Sermons and Studies

Matthew 13:31-33

Do you ever feel like giving up in the Christian life? It’s too hard. It’s too much effort. God seems to be blessing other people and never you. God seems to be blessing other churches but never ours.
Perhaps you feel a failure as a Christian. Other people are succeeding in the Christian life and you are not. Other people’s prayers are answered and yours aren’t. Other people are full of joy but you are weighed down with sorrows and worries and doubts.
The apostle Paul tells us that Christians are “more than conquerors!” But many Christians have times when they feel they are not conquering nor even coping, but barely surviving. Instead of reigning in life” many Christians feel they are not waving but drowning.

Such feelings are normal. This morning we are going to look at four parables which Jesus told which describe “the normal Christian life.” Four parables which aren’t often preached about because they give a different picture of life and growth from the one we would like to have. Four parables about the ways God’s kingdom grows.

Matthew 13:31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”

On the surface here is a parable about spectacular growth. The smallest of seeds becoming the largest of trees. If you have ever grown mustard and cress in a pot on your windowsill it is hard to imagine the tiny see which grows into that tiny shoot growing into the biggest of trees! But here is the point of the parable. Big things grow from small beginnings. In God’s Kingdom, great things will come – but they come slowly and gradually over a long, long time! A long long time!

But we live in a world of instant everything. We look for rapid results and dramatic growth. We want everything yesterday – but mustard seeds take time!

I read an article recently saying that trillions are the new billions. Really big amounts of money used to be measured in billions (the American billion of one thousand million). Now people talk casually about trillions of pounds or dollars. Millions of millions. The capacity of hard disk storage in computers used to be measured in Megabytes (millions of pieces of information), then it went up to Gigabytes (billions). Now you buy hard disks measured in Terabytes – trillions of pieces of information. So many things in our world are getting bigger and bigger. That is what the world expects.

We live in a world which measures success by size. Big numbers. Lots of money. And popularity – being well known. A world where people pursue celebrity for its own sake. Not being famous for any great or worthwhile achievement. Just being famous. The world of X-factor.

And some Christians expect the same in their Christian lives or in their churches. They expect a story of growth and success all the time. Everything getting bigger and better every day, always the newest and the best.

The parable of the mustard seed reminds us that in God’s Kingdom success will come. But it will come slowly, imperceptibly, and very very slowly. Because God measures success not by size, not by big numbers but by holiness, love, and faithfulness. The standard by which God measures success is the sacrifice of the cross.

Some churches and particularly some styles of worship portray the Christian life as always successful, always victorious, always big and growing even bigger. The parable of the mustard seed, and others we will look at in a moment, remind us that it isn’t necessarily meant to be that way.

When the Toronto blessing hit England the Baptist church which was at the forefront of the blessing was in Wimbledon led by Rob Warner. Rob was on the Leadership Team of Spring Harvest and he championed that outpouring of God into Baptist circles. 15 years later Rob is now a university lecturer in Practical Theology. In his book “Reinventing English Evangelicalism”, Tob has some strong words on some of the kinds of worship he once so passionately advocated.

“Some kinds of contemporary song promotes a universal ecstatic spirituality that promises a sustainedly passionate devotion to Christ, with the expectations that every believer will speak truth to all mankind and that whole towns are presently filled with joy and compelled by the Gospel. Neither the New Testament nor church history gives credence to such expectations. Given the current condition of the church in Western Europe such songs indulge a wilful disregard for reality. They represent a heavy cocktail of the promise of an altered state of consciousness through exuberant singing - the charismatic equivalent of clubbing - combined with the exaggerated hopes of entrepreneurial evangelicals, persisting in denial faced with the failure of inflated promises.
(Some kinds of worship provide) disposable worship songs with an imminent sell-by-date. Contemporaneity has been secured, while eccentricities of spirituality and exaggerated claims of present day success have been promoted. Here is a Mephistophelean pact with modernity: the hidden price tags are a ruptured tradition, a heightened potential for a theologia gloriae unfettered to a theologia crucis, a growing biblical illiteracy, a replacement of parousia hope with expectations of imminent success, and a quasi-gnostic, ecstatic and escapist spirituality (pp.84-85).”

Forgive the long words – it was his PhD thesis. But what Rob is saying is that churches and styles of worship which talk only about success and growth are unbalanced and unbiblical.

Last week we looked at the Parable of the Sower – or we could call it the parable about the four kinds of soils. That ends triumphantly.
8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. …. And Jesus explained his parable like this. 23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Bearing fruit. A hundred, sixty or thirty-fold. That is the part of the parable our success-obsessed world likes to hear. But there is more to the story than the happy ending.
Here lies the danger of some thriving growing, on the surface successful, churches. Some of them are successful because they preach the heresy of health, wealth and prosperity. But others which do not give a much more subtle message of “success”. The idea that if a church is following God it will thrive and succeed. Easter reminds us that the path to glory is through suffering – if you will not bear the cross you will not bear a crown.
The truth is that the history of the church is not full of success stories. When churches and denominations have appeared strong and successful in human terms, they have actually been at their weakest spiritually. It is the blood of the martyrs and the lone voices of the missionary evangelists which has been the seed of the church far more than great preachers and huge congregations. Those Christians who have remained faithful unto death and not given up despite the rocky soil of persecution or the heat or the sun of the temptations of deceitful wealth. The Christian life will ALWAYS be hard!

