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Published on 3 Comments on Zephaniah 3 sermon

Zephaniah 1 sermon here.

Zephaniah 2 sermon here.

Zephaniah prophesied during Josiah's reign - years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC.  The Babylonian army was about to sack the city of God, to destroy the temple of God and to carry into exile the people of God.  And Zephaniah rightly thinks to himself – if the city of God, the house of God and the people of God aren’t safe from destruction, then nothing is safe.  If the very house of God is going to be judged, then the whole world will one day be judged.  And so this national crisis that Zephaniah faced made him think of the global crisis we will all face when the LORD judges the earth.

The whole world is heading for the flames (Zeph 1:18; 3:8).  And these flames are the LORD's jealous love (cf Song 8:6)- see more on the jealous judgement of God here.

For the proud, who stand alone in the face of the coming judgement, this will be a judging, consuming fire.  For those who are sheltered by the LORD who hides (Zephaniah means the LORD hides), these flames will only refine and bring us into the sunshine of His love.

In Zephaniah 3:9-20 we see Refining (v9-13); Rejoicing (v14-17) and Restoration (v18-20).

These verses are some of the most extraordinary depictions of our future hope ever written.  From the deepest depths to the highest heights, Zephaniah takes us through law to gospel.  He shows us our utter hopelessness in ourselves and then, in this passage, proclaims our glorious future in Christ.

We usually live in the dreary middle, thinking our badness is not that bad and our God and His future is not that good.  Zephaniah tells us the truth.  And once we have faced the realities of our helplessness he will blow us away even more by the LORD's overwhelming love.

Our biggest battle in the Christian life is to trust the LORD's love for us - sinners though we undoubtedly are.  Zephaniah will urge us to renounce ourselves - our badness and our goodness.  And to simply allow God's blazing love to shine on us in all His glory!

Zephaniah 3 sermon audio here.

Text below...

...continue reading "Zephaniah 3 sermon"

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Published on 3 Comments on Guidance

We've thought about the chief error in guidance - believing that our choices make us who we are.  That's Pelagian/Erasmian/Enlightenment garbage.  But it infects everything.

One way it plays out is by feeding a familiar false dichotomy: it's the old boundary keeper versus tight-rope walker dilemma.

The 'boundary keeper' believes God has set limits ‘out there’ on our behaviour.  There’s the ten commandments etc.  And if you keep them – if  you keep within the boundaries – then choose whatever you want.  Get on and do your thing.  Don't bother God and God shouldn't bother you.

You can see pretty clearly how the chief error feeds this view.  I am my own self-directing godlet (with limits obviously).

But what's interesting is that the flipside to this error is essentially the same hubris differently applied.

The tight-rope walker looks very different.  They think there's only one right path in life and at any minute they may put a foot wrong and fall off God’s will for their life.

Guidance then is all about making sure you make the one right decision in every circumstance.

But of course the question must come: Why?  Why must you make the RIGHT decision?  Unfortunately, for the tight-rope walker the answer comes: Because my very selfhood / standing before God depends on it.  You're still effectively saying "It's all in my hands."

Looks humble and fearful before God.  It's still all about you.

What's the answer?

Well this sermon from Proverbs has a go at an answer.

Essentially I conclude - we're not in a wide-open plain, we're not walking a tightrope - we're in the House of Wisdom.  From that loving security we grow wise.  And with the resources of the House of Wisdom - the Craftsmanship of Jesus; the Teaching of Jesus and the People of Jesus - wise people start making wise choices.

Audio here.  Text below.

...continue reading "Guidance"

Published on Leave a comment on Zephaniah 2:4-3:8 – sermon

Audio here

Ever since Genesis 3 we've had the sense that the world out there and our hearts in here are headed somewhere bad.  And it's not going to end well.

We've all got our doomsday stories.

And in the popular imagination there's nothing like a post-apocalyptic vision of a deserted city for grabbing our attention.  How many times has New York been destroyed on film?

Well Zephaniah is facing the destruction of Jerusalem and its imminent demise is making him think of the end of the world.  Because if the people of God and the city of God and the house of God are about to be judged - then nothing and no-one is safe.  The judgement of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC is a picture of the judgement of the whole world.

And so as Zephaniah thinks of global judgement, he paints his own picture of a deserted city.  In verse 13 he turns his attention to perhaps the world's greatest city of the day - Nineveh.  And he says this:

Look at v13

13 He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert. 14 Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind. The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns. Their calls will echo through the windows, rubble will be in the doorways, the beams of cedar will be exposed. 15 This is the carefree city that lived in safety. She said to herself, "I am, and there is none besides me." What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists.

