the passage of John we read this morning, brings peace to my mind; it stills my heart, and it makes my look forward to something more beautiful any mind can ever fathom.

I want to proclaim the Word to you taking these main points:

• God is in control to the finest detail
• The Son of Man glorified:  He is approved by the God of heaven and earth
• The hour has come:  The world and Satan are judged, while the elect are gathered in
• The demand of discipleship

God is in control to the finest detail

The passage we read today in John’s Gospel has a verse preceding it:

So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” (John 12:19)

This verse is followed by this:

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (John 12:20–21)

Greek was the spoken language of most of the world in the day of Jesus.  The “Greeks” was a term of reference to all others but the Jews of the day.  Some of these Greeks also went to worship God at the Passover and the Feast of The Unleavened Bread.  They were not formally accepted into the Jewish nation and were therefore only allowed in the outer court of the Temple.  They heard the people talk about Jesus.  Verse 17 says:The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. (John 12:17, ESV)

So the Greeks were eager to see Jesus.  They went to Philip, who went to talk to Andrew about it.  They were the only two members of the Twelve with Greek names.  Some of the Greek customs, culture and thinking actually became part of the daily living in Galilee.  Philip came from Bethesda in Galilee.

I see more than a coincidence here.  God is control – He had put Philip there to be that link between the Greeks and the Saviour of the world. Through them, as through all the nations of the world, God would “draw people to Himself”.

The two disciples might have been not too sure if they could actually go to Jesus about the Greeks wanting to see Him.  There are other verses in the Gospels telling us the time of the Son of Man had not yet come.

At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. (John 7:30, NIV)

You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” (John 7:8, NIV)

When He had sent them out on their first preaching mission, He had instructed them, “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt. 10:5–6).

They  however did go to Jesus.  Philip had been placed by God in the position to have a Greek name and to rub shoulders with the Greeks before this event.  It was the case with Andrew, even it was only his Greek name that opened the door for them to meet Jesus.  God made the Greeks curious about Jesus at the Passover feast.  It was at that particular feast that Jesus was present – and not only was He present, but He was the Passover Lamb that would be crucified.  All prefect timing.

God placed us with everything of our background in certain places for a purpose.  Only He knows why He allowed certain things to happen to us, why we meet people at certain places in certain circumstances – but the ultimate plan is for us to be like Philip: an instrument in leading people to see Jesus.  Never underestimate the purposes of God in your life.  Nothing happens without reason.  Just be obedient and step up to the task when the opportunity presents itself to help those around you to see Jesus.

The Son of Man glorified

Attested by the Father

Study the Gospel of John carefully and you will find that Jesus never really addressed the Greeks who wanted to see Him.  Jesus replied to the request to see the Greeks with this:

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. (John 12:23, NIV)

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus:

“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6, NIV)

There was another prophesy uttered by Isaiah:

See, my servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. (Isaiah 52:13, NIV)

All of this now has reached its climax: the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified: salvation will reach the end of the earth – here represented by the Greeks – by the exaltation of the Son of Man.  Our Lord responded:

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (John 12:27–28, NIV)

A voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.”

The crowd heard the voice of God, attesting to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of Man , and also the Son of Man. Jesus told the crowd the voice from heaven was for their benefit, not his.  What is going to happen in the next 48 hours or so to Jesus, is for their benefit; the voice was for them to see, hear and believe. The hour has come.  It is almost as if what was promised to Adam and Eve in paradise after the fall, and every promise thereafter, are now going into fulfilment.  And the Father by his own voice attested to the Person and mission of his Son.

Therefore we believe – against all odds.  God has spoken, and before Him we bow in adoration, confession of sins, and reception of his Son as our Saviour.

Like a kernel to produce many seeds

How is the Son glorified?  By being lifted up.  This has two meanings: his name would be lifted up, He would be worshipped as Lord and Saviour; but He would be lifted up as promised:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (John 3:14–15, NIV)

Jesus was also glorified by his obedience to the Father even to the death of the cross, and in the redemption He achieved for the fallen world; He was glorified when the Father highly exalted Him, giving Him a name above every name and seating Him at his right hand; He was and is glorified in the work of the Holy Spirit as He leads thousands to the feet of the Saviour.

Jesus plainly states that the glorification of the Son of Man will take place in his death: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.”Jesus sees how from his passion and his death a magnificent panorama opens, reaching onward through the ages into all eternity, and it is one shining path of glory.  He then saw even the people of Wee Waa and how He would gather in some into his family.  He saw today, He knew we would be here to hear this Word of salvation. But He knew He had to give his life to achieve the purposes of God.