The Scriptures do not promise the church a a golden age of blessing and success. The prophets and the Scriptures foretell wars and rumours of wars, deceit and betrayal and persecution and suffering and distress and only those who stand firm to the end will be saved – not my words but the words of Jesus in Matthew 24. We can already see the beginnings of that opposition to the gospel in our own society, and things are only going to get worse. And it is those churches which have preached an unbalanced gospel of victory and success which will disappear first when their congregations discover that following Jesus demands a cost which they didnt know they would have to pay.

Church = ship, the ark of salvation.
Some people seem to think church is a pleasure cruiser – it’s not
Chatham historic dockyards, warships and lifeboats – not an easy ride!!

EPH 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
For the Ephesian church, success was not going to be about huge numbers and continuous victory. Success would be about just surviving!

2 Cor 4:12 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you Carrying around in our body the dying of Christ. Given over to death for Jesus’s sake! ALWAYS. That is what Paul understands to be the normal Christian life, just as much as being more than conquerors! If the going is tough – don’t be surprised. That’s the way it is always going to be!

The parable of the mustard seed – growth comes, but it takes a long long time! Now more briefly three more parables about how God’s Kingdom grows, which say much the same thing.

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Small things matter - God cares about the little things – even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. The tiny bit of yeast working its way through the whole loaf – that is how the Kingdom grows.

Winifred Waller – retired Baptist Deaconess who worked all her ministry in small Home Mission aided Baptist churches.
“Do not despise the day of small things.” Zechariah 4:10

Single word of testimony
Random act of kindness, turning the other cheek or going the extra mile
One person praying faithfully privately for years unseen except by God.
A cup of water
Matthew 11:42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

Matthew 25: 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’A little can change a lot – as long as it is mixed in thoroughly. You may sometimes feel the little things you do don’t matter. The prayers you offer don’t seem to make a difference. Nobody seems to notice. Don’t give up just because you don’t see spectacular results!! Don’t be discouraged!! God DOES notice. Every little thing we do counts for His Kingdom. “Do not despise the day of small things.”

And one more thing about yeast. And seeds. Summed up in the words of Jesus in John’s gospel. John only records one of Jesus’s parables about seeds, so you know it is important!

John 12 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Growth demands sacrifice. The seed dies to form the new plant. The yeast dies when it is baked into the loaf. Growth demands sacrifice – that is the way in God’s Kingdom!

One final parable about growth. In Mark 4 just before parable of mustard seed
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces corn—first the stalk, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
The parable of the seed growing secretly. We can’t see things growing. We look for results. We look for growth and we look for fruit. But for much of the life of the plant we cant see anything – it is growing unseen underground. Then we see small signs, shoots. Slowly day by day the plant grows, but we don’t see the fruit until the very end and then it is time to be busy with the harvest!

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results in your service for God. In work with children or young people. In sharing your faith with neighbours and friends. In prayers for healing. Don’t be discouraged if you have to be patient and wait – that’s the way it is in God’s kingdom.
And remember - and we cant do anything to make things grow 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces corn.

So it is in the Kingdom of God. There isn’t anything we can do to make things grow quicker. Nothing we do will produce the fruit – it is God who gives the growth. We can only pray for God to send rain and sun and give growth = prayer is essential!

1 COR 3:6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. 9 For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

This is the way the Kingdom grows. Not usually spectacular success. But slowly and often imperceptibly. This is the normal Christian life. Hard slog! Like a mustard seed, or yeast. Like a seed which falls into the ground and dies. Like a seed growing secretly.

Matthew 13:1-9

In this envelope is something worth more than you can possibly imagine. It isn’t the deeds to a new house. It isn’t a winning ticket to the national lottery or even the euromillions draw. It is much more valuable than those things. In here is the entrance ticket to heaven. In here is the free gift of knowing God. In here is the way God gives us forgiveness and new life, life in all its fullness, life which begins here and now and continues into eternity.

Here is an amazing gift, God’s more than pretty amazing grace – really incredible amazing grace.

LISTEN TO Neil Diamond – Pretty Amazing Grace

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
Why is that some people reject the gift God wants to give them?

“Well I knocked on your door to see if you wanted some hope.
I was so sad when you only looked out of the window.
So I waited around, standing outside in the cold
But to my dismay the door of your house remained closed.
And I’m giving away gifts, you don’t need no money to pay.
Take what you want, if its no good then throw it away.
Don’t pass up the chance of something entirely free.
Open your door and come out and come over to me.”

