Monthly Archives: September 2011

Who is Jesus?

Royal Holloway University of London Christian Union launched their Autumn series “Uncover Luke” last night with an introductory talk based on Luke 5:17-31.

The song popularized by Louis Armstrong ‘What a Wonderful World’ is a beautiful song that celebrates nature: Trees of green, red roses too, they bloom for me and you; Skies of blue, clouds of white, bright blessed day and dark sacred nights.

It’s a song that also celebrates friendship, and above all, falling in love: Friends shake hands saying, ‘How do you do?’ What they are really saying is, ‘I love you.’ It’s a great song about the gift of life: creation; friendship; falling in love. But as we know, the is something wrong with our world. In Mitch Markowitz’s film Good Morning Vietnam, while the song, ‘What a wonderful world’ says one thing, the pictures say something very different. As we are told ‘the roses bloom for me and for you’, we see a bomb going off. As we hear the words ‘the colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky’, we see protesters being beaten. And, most poignant of all, the chorus of ‘I say to myself, what a wonderful world’ is accompanied by images of the little child’s sandal. That’s the world we live in.  It should be so good and yet there is something desperately wrong. The film’s artistry is very clever because it shows us that the world is not the place it ought to be. It should be a wonderful world, but all too often it is spoilt by people. The film is summed up by the Vietnamese girl with whom Robin Williams has fallen in love. She says that so many things do not happen the way you want them to.

The Bible actually goes deeper than that.  The Bible says that so many things don’t happen the way we want them to because people are not what they should be. People are sick, says Jesus, and desperately need a doctor.  How do we get that across to people who don’t realize the seriousness of their condition, or who don’t know where to get help? I prefer to let the Bible do it. I don’t try and prove the Bible is God’s word, I simply let God do that. The Bible is like a lion. You don’t need to defend a lion, you just let the lion out. Luke’s introduction explains why we can trust this account of the life of Jesus.

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Christ in all the Scriptures: Numbers and the Bronze Snake

Signs are symbols often without words. Signs can be powerful. Clear signs are instantly recognisable. We use them to educate, to guide, to warn, to instruct, even to intimidate and change behaviour. Common signs can be understood irrespective of your language or your culture. You don’t even have to read or write to learn to recognise simple signs.

So the clearer and simpler the sign, the better. There is nothing worse than an ambiguous or a confusing sign, or one that is clear, but is ignored. Interpreting signs correctly therefore is important. That is especially true if you are driving a car, you are a cyclist, a pedestrian or you are a small child.

But discerning the difference between an interesting sign and a warning sign is very important. And obeying signs there for your safety, or the safety of other people, is most important of all.

In today’s story from the Book of Numbers we see a powerful sign God used to save his people from death. It’s a sign we still use today to symbolise somewhere or someone you can go to when you are sick.  But before we look at this particular sign, lets remind ourselves of three other signs God gave in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus to help us understand how and why the Lord Jesus came to be our Saviour.

In our series called Christ in all the Scriptures, we are discovering how God gave signs or symbols to help his people understand how they could know him, love him, follow him and service him.

Three weeks ago in Genesis we saw in the story of Abraham and Isaac, how the Lord provided a male lamb as a substitute for Isaac. This prefigured, in a wonderful way, how the Lord Jesus willingly became the sacrifice in our place. Then in the Book of Exodus we saw how God passed over his people on the night of judgement because they hid behind the blood of the lamb sprinkled on their lintels and door posts. Thus the ‘Pass-over’ meal became an annual reminder of how God liberated his people them slavery. We saw how Jesus became our Passover lamb when he died on the cross. Then last week in Leviticus we learnt about the Day of Atonement. We saw how the High Priest became the mediator between God and his people entering the temple to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. How one goats was sacrificed for sin and how one goat, the scapegoat carried their sins far away into the wilderness. Sins forgiven and forgotten. We saw how the New Testament interprets this as a wonderful symbol of what the Lord Jesus did as our mediator and scapegoat.

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Seventy Times Seven

Matthew 18:21-35 : Seventy Times Seven

At Harvest we thank God for all the lovely food he provides for us. In many countries, people depend entirely on what they can grow themselves. Therefore a good Harvest is very important if they were to survive the winter. This Harvest we are thanking God for providing us with people to live with, as well as produce to live on. We want to think about how we can show our thankfulness to God by the way we care for others. Peter asked Jesus a question.

“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21).

Peter thought forgiving someone seven times was generous of him.

But Jesus replied “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). How many times is that? 490 times! Does Jesus mean we must count up to 490 times? Hands up if you keep a record of how many times you have forgiven members of your family? And your friends? Of course not. That is not what Jesus meant. How can we be sure? Because he then told a story about a king who forgave a servant a really big debt he couldn’t pay back. But the king got angry when he heard that the servant had not forgiven a fellow servant who only owed him a small amount. Jesus knew if he said we should forgive seventy times seven, we would never be able to keep count.  He wants us to forgive over, and over again. Because he forgives us over and over again. And if we’re in any doubt, Jesus added,

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35).