It sounds just like one of those films.  But the bible insists that there IS a right fear of the end of the world.  Judgement is coming.  And all our human securities WILL be overturned.

Things can’t go on like this forever.  Life as we know it is moving towards judgement day.  And even just on an individual level, our own bodies are decaying and falling apart, the physical world is groaning beneath us.  And one day it will come crashing down.

Which means if you don’t like Zephaniah 2 and all the bible’s teaching on judgement – well I completely understand that.  It’s not meant to be pleasant reading.  It’s a bit like the fire alarm going off.  No-one likes the fire alarm going off.  Our smoke detector is very sensitive and it’ll go off the second I’ve burnt the toast.  That’s annoying and I usually then take the battery out of the alarm until I’m done cooking.  But I’d be stupid to take the battery out for good.  I’d be stupid to throw away the fire alarm.  And I’d be stupid to complain that the alarm was too loud and shrill for my liking.  It’s meant to be loud and shrill, it’s meant to be inconvenient, it’s meant to disturb people so that it saves lives.

And it’s the same with Scripture’s warnings.  But so often we’re like the person who takes out the battery and chucks it away.  We skip over the judgement stuff because it’s a bit loud and shrill.  Well it’s meant to be. But as disturbing and inconvenient as the fire alarm is – it’s nothing compared to the fire itself.  And compared to these warnings in the bible, they are nothing compared to the judgement they warn us of.  These warnings need to shock us out of our complacency and make us face reality.

There is a judgement, there is a reckoning, there is a last day, I will face Christ my Maker.  And you can’t escape judgement by throwing the bible away and more than you can escape a fire by chucking away the fire alarm.

But even if you do throw the bible away, the world will sell you its own doomsday stories.  Even without the bible you’ll still be told of catastrophic global warming and killer pandemics and the sun dying, the earth choking, the seas rising, the universe freezing.  And just on an individual level, you’ll still get a call from the doctor to say  “The results of the tests have come back, I think you’d better come into my surgery...”  Your body will still go into the ground and rot along with everyone you love.  You can’t escape judgement by throwing the bible away.  And no-one should call the bible primitive for talking about Armageddon. We’ve all got our judgement day stories.

...continue reading "Zephaniah 2:4-3:8 – sermon"

Published on Leave a comment on Zephaniah 1 sermon

Zephaniah 1:1-2:3

Audio here

What is our hope for the world?  Many things threaten our planet and our lives, many dangers, many problems.  What is our hope for the world?

Let me give you Zephaniah’s answer.  What is our hope for the world?  Judgement.  Universal, inescapable, final judgement.  That is our HOPE for the world.  Interesting answer isn’t it?  But I think it’s really profound.  And if we understand it – really helpful.

...continue reading "Zephaniah 1 sermon"

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Published on 3 Comments on Marriage in Proverbs – a sermon

Here are handouts from a marriage course my wife and I ran recently:

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

What kind of oneness - part 1

What kind of oneness - part 2

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SERMON AUDIO HERE.

On Saturday our church witnessed a tremendous picture of the book of Proverbs.  The vicar married his son to a wise and beautiful woman.  It was a very joyous occasion.  And it perfectly pictures the book of Proverbs.

Because Proverbs is all about a father – King Solomon – addressing his son, the young prince.  And he keeps saying, over twenty times, “my son, my son, my son.”  It’s a case of saying, “Now boy, here’s what you need in life.” You can almost imagine it as the vicar and his son having a father-son chat.

And as you read through Proverbs essentially Solomon’s advice to his son is this:  Watch out for the ladies!

In fact there are two ladies you need to look out for.

There’s a lady called Wisdom – get her, embrace her, marry her.  There’s a lady called Folly – avoid her, don’t listen to her, don’t be ensnared by her.

And the King keeps saying to his son, the young prince – embrace wisdom, shun folly.  All of life essentially boils down to one of two paths.  Will you go wisdom’s way, or will you go folly’s way?  The way of wisdom is the way of life and success.  The way of folly is the way of death and disaster.  Everything depends on shunning folly and embracing wisdom.

But what’s fascinating is that King Solomon does not present this choice as a matter of the intellect.  It’s not just about applying ourselves to learning and head knowledge.  And neither is this choice a matter of the will – as though we just need to be determined and resolved and just do it!.  No, wisdom and folly are matters of the heart.

Our lives are ultimately a success or a failure depending on what we love.  Or rather on Who we love.

...continue reading "Marriage in Proverbs – a sermon"

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Published on 2 Comments on Feeling on top of the world? Hebrews 12:14-29

Hebrews 12:14-29 Sermon.  Audio here.  Text below.