5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

When a person becomes a Christian, God forgives their sin and gives them the free gift of eternal life. God becomes their Father and they have the certainty of spending eternity with God in heaven.
We receive all these blessings as a free gift from God which we cannot earn or deserve, simply by believing in Jesus Christ. But as somebody has said, “The entrance fee to the kingdom of God is free because Jesus has paid it for us. But the annual subscription is everything we have!”
The Bible tells us, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)
In other words, at the same time as believing that Jesus is risen from the dead, to become a Christian we also have to accept that Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives. More than that, we have to “confess that Jesus is Lord.” That means we have to show by our words and our actions that Jesus Christ really is Lord, the master or the boss over every part of our lives. We cannot be secret disciples.

But being a disciple isn’t always easy!

Trouble and persecution -> falling away

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
God knows about what happens to every bird. Every animal. Even every plant. Every hair of our heads. God knows, and God cares and God is in control. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Suffering and sickness – whatever our situation, whatever our problems, God knows and God can help. Especially in context of standing up and being counted as a Christian. If problems come, opposition or ridicule, God is with us. Even the very hairs on our head are numbered.
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth

There are lots of worries of this life! Especially today. Credit Crunch. Depression. Threat of unemployment. Money problems. The world tells us we are “Born to Shop” but the false god of Shopping and Entertainment and Money are being shown up as empty!

Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Hearing and understanding -> yielding a crop, bearing fruit

A healthy plant will produce fruit!

In our lives = fruit of good works
Fruit of Holy Spirit – character of Christ in us
Fruit of more plants, more seeds sown leads to more becoming Christians

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

In parable NO SUCH THING as a healthy plant which doesn’t produce fruit! If plant isn’t producing fruit it is because something is wrong.

Here is this unremarkable envelope. In here is the entrance ticket to heaven. In here is the free gift of knowing God. In here is the way God gives us forgiveness and new life, life in all its fullness, life which begins here and now and continues into eternity.

OPEN – envelope contains copies of Mark’s Gospel and Journey into life
It is the word of God, the Good News about Jesus Christ. Help yourself to these books in the Foyer.

Here is an amazing gift, God’s more than pretty amazing grace – really incredible amazing grace.

What kind of soil are you?

9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

A fair day’s pay

It is a scene I have found in Uganda and in Bulgaria. It is multiplied all over Eastern Europe and all over the Third World. Groups of men standing by the side of the road in the hope that a truck or bus will stop and offer them some work. They don’t know what kind of work it will be. In the fields or on a building site. Some work – any work – so that they will earn enough to feed their family for that day. If nobody stops they won’t find work and the family will go hungry. The strongest and the young are chosen first. They will get the full day’s pay. But the others, the old and the lame, stay waiting and hoping that that somebody will still chose them to work that day. If more workers are required employers will come back for a second bus load. For all of those people who gather, work is not a luxury or something to avoid, it is essential for survival.

This background to Jesus’s story hasn’t changed for some people across the world for 2000 years.

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
The landowner hires his workers for the day and agrees to pay them the going rate – which was a denarius a day. The Jewish workday began at 6:00 AM. This was called the first hour. The third hour began at 9:00 AM, the sixth hour began at noon, the ninth hour began at 3:00 PM, and the eleventh hour at 5:00 PM. The Landowner hires other workers through the day. Even when the day is almost over he takes on those who were left standing around all day, who could well have given up any hope of any work that day. At the eleventh hour – and that is where we get that phrase – the Landowner hires some men and agrees to pay them “what is right”. At the end of the day the time comes to be paid.
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
Now there is the surprise. A whole day’s pay for just an hour’s work! Well if those men were being rewarded so generously, no wonder those who had worked a whole day were expecting a little bit more!
10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
Working in a vineyard was very hard work. It involved laboring on a hillside in the heat of the day with few breaks! We can sympathize with these workers. We can understand their complaint. Their joy turned to anger as they realized that they received the same pay as those who had worked for only one hour. As such, they were determined not to leave until they received “satisfaction” from the landowner. However this is only a symptom of the real problem. They were upset that the landowner had made the other workers equal to them.

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
Indeed – they were jealous because the Landowner was generous! This is not a parable about workers’ rights. This is a parable about the generosity of the Landowner. Generosity which treats everybody the same however much or little work they have done. Generosity which is a picture of God’s grace. God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
Grace makes us equal to everyone else. The workers’ complaint in verse 12 is interesting. “You have made them equal to us.” The all-day workers don’t complain about their own wages because they knew their pay was already generous. They’re upset because they wanted to be superior.

The word “grumble” is in the imperfect tense, which means that they complained not just once, but were in a constant state of grumbling. They weren’t saying, “You have put us on a par with the late-comers,” Instead, they grumbled, “you have put them on a par with us.” In other words, they weren’t so much dissatisfied with what they themselves had received; they were also envious of what had been given to the others. They emphasize that they bore the burden of the work in the sweltering heat of the day. Compared to these upstarts, who only worked an hour, these workers thought they were worth a lot more.

But that is not the way grace works. Here is the marvellous truth about grace.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.
Like a gift, the only thing we can do with grace…is to receive it.

