Played over local visuals, this song was a powerful way to start a service

The song is ‘God of the City’ – this version is by Chris Tomlin

Elevator: We can stand up for Jesus when we do it together

Many of you will have heard the story of the Emperors new clothes.  According to the story the Emperor loved new clothes.  He wanted to wear the very latest fashion.  Some fraudsters came along and said they could make the most beautiful clothes for him, but that they would be invisible to the unsophisticated and only the most trendy people could see them.  They pretended to make the invisible clothes and put the king’s money straight in their own pockets.

The Emperor then put on a parade to show off these brand new clothes.  No one wanted to appear dumb and unsophisticated so they all went “Um” and “Arh.”  But there was one child who had the courage and the honesty to cry out “The Emperors got no clothes (on).”  He broke the spell and people burst out laughing as they realised how dumb they had been.

That tale, of ‘The Emperor’s new clothes’, shows us that it took the courage of just one young boy to show the people that they had believed in a lie.  I believe that we need young people like that in every generation who will challenge the predominant lie.  -Because in NZ we have swallowed an enormous lie.

When I was growing up there was a kids’ rhyme that went, “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly… perhaps she’ll die.”  It talked about all the things the woman swallowed because of that fly –a frog, a bird, a cat, a dog, so that she eventually died.

Well, many of the people around us at work and at school have swallowed the lie that there is no God, and if there is one, He doesn’t matter much at all.  As result parts of our beautiful land are a spiritual wasteland.  Many people’s lives are like husks.  They look pretty good on the outside, but on the inside (in God’s eyes) they have spiritually died.

And we need to ask who is going to stand up in this next generation and tell them that they have believed the world’s lie and that God has a much better plan for their lives?  Who is going to tell them that they do not need to miss the boat and spend an eternity separated from God in hell -and what can we do to support them?

Strangely enough Moses in today’s reading faced a similar situation that many young people face today.  You might think of him as an old Sunday School character or even a cartoon figure.  We watched a DVD about Moses at Socket just recently, but he was one of the most outstanding men of his day and age.  Even though he was adopted, he was what you would call a ‘most promising young man.’

He had power.  Moses was adopted by the Egyptian royal family, which made him royalty –a bit like Prince William or Prince Harry.  He would have been like the Obama’s daughters, Malia and Natasha, used to going in and out of the Whitehouse each day.  Except that the Egyptian royal family was considered divine, so he might have been considered a descendant of the great god Amen-Ra.  You would have to bow down before him.

He was immensely wealthy.  Egypt was one of the world two or three great superpowers of the time.  He was in one of the richest families in the world –a bit like being one of Bill Gate’s kids.  He was bright.  His education would have been second to none.  He would have attended one of the world’s greatest universities with all the best tutors –the Harvard or Oxford of his time.

And on top of that he had opportunity.  As a teen or a young person in his twenties he had shares in all the ancient cultural treasures of Egypt.  It was all that any young person would dream of.  The world was his oyster!

Yet the Bible says, “(24) By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  (25) He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. (26) He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

In effect Moses understood that amazing as Egyptian society was, it had been laid on the wrong foundations.  Sure it had impressive achievements, but in its heart of hearts it did not know God or understand Him.  In fact you could say he was a bit of a rebel.  Something inside him told him that Yahweh (God) had a greater purpose for his life.

And today many young people still face the same choice.  Do I chase after all that this world system has to offer or in the end ‘do I want what God truly has to offer –eternal life in this world and the next?’

Now that’s not to say that Christians can’t be very rich and influential, and have happy lives.  Some of the greatest leaders in the Bible and in the world today are followers of Jesus, but they’ve learnt is to march to a different drumbeat.  The world whispers its promises…“You’ll be happy.  You’ll be safe.  You’ll be secure, if you play life our way.”

There’s no guarantee of course that the world will ever deliver.  But Moses simply had the courage and the honestly to say, “Stuff you.  I think you’re wrong.  So I’m going to play it God’s way from here on in.”  And so the Bible says, “By faith Moses refused…” and he identified with God’s people.

Moses risked an enormous amount for following God.  Ultimately he gained so much more, but what could cause a young man to make this momentous decision?  What could empower a young person asking himself ‘who do I follow’ to choose God instead of the ‘beautiful people’?  There were two things.

1. Firstly Moses had a family who had faith. Moses had a family who understood that his identity as a Son of God was far more important than his identity as a son of Pharaoh, and they were prepared to overcome every human obstacle in order to help him know who he was.  Look at verse 23.  It says, “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

Here in only a few short words is what tells us is that they risked their lives for Him.  They did not kill him when they were meant to thereby breaking Pharaoh’s law.  They dedicated him to God and released him upon the Nile.  They followed the vulnerable little craft away from their home.  They boldly approached the Pharaoh’s own daughter to offer to be a wet nurse for him, and in secret they instructed him and told him who he truly was.  Stolen moment by stolen moment they instilled in him his spiritual sense of identity.

Now few of you parents have ever had to go to the same kind of lengths that they did.  A few of you do battle with ex-spouses and with sports to have the kids with you on a Sunday so that they can at least attend worship, but the important thing is that they took some risks.  They explained to him the faith, and in doing so they carried on a tradition that the followers of God have always followed.

For example, Christianity first arrived in Japan in 1549.  Within 50 years it was completely banned.  Ministers were executed or exiled.  The Japanese Emperor killed 40,000 Christians in order to wipe out the faith.  But it survived underground.  200 years later when freedom of religion was granted, around about 200,000 people were still following Christ.  How had they survived without ministers and churches?  They had passed it on –father to son, mother to daughter for over two centuries.

Likewise in New Zealand.  When the UK settlers first arrived in NZ, they didn’t all have churches and priests.  Many people lived miles from town centres on farms.  So who what was one of the strongest Christian movements?  It was the Brethren.  All you needed was a man to speak from his Bible and a few folk to gather and sing, and that’s how many farming folk passed on their faith to the next generation.

So those of you who are parents and grandparents today –you come from a long line of families who have passing on their faith.  You come from that background and you need to uphold it.  Moses had parents who went to great lengths to teach him who he was.  So should we.

2. But the other thing that Moses had going in his favour was the presence of a real faith community. In addition to his family he knew people who passionately believed in God.  This is not that obvious from the text, but Moses had people of God to look up to and to learn from.

You see it’s one thing for a young person to think yes, I’m from a Hebrew or a Christian background and that’s a part of me.  It’s another thing to actually say, “That’s who I want to be.”  So put yourself in Moses shoes.  Moses must have looked at the greatness of Egypt and then at the Hebrew community and thought, “You’re crazy!”  Is this what I’m supposed to be?  -Because if we are honest they did not have a lot to offer.  Really!

The Jews were poor, oppressed manual labourers.  Their lot in life wasn’t particularly attractive.  They were the scum, the untouchables, the bottom feeders of Egyptian society.  Think of it this way.  In some periods of Egyptian history, personal pyramids or tombs were very popular.  Every nobleman had them.  Did Moses want to associate with the people who were having pyramids built for them, or with the slaves who suffered building the pyramids?

There’s a saying that people usually shout their support for the underdogs (you’ve probably seen that at rugby matches), but they choose to run with the top dogs.  Moses was no different.  He was only a teenager making choices, so what convinced him to go with God?

Well, the Hebrew people might have been oppressed, but they had one thing going for them.  The Bible tells us that the Hebrew people had been changing over time.  They were becoming more devout.  So as the workload increased ‘did they cry out to their supervisors?’  Yes, but they stopped when they weren’t listening.  ‘Did they cry out to Pharaoh?’  Probably or a while, but then they figured out that Pharaoh wasn’t listening they stopped that too.

So in the end who did they cry out to?  You can read the answer in Exodus 3:7. “The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.  I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.” The Hebrews cried out to God!  The only good thing they had going for them was that their faith was real, and that’s what Moses saw faith loud and clear.

And it’s very similar today.  A young person who is considering where to go in life spiritually has only one critical question to ask of each of you, “Is it real?  Is it real?”  That’s why children and young people need relationships with you, to hear your stories, to hear about the good times and the bad times and how you meet God in them.  They need you.  They need to see how your faith in God works out in your life.  They need to hear about your faith experiences to help them make the right decisions about God.

And look, you don’t have to be a super-saint to do this.  Goodness knows the Hebrew people weren’t saints.  They even fought with and killed each at times, but they let Moses see their living faith.  Do you think you can do that with our young people?

So Moses made His decision to identify with God’s people.  He had his defining moment when an overseer attacked a Hebrew slave and Moses retaliated.  It was there that he made his choice.  Later on as a result he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel, and he lead the people through the Red Sea as if on dry land leaving the Egyptians far behind them.  What can we learn from all of this?

For the young people here today -Moses is often remembered in churches and synagogues as a colossus in world history.  He is in one sense the founder of Judaism, the creator of the ancient nation of Israel and is one of the ancient world’s greatest leaders.  He is respected by three major world faiths, that’s by over 1 billion people, but there was a time in his life when he was uncertain and confused as anyone else about himself, about his direction in life and whether he would believe in God and or not.  Like you, two paths lay open at his feet.

Moses could easily have chosen to serve the ways of this world and surrendered to its lies, but he was made of stronger stuff.  If he had, today some insignificant archaeologist would be saying somewhere, “this mouldy old mummy was some stepson of Pharaoh Rameses.”  But instead when Moses took hold of his faith and decided to go with God and His people he entered the pages of God’s book of history.

From that day his life began to make a difference, and that decision, believe or not, as impacts even upon your life today.  So choose life; choose significance, choose to follow God.