1. Why should we forgive?

A.   Because we ought to.
B.   Because it’s British.
C.  Because God forgave us.

2. What should we forgive?

A.   Sins against animals.
B.   Sins against us.
C.  Sins against everyone.

3. When should we forgive?

A.   Straight away.
B.   When we feel like it.
C.  When people are sorry.

4. How should we forgive?

A.   Through gritted teeth.
B.   From the heart.
C.  By forgetting them.

We may not change the person we forgive, at least not straight away. But we change inside whenever we forgive someone else. When we forgive from the heart we cannot continue to be angry or bitter toward them. When we forgive from the heart we are showing God is our heavenly Father.  When we forgive from the heart we are becoming more like Jesus. So this Harvest, let’s say ‘thank you’ to God for giving us people to live with and produce to live on. But above all, let’s thank God for forgiving us in Jesus so we can forgive others.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32).

Lets pray.

Love and Marriage

Our reading today is from 1 Corinthians 13, the famous “love” chapter. This is probably the most widely read passage at weddings. True, it’s the most beautiful description there is in Scripture about love – yet the context of the passage is not about marriage. It is about giving for that is what marriage is really all about. I’d like us to consider this passage under three headings: The motive for love in marriage is giving. The quality of love in marriage is Divine. The purpose of love in marriage is maturity.

1. The Motive for Love in Marriage is Giving

“And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3)

Do you see how important love is? The gifts of prophecy, knowledge, faith, giving, mentioned here are valuable or worthless depending on one thing: Motive. The question we must ask ourselves therefore in our relationships is this: What is my motive? The motive for love in marriage is giving.

2. The Quality of Love in Marriage is Divine

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

Love is probably the most devalued and debased word in the English language. That is why this definition is so important for it defines authentic love.  Several years ago, someone challenged me to replace the word love in this passage with my name. “I did and I became a liar” Stephen is patient. Stephen is kind. Stephen does not envy. Stephen does not boast. Stephen is not proud. Stephen is not rude. It sounds lovely. The only problem is it’s not true – ask Joanna and my children. And for years that was my problem with this paragraph. It set a standard I could not meet. No one can meet it. No one. No one, that is, except Jesus.

For in reality, this quality of love is divine. Insert Christ’s name in place of the word love and see if it rings true. Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, does not boast, is not proud. Jesus is not rude, is not self-seeking,

is not easily angered, Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Jesus never fails. “Rather than let this scripture remind us of a love we cannot produce, let it remind us of a love we cannot resist – God’s love. Some of you are so thirsty for this type of love.  Well, God loves you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others may have promised and failed. But God has promised and succeeded. He loves you with an unfailing love. And his love – if you will let it – can fill you and leave you with a love worth giving. What is done in love lasts. In other words, what is done in Christ will last. When we are serving in the name of Christ, in the power of Christ, we are serv­ing in love. The tasks we do are not as important to God as the heart in which we do them.

The motive for love in marriage is giving. The quality of love in marriage is Divine.

3. The Purpose of Love in Marriage is Maturity

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:9-13)

Notice the emphasis of these verses is on growing up – from childhood to maturity. And marriage helps us achieve that like no other institution on earth. In verse 11 Paul describes in the past tense how he has grown then in verse 12 he looks forward to further growth toward maturity.

The reason? God has not finished with us. This life is the practice session. This is the reason why marriage is so important – why you need one another’s gifts and abilities to help you grow together to maturity.

And with God’s help you will. When kindness comes grudgingly, you’ll remember his kindness to you and ask him to make you more kind. When patience is scarce, you’ll thank him for his and ask him to make you more patient.

When it’s hard to forgive, you won’t list all the times you’ve been given grief. Rather, you’ll list all the times you’ve been given grace and pray to become more forgiving. For when you do, you will discover a love worth giving, a love worth sharing, not just today but for ever.

Christ in all the Scriptures: Leviticus and the Day of Atonement

A “lame duck” Prime Minister had just lost a General Election. He was meeting with his successor in No. 10 Downing Street for an informal handover. Near the end of the orientation, he gave the incoming leader three numbered envelopes. He suggested they be opened, in order, on the anniversary of their meeting, or at times of national crisis. After the new Prime Minster had enjoyed his “honeymoon” year with the media and the public, the nation experienced something of an economic downturn. Curious, and beginning to feel lonely and isolated, he opened the first envelope. Inside was a card with two words: “Blame me.” So he did, criticizing the former Prime Minister for the countries woes. By the second anniversary, demonstrations and strikes had brought the country to a standstill. The Prime Minister eagerly opened the second envelope. Inside there were two words on the card: “Blame my administration.” So he did, blaming the unrest on the failed policies of the previous government now in opposition. About a year later, foreign policy blunders were leading to tensions in Europe and the Commonwealth and his popularity in the polls was plummeting. The Prime Minister reached for the third envelope desperate for a solution. Inside, the card read: “Prepare three envelopes.”  Someone once said, “He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame.