The 12 hour workers – in Jesus’s day

Jesus told this parable to challenge the attitudes of the Jews of his time and especially the strictest and most religious of all – the Pharisees. The Pharisees lived to the letter of the Jewish Law. For that reason they thought that God’s blessings were especially for them, and that the best places in heaven would be reserved for them. The Pharisees thought they were better than everybody else. Through this parable, Jesus was teaching the them that God’s generosity is not just for them, who had worked all day and borne the burden of the work and the heat of the midday sun. Instead God’s blessings are for everybody – even those who only make an appearance at the eleventh hour, when the work is coolest and easiest.

The end of the day workers – in Jesus’s day

Last week – Parable of the Lost Sheep
Luke 15: ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Luke 19: 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
In Jesus’s time what really annoyed the respectable Jews was the company he kept. Not respectable people like them – but the lost sheep.
Luke 15 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering round to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”

Matt 9: 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
It really annoyed the 12 hour workers that Jesus spent his time with outcasts and drop-outs. That God cared about such people just as much as He cared about those who had done their very best to live by the Jewish Law. But the gospel really is for the lost sheep, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the “sinners”.

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
These are the kinds of people God welcomes into His Kingdom!

The eleventh hour workers – today
Grace teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them. We would save the not-so-bad. God starts with prostitutes and then works downward from there. Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver. It is given to those who don’t deserve it, barely recognize it, and hardly appreciate it. That’s why God alone gets the glory in our salvation. Jesus did all the work when he died on the cross.

In the end grace means that no one is too bad to be saved. God specializes in saving really bad people. Some people here today may have some things in their background that they would be ashamed to talk about in public? Don’t worry. God knows all about it. His grace is greater than any sin.

Who are the eleventh hour workers? Items in the news this week:
On Wednesday in Zimbabwe long-time opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in to the office of Prime Minister by president Robert Mugabe. At last there is hope for that country. Democracy has been trampled for too long. Under Mugabe’ tyranny inflation has completely wrecked the Zimbabwe economy. Cholera has killed thousands with tens of thousands infected. Yet Robert Mugabe could still become an eleventh hour worker. He could yet repent and be gloriously saved!
The great train robber 79 year old Ronnie Biggs is so ill he has been moved from prison to hospital. He was part of the 15 strong gang which attacked the Glasgow to London mail train in 1963 and stole 2.6 million pounds. But Ronnie Biggs could still become an eleventh hour worker. Even on his deathbed he could repent and be gloriously saved.
Alfie and Chantelle are the proud parents of Maisie, born this week in Eastbourne. Chantelle is 15 years old. Alfie is only 13.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who runs the Centre for Social Justice think tank, said the birth highlighted another case of “broken Britain” where “anything goes”. He said: “It’s not being accusative, it’s about pointing out the complete collapse in some parts of society of any sense of what’s right and wrong. It’s as if no-one is saying this is wrong.”
Alfie and Chantelle cannot shoulder all of the blame in this tragic situation. Maisie’s grandparents must also be held responsible for their children’s actions. Children should not be having children. But Alfie and Chantelle and Maisie and their parents could all become eleventh hour workers. If they repent they could be gloriously saved.
Yesterday mother-of-two Varsha Champaclal, 43, was attacked in a store room at the rear of a branch of Peacocks in Mitcham. She died of stab wounds to the neck and chest. She is believed to have been murdered by her husband. But that man could become an eleventh hour worker. If he repents he could be gloriously saved.
And here in Brentwood the front page story in the Brentwood Gazette is about a man with a serious criminal record who is being employed by a Christian charity in the town. The manager of the charity said, we are “a Christian charity seeking to help people regardless of their circumstances or lifestyles.” Should a Christian charity employ a convicted criminal? I see no reason why not. ANYBODY can become an eleventh hour worker. By the grace of God - anybody can be saved.
In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Phillip Yancey describes grace like this. “Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more—no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less—no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much an infinite God can possibly love.”

If these are the eleventh hour workers, then who are the
The 12 hour workers – today

Anybody who thinks they can earn God’s favour. Anybody who thinks they actually deserve the blessings which God offers.
If it’s a wage that we want from God, the Bible says that our salary is already figured out for us. If we want to be rewarded for our merit, if we want God to recognise all our good work, then Romans 6:23 spells out how we will be paid: “For the wages of sin is death…” There is NOTHING we can do to earn or deserve God’s favour. But, if we want to receive what God wants to freely give us, then here is the wonderful promise of the second part of Romans 6:23 “but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

12 hour workers today - Any Christian who looks down on any other Christian – who thinks, “I am better than you because I have served God longer, because I have been a minister or a missionary or a preacher or an Elder or a Deacon or a Home Group Leader.” Any Christian who thinks I am better than you because I know my Bible better, or because I have prayed more, because I have sacrificed more for Christ. Anybody who thinks like that is represented in the parable by the twelve hour workers. They thought they deserved more because they had worked harder and longer – but they were wrong.