Now to you parents, sometimes I know it’s easy to become discouraged.  The world and the media have got a lot more money than you with which to tempt your children.  There is a lot of anti-God talk at times.  Sometimes when your children’s hormones are kicking in, you can feel like the whole task facing you is impossible.

The word to you from this passage is “Don’t.  Don’t.”  Don’t be dis-empowered by your own lack of belief.  Don’t give in to the opposition.  Moses parents overcome their enormous obstacles to show Moses the right way to go.  You can too.  By faith decide to do whatever it takes to train your family in the ways of God.  By faith be determined to see that God will bless your kids in your family and in this church.  By faith believe that God has a better plan for their lives, and like Winston Churchill do whatever it takes and never, ever give up on that dream!

And finally to the church –our young people need your stories.  Our young people need your wisdom.  Our young people need to see into your lives (even if they deny it).  If they go off to a youth based church, the statistical odds are that they will begin to believe the worlds lies within the next three years and drift away from God.  It is actually in an intergenerational church that welcomes them that young people have the best chance to flourish and grow in Christ.

The thing is that you get to decide if PBC will be that kind of church.  So open your lives.  Open your hearts to our children and our youth.  Just get to know them –they’re fabulous people!  But you get to choose.

Just to finish, next Sunday at 9:30am we are having a half hour worship service followed by an International Children’s Day festival.  Some people understand why we are doing this.  Others do not.  There are a number of reasons why we are doing this such as community outreach and the kindergarten families, but for me one major reason is this.

The Bible believes that the young people in here and out there have a special purpose and destiny as children of God that higher and more important than anything else that the world has to offer.  They were made to serve the living God and Him alone.  It’s the highest calling there is.  Let’s make sure they know that!

Elevator: A disciple of Jesus is someone who disciples

In recent years there has been quite a bit of debate in academic circles over the use of the word ‘Christian.’  Some people think its too exclusive and puts unnecessary barriers between people and Jesus.  It builds walls.  Becoming a Christian can look like a Chinese man having to become an African, or a Kiwi an Indian.  So people have started using the term ‘Follower of Jesus’ in recent years.  That way you can say, “I’m a follower of Jesus from a Chinese, Maori, Muslim or Buddhist background.”  It sounds more inclusive, but if you’re playing with words, ‘follower of Jesus’ also has some problems.  It misses out some important meanings.

For instance, ‘what does it mean to follow Jesus?”  Let’s look at two scenarios.  Which one is following Jesus?  Scenario: 1.  Guy follows Jesus around, 2.  Guy does what Jesus is doing (keeps checking).  Which one is actually following Him?  Let’s have a show of hands.  Who says 1?  Who says 2?  The second one is the correct one.

Why is this so?  Because a follower of Jesus is not someone who simply ‘believes’ in Jesus or who ‘follows’ Him –a ‘follower’ or a ‘Christian’ is someone who ‘copies’ Him.  They imitate Jesus and they do what Jesus is doing.

1. That’s why I often prefer the word ‘disciple’ for followers of Jesus. It has a broader meaning and this is also what Christians or ‘followers of Jesus’ are often called in the Bible.  For example, many of you will be familiar with Jesus twelve disciples.  There were the crowds who came to listen to Jesus and then there were the disciples who learnt from Him personally.  The word ‘disciple’ means a pupil, a student, an adherent or apprentice -one who is willing to learn to become like their teacher and to do what they have been taught.  The New Testament tells us that Jesus called them, taught them, showed them how to do in, i.e. trained them, and then sent them out to build the Kingdom of God like He was.

But notice that the followers of Jesus who came later were also called ‘disciples.’  Acts 6:1 tells us “(1) In those days… the number of disciples was increasing.” Acts 11:26 says, “(26) The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” And in Acts 18:23 it says “(23) After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and travelled from place to place… strengthening all the disciples.”

One of the best examples of what being a disciple means is contained in the words that Paul writes to his protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2.  He says, (1) You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. [Banner]  (2) And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” So a disciple of Jesus is someone takes from what they have been taught and passes it on to others who will in turn yet more.  A true ‘Christian’, a true ‘follower of Jesus’ is a ‘disciple’ who is still learning, but is now discipling others.

So why I am I talking about this?  Well, over this month we are looking at what it takes to be an Orange Church.  In other words ‘how do we combine the red heart of the family with the yellow light of the church to create a more powerful combination for reaching the next generation?’  Last week we talked about what it means to be an orange family –a family who raises their children to follow God in partnership with their local church.  That topic may not have been completely relevant to all of you, but it is critical that every one of you understand today’s topic, because not only will PBC fail to be an effective church if you fail to gasp this, but you will fail to achieve your purpose as a disciple of Jesus if you do not understand that you are called to disciple others.

2. So what is discipling? What forms does discipling like?

Well in the business world this kind of thing can take on many different forms, and these can give you an idea of what it is like –some of the dimensions.  There is the teacher who instructs someone in new information.  There is the trainer who helps someone learn new behaviours and skills.  There is the consultant who makes specific recommendations on how challenges can be overcome and improvements made.  A counsellor helps someone recover from a previous or current event that prevents them from functioning at their best, while mentors share what they have learnt along the way with someone less experienced.  Coaches help people assess their life situation and improve their skills so they can make big picture changes they need to.

But to keep things simple I really like an illustration that Gareth shared with me recently.  He might tell you more about it himself soon, but he described discipling like you teaching someone how to drive.  You are right beside them, but they do the driving.  You give input and advice, but they make the decisions.  They can ask you for help sometimes, or they may choose not to, but you both evaluate how they are doing as you go along.  The only difference is that instead to helping them learn how to drive, you are helping them to get the hang of being a Christian.

The main characteristics of discipling are that you get together regularly with someone at a different level in the Christian faith.  It might be in different venues like the church, coffee shops, McDonalds or a home, basically anywhere, but you begin to let down your guard and to trust each other.  Over time you learn to talk about life and faith and what the Bible has to say about both.  You usually share your challenges and learning’s, and hopefully along the way you have some fun!

For example try and think of someone who invested in your life earlier on.  Can you think of someone?  You probably saw them fairly often.  You most likely mixed with them in a variety of situations.  There developed a level of openness and trust so that you could ask questions of them.  They were happy to talk about their experiences and what they had learnt from the Bible and others.  As a result you grew.  Well, now that’s what Jesus expects you to do for others.

3. Why disciple/mentor?  (Gareth)

a. Mentoring is Biblical

How do you become like Jesus?  Mark 3:14 – “Jesus chose them to be with him”

I think we can call this mentoring.  o       the Disciples witnessed:

§       Jesus’ time with the Father   §       his work

§       his relationships

o       Jesus gave them responsibilities to stretch them, then called them back in to talk about how it went. (Luke 10)

Acts 4:13 – Peter and John have been arrested and are being questioned for preaching about Christ. “When [the religious guys] saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Ordinary// ἰδιώτης (idiotes – Gr) What made them extraordinary is who they’d been with.

·       Disciples were common people, not scholars – Jesus took these and made them world changers

·       1 Cor 11:1 – “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” – living example

b. Mentoring is Practical

·       Discipleship is not just learning; it is becoming.

o       Can’t become a great artist/chef if you never paint/cook

o       What better way to learn than to witness a great at work and absorb their influence?

o       Like an apprenticeship – see the work being done before you try it yourself

·       You can know just about anything from the internet today (although maybe not reliable) and yet how do you know what a person is meant to be like?

·       Young people crying out for role models

o       Give young people a chance to ask questions

o       Adolescence involves forming own identity – chance to show them your identity:

§       the things you decide are important

§       how you respond in all sorts of situations

§       who you are!

C. Mentoring is relational

·       Youth ministry e.g. Integration of students finishing high school

·       Bonds of trust and honesty – real with each other e.g. Eastercamp story

·       Overall, church is the biggest winner – it’s that synergy Andrew was talking about. Maize maze story – can help direct others in the right way

4. (Andrew) So if discipling or mentoring is so important where do you begin?  How do you make a start?

An important thing to remember is that this is a normal behaviour, but it is also a learned behaviour.  Some of you are already doing it.  In fact you may be doing it quite naturally without even thinking about it.  You might be the kind of person who gets together with other Christians on a regular basis and talks about spiritual and other matters.  But for those of you who don’t do it, it is quite easy to learn.

You can do it informally or formally.

In an informal situation sense you start by showing an interest in another younger Christian (the same sex as you) in the church.  That means creating opportunities where you can chat with them; find out who they are and what they are doing.  Over time you develop a friendship where you can talk about faith as a normal part of conversation.  Typical things you would cover would be what has been a spiritual highlight for you lately?  What has been a challenge and what is God saying to you at the moment?  Over time you an offer to get together regularly to talk about life and things, and if accepted you do this for as long as it is valuable for the other person.

But for those of you who would like to be part a more formal, defined opportunity… (Gareth)

An Opportunity to be involved in mentoring

What it is – matchmaking service.

Who can take part – maybe you are already teamed up with someone informally!

Scared? What’s the worst that could happen?

Share your life! Your legacy ends with you if you refuse to pass on what you’ve gained.

C. (Andrew) I hope we’ve made it clear today that is it is Christ’s expectation that every one of you will be discipling someone else. For quite a few of you this will be your children, but for everyone else you need to find someone in order to follow Jesus.  It might be someone in this room or it might even be someone who is not yet a disciple of Jesus!  You may not be discipling anyone right now, but the critical thing is that you start doing it as soon as possible.