Some enterprising businessperson will sooner or later register the domain name “Rent-a-Scapegoat.com” with the motto “Mea Culpa.” Here’s what the homepage might offer.

“In today’s society finding a solution to a problem is much less important than finding someone to blame. If you find yourself being blamed by the media, customers or politicians, for something you did not do, or even if you did, that’s where we come in. For a negotiable fee, one of our trained staff can be seconded to your company on a six month contract retrospectively backdated to before the controversy blew up. You mount an investigation, they will accept full responsibility, you fire them and they take the heat. You get a positive media story, and the “scapegoat” walks away. It’s clean, it’s tidy and it’s containable. It’s the new “go-to-fall-guy” concept brought to you by www.rent-a-scapegoat.com ”

Let’s be honest. How many of us would be tempted to use that kind of service, if it existed? Especially, if they did house calls as well as business consulting? But seriously, is it not instinctive? When we come under the spotlight, we look for someone to blame, someone to pass the buck, someone to take the rap, a scapegoat? Where did this idea of the scapegoat come from? The term goes way, way back to Leviticus 16 when God introduced an annual festival called the Day of Atonement. Known as Yom Kippur (in September), it became the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, a day of national mourning, of humiliation, of fasting, repentance and forgiveness. Yom Kippur is still observed today as a solemn Sabbath, but without the sacrifices because there is no Temple.

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Christ in all the Scriptures: Exodus and the Passover Lamb

As a young Christian, one of the most influential people in my life was the Finnish evangelist Kalevi Lehtinen who died in July aged 75. At several Bible conferences I vividly remember him telling us to keep studying the Bible until you can see the smiling face of Jesus on every page. Keep reading the Bible until you can see the smiling face of Jesus on every page. “Christ in all the Scriptures” That is the theme for our morning sermon series this Autumn. We will only get from Genesis to Ruth, but we will come back and dip into every Old Testament book to discover what it can teach us about the Lord Jesus. We will see that every central character, every major event, every prophecy, every Festival reveals ever more brightly the person and work of the Messiah, God’s anointed Son.  We will see conclusively that the coming of Jesus Christ was no accident but part of God’s redemptive plan from the very beginning and was revealed progressively through history and Scripture. And if you would like to read the book that inspired the series, it is called Christ in all the Scriptures. Written by A. M. Hodgkin in 1909, it has become a classic. Hodgkin observes, in his introduction,

“Abraham rejoiced to see My day.” ”Moses wrote of Me.” ”David called [Me] Lord.” (John 8:56; 5:46; Matthew 22:45). We have in these words of our Saviour abundant authority for seeking Him in the Old Testament … To those of us who believe in Christ as truly God, as well as truly Man, His word on these matters is authoritative.”

As we saw last week, Jesus refers to 20 Old Testament characters and quotes from 17 Old Testament books. In Genesis, for example, Jesus refers to creation, the institution of marriage, Noah, Abraham, Lot, to Sodom and Gomorrah. From Exodus, Jesus speaks of Moses, the burning bush, the Mannah in the wilderness and the Ten Commandments. From Leviticus, the ceremonial and moral law. From Numbers, the bronze serpent. From Deuteronomy, the law of Moses. Jesus refers to David, Solomon, Elijah and Zechariah. He confounds his critics not just by quoting Scripture but by identifying himself as the one the Scriptures are speaking about. In his very first sermon Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21). To his opponents, Jesus replied.

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” (John 5:39).

After his resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, to his doubting disciples Jesus said,

“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself… Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:25-27; 44-45)

May the Lord open our minds too, to understand everything written about Jesus in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms, has indeed been fulfilled and accomplished for us. Continue reading →

2020 Vision

2011 Church Council Vision Cast

I have three questions for you this morning:

1. What is your ultimate vision of the future?

What motivates you to get up in the morning? What excites you about the future? What drives you to realise your goals in life? What do you long to see our world become?