12 hour workers today - Any Christian who is jealous of another Christian. If we think it is unfair that God lets prostitutes and tax collectors and “sinners” into his church. If we are worried they might spoil it for us respectable Christians.
The eleventh hour workers and the twelve hour workers. Which of those groups are you in? So we come to the post-script to the parable.

Matt 20:16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The Pharisees thought they deserved the best place in God’s Kingdom. But that place was reserved for Tax Collectors and “sinners”.
We may think that we deserve a good place in God’s Kingdom. We may be surprised! It is the last who will be first – those who think they should be first will be last!
Luke 14:7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Matt 20:16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

LOST and FOUND Luke 15

When I was young we had family holidays on a farm in Devon with Farmer Pugsley and Mrs Pugsley. At Easter of 1963 it snowed – and we were snowed in. It was lambing time and there were still lambs being born out in the fields but a few of the mothers did not survive the births. So in the evenings we children were invited into the farmers’ living room in front of the log fire to help feed these tiny lambs from bottles. Lost orphan lambs.

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.

LOST

How lost people are

Treasures in heaven or treasures on earth – people are realizing that the god of shopping and the god of entertainment have nothing to offer them. Realising that the things they have worked for and chased after all their lives are empty and worthless.

Created for a relationship with God. But human beings have lost their way. Sin is a short word with “I” in the middle. Anybody who puts themselves in the centre of their lives, worships that unholy trinity of “me, myself and I” cuts themselves off from God.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt.
Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
4 No-one calls for justice; no-one pleads his case with integrity.
They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
…… 7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways.
8 The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads; no-one who walks in them will know peace.
9 So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes.
LOST without God

We live in a lost world. So many people lost without God – facing death and the judgment throne of God with no hope whatsoever - and going to a lost eternity without God.

But God has not given up on all these people!

FOUND

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

Elizabeth Cecelia Clephane, 1868
There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold.
But one was out on the hills far away,
Far off from the gates of gold.
Away on the mountains wild and bare.
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.
2. Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine;
Are they not enough for Thee?
But the Shepherd made answer: This of Mine
Has wandered away from Me;
And although the road be rough and steep,
I go to the desert to find My sheep.
3. But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry,
Sick and helpless and ready to die.
4. Lord, whence are those blood drops all the way
That mark out the mountain’s track?
They were shed for one who had gone astray
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.
Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?
They’re pierced tonight by many a thorn.
5. But all through the mountains, thunder riven
And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven,
Rejoice! I have found My sheep!
And the angels echoed around the throne,
Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!

God has not given up on all these people who are lost without Him. He has set out to find his lost sheep!

5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

God cares about lost sinners. God cared enough to give his only son so that whoever believes in Him should not die but have eternal life. God offers all the blessings of salvation - forgiveness, new life, Holy Spirit living inside us giving us strength to face the day, happy certainty of heaven. Plenty to rejoice about there!

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Do you remember what it was like to be lost? Do you remember that time when God found you? And brought you home rejoicing? When you first knew that you were a sinner and wept with that godly sorrow which brings repentance and leads to salvation? That time when you first knew that God had forgiven your sins and given you the gift of eternal life. That time when you first knew for certain you will be going to heaven? That time when all the angels and all the saints in heaven were rejoicing because YOU had been saved!

We can forget the joy we experienced when God first saved us. We can lose our first love for the Good Shepherd who searched and searched and searched for us until He found us!

AMAZING GRACE, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found – was blind but now I see.

There is so much to rejoice about when a sinner comes back to God! When a sinner truly repents. When they acknowledge how lost they are without God and turn back to Him. When they confess their sins and show their repentance by letting God change their lives.

Luke 19:8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST

Too many churches have embraced the little bo peep theology.
“Little Bo Peep, she lost her sheep and doesn’t know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they’ll come home, wagging their tails behind them.”

God isn’t just sitting around waiting for lost people to come home to Him – God is the good Shepherd who goes out to search the countryside for those who are lost. And he calls US who he has saved to share in this work of seeking and saving the lost.

But there is more and more pressures on us as Christians to stay silent. To enjoy our own salvation but not to tell anybody else about it.

Christian nurse from Weston-super-Mare has been suspended for offering to pray for a patient’s recovery. Community nurse Caroline Petrie, 45, says she asked an elderly woman patient during a home visit if she wanted her to say a prayer for her. The patient complained to the health trust about Mrs Petrie who follows the Baptist faith. She was suspended, without pay, on 17 December and will find out the outcome of her disciplinary meeting next week.

Radio 2 12-2 Friday – should Christians be allowed to talk about their faith in the workplace? Nurse and clients – anybody and colleagues. People are allowed to talk about anything – politics, football, all kinds of details about their private lives - except Christians arent allowed to share their faith.
Postmodernism- the only thing we are sure of is that we can’t be sure about anything. Everybody’s opinions are supposed to be as valid and as valued as anybody else’s. So the one thing which is not allowed is a truth which claims to make other ideas false. Jesus said “I am THE way, THE truth, THE life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” But it is no longer acceptable to say that. Moslems are allowed to say “there is no God but Allah”, but Christians aren’t allowed to say Jesus is the only way to God. Christians aren’t allowed to say that all the broad roads lead to destruction and only the narrow way leads to life, and few find it! We can’t say that because that would offend people who don’t agree with us, all the people on the broad roads who don’t like to be told that they are heading straight for hell.