To round things off I want to say this.  Just this week I was reading in Luke 9 the account of the ‘Feeding the five thousand.’  Jesus had gone into the countryside to teach.  A large crowd had followed Him.  As time went by they got hungry and so the disciples told Jesus about this.  Jesus said, “You feed them.”  They replied, “We can’t feed them all.  We only have two loaves and fishes!”  So Jesus prayed.  He had them break them into more manageable groups of fifty.  They fed them and they found they had more than enough food left over.

The analogy is that God wants you to disciple and to help spiritually feed other people.  You may be worried about that, but you don’t have to do it for the whole crowd –just a few.  These people are often ones that God has already placed around you.  Now you might feel inadequate (and think ‘what can I offer?’), but all Jesus asks is that you present the little knowledge and life experience that you have to God.  Then pray and get to know those younger disciples of Jesus around you.  Leave the spiritual results to Him!

Would you please bow your heads?  Please take a moment to ask God for a name or names of someone you can start keeping an eye on this week…a younger Christian with whom you can make a connexion …hopefully establish a friendship where you can input into their life…  “Amen.”

Elevator: Every kid needs key spiritual relationships

I. Last week we talked about how if you combine the red heart of the family with the yellow light of the church you create a powerful new combination that we call ‘orange.’  This combination is far more effective than either on it’s own at spiritually uplifting the next generation.

Now many of you know this, but to quite a few of you this concept is completely new.  It’s not what you were taught or grew up with.  It’s not all that familiar.  What we are talking about is making a complete paradigm change in the way that we disciple our kids and each other.  It’s a new way of seeing and thinking.

I think it’s important at the outset today to talk about why this is so important.

The first reason is biblical.  In 1 Thess. 2:6-12 Paul talks about the way he treats the Thessalonians.  (Let’s read it together).  Paul says, “(6) As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, (7) but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.  (8) We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.  (9) Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.  (10) You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.  (11) For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, (12) encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”

In this passage Paul talks about the roles of mothers and fathers.  He talks about mothers gently caring for their children so that they share not only their own lives with them, but also the gospel.  He talks about Dads encouraging, comforting and urging their kids to live lives worthy of God.  The spiritual behaviour of parents is the model and inspiration for Paul the apostle’s actions.  So if you are a parent or a grandparent today, you have a responsibility to spiritually care for your children.

The second reason is because of the impact parents have.  Do you have any idea of the impact parents can have on their kids?  Look at this clip made by an American church [Clip: Gumballs 1:52]

Now that’s just about the hours available to parents, but imagine the collective hours of everyone here if we harnessed them?  You all have a part to play to reaching the next generation so you need to know the five things every kid (indeed every person) needs.

(A) 1. The first thing a kid needs is A REALLY BIG GOD they can trust no matter what. Kids should grow up knowing that God is big enough to handle whatever they may face.  Kids need to grow up knowing that there is a God that they can depend upon.

This of course has been my family’s situation this week.

For those of you who don’t know several weeks ago Nan Yong was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I want to say thank you to all of you for your love and support.  Heart warming and humbling.

But how do you prepare for this?  Hardship is a great teacher, but so often our faith can be threatened by events that seem to overwhelm us.

E.g. unemployment, disappointment, life threatening cancer

With kids I believe you also have to lay the groundwork before you get there

Faith Five has helped us

Describe: 1-5

Over the last year –talked about highs and lows, e.g. close friends wife died of cancer at the end of last year, praying for Harrison Ford to be come a Christian!

When Nan discovered her cancer it was natural to share it as a low and then to prayer about it.  (More bookmarks if you need it)

Helped Wesley and us know that God is big enough to handle whatever happens.

(K) 2. The second thing a kids needs is SOMEONE ELSE who believes what they believe. Kids need friends who will encourage them to grow in their faith

Proverbs 13:20 “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”

(A) 3. The third things kids need is ANOTHER VOICE saying the same things parents say. As children grow older it becomes more important to have other adults in their lives as spiritual mentors and leaders

Think for a moment ‘who was a significant adult in your early life?’

Several years ago, asked to write a letter to the person who influenced you most in your faith –someone you hadn’t thanked.

The man I chose you wouldn’t credit it looking at him.  My parents taught me so much, but under his care I learnt you could be a Christian and man.  How to survive in the wild, handle a rifle, exercise self-control and take leadership.  Don’t know if any one ever really thanked him, but he was our BB captain for 21 years.

Children and young people need people like him -adults in the church, teachers, and youth pastors, spiritual grandparents, who can complement what their parents are saying.  They need people who can round out what their family is saying.

In short they need you.

(A) 4. But kids also need UNCOMMON SENSE to help them make wise choices

God’s point of view and His truth should become the filter for how kids view life and make decisions

What happens, as they grow older is that kids authority need to transition from parents and church to the Bible

The Bible needs to be the basis upon which they make decisions.

In this way they gain access to the voices of the past and beyond that to God

Requires:

a. Knowledge and love of the Bible,

b. Conversations about life and scripture

It’s not about just making ‘right’ choices, but ‘wise’ ones.

WWJD?

(K) 5. NOSY PARENTS who know where their kids are spiritually

Kids need parents who will be intentional about spending time together as a family and staying actively involved in their children spiritual growth.

Slide 1 – INTENTIONAL

Slide 2 - TOGETHER)

Slide 3 – Deut 6: 4-9 “Fix these words of mine on your hearts and minds.  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.”

Slide 4 – INVOLVED

Slide 5 – Start by asking yourself the following questions:

1.  What do I want my child to become?

Provs 3:5,6     Matt 22: 37-40

2.  Where are they now?

3.  How can I help them to take the next step?

Slide 6 – PRAY

C. What we’ve talked about today is that kids (and you) need five key relationships: God, someone else, another voice, the Bible (past), and their parents.

Choose one to work on.  Don’t have to explain it.  Turn to person beside you and name it.  Now mark it on your insert.

Let’s pray…

Many of you will remember how just before Christmas I encouraged you to make some positive goals for this year.  Rather than drifting through 2010 without achieving much of any consequence, I urged you to set specific goals in your work, social, spiritual and physical areas.

One of the goals that I’ve set for myself this year is to get a whole lot fitter and to compete in something, and so for the last month I’ve been running on the treadmill a whole lot and thinking quite seriously about taking part in a half marathon around the middle of year.  Watch this space!

It’s been an interesting experience for me though, because I’ve had to update myself on all the latest thinking on running.  You see when I was at College I was part of a group that contained 50% of the runners in NZ aged under 16 who had completed a marathon, but since then sport’s physiology has moved on.  So every once in a while I head over to my favourite library, ‘Gloria Jeans’ in Borders at Sylvia Park, grab a coffee and read up on what the experts are currently saying.

One of my most recent discoveries has been that when you start running it takes 3-4 weeks for your heart and lungs to adjust, 3-4 months for your muscles to get used to it and 6-12 months for your skeleton to finally catch up!  Which makes taking up running sound like some form of protracted torture, but at least it tells you that things will get better!

One of my favourite discoveries, however, has been on the benefits of cross training.  Cross training is where you do a different kind of exercise (that uses a different set of muscles) on your rest days so that you continue to get fitter, but don’t overstress yourself with one particular activity.  So in my case it means that I can jog three days a week, swim twice a week, have a fast day and a rest day, and still keep improving.  And it’s all based on the idea of ‘synergy’ –that two separate things working together can create a better result than they ever could have on their own.  The two things complement each other and reinforce the goal that you are aiming for.  Maybe you can think of some areas in your own life where you benefit from synergy?  (Suggestions??)

Yes ‘synergy’ is an important concept and I believe that we need to grab hold of spiritually.  In fact I believe that it’s critically important for us to understand synergy if the Christian faith is going to thrive in New Zealand and if you want to see the next generation coming to faith in Christ.  In the end synergy may determine what kind of country you ultimately wind up living in.

What I mean is that over the last few decades we have witnessed a tragedy of sizeable proportions taking place in our nation.  It’s been a little bit like watching the tide going out, and wondering when it’s going to come back in again.  Some experts trace the problem right back to the mid-fifteenth century when the English upper class began to take the Bible less seriously, but since the 1960’s we have witnessed a significant decline in faith and church attendance amongst younger generations (with all the resulting social problems that you see today).  For example, New Zealand has always had a moderate, but significant proportion of its population who attend church.  The long-term average is about 30%, but in recent years the true number attending regularly, that is at least once a month, has dropped to round about 20%.  More importantly, however, while 20% of the population are over 60 years of age, 41% of church attendees are in this age group. And at the other end of the scale, while 20% of the population are between 20 and 29 years of age, little more than 8% of those in church on Sunday are from this particular age group.

What’s becoming clearer is that we are not passing on Christian faith and values to the next generation as effectively as we could, and this is causing a major rethink. Because as long as families do only what they are currently doing, then they will only get the results that we currently getting, and as long as churches do only what they are currently doing, we will only get the results we are currently seeing.

Something needs to change and part of the answer experts are saying is be to found in this principal of ‘synergy.’

So would you please turn in your Bible’s to Luke 2:41-52 (it’s different than the one advertised) and let’s read it together.

In this passage we see that Jesus parents Joseph and Mary take him up to the Passover Festival at the age of 12 in Jerusalem. It was their regular custom to attend, but this is Jesus first time.  After the festival is over they journey home, and assume that Jesus is with their relatives and friends who have been with them on the same journey.  Finally they realise that Jesus is not with any of them and after three days of worried looking, they find him right back at the Temple, deep in discussion with the priests.  Everyone there is really impressed with his depth of knowledge for such a young man, but his mother asks, ‘Why have you put us through this?’ He replies, “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my father’s house?” Then it records that Jesus went home obediently with them and that he grew in wisdom and statue, in favour with God and man.