Mountains are often thought of as spiritual.  A mountaintop experience is a spiritual experience.  People say they often feel closer to God or closer to spiritual things when they’re on a mountain.

And the bible begins in Eden which is described in Ezekiel 28 as “the holy mountain of God.”  Genesis 2 says that rivers flowed out of this mountain garden and down to the rest of the world.  So humanity began on high.  And the fall, was literally a descent down the mountain, away from God’s presence.

If anyone were to get back into God’s presence, not only would they have to get past the guardian cherubim, these angelic bouncers with their flaming swords barring the entrance.  They would have to ascend the hill of the LORD (Psalm 24).  And that’s just commonly the way the bible speaks.

The bible speaks of Jesus having descended from the heights.  And as He lived among us He lived the perfect life.  The life of other-centred love and sacrifice that you and I should live but don’t – Jesus did it.  And then He died the perfect death as our sacrifice for sins.  And then, when He arose, He ascended back into the Most Holy Place – heaven itself – and He went there as our perfect Priest.  We have a Friend in very high places.

That’s the argument Hebrews has been making for the last 12 chapters.  Jesus has come and lived our life for us.  He’s entered into the depths of our suffering and struggle and He’s lived the faithful life we never could.  But He did it FOR US.

And then He died the perfect sacrificial death on the cross.  And He did it FOR US.  You and I deserve to die in the depths because of our filth and uncleanness.  But His godforsaken death in the depths is counted before God FOR US.

And then He has ascended as the perfect Priest into heaven FOR US.  We don’t have the right to be in the holy presence of God, but He is there on our behalf.  He represents us in the highest place imaginable.

If we trust Jesus then we get joined to Jesus.  And His life is our life, His death is our death, His ascension to God is our ascension to God.

And after 12 chapters of this kind of argument, the writer says in this section: “Don’t you know where you are?  Do you have any idea where Christ has brought you?”

You are on the mountaintop.  You have reached the summit.

These verses are here to wake us up to our mountaintop experience with God.  And once we realize where we are – where Christ has brought us – then this passage will tell us how to move out into the world from these height.

That’s how we’ll study this chapter.  We’ll begin on the mountaintop.  We’ll appreciate where we are – secure on the high ground.  And then we’ll consider how we’re meant to walk out into the world

But first the mountaintop experience.

...continue reading "Feeling on top of the world? Hebrews 12:14-29"

Published on Leave a comment on Church – Jacuzzi or Waterfall? [Thawed out Thursday]

What is church like?

Is it a jacuzzi?

Cosy? Relaxing?  A chance for you and your nearest and dearest to recharge the batteries?

Or is it...

A waterfall?

Scary?  Exciting?  Expansive?  Never safe?

Or is it... and here's my new word for the week...

A jacuzzerfall

Here we see the blessings of our close fellowship in Christ flowing out and blessing the whole world.

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.  (1 Peter 2:9-12)

This is what church is like - a jacuzzerfall.  (Now go and use the word this week)

And here's my little sermon on the subject.  Text here.

Afterthought:  Of course God also is a jacuzzerfall, but that's a whole other post...

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Published on 4 Comments on Let us run with perseverance

Sermon on Hebrews 11:1-12:3.  Text below:

Let me say a phrase for you and gauge your reaction:  School sports day – cross country running.

Happy memories anyone?

Not for me.  Every year at my school in Australia they made us run what seemed like a double marathon in the sports carnival.  I’m sure it was only three miles but to me, for whom brushing my teeth is about as aerobic as I get, this was a major drag.  One year the gun fired for the race and this new kid who’d just come from China called Bob Chen, burst away from the pack and shot ahead of us at lightning speed.  And we all thought, ‘Oh my goodness, where’s this guy come from?  They breed them tough in China.’  He tore up one side of the school oval and our whole year group was jogging sedately behind him thinking we’ve seen the new school champion.  And then Bob Chen veered slightly off the route and headed straight for some trees, where we saw him stop, bend double and as we all jogged past, Bob Chen threw up all over his nice new trainers.

Bob Chen was famous for that at our school, not least because the next year he did exactly the same thing.  Tore off as soon as the gun went.  Sprinted around the oval where all the spectators were, got to that first tree, and again threw up violently.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from Bob Chen it’s that you need to know what kind of race you’re in, and run accordingly.

...continue reading "Let us run with perseverance"

Published on Leave a comment on Knocked down but not knocked out

Cracking sermon from John Cheeseman of Holy Trinity Eastbourne.  The text is 2 Corinthians 4:7-15 and the title is from JB Phillips' paraphrase of v9: "We are knocked down but we are never knocked out!"

A very encouraging word for those who are particularly struggling.

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