If a grain of wheat be not put into the soil, it will, indeed, not die, but it will then “itself remain alone” and produce nothing. So will the Son of man remain alone if He does not stoop to death on the cross. But if the grain falls into the earth, dies, and is consumed, it brings much fruit.  Augustine said, “The death of Christ was the death of the most fertile grain of wheat.”

When the Greeks requested to see Him, Jesus sees the great harvest that will go on and on as the product of the great Grain of Wheat which fell in the earth.

Therefore He can declare about Himself:

Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:25, NIV)

He gave his life away to keep it, but not only his life only, but all those whom the Father gave Him.  He who clings to his earthly life with passionate attachment, Jesus says, by that very act of clinging to it with such love loses it.

Paul said about this act of Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6–8,)

The hour has come

This world is judged

With Jesus about to give his life – there were less than two days lift of his earthly life – Jesus uses very definite time indications: “the hour has come” and “now”.  It is an hour of crisis; it’s crunch time.  He who made time will use His time to bring judgement.
By rejecting Jesus this world is pronouncing a verdict upon Him. In reality, by doing this very thing a judgment descends upon the world itself and it loses its right to exist. By killing Jesus the world pronounced its own death sentence, lost its right to exist.  The world would not end at once, but this hour decides that its enduring character has passed, it is doomed.

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:17, NIV)

The devil is destroyed

By bringing a judgment on this world this hour throws “the ruler of this world” out of his domain and dominion over the world. By inciting the world to kill Jesus the devil wrecked his own domain.

The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8, NIV)

What is happening here is nothing less than the transfer of power from the present God-hating world into the hands of the Son of Man.

With the crucifixion Satan lost all grounds of appeal against sinful humanity, because eternal redemption has been achieved through the sacrifice of Christ.  Ironically, at the cross the world and its ruler are judged, while Jesus is glorified and salvation is achieved for God’s elect.

The elect are gathered in

There is a wonderful contrast between verses 31 and 32:  The ruler of this world will be driven out and by the cross and resurrection of Jesus lose his power.  It is different with Jesus.  He contrasts Himself with Satan. Listen:

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32, NIV)

Satan will be thrown “outside”, Jesus will “be lifted up“.  Satan will lose his dominion, Jesus will receives his dominion.  This is the kind of death He would die: it is a death that would destroy death, the ruler over death, and death as a result of sin.

The Greeks asking to see Him, are the sheep of the other pens Jesus talked about.

I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (John 10:16, NIV)

The demand of discipleship

To follow Christ unreservedly

Whoever serves me must follow me (John 12:26)

This verse follows the verse that speaks about “the man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life ins this world will keep it.”

As Jesus was prepared to lose his life, so He now calls his disciples to give up their lives too.  The example He sets for them, has limits upon them: they could not give their lives as a ransom to save others as He did; only He could do that.  But the example He set for them is that they too must take up their cross and follow Him.  They would understand the full meaning of these words as one would betray Him, another deny Him, and all left Him alone.

After his resurrection Jesus spoke to Peter and three times asked him if he really loved the Lord.  Then the Lord told him something about what would happen to him, Peter, on his last day:

Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21:18–19, NIV)

The price of discipleship is still the same: we have to die of ourselves, our desires, our plans, our ideals – we must follow Jesus, even if it means to receive the honour of suffering for Him.

With a promise which cannot fail

“Where I am, my servant also will be.  My Father will honour the one who serves me.”

If we die to ourselves in following Jesus who died like a kernel in the ground and was raised up to bring in the harvest, Jesus promises that we will be where He is.  More than that, His Father will honour those who serve Him.

The word to remember here is “serve” – like a bond slave doing the bidding of his Master:  he has nothing of his own, no program of his own, no belongings of his own; he exists for one reason, which is to serve the One who has set him free.  The Father will honour such a servant, and in the Name of his son, He will welcome them in there where Jesus is.  That’s His promise.

Conclusion

The Gospel is preached. It was God’s eternal plan for us to hear it.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31, NIV)

It is so different from what Dawkins try to tell us: no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.

Jesus says He destroys evil, He draws us to Himself, gives us life, and promises to take us to where He is. There is purpose, evil is destroyed, good restored, and a glorious future promised.

Sermon preached by Rev D. Rudi Schwartz on Sunday 5 May 2013

The theology of Christians and Atheists

Christians believe in God who created everything out of nothing – ex nihilo.

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. (Isaiah 40:26, ESV)

God created everything, seen and unseen, by and for his Son, Jesus Christ.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15–17, ESV)

Christians understand this because God revealed it to them through Scripture, nature and his Holy Spirit.

…knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20–21, ESV)

Christians are happy, content and joyful in the Lord of the universe, because only after forgiveness of sin and restoration through the death of Jesus Christ and Him being raised to life, life makes sense, is meaningful, and leads to the goal God set for it.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:16–19, ESV)

Christians understand that God ordained that they should be witnesses of God’s grace.