Now putting aside the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, this account illustrates how a young Hebrew person grew up in faith in Jesus day.  It illustrates how two incredibly powerful influences on this planet can come together to have a combined impact upon the next generation and the community.

The first influence is the home.  (Red)

Jesus grew up in home that was devoted to God.  His parents were devout Jews, who headed off to the Passover festival each year.  (You can read that in verse 41).  Joseph and Mary obviously did a good job, because Jesus understood a lot of the Old Testament at an early age.  His family prepared him well.

But observe that there were other homes involved in his spiritual growth.  Uncles, Aunts and other family friends also played their part.  For according to verse 44 Jesus spent so much in the homes of relatives and friends that when Joseph and Mary couldn’t find him, they simply assumed that he was with them.  Jesus, as a Hebrew boy, grew up surrounded by households that had faith.

So why is this so important?

Well, when I was a teenager I used to quip that knowing other people in the church is really important, because in your teen years you come to believe that your parents are: a. Christians, and b. slightly or definitely mad.  It’s a natural stage in growing up.  But if you know a whole lot of other homes that follow Christ (single, married, different age groups) and they also go to church, then you can conclude that c. they can’t all be mad, so maybe being a Christian isn’t so bad after all!

But seriously the reason why homes are so important is this.  After deducting time off for holidays, sickness and wagging, how many hours do you think young people get at Kidzone, Pulse or Socket to grow in their spiritual walk?  [Response?]  Yes, about 40 hours.  How much time do they spend in your homes or other peoples homes each year where they can learn about God?  About 3,000 hours!

Now I don’t want to make church sound like a prison, but most of their growth happens on the ‘outside.’ Think about these quotes: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it,” Proverbs 22:6 “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man,” Francis Xavier.“ It takes a whole village and their homes to raise a child!” I hope you’re beginning to see that the primary place where the next generation learns about their faith is not here at PBC, but in and around your homes.

But the other major influence that we see upon Jesus is the institution of the church (or Temple) –it’s programs and it’s leaders (Yellow).  What we can see from verse 46 is that Jesus thought it was perfectly normal to sit with the priests and other spiritual leaders and to discuss with them spiritual matters. His parents had taught him to respect and value what the Temple had to offer.  They understood its importance and encouraged him to take part.

The thing is that today people can write the church off, even Christian sometimes do it, but the church provides an incredibly valuable function in society.  Amongst all its tasks the churches role is teach people to love God, to explain the Word of God, to equip Christ’s followers for service, to baptise people and celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  It has unique role in helping people find and follow God.

Reggie Joyner tells the story of how, when he was a student at University, he studied under an English literature professor who was extremely anti-Christian.  He often talked about all the atrocities committed by the church, reminded people of the Crusades, and poked holes in the inconsistent behaviour of many Christians.  He seemed to treat all Christians as if they were in the same category -as the most ignorant, narrow-minded and prejudiced people in the world, and it encouraged the other students to gang up on Christians.

One day the conversation became particularly intense, and the handful of Christians in the room grew quiet.  One of the more vocal students blurted out, “Everyone would be a lot better off if we just got rid of all the churches!” As the entire class erupted in applause, his professor interrupted with a statement that shocked everyone. “That would be a tragedy, “ he said. “  If we got rid of the churches, it would be like turning the lights off in our society.  We need churches like we need our conscience.”

So a child without the church’s influence is someone who is being spiritually and culturally deprived.  Jesus shows us that they need the church as well as homes in order for young people grow towards God.
3. But what this account also shows is that homes and the church can do much better job of reaching the next generation if they do it together. You see Jewish children benefited from the synergy that came from the two parties working together.  As one church commentator recently said, “When the red influence of the heart of the family and the yellow influence of the light of the church combine they create a brand new colour, orange. It is stronger and more vibrant than both.”

You see Jesus might never have had such a depth of faith at that age if it has just been all up to his family, nor would Jesus have had it either by just relying upon the Temple to teach Him. The two working together enriched His and every other child’s life in his day.

And it’s the same thing now days. As the church partners with homes something amazing can happen in children and young people’s lives. For example, Reggie Joyner tells the story of how his son came home one day.  He had obviously been in trouble.  He said, “Do you want to talk to me about it?” because he was anxious to know what happened, but his son said “No.” He was about to give his son an earful and to demand to know what had happened, when the Holy Spirit gave him inspiration.  He sucked it in and simply asked, “Then if you don’t want to tell me, is there someone else you can discuss this with?” He said, “Yes.” It turned out that it was his youth pastor.  Joyner said it was an enormous relief to realise that because of the relationships they had worked very hard at, at least his son would be able to talk about his problems and find solutions with someone who shared his Christian values.

Isn’t that worth having?  That’s an example of what many people are finding –that when churches and homes partner together, they are all better able to train the next generation in the teachings of Scripture and in how to live as Jesus lived.

But the big question is, ‘are we willing to do it?  Are you willing to do this?’ E.g. If you have kids, will you take responsibility for their spiritual development as Joseph and Mary did for Jesus? If you don’t have children or young people at PBC, are you willing to let them into your home and your life like an aunt or an uncle did for Jesus?  Will we as a church organisation equip and resource people so that they can help the next generation grow as disciples of Jesus?

These are simply questions that we need to wrestle with if we want to see more people become like Jesus.  They’re part of an on-going conversation every person needs to have in their church.

So I’d like to ask this question to close -what could happen if the church and its homes came together with a common vision and strategy to lead the next generation into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ? What would happen then?

I believe that it could change the world and eternity forever! Folks, there is too much at stake to ignore this issue.  So next week, we are going to look at how we squeeze the Orange and for the sake of those who are yet to come get the most out of it for them!

Prayer:  Thanks that our homes and the church forever in a symbiotic link drawing strength from and giving support to each other.  Help us to be willing to re-examine how our home relates to the church and vice versa in order that your will be done and your kingdom come.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

Over the summer many of you will have seen the desperate stories coming out of Haiti. We haven’t talked must about it here at PBC, but many of you will have been moved by the media’s various stories of over 200,000 people killed, Port au Prince the major city reduced to rubble, the desperate search for survivors, and the chaotic struggle to get aid supplies in. One story that’s been mentioned though, but slightly overlooked has been the astounding story of the faith and heroism of Haiti’s churches.
Just this week I was deeply stirred to read a report on Second Baptist Church in Port au Prince. The Sunday after the disaster they meet in the rubble of their collapsed church to worship God. Pastor Vilneus [that’s in him in the photo] stood and preached from Matthew 24 that “Every stone will be cast down.” He urged the people of his congregation to look to Jesus and he reminded them that Jesus was present right there in their current situation. They ended their service by shouting “Victory, victory, alleluia, alleluia.”

Now to be honest you and I might not completely agree with some of the things he said in his sermon, but consider this: the Catholic National Cathedral next door was completely destroyed by the earthquake, every church including his own is wrecked (they have no roof), Second Baptist Church has lost 50% of its 3,000 members, the Pastor has lost his home, and his best friend, although fortunately not his family. The church rubble is being used as a shelter. Elders are housing people in their homes, and yet they stand up on Sunday morning and cry, “Victory Jesus! Victory, alleluia, alleluia.”

You know it’s bizarre, but there is something incredibly heroic about the Christian faith in situations like this. I mean, many non-religious people might just say, “That’s life man. It sucks. You just have to harden up and try again!” Some might even say, “It just proves that there is no God,” but the Haitians Christians, although shattered and tested, are finding their strength and consolation in Jesus! It’s like something amazing happens when you put real Christians under real pressure.

We’ve seen the same thing to a lesser extent here in NZ. Think of some of the major news stories of the last few years’ -the Elim canyoning tragedy, the murder of Austin Hemming, and the disappearance of Aisling Symes. These all affected regular Christian families and yet their faith shone through their troubles. Their love, hope, confidence, forgiveness, and resilience have been evident to us all in their darkest hour. In fact I believe that Christianity is beginning to enjoy a much higher profile in New Zealand, because although some secular people might not like everything that some Christians believe, the Christian faith and it’s sheer vitality is becoming incredibly attractive and appealing in our day and age!

And you all know what I’m talking about. Some of you in PBC have risen above unemployment difficulties, the threat of cancer, the death of loved ones, and marriage difficulties, all kinds of things, in the most amazing of ways. There’s what President Obama would call an ‘audacious hope’ within you.

So my question today is where do Christians find the inner resources to overcome such massive obstacles? Why are Christians able to face horrendous circumstances with such grace and composure? Ultimately, where does true peace come from?

I invite you to open your Bibles at Psalm 121 and we are going to look at what is commonly known as a pilgrim Psalm. [Pause] In this Psalm the speaker, a man, is leaving his hometown to head up to Jerusalem to the Temple to worship God. He looks ahead in his minds eye to the two mountains that lie at the end of His journey, Mt Zion and the city of Jerusalem, Mt. Moriah and the Temple itself, and there’s a short moment of anxiety. This man has to travel through hostile, anti-Jewish territory. He will be exposed to travellers’ dangers like sunstroke, thirst and thieves. So like that moment when you hop into the car and first turn the keys at the start of a long journey and you wonder, ‘Will we get there without an accident? Will we all arrive safely?’ he begins with a question. He says, “(1) I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from?”

Maybe you’ve asked that same question before in your quieter moments. Maybe you’ve asked that question about life, because ultimately this Psalm is all about life. Life is a journey. Jesus said, “Follow me,” you’ve followed and you don’t always know where it leads. Life has its ups and downs, and so the Psalmist asks, ‘Where does my help come from?” Then he responds with a series of four awe-inspiring statements.