But we cannot stay silent! We dare not! If our salvation brings us joy and peace. If knowing Jesus is the most important thing in our lives, we cannot stay silent! If we really care about our neighbours and friends who are lost without Christ, we will NOT stay silent!

Matthew 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

God calls US to have compassion on our friends and neighbours and colleagues – they ARE harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. God calls US to be the workers in His harvest field.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

God calls US to go out and seek and save the lost.

Parable of the wedding banquet
Luke 14:21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 “ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

Christians are not called to be a happy club just sitting around enjoying the blessings of salvation – we are called to be lifeboatmen and mountain rescuers and firemen – to go out into the streets and alleys and the country lanes to seek and save the lost.

Have you ever lost anything and had to search for it? I have never lost any sheep. Mercifully we have never lost any of our children for more than a few minutes. We did lose our dog once. In the New Forest our first dog Tara ran off chasing a deer. We called and whistled but she didn’t come back so we began to search for her. It was a very distressing time. We would have stayed in the Forest searching all night if she had not eventually reappeared. But our desperate concern to find our lost dog was only a faint shadow of the concern which Jesus the Good Shepherd has for his Lost Sheep.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Become like little children Matt 18:1-10 090222A

Matt 18:3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
What did Jesus mean by “become like little children”?
Little children – not a babe in arms but not a teenager either – little child = infant maybe aged 5,6,7,8.
And not an infant as in these days who has been going to school for years! But infant like in Africa who hasn’t begun any schooling, who spends all day just playing!
Become like little children does NOT mean revert to childhood or become childish. T shirt slogan: “Keep the faith baby, not the baby faith”
So what characteristics of a little child give us a picture of a believer in the Kingdom of heaven?

Innocence
The apostle Paul says in Romans 1 that human beings keep on inventing new ways of sinning. Children are not like that

Simplicity
We make life so complicated – it need not be so!

Frankness
In the car a four-year-old granddaughter asked Granny why she was wearing the brightly colored scarf she had on.
“I thought it would make my blue suit look much prettier,” Granny said. To which the granddaughter replied, “It didn’t work, did it?”

The power to wonder
Wonderful to watch children as they discover the beauties of the world – new animals, sunsets and night skies. We miss out on these wonders.

The power to forgive and forget
Grown-ups keep grudges – children don’t. They can be fighting one minute and best friends the next

Obedience
A child is expected to be obedient. Parents expect their child to obey immediately without fussing or complaining. Adults have a lot to learn from little children about how to obey God!

Enjoyment
Children enjoy the simplest things in life.

Enthusiasm
Whatever they do, children do it with all their energy!

Trust
Children trust their parents to meet their needs. Children cannot provide their own food, clothing and shelter. So they rely on their parents for these things.
Children Haven’t Lost Their Ability to Trust. Do you remember as a child leaping into your father’s arms and knowing that he wouldn’t drop you? Allowing someone to grab your arms and swing you around knowing they wouldn’t let go. Never once did you think, “I wonder what would happen if dad let me fall, or if he let go when he was spinning me and I went flying into a wall?”
Children are curious and they like to take risks. They have lots of courage. They venture out into a world that is immense and dangerous and trust their parents to take care of them.

Do we trust our Heavenly Father as much as children trust their earthly father, or for that matter as much as children trust their Heavenly Father. Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

You know the story of the man who fell over a cliff and just happened to catch hold of a branch that was growing out from the face of the cliff. Holding on as tight as he could he hollered; “Hello is anyone up there?” After a few moments a voice came from above saying “This is God, do you trust me?” and the man said “Thank you God of course I trust you.” And the voice came back “Do you really trust me” “Oh yes God you know that I really trust you.” The voice answered again and said “Let go of the branch” there was a pause and the man yelled “Is there anyone else up there?”

Innocence simplicity Frankness the power to wonder the power to forgive and forget Obedience Enjoyment Enthusiasm Trust

But there is one more vital aspect of childhood which Jesus is pointing to here:
3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever humbles himself – humility. And humility has two aspects

HUMILITY and greatness
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Jesus uses the child as a visual aid to true greatness. The disciples had wrong ideas. They thought that power and authority would be the things that mattered most in God’s kingdom. They want a special status. They feel that they are better than others.
Children are entirely the opposite. A little child knows his place! If they are the youngest of six or seven children, as this child in Jesus’s time might well have been, they know their place! At the bottom!
A child does not think that he is the important one in the family. A child knows he has to grow up!! A child does not wish to push himself forward. He does not wish for prominence.
There is an old saying: ‘Second place is okay if you don’t mind being first in a long line of losers.’ Nobody wants to be in 2nd place. We all want to be in first place. We all want to be the winner, no matter what it is we have won at. But that is not the attitude of the little child! It is only as the child grows up and gets involved in a competitive world that his instinctive humility is left behind. The follower of Christ must learn to humble himself before the Lord so that God can lift him up (James 4:10).
The disciples asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Mark’s gospel indicates that they had been arguing about it, and Luke’s account shows the same. In fact, while they are discussing the matter with Jesus, Luke points out that the disciples were so worried about themselves and their own recognition that some time earlier they found a man who was casting out demons, and they made him stop because he wasn’t one of their group.