Here is the ultimate biblical vision of the future:

“ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away…

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 21:1-4; 22:1-2)

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Christ in all the Scriptures: Genesis and the Sacrifice of Isaac

Christ in all the Scriptures: Genesis and the Sacrifice of Isaac from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself… Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:25-27; 44-45)

“Christ in all the Scriptures” That is the theme and title for our morning sermon series this Autumn. Please pick up a programme card if you don’t yet have one to see what treasures are in store. This is going to be an exciting and revealing series. We won’t finish it this term – we will only get from Genesis to Ruth. But over the next few years we are going to dip into every book of the Old Testament to see what is said in all the Scriptures concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. We will see that every central character, every key event, every prophecy, every Feast and Festival reveals ever more brightly the person and work of the Messiah, God’s anointed Son.  We will see conclusively that His coming was no accident but part of God’s redemptive plan, revealed from the very beginning and progressively through history and Scripture. And if you would like to read the book that inspired the series, it is appropriately called Christ in all the Scriptures. Written by A. M. Hodgkin, and first published in 1909, it has rightly become a classic. I would also commend Vaughan Robert’s book, God’s Big Picture. We are also commending the Home Group study guide Full of Promise

Hodgkin observes, in his introduction,

“Abraham rejoiced to see My day.” ”Moses wrote of Me.” ”David called [Me] Lord.” (John 8:56; 5:46; Matthew 22:45). We have in these words of our Saviour abundant authority for seeking Him in the Old Testament … To those of us who believe in Christ as truly God, as well as truly Man, His word on these matters is authoritative.”

In the Gospels, Jesus refers to 20 Old Testament characters and quotes from 17 Old Testament books. In Genesis, for example, Jesus refers to creation, the institution of marriage, to Noah, Abraham, Lot, to Sodom and Gomorrah. From Exodus, Jesus speaks of Moses, the burning bush, the Mannah in the wilderness and the Ten Commandments. From Leviticus, the ceremonial and moral law. From Numbers, the bronze serpent. From Deuteronomy, the law of Moses. Then there are references to David, Solomon, Elijah and Zechariah. He confounds his critics not just by quoting Scripture but by identifying himself as the one the Scriptures are speaking about.

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21).

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” (John 5:39).

Finally three of his last seven sentences from the cross are quotations from the Old Testament. Hodgkin says,

“From a careful study of the Gospels, we cannot fail to see that the Old Testament Scriptures were continually upon Christ’s lips, because [they] were always hidden in His heart….”

Let us pray that the Lord will open our minds, as he did the Apostles, to understand how everything written about Jesus in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms has indeed been fulfilled and accomplished for us. Then this good news will not only be hidden in our hearts but always on our lips.

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The Transforming Power of the Gospel in Corinth (Acts 18)

The Transforming Power of the Gospel in Corinth (Acts 18) from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Today we are beginning the next stage of an amazing historical journey. Back in January 2010, we began to read the Acts of the Apostles and learn about the birth of the early church to see how it fulfilled the Great Commission given by the Lord Jesus. As we join the journey again this Autumn in acts 18, the gospel has reached as far as Corinth. In the weeks to come, up to half term, we are going to journey with the Apostle Paul and his colleagues to discover some of the principles of ministry that will help us to share in that on-going mission in our generation.

The Purpose of Acts

Why did Luke write Acts? What purpose was the Spirit leading him to fulfil? The years have produced several different answers to those questions. The opening verses of Luke and Acts mention Theophilus as the recipient of Luke’s writings. Many think Theophilus was a Roman dignitary sympathetic to the Christian cause. Perhaps Luke was writing a defence of Christianity for this official during a time of persecution to show him there was nothing subversive or sinister about the followers of Jesus. The geographical framework of Acts, the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, lends credibility to this idea.

In 1:3 of his Gospel, Luke clearly states he is trying to make “an orderly account” of the events surrounding Jesus’ ministry.

It’s easy to think Luke’s Gospel focuses on Jesus while Acts focuses on the followers of Jesus who continued their Master’s work. But Acts 1:1, says “In my former book … I wrote about all Jesus began to do and teach…” Luke implies that Jesus continued to do and teach more, and that His story was incomplete where the Gospel of Luke ended. A careful reading of Acts makes it clear that Jesus remained the active, living, focus of Luke’s story. In 9:4 (NIV), Jesus spoke directly to Saul and asked, “Why do you persecute me?” Later, in the same chapter, Peter could say directly to Aeneas, “Jesus Christ heals you” (9:34 NIV). In Acts 10, Christ made His will known to Peter concerning a ministry to the Gentiles. These are but three examples of Jesus’ vital involvement in the spread of the gospel in Acts. While Acts begins with the ascension of Jesus, there is no evidence anyone in the early church perceived Him as “gone” from their midst. Jesus healed, spoke, and directed the work of His disciples. Even when they preached, the disciples thought of Jesus as literally present in their preaching. They asked the listeners of those first sermons, not merely to believe facts about Jesus, but to encounter , the One who died, rose again, and lives forever. The ascension marked not Christ’s departure, but a transformation in the way Christ performs His ministry of salvation and grace. Acts is the continuing story of Jesus’ work but no longer bound by the limitations of time and space.

Before Jesus ascended to heaven he said, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

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