1. The first thing he says is that “(2) My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I’ll repeat that again so you can take it in – “(2) My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever taken any time to contemplate that statement, but it’s one of the most daring and confident statements that any one can ever make.

The reason I say this is that in the front of my passport it says (I always get a kick out of reading this) –“The Governor General in the Realm of New Zealand requests in the name of her Majesty the Queen all whom it may concern to allow the holder to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful assistance and protection.” In other words, my passport says, “Get out of my way. The Queen of England asks you to help Andrew if he needs it,” but here the speaker looks to an even higher authority, one that existed even before the beginning of the world for their strength! He looks to the Sovereign Lord, creator and maker of universe for help –what an impressive source!

I wonder whom do you look to for your strength and support as you go through life? 400 years ago if you were in church you might have prayed to the saints or to angels for good luck. You would have worn medallions and paid the church indulgences to improve your fortune. Some people still rely upon superstitions for good luck today. But now-a-days many people look to help from man. They expect their family; the government, the church or certain paid professionals to help. They complain that the health system, the welfare agencies, the Council, you name it simply isn’t good enough. They cry out at times that the arm of the law is too short.

But the Psalmist looks beyond the ineffective and the impermanent. He looks beyond the cities of men and the institutions that they build. He raises his eyes to the Sovereign Lord, the maker and creator of our universe, and says, “See it’s you who will help me. I look to you eternal God! I call to you for help.” He chooses a foundation that can never be moved, and says, “I will rely upon God!”

2. The next thing that he says is that (3) He will not let your foot slip; He who watches over you will not slumber; (4) indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” And here he takes a step further with what he’s been saying. Because up to now he has been saying “I rely upon the eternal God. I rely upon this supernatural being that is behind the universe to help me.” And most of us, whether we are Christian today or not, believe that there is something or someone out there, don’t we? We believe that there must be someone around us that we call ‘God.’

But now the Psalmist makes it’s personal. He makes it real. He brings it right down to earth. He says this is not just any God who’s out there (if there is one who can be bothered) [Knock, knock, is there anyone there?] He reminds himself that I am in a covenant relationship with this God. We have a treaty and an agreement between us where He has promised to watch over Jacob and His descendants. I’m a beneficiary of God’s promise to Abraham and all Israel.

To stretch the travel analogy a little bit further, when you travel overseas you can and should purchase travel insurance. Do you remember the last time you bought travel insurance? You can buy insurance from many different companies, but the important point is that you must actually buy a policy if you want to get the benefits. It’s no good having an accident and lying in a hospital overseas wishing that you had bought one. It’s too late then. So you buy one from your travel agent, or Southern Cross or wherever you go, and you hang on to it. In a similar, but far less commercial way the Psalmist says, “I have this special relationship with God!”

And if you’re a follower of Jesus this morning you too have a special relationship with God. Just recently I’ve been reading a book called the ‘The Hidden Power of the Blood of Jesus’ by Pastor Mahesh Chavada. In there he makes the point that the Hebrew word for covenant means ‘to cut.’ Very often in Hebrew culture deals were sealed with ‘a cut deep enough to draw blood. It might be two men cutting their arms and mingling the blood or it might be the sacrifice of an animal and the offering of its blood. But the purpose of the ritual was to bind the two parties together. In this way they entered an unbreakable agreement to work for each other’s good. It was like becoming family and today we refer to this practise as becoming ‘blood brothers.’

Well the point that Mahesh makes is that because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, you are now in a blood covenant with God. God and you are bound by blood! So the God who watches over His people will take an intense interest in you, because you now belong to His flock! In other words, you are never alone. You might feel that at times, but you aren’t. God has not forgotten you, because God is there 24/7. God watches over you and cares. He will not slumber or asleep! As Jesus said, in John 6:37, 39) “All that the Father gives me will come to me… I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” In short, you can never be lost to God’s love.

3. Perhaps that why the Psalmist then goes on to say, “(5) The LORD watches over you; the LORD is your shade at your right hand; (6) the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.” Because God cares for him he knows that things will be okay.

For instance the word ‘shade’ means protection. ‘Right hand’ refers to a person’s point of need. (If you’re right handed you reach out for help with your right hand). So he says God is your protection at your point of need. The word ‘harm’ means to strike. ‘The sun’ refers to sunstroke and thirst. ‘The moon’ may have referred to lunacy, because they thought this was caused by moon stroke. So what he is saying is that God will protect him from all real and imagined danger.

The big question for us all is, of course, how does He do it? I suspect that its in two ways. The Lord rescues you through providence and miracles, and other times the Lord emotionally supports you through great challenges with hope. With enough love and hope in your heart you can just about conqueror anything.

What I mean is that the Psalmist still has to complete his journey. Even though He’s going with God the days will still be stinking hot. He will still get thirsty and weary. Dust will still clog his nose. When he lies down at night dew will still fall upon him. He will still get cold and wet. God may not intervene to soften the day or to ease the night. But what’s the difference? This man is travelling with a full heart! Whether he burns or freezes, he has a heart full of gratitude, a heart full of praise, a heart full of determination, and a heart full of hope. The knowledge of God’s love and care keeps him in a kind of emotional bubble wrap that helps him overcome all of his obstacles.

American ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker tells the story of how his aircraft crashed in the Pacific in 1942 dangerously close to Japanese-held territory. Rickenbacker and his crew drifted at sea in a life raft. Every one was injured to some degree. Their food supply ran out after three days. They were thinking about chopping off someone’s toes to eat, but on the eighth day they prayed. As Rickenbacker later slept a seagull gently landed on his cap. He reached up very carefully and caught it. They divided it up and ate it. That miracle gave them new hope. Although one man died and was buried at sea, the crew didn’t give up. The newspapers reported that they had died. The military planned to abandon the search, but his wife convinced them to try for one more week. Finally the men were rescued off the coast of Samoa after 24 days at sea. What Captain Rickenbacker discovered is the truth that the Psalmist knew. “(The Lord) will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” Isaiah 26:3 TNIV.

4. Finally the Psalmist goes on to say, “(7) The LORD will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life; (8) the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” And isn’t this a wonderful truth, because although he is referring to going in and out of his home, and in and out of Jerusalem, He is also looking ahead to the day when He will die. What He’s saying is that the Lord will be there for all of his life and then even after it ends. Nothing can separate you from your Saviour. God will watch over you until you reach your ultimate destination and He will then watch over you for eternity there.

I saw a card in a Christian bookshop recently that sums it up perfectly. God does not promise you a safe journey, but He does promise you a safe arrival.

So that’s the Psalmists story about the hope that gives him confidence and peace. How about you? The Psalmist reminded himself of these vital truths as he went along on his journey to Jerusalem. Do you remind yourself of these truths as you journey through life? Have you tried?

One neat thing that you can do is to read the Psalms regularly, and keep an eye out for the ones that really speak to you. Then change the words so that it’s as if you are saying them yourself. Personalise them, put your name in them and then say them out loud. It may not always feel comfortable at the start, but it will lift you up, and stretch and enlarge your faith. Sing out the Psalms and discover the peace that God offers.

I’d like to end by inviting you to do that with me right now. You don’t have to sing, but I will invite you to speak. Let’s stand together and read out loud Psalm 121.

“(1) I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from?

(2) My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

(3) He will not let my foot slip; He who watches over me will not slumber;

(4) Indeed, He who watches over me will neither slumber nor sleep.

(5) The LORD watches over me; the LORD is the shade at my right hand;

(6) the sun will not harm me by day, nor the moon by night.

(7) The LORD will keep me from all harm; He will watch over my life;

(8) the LORD will watch over my coming and going both now and forevermore.

Amen.”

Prayer

I. One thing that occurred to me over the summer – we live in a world of so many choices! Sometimes I’m amazed by all the options each of us face. Not just taking about:
a. Subway,
b. Starbucks.

My nephew –Andrew. I show in an interest in Him because same name as me. At College decided to become a games animator. We laughed a bit. Where will you get a job? Finished college. Did one year’s training. Was unemployed, but his family prayed. Got a phone call. Started work in Wellington three days later. Got a 6-month contract as a minor animator on the second biggest move blockbuster in history, Avatar! If you look at the credits, you’ll see it there –my name, Andrew Brown! So he got a job that didn’t exist when I was a kid, works on contracts I never imagined, and by 21 is working on world class projects. Our last discussion was whether he should stay in Wellington, or try San Francisco, Japan or New York to look for work?

There are so many choices, and not just for those in his age group. Each of us face all kinds of choices: Moral choices –what shall I do with whom? Career choices –where do I go? Lifestyle choices –where do I live, what treatment do I have? Spiritual decisions –what do I truly believe?

It’s led me to conclude that if there’s one thing that we all need to navigate through this world, its wisdom. I mean health is nice, good looks are great, a good family helps, but I think wisdom comes out tops. You need tremendous wisdom to know how to make the best choices and to find your way through this maze we call life.

So how do you find it? And how do you know if you’ve got it?

Just recently a book came out recently called ‘Wisdom.’ It had some good ideas by various celebrities, but strangely enough, some of the best wisdom you will ever find for how to live in a modern, multi-choice world doesn’t come from modern authors. It comes from an ancient source that proven very reliable over time. I’m talking about the Bible –in particular the book of Proverbs, most of which was written by one of the wisest people who ever lived, King Solomon. I’d like us to delve in today and see what he says about wisdom.