In Matthew 18, the disciples are fussing over who was the most important one of them. In chapter 19 they are still at it, and in chapter 20 James and John and their mother are working on Jesus to try to get them the most prominent seats by the throne. What was the reaction of the other disciples? They all began to argue about it. “Jesus can’t possibly give those seats to James and John! That’s where we ought to be seated!” Jesus was certainly patient with His friends!

The biblical change that Jesus is after in his disciples is humility. If they really wanted to be great in His eyes, in His kingdom, then they were going to have to humble themselves. It wasn’t about who was the smartest, or who was the strongest, or who was the best orator and so forth. In Jesus’ mind, it was about who was most willing to serve.
Later in Matthew 20 we find James and John wanting a special place in the Kingdom of God.
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favour of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.
(Of course the other disciples were angry! James and John had got their request in first. They had jumped the queue!!)
25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
That is how the world thinks - only those who are capable and intelligent will be honoured. But Jesus tells them that just the opposite is true - that those who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven – won’t be the people who are so full of themselves. They won’t be the people who feel that they are good, that they are better than others. They will be those who humble themselves!
Before we look down on the disciples and judge them, we need to look at our own hearts. The disciples were so busy pushing for power and position in the kingdom of God. Are we ever pushy like that? In our day jobs? In our hobbies and recreations and social circles. Even in church. Do we ever push our way to the top?

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me. Deliver me, Jesus,
from the desire of being loved,
from the desire of being extolled
from the desire of being honoured,
from the desire of being praised
from the desire of being preferred to others,
And, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire
that others might be loved more than I,
that others may be esteemed more than I,
that in the opinion of the world others may increase and I may decrease,
that others may be chosen, and I set aside,
that others may be praised and I unnoticed,
that others may be preferred to me in everything,
that others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should.
The greatest in the Kingdom of God will be like children – Jesus says, “…whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:4)
Then there is a second side to the humility of a child:

HUMILITY in dependence

The disciples look at themselves and they want to feel great. When a child looks at himself, he knows he needs help. Dependence is natural to a child, he never thinks that he can face life by himself. He is perfectly content to depend on those who love him and care for him. If only men and women would turn to God and place their dependence on Him, they will find a world of peace and strength, a world of joy.

The King James Bible hear says “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The disciples were going to have to be converted, that is, they were going to have to have a change of mind and a change of heart, recognize how completely bankrupt they were, how completely dependent they were upon Jesus for their power and ability and everything else if they were going to be of any use to Jesus.

Jesus makes this point in so many places.

John 154 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Becoming like a little child is about acknowledging that without Jesus we can do nothing. We cannot achieve anything for the Kingdom of God. Especially that we cannot do anything to save ourselves from our sin. Adults think about what we can achieve – children know they cannot achieve anything and so depend upon their parent for everything!

Ephesiasns 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no-one can boast.
A child is totally dependent upon his father. This is humility - the humble acknowledgement of God’s role, in our life and in our world today; that we are not ultimately in control, acknowledging that we need Him. Humility is not telling yourselves you’re nobody, small and weak. Humility is saying that you are in need of God all the time. He is the Lord of your life, and therefore you’re going to worship Him often and glorify Him at all times.

So to become like little children we need to stop chasing after the greatness that comes from human achievements and ACKNOWLEDGE OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD for everything. Humilty in dependence.
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered

It is strange which Bible verses people who don’t go to church actually know. But one of the sayings which is part of very many people’s general knowledge is this memorable saying of Jesus in Matthew 10:30:
Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
How many hairs on head 100000 to 150000
How many people = 6.76 billion so in world = 1,000,000000,000000
Present here this morning =10 million to 20 million hairs.
The writers of the helpful little book “101 things to do during a dull sermon” would encourage you to try and count the number of hairs on the head of the person in front of you in any moments when your concentration wanders. They also suggest your count is more accurate if you try pull those hairs out one by one without the person noticing, but personally I think that would be going a bit too far!
“Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered”
In other words, whatever is going on in the world, in every place, at all times, everywhere, God knows all about it. Everything that happens – God knows and God cares.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
God knows about what happens to every bird. Every animal. Even every plant. Every hair of our heads. God knows, and God cares and God is in control. Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
God knows every instance of Human suffering – God is there beside that person. Every child dying of preventable disease. Every soldier’s bullet and bomb and gun. Every abortion. Everybody starving or drowning or buried alive. Every illness. Every accident. Every sadness and fear. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
God knows everything that happens to us. God sees our lives from every side. He even knows our every thought.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
There is NOWHERE we can go where God is not with us.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
16 …. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
God knew every detail of what our lives will hold even before we were conceived. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. He knows all there is to know about every human being who has ever lived or ever will live. And that means he knows everything there is to know about each and every one of us here this morning!
We may be sick and in pain. Suffering from a disease or illness or simply from advancing years. We may be concerned about our health – will we ever recover?
Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Some may be worried about their jobs. Threat of redundancy. Increased pressure to deliver the goods. Or there may be conflicts in the workplace. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
We may be worried about our finances. Credit crunch. Depression. Our savings may be threatened. Our pension may have dropped in value. We may not be able to pay our way. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
There may be tensions at home in the family. Divisions or battles. Problems with neighbours. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
We may have difficult decisions to make. We may be finding it hard to see the way ahead and we need God’s guidance. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Or we may have spiritual problems. Battles with temptation. Prayers not answered yet. You may have deep questions and even some doubts. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God is there. God knows. God cares. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Whatever our situation. Whatever our problems – God is with us. God understands and God can help. Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
But hang on a minute! By now some of you will be asking questions about what I am saying. “Hang on Peter,” you will be saying. “All this may well be true, but aren’t you taking this verse out of context??”
If that is what you are thinking, you are absolutely right! Because when Jesus said every hair on your heads is numbered he was NOT talking about times of illness. He was not talking about problems at work. Or money problems. He was not talking about problems in the family, or in seeking God’s guidance, or even spiritual problems. Listen again.
27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
In this passage Jesus is reassuring his disciples not to fear in one specific context.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Do not be afraid of what people can do to you. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
This passage is ALL about not being afraid of speaking out Jesus’s message – however hard that may be! Even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. When that really matters is when you are witnessing for Christ and proclaiming the gospel!
In Matthew 10 Jesus is sending his 12 apostles out to preach.
He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.And Jesus is warning his disciples that they can expect opposition and even persecution when they preach the
gospel.
17 “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Christians can expect opposition and persecution if we speak out for Christ. But we also have the Holy Spirit inside us giving us the words to say and the courage to say them.
21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.
This is hard stuff! All men will hate you because of me! But that’s when we need to know that every hair on our heads is numbered!
God knows our situations. God understands. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master
It is always going to be hard to speak out for Christ. It cost Jesus his life and more to give us a gospel to proclaim. We have no excuse for not proclaiming it!
27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
God knows our situation. We don’t need to be afraid of what men can do to us!
28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
So Jesus goes on to explain what it should mean to us that God knows everything about us.
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
This is a typical Hebrew couplet. The two sayings are two sides of the same coin. Either we acknowledge Jesus or we disown Him. For most of the time most of us would like to think we live in some fuzzy area in between those two statements. We may not acknowledge Jesus particularly but we never publicly disown him. But there is no fuzzy in-between area in these statements – it doesn’t exist! If we aren’t acknowledging Jesus then by our silence we are disowning him. If we are not actively proclaiming the gospel and witnessing for Jesus, we are disowning Him. There is no middle ground.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
We need to take these words of Jesus much more seriously than we do. In times of persecution, in the former Soviet Union or in China, Christian commitment comes before family. In many Islamic countries today, becoming a Christian means being thrown out of your family, disowned by mother and father, by brother and sister, by husband or wife or children. Converting to Christ can mean losing your job or being thrown out of your university. Becoming a Christian can mean death!
Compared to some of those consequences which some of our fellow believers gladly endure for the sake of Christ, speaking up for Jesus in this country costs us nothing!
I think that sometimes we make it too easy for people to profess faith in Christ. When somebody prays a prayer of commitment we let them off too easily over coming to church, or joining a Home Group, or becoming a disciple.
When I became a Christian as a teenager my weekends were filled with the sport I played, a rather aggressive game called lacrosse. Saturdays I played one or two matches lasting 80 minutes each. On Sunday mornings we had club training together for a couple of hours. I went on to represent the University at lacrosse but I was never a great player. Some of my team mates were. I gave up any hopes of playing really well when I became a Christian because the Club training was on Sunday mornings and I knew I had to go to church on Sunday morning. Six a side tournaments were on Sundays and I knew I had to go to Crusaders which met on Sunday afternoons. I couldn’t go on the Easter lacrosse tours because I went as a helper on Crusader holidays. I couldn’t play as much of the sport which I loved because God didn’t want me to play on Sundays. And once I became a teacher I couldn’t play on Saturdays at all because Friday evenings and Sunday mornings were Crusader meetings and the rest of Sunday was Church and I had to do lots of school work on Saturdays and get some sleep!!
Giving up the sport which I loved to play was a tiny sacrifice, such an insignificant sacrifice compared to so much given up by so many for the sake of Christ!
When some new Christians say they cant come to church or go to a Home Group I have to wonder if they have read these words of Jesus
38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
God knows our situations. So don’t be afraid. Don’t worry. But don’t forget that these PROMISES ARE GIVEN TO HELP US OVERCOME FEAR OF WITNESSING! 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.