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:46–48, ESV)

The reason for this is that this universe as we know it will come to an end when God will call all men to judgement, after which He will replace the old with the new.

And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, (Acts 17: 26–28, 30, ESV)

Christians believe in the existence of evil.  The Bible is clear about the existence Satan, also called the evil one, or the devil.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:9, ESV)

For this reason some Christians, over the ages, died for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They are not more than their Master, and should expect to be treated the same He was treated by this world.

Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:16, ESV)

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV)

Christians build on the promise of our Lord that nothing can stand against Him and his church.  To die in the process of witnessing to the truth of the Gospel does not mean that those who oppose it has had any victory.  Against all odds and in spite of gruesome persecution through the ages the Bible, the truth of the Gospel and the message of the Church is surviving.

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18, ESV)

It is regrettable and deplorable that many who call themselves “Christian” do not hold to the teachings of the Bible as the infallible and inspired word of God.  They disgrace the message of the Church and compromise its truth.  Their life is no example to the world, and their message holds out no life, nor purpose for those who might benefit from Gospel.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:2–5, ESV)

Christians understand that not all who hear the Gospel will respond to it positively.  Only God can open the eye of the unbeliever.

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:8–10, ESV)

Christians believe it is their duty to scientifically search to understand God’s creation.  Many great scientist are Christians.

You [God] have given him [man] dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:6–8, ESV)

Christian, for this reason (only) could wholeheartedly agree with Richard Dawkins:

Isn’t it sad to go to your grave without ever wondering why you were born? Who, with such a thought, would not spring from bed, eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be part of it?

But Dawkins seems to be inconsistent in this regard.  Atheists (like Richard Dawkins) don’t believe in the existence of neither God nor the devil; there is no good or bad; we come from nowhere, and we are headed nowhere; there is no purpose in life.

“In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”  (Richard Dawkins― River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life) 

This quote of Dawkins is a blatant acknowledgement of the philosophy and theology of the biological assertion of Darwinism.  After all, Darwinism – or Darwinistic evolution – cannot escape the reality that it has produced a worldview based on certain theological assumptions. For this reason there is truth in what Dawkins says:

A universe with a God would look quite different from a universe without one. A physics, a biology where there is a God is bound to look different. So the most basic claims of religion are scientific. Religion is a scientific theory.

Atheists therefore, like Christians find it necessary to hold conferences to promote their views – and attack Christians on the basis of what they believe.  They decorate buses with signage to tell they world their is no God; they erect billboards to spread their theology.

They also write many books and pamphlets, they fund TV programs to promote their view.  They fund chairs at universities and see that professors are appointed to tell their story.

One wonders: Why?  Why spend all the money and effort to convince people that they come from nowhere, live for no reason and are going nowhere?  If you did nothing, most people would believe it anyhow!

If God does not exist, if evil does not exist, if good has no absolute definition, and if morality has no basis, why attack which does not exist?  Why wage a war when there is no enemy?  You only do this if you really believe in something!  It is just inconceivable that you would go through all this trouble to tell people that the “universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

Or do they somewhere deep perhaps believe that God does indeed exist, and therefore need to wage war against Him, his Son and his people?

Soldiers courtmashalled for their faith?

What’s going on in the USA?  Will it have some implications for Australia?  We better take note and be prepared to make a stand.

Being convicted in a court martial means that a soldier has committed a crime under federal military law. Punishment for a court martial can include imprisonment and being dishonorably discharged from the military.

Christians – including chaplains – sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military could be guilty of “treason,” and of committing an act of “spiritual rape” as serious a crime as “sexual assault.” Christians sharing their faith in the military are seen as “enemies of the Constitution”.

Read the full story.

We need to pray for those in the line of fire in the USA – and other countries where this sort of thing is rearing its head.

 

Evening at the Weekes

We all rocked up for the cotton ride last Saturday night at Mike ans Wendy Weekes’s place.  What a pleasant evening.  Were the harvest festivals of the Old Testament something like this?  I think so!

There was joy, excitement, relief, excellent fellowship, good food – and a lot of laughter.

This should e an annual event – at least; maybe followed up with a worship service of thanksgiving the next day.

Thanks a lot, Mike and Wendy – and all others who contributed and helped.  It was a monster evening!

Getting Ready to mount the buggy

 

Ready to roll

Psyching up!

Final whereabouts just in case we might get lost

Action

Enjoying it!

Oops!

Who did that?

Oh no!

Missed me

Getting stuffed

Dinner almost ready

Discussing the crop

Good tucker

Friends over many years

Cousins Alf and Hadley

Relaxing and good fellowship