[Would you read it with me…]

1. Solomon begins by saying that in order to be wise you must invest in wisdom. In order to be truly wise you have to make a commitment to finding wisdom. So many of us are part of the ‘Instant generation’ –we want things right away. Instant coffee, etc. We have to have things ‘now.’ But Proverbs says that wisdom is part of a long-term process. Wisdom is the product of a lifetime.

The thing is thought that all of us like to think that we are wise. We like to imagine that we have the inside information on things, but who amongst us is truly wise? Are you the kind of person according to Proverbs who is on track to become truly wise?
The writer lists five qualities of those who will end up wise.

1. They accept wisdom (v1). They are people who ‘receive’ wise input. Do you receive what other say if it’s wise –your parents, teachers, or mentors. Do you listen to good advice even if it’s dressed as criticism? Many of us resist good advice, rather than accept it, and so we don’t grow as we ought. A person on their way to wisdom is open to input.

2. But more than they hoard it (v2). They store wisdom up. They accumulate wise advice in their memory. I wonder, can you remember a piece of advice or wise words spoken to you that has stuck with you for years? Perhaps someone said something helpful to you and you thought I must remember that. Years later you still can. E.g. someone might have said to you always shake hands firmly. It makes a good first impression. What pieces of advice have you accumulated? [Response]. Then you are on the path to wisdom.

3. However, the wise person is always looking for more wisdom (v2). They are like a vacuum cleaning always sucking up more information. Tell me –how many of you are good at eavesdropping? [Anyone]. Because this passage literally says in the Hebrew that you will prick up your ears whenever there is a chance to hear new wisdom. Are you like that? Is your antennae tuned into gossip or wisdom? Are you interested in learning?

4. The person who is becoming wise will also apply himself or herself to the knowledge (v2). This kind of wisdom is not just about an accumulation of knowledge or facts. There is a man called Ammon Shea who has spent a year reading the Oxford English Dictionary. That’s the 20 volume one. He said that both the letters Q and X were a bit boring. He doesn’t now claim to be any wiser than the rest of us, or to be a better person for all his knowledge, because he hasn’t chewed it over. He hasn’t processed and made sense of it.
When I first pastored in Te Awamutu I lived on a diary farm. Apparently the cows eat the grass, store it in one stomach and bring it back up to chew on it again, before swallowing it probably down. This process breaks the grass further down so it can be properly digested. Do you do the same thing with what you learn?

Do you think about it, weight it up, compare it to other things you know, and decide how you should apply it? A wise person will do these things.

5. But a wise person will also call out for more wisdom. They will cry out for it, or as the Hebrew says, they will “Accost” wisdom. What this means is that a wise person will not be afraid to ask people questions. They won’t be afraid to go and ask someone for answers they seek. Do you seek the right person to give you advice? Do you seek them out? So many people’s dilemmas go unresolved because they simply refuse to put up their hand for a question!

What he’s saying overall though is that a wise person you will pursue wisdom with a vengeance. You must make it a top priority.

There is a story about an Indian guru. A man came to him and said, “Teach me to pray.” He took the man down into the river, and then held his head under until he came up gasping to breathe. He did this three times and said, “When you are a desperate to pray as you are to breathe, then I can help you!”

Proverbs says a similar thing. It says that you should look for it as a miner looks for silver, or a goal prospector looks for gold. Seek wisdom in the same way that many people seek money.

Finding wisdom requires the commitment of a lifetime, but it also says you will find it, if you seek it. God will give it to those who seek. You do the work, but God will provide the wisdom.

2. There is one issue however, that Solomon says you will have to face if you wish to become a wise person, and it is this: how do you work out what is right and what is wrong? How do you decide whether the stuff you’re feeding on is garbage or good? I mean we live in a post-modern world. People will tell you that one opinion is just as good as another. They’ll say, “It all depends upon where you’re coming from.” So how do you know which way is up so that you’re not blown this way and that by the winds of opinion?
For instance I came across a book several years ago by a Pastor Leonard Ravenhill called “Illusions of our culture.” He said that some popular things that people believe are simply fiction, and he went on to list twelve of them. Can you think of some popular wisdom that is simply rubbish?

Let me mention a couple of them. Quite a lot of people will tell you that it’s a good idea to sleep or live together before you get married. The popular opinion is ‘try before you buy.’ But did you know that you are 2,3, even 7 times more likely to get divorced if you lived together before you get married, than if you didn’t. Yes, the statistics tell us that! But whom you know got sucked in and harmed by this popular illusion? Or what about the idea that journalists or movie stars somehow know more about life than you? They seem to get regularly trotted out now for every cause now under the sun. Tell me, what are sports stars excellent at? Sport! What are movies stars excellent at? Starring in movies! You probably know as much as they do on certain issues. So the next time you see one of them on TV offering an opinion on a particular topic think, “That should be me.”

What we need at times Solomon suggests in verses 5-6 is a source that stands above the dust and confusion of everyday life. You need an alternative viewpoint to critique popular ideas from. You need some position from which to get a better perspective and that position He suggests is Gods. We need to see things from God’s perspective. We need to use God’s wisdom to understand things better, because God’s wisdom is not like human wisdom.

I often think of it this way. Several months ago I bought one of these [binoculars]. If I close one eye and look through the left side, I can just about see whose sleeping in the back row. If I close one eye and look through the right side I can still just about see whose sleeping in the back row. If I open both eyes I can definitely see whose sleeping in the back row and all those that are listening a whole lot more! There’s a greater depth and clarity.

And God’s wisdom is like that. If you take the eye of man and the eye of God, when you take what you know and add to it what God knows you have greater clarity and depth. You have what we call “discrimination.” You can discriminate or understand things far more deeply and clearly than ever before.

Just as an example I had a great discussion with my teenage niece recently. She is quite keen on becoming a vegetarian, but she wondered if she had to become a Buddhist first. I was able to pick up a Bible and show her from the scriptures that there is a very strong case for eating less meat. It’s a bit like slavery. It’s not banned in the Bible, but if you follow God’s principles you probably won’t do it. I showed her how God wants us to care for the earth as Christians. However, I then pointed out from Paul’s writing that you are actually permitted to eat and enjoy meat (no doubt in moderation), and how it would be spiritually dangerous to make vegetarianism like another religion. We had a great discussion and it ranged all over the topic in a way that we never would have without this book [the Bible].

You know there’s even more wisdom in here. You just have to keep on digging. But the important thing is that you need a base line or a foundation upon which to base your quest for wisdom. Somewhere you need to put a stake in the ground to begin and Solomon says begin with respect for God.

3. Solomon goes on to says that if you do these two things, i.e. pursue wisdom and you base it upon God’s perspective, then you will reap incredible results. Your life will be all the better for it. I don’t have time to go through in depth so I’ll just give you a quick overview of it.

a. He says that wisdom leads to success (v7). ‘Victory’ comes from living your life with spiritual and moral integrity. Life just works better when you do the right thing.

b. Good judgment (v7). Gives you the discernment you need for living so that you can see and understand all the options in front of you and know which one to take.

c. Provides protection or safety (v8 & v11-12) (In Hebrew: like thorny hedge protecting you from trouble). It will snatch you from away from following evil(s) (v12). Like a train that stays on the track, it is safer.

d. Lastly give you pleasure (as you look back on a well lived life with wise choices, not one whose opportunities have been squandered).
Now when I look at these I ask: ‘Why wouldn’t you want this?’ Why wouldn’t you want wisdom with all your heart?

(It’s not enough to know how to pick yourself up when you call down. To simply forgive and restore as we’ve looked at over the last two weeks. You need to know how to avoid getting into trouble and how to find the best path to take. That’s what wisdom does.
So I urge you to make wisdom a priority. Accept it. Hoard it. Prick up your ears when you hear it. Apply it. Accost and overall pursue it.

C. On a personal note can I just say that I believe that the greatest source of wisdom a person can have is a life based upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God Himself. Sinead has made that decision today. I urge you to do the same. Decide to be wise today.
As a symbol of her decision we want to present her with some Bible study books that will help her to delve into God’s wisdom even more deeply.

Song: “Without You’

Made Whole in the Hands of God

God desires that sin-stained rebels come out of hiding to seek him, broken as they are, to be made whole.

Intro
It all started on November 14 last year. Well, technically it started a few years ago, but bear with me.

25 Nov – a US tabloid runs a story suggesting Tiger may have cheated on his wife of 5 years, Elin.

27 Nov – Tiger crashes his car into a tree outside his home. Speculation surrounding the circumstances is rife.

29 Nov – Woods releases a statement accepting blame for the accident and expressing disapproval of rumours surrounding the ordeal.

2 Dec – US weekly magazine publishes an interview with a woman who claims to have had a 2 ½ year affair with Woods. Woods releases a statement on his website expressing regret for his ‘transgressions’ and the impact they have had on his family. He adds that he wishes to keep personal matters out of the media.

4-11 Dec – Further women emerge from the woodwork, claiming affairs with Woods.

11 Dec – Woods announces he is taking an indefinite break from golf for his family and apologises for his infidelity.

This is about the last that’s been reported on the incident, aside from further speculation about divorce and counselling. The media has swarmed on the story because everyone is thinking, “Tiger Woods… who would’ve thought?” Paul Holmes wrote in the Herald on 13 December: “The sudden, incredible destruction of the career and image of Tiger Woods just continues to amaze. In terms of destruction it is rivalled only by the Titanic. It is the human equivalent of the giant, unsinkable ship colliding fatally with the iceberg in the dead of the cold black night in the wastes of the North Atlantic, to lie within a couple of hours dead, 3000ft below [on] the frigid ocean floor.” He later reflects on the way the scandal has humanised Tiger, helping him step down off the pedestal of perfection that was created for him, whether intentionally or not.

King David got himself into a similar predicament – no, he wasn’t a pro golfer, and he wasn’t endorsed by Nike. But like Tiger, for whatever reason, David saw a woman that wasn’t his wife, and wanted her …and got her. Not only that, but they had a baby together. And when he couldn’t cover up that the baby was his, he had this woman’s husband killed. That’s where David is a little different from Tiger.

Last week Andrew reflected on Psalm 32, David’s request for forgiveness. This week I’d like to look at another Psalm that David wrote in response to his wrongdoing. Open up your Bible to Psalm 51 and we’ll have a look in a moment. The psalms aren’t a textbook on life, but are poems. This psalm is written as a prayer. Imagine we are reading David’s prayer journal. I find this really interesting, because we get a personal insight into the heart of David at a dark time in his life. We get to sit in on his conversation with God. So like I say, this isn’t a textbook, but we do get to see a facet of how David relates to God, so we can learn something.

Let’s read.

1Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
5 For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.

16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Keep your Bibles open, because we’ll come back to elements of this passage as we go along.

Hiding from God
Did you ever have a situation as a kid where you knew you’d done wrong, and then your parents call you in? For me, it’d be like this: “Gareth Kenta Davies, come inside! Your father would like to see you.” You know when they use your full name that you’re in trouble. I remember one time I knew I’d stuffed up big time; I couldn’t handle the potential telling off I’d get, so I ran down into the farm. I camped out under a tree, about 100m from the house, for 45 minutes or so, then I gave up waiting and went inside. I’m willing to guess most of you have similar stories from your childhood.

So imagine the same situation, except that the kid is David, and instead of breaking some vase or whatever, he’s broken his marriage vows and murdered a guy, and instead of having dad to deal with, he has God. You can imagine he would want to run away for longer than 45 minutes.

Aware of failure
It’s interesting, then, that this poem seems to be written when David is prepared to face God. Have a look at verse four: Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.” Now, this isn’t absolutely true because he’s wronged more people as well as God, but he goes to God as the primary person he has sinned against. He is willing to admit that he didn’t get things right.

I was reading the story of Adam and Eve the other day and what amazed me was the way both of them passed the buck when confronted with their wrongdoing. Adam was asked if he’d eaten the fruit, and he said, “it was the woman’s fault.” God asks Eve and she says, “it was the serpent’s fault.” Now, technically speaking, all three had a part to play, and some people even blame God for making the serpent in the first place. But my point is that neither Adam nor Eve was prepared to take responsibility for their actions. They only deflected the questions.

Hiding in the Dark
In verse six, there are two Hebrew words that have been combined here as ‘womb’. They are tûchâh, meaning your innermost being, and sâtham, meaning that which is covered. I think this adds extra meaning to what’s being said; God asks that we would be honest with him right to our core, and those areas of our lives that we try to cover and hide from him are still visible to him and accessible for his correction. Isaiah 29:15 says, ‘What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The Lord can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!” (NLT).

What I’ve learned through my experience, and the experience of others, is that, metaphorically speaking, we fit somewhere between nocturnal, like a cockroach, and diurnal, like a bird. Birds don’t get up to much at night, so light’s not a big deal to them. But cockroaches are used to hanging out in the dark. Have you ever lifted up a log during the day, or turned on the light at night, only to find a cockroach scurry away? They can go pretty fast when they are exposed to the light! Similarly, when we have been keeping secrets in the dark, the light is a source of fear.

In John’s first letter, he wrote, “God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.” (1 John 5b-7, Msg) In the light, all of our dirt is exposed, but in the light we can be made clean, not because of what we do, but because of who he is (Isa 43:25).

More than Forgiveness Required
I don’t want to downplay the significance of forgiveness, but I think there is more required than forgiveness here. Forgiveness lays the foundation to heal a relationship, but there are still consequences that may need attention. In the passage I read, David asks God to not only to forgive him, but also to “blot out the stain of [his] sin”. Even after forgiveness has been offered, there can still be stains. So David also looks to God as a stain-remover.

I don’t know how much experience you have with stain removers, but what I’ve found is you sometimes have to use a bit of elbow grease. Cleaning can be quite a workout at times! Although, I’ve noticed from ads recently that this is changing. The strength of the products has increased so that the work you do can decrease. ‘BAM! And the dirt is gone’, as they say. The thing is; no matter how strong a product is, you still have to do something. These stains aren’t going to disappear if you just sit on the couch. I think it’s the same with the metaphorical stains I was talking about earlier; we can appeal to God to help us clean up the mess we’ve made, but that doesn’t mean we can sit idly by. It’s not as easy as waving a wand, or imagining everything’s better.

Going back to our Tiger Woods story, if his wife forgives him, he still has to prove himself trustworthy, which takes time. He has to show that he is committed to the family and making his marriage work. He has to cut the connection he has had with the other women, and show his wife that his heart belongs to her and her only. The change of heart required can not be forced and the restoration that he desires is ultimately in God’s hands.

I’d like to delve into this restoration prayer more, but first I’m going to look a little more at the rest of the psalm.

Broken
In this book The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal tells the story of the day he was plucked from a Nazi work camp and taken to the bedside of a dying SS member. The man tells Simon stories of the atrocities he has committed and how his incapacitation has forced him to relive those moments over and over in his memory. After this detailed confession he asks if Simon can forgive him as a representative of the Jews who had died at his hand.

We find David at a similar place through the anguish expressed in this psalm. He is imprisoned by the guilt of his actions, and experiences such deep regret that he feels as if his bones have been broken. In fact, he says God has broken him. But he never descends into a pity party where ‘I deserve to be punished like this and everything that goes wrong is my fault’. No, he keeps looking up to God to lift him from the mud.

He has come to the conclusion that God’s judgement is fair and right, and he trusts God’s decisions, but that doesn’t stop him from asking God for mercy. Have you noticed that it’s in these desperate times that we see the true value of the relationship? A few weeks back in the boys’ small group we looked at Matthew 5:3. It says, “God blesses those who are poor and realise their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” (NLT). When we are at our lowest – at the end of our tether – that’s when we need to be with him most. So that’s exactly what is happening here.

Made Whole Purpose
I’d like to point out that all of this isn’t just about us. It isn’t just about having a clean conscience and a white shirt again. Twice David talks about the witness he’ll be to others. He talks about teaching other rebels God’s ways and about singing of God’s forgiveness. I wonder if we appreciate this side of God’s hand in our lives. Who knows about the times God has intervened and salvaged your life? Who do you tell? Our stories are a powerful witness to others; more powerful than I think we realise.

Restoration Requests
Overall, it is clear that this is a prayer of petition. David knows it is totally within God’s power to make him clean – whiter than snow – and he’s not afraid to ask. There are a lot of requests; I counted seventeen imperatives. And in the middle of all of these I noticed a pattern that I’d like to call the five ‘R’s. I don’t think the sequence is as important as what’s being asked for as a whole. Let’s have a look.

First one: verse nine – “Remove the stain of my guilt”. This one is all about forgiveness. It’s saying, “God, I’m sorry, I made a mistake. I don’t want to get it wrong like that again. I want to make things right again. Please forgive me.” This is what Andrew spoke about last Sunday.

Next, verse 10 – “Create in me a clean heart” or as I see it, ‘replace my heart.’ To us today, the heart is about love and emotions, but in the Jewish understanding, the heart is the centre of your entire being. It is your thoughts, your desires, and your will. So to ask for a replacement heart isn’t just saying “I want to feel better”, it’s saying “change my thoughts, make me desire good things; give me your will, because mine didn’t work so well.” I see this as the core of the psalm. David doesn’t only want to get back on track, he wants to follow a different track where he can honour God.

In the same verse there’s another R: “renew a loyal spirit within me”. This continues along similar lines, asking God to rebuild from the rubble and restore his temperament so he is not at odds to his Creator.

Next I have remain, in two forms: “Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.” David is asking that God would allow him to remain near, and that the presence of the Holy Spirit would remain within him. When there’s significant hurt between you and a friend, it’s easy to distance yourself, but David wants to stay close.

In verse ten we find restore: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation”. David wants to know the delight that he previously experienced by being rescued by God. His downfall had led him to question the security of his salvation, so he asked that God would stitch things up.

There is a sixth ‘R’ that is not a request but an offer. David says that if God would do these things, he will help the lost return to him. Like I said earlier, God’s work in our lives isn’t going to be just for our sake. What has God done in your life that would help you help others?

What God Wants
There are two places in the passage where David talks about what God desires. The first is in verse 6, which I talked about earlier and the second is in verse 16 and 17. “You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” This is about approaching God in the right spirit. The Message translation reads, “Going through the motions doesn’t please you…”

I have a policy with my wife Andie that I will not buy her flowers when I have done something to hurt her. I know, it sounds rough, but I believe it devalues the gift, and comes across as trying to buy my way out of the situation. But you know what? When I’m in such a situation, I still want to just make things right and move on. Guys are prone to wanting to fix things while girls want to talk through the feelings behind it. The fact is, it’s not about the gift, but the relationship. David recognises that God’s not after an animal sacrifice, and he presents himself and his broken heart as a sacrifice. This is the context for his prayer.

Conclusion
I wonder if God has been speaking to you recently about any of this. Is there something interrupting your relationship with him? Have you been broken by your mistakes or those of others? Is there a part of this prayer you would like to pray for yourself? In him we can find not only forgiveness, but also restoration. It is through the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus that we are reconciled to God, and reconciled to ourselves.

Paul wrote, “Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Cor 5:14b-17 NLT

In a moment I’m going to pray, and I’d like to provide a time where you can each offer your own prayer to God. I don’t expect you to pray aloud, although you’re welcome to. And if you’d like someone to pray for you or talk with you, our prayer team will be up the front here following our final song.

Let’s pray.

As many of you will know when we came to PBC in 1995 it was part of a dream run.  Nan Yong and I were married at the end of our time at Carey Baptist College and straight away we went on a trip to South Korea with Rotary International.  When we got back we prayed for a cheap, but good flat.  We had our eye on one in Kohimarama, but there were heaps of other applicants and I couldn’t make the interview so I asked Nan to give the guy my card.  It was my card from the Rotary trip.  He gave us the flat right away. Turned out he was a Rotarian!

Then I asked the Lord for 6 months work as an accountant before pastoring for the very first time.  I got a 6-month contract with NZI and as the 6 months began to run out I asked Nan Yong where we should go and live if I didn’t get a pastoral call.  We decided on Pakuranga.  Within 1-2 weeks of deciding that we got a call from PBC. How would you like to come to an interview about becoming our Pastor?” We thought, “How convenient!!” And the moment I drove into the car park at PBC for the interview I just knew that this was where the Lord was calling us -and sure enough he did!

Things were going very well indeed until I decided to visit the bank.  We needed a mortgage so that we could buy a house in the area.  I walked into the office with hope high in my heart.  I sat down in the seat opposite the agent.  I said, “I’m a Pastor.” He said, “I’m a Christian, too.” Right, I thought – another miracle –now we’re home and hosed. ‘So tell me how big is your church?’ he asked. “Oh about 90 adults, but it’s going well!” A big smile lit up my face. “And how long have you been a pastor there?” “Nearly two months,” I replied still grinning like an idiot.  How long was this going to take [look at watch]? “How many churches have you pastored before?” he asked politely. “Oh, just this one, but it’s going great so far!” I said.  And then he dropped the bombshell -“Well get a letter from your church stating what your income is, and then, maybe, maybe, we’ll take another look!”

Do you remember that scene from Maxwell Smart where he is walking down a corridor of doors and every single one of them opens in front of him, except the last one, which I think swings back and hits him right in the nose?  Well, it felt like that.  Okay, it wasn’t an outright “No,” just a “maybe,” but it wasn’t supposed to happen like this!  It was supposed to be a shoo-in.  I mean we were on a roll!

But what we had were ‘MISMATCHED EXPECTATIONS.’ I expected to get in automatically on the first visit.  We didn’t.  He wanted to vet me very careful before he entrusted the bank’s precious money to me, and that’s what he did.

So what about you?  Has there ever been a time in your life when you thought you were ‘the man’ or ‘the woman,’ but instead you got turfed out? Mismatched expectations?  Was there some girl or a guy, and you thought “Yeah, they’ll be cute on me,” but they weren’t?  Was there a job you went for?  You thought you were the ‘one.’ Only they didn’t see it.  You thought you should have won that auction on Trade Me, but some other blighter beat you to it?  How did it feel?  How did you respond?

So what if Jesus isn’t that impressed with your application to be one of His disciples?  What if you and Jesus have got mismatched expectations?  What then?

You see in our passage today two men come and talk to Jesus about being His disciples, and they are very surprised by His reaction.  Jesus does not deal with them as they expect.

The first man is a scribe.  He is what the Greeks called a ‘Grammateus.’ He was an expert at handling documents, which meant that he could read and write –a rare skill in those days.  This man had competed an apprenticeship under a Rabbi, maybe even several Rabbi’s, so He knew what being a student or follower of a religious leader was like.  Also he had authority like a lay preacher in the Methodist or Anglican Church.  He could talk with the Pharisees like a colleague.  So he had training, intellect and experience.  He would be an asset for anyone to have, but Jesus says, “What do you want to follow me for?  I don’t even have a place to lie my head.”

The second chap is already a disciple of Jesus.  He’s not one of the twelve disciples, but part of Jesus wider circle.  He too thinks he knows what being a disciple is all about –and Jesus wants this guy to come with Him, but then this guy kind of applies for leave.  He says, “Look I’ll come with you Jesus …once my Dad is dead!”  Jesus says, “Well, if that’s how you feel, you are already dead yourself.  Now sort yourself out!  Are you coming with me or not?”

So both in their own way are excellent prospects. They expect everything to go okay (no problems getting along with Jesus [thumbs up]), but Jesus blows their expectations right up out of the water.  In fact Jesus behaviour is bizarre!  It’s an enigma.  I mean, if Jesus is the bank manager, then these two guys are the applicants, and they are excellent applicants.  Jesus should have welcomed them with open arms.  After all it’s a bank manager’s job to make loans and it’s a Messiah’s job, surely, to recruit followers.  Yet Jesus pulls them both up short [Halt!].  So what’s going on here?  How do you make sense of this and how does it affect your future?

Well, we need to loop back a little bit to the start of events.  We need to gain a little perspective in order to understand this event. In the verses just prior to this passage Jesus has taught the greatest sermon ever preached.  On a hillside just outside Capernaum in northern Israel Jesus introduces the world to God’s dream of a brand new world.  Jesus has a ‘Martin Luther King’ moment – “I have a dream!” – and He lays out all the changes God is going to make in our lives.  That same crowd then follows Jesus down the hill into Capernaum where He lives, and on the way Jesus unleashes a stunning series of miracles to show that He has the power to do this.

You see it’s one thing to say you’re going to bring about change.  It’s another thing to be able to actually do it. I don’t mean to pick on the politicians, but how many of them have promised us one thing or another, but not been able to deliver it?  Jesus shows that He has power from God to do it.  He has AUTHORITY.

In the first miracle a leper approaches Jesus as He is heading through the fields towards town.  Now he wasn’t necessarily a leper.  He might just have had a dreadful skin disease, but he does a no-no. He approaches Jesus, which He isn’t supposed to do!  You see in that day and age lepers weren’t allowed to approach people.  In that day and age lepers were supposed to tear their clothes, wear their hair long, stay isolated from people, and cover the lower part of face and cry out “Unclean!  Unclean!” so that people could stay away from them. But he approaches Jesus and asks him if He is willing to heal him, and Jesus says, “I am willing.” Immediately He heals him.  Just like that that.  It’s done!  Jesus crosses a very strong SOCIAL boundary in order to help him.

Then He instructs the man not to tell anyone, but to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem and to offer gifts there that show that He has been healed. Unfortunately the man doesn’t do that.  We know this from one of the other gospels.  Instead he blabs it to everyone else, except the Temple priests, which is a shame.  Because the purpose of Jesus first miracle is to warn the leaders of Israel that He has arrived!  The Messiah has landed.  The Son of God is here.  The King is in His house to claim His own!

But in the second miracle a Roman centurion approaches Jesus just as he is entering the town.  This man is the commander of a 100-man unit in the Roman army.  He is a tough, battle hardened veteran, but he’s worried about his servant who is suffering in great pain at home.  This centurion not only believes in God, but he actually believes that Jesus is God and can heal his servant.

But what is unusual about this event is that Jesus, as a Jew is not allowed to visit this man’s home. Everyone knew this.  The whole Empire knew it.  It was considered spiritually unclean for a Jew ever to eat food with a non-Jew (a Gentile) or to enter their home.  But what does Jesus do?  Jesus immediately (in the Greek text it says He emphatically) says, “I will go!” This time Jesus crosses the major ETHNIC boundary of His day to help somebody.

Now the Centurion realises this.  It’s obvious in what He says.  He is culturally sensitive and embarrassed enough to know that Jesus shouldn’t do this, so says, “Just say the word and it will be done.  You don’t need to actually come.” It’s an extraordinary act of faith and Jesus praises Him for it.  In fact it shows that even if the Jewish people reject Him (like the leaders in Jerusalem do), many others from all over the world will become a part of His Kingdom.  People of every tribe and tongue will follow Him.

c. But then, thirdly, Jesus gets to Peter’s Mother’s place, and she is bed sick with fever, probably malaria.  So what does Jesus do?  He goes over, touches her hand and heals her.  She is so grateful she gets up, cooks for and feeds Him.  Now this event is meant to be re-assuring.  It shows that Jesus comes home to the Jews and gives them another chance to lovingly follow Him.

But did you notice what He just did?  Was anyone shocked by it?  Jesus just healed a woman!  Shock, horror!  [Put on stole] “I thank you God that you did not make me a non-Jew, a slave, or a woman.” This is what many men in the Jewish community were taught to pray every day!  And yet Jesus bothers to reach out and to heal a woman!  So again Jesus steps across another major boundary to rescue someone -this time a GENDER gap.

Then after dark the crowd bring the demon-possessed and the sick to him and Jesus heals them all.  Jesus uses His authority as the Son of God to heal the marginalized, the despised and the excluded of society.  Write this on a big banner.  This is what Jesus is all about!  Jesus is going to die on the cross to deal with all the sin and the suffering of this sorry world that we live in.  Jesus will pay the ultimate price with His blood to build the foundation of God’s new Kingdom.  As Rob Bell says the religious system of His day left the multitudes out, but Jesus welcomed them all into His kingdom. Anyone could come as well as any other. They still can. This is the gospel.

But not everyone who is invited comes in!  In verse 18 Jesus plans to cross the lake, and this is very deliberate.  Like John Wesley did, Jesus often spent the day with the crowds, but at night He withdrew with the very interested ones, His disciples, for deeper teaching.  As Jesus is about to go the two disciples that we talked about earlier approach him.  They probably want to get in the boat with Him.  They probably think that they belong on the other side of the lake with Him.  (Now let’s make sense of this…)

But what the scribe it turns out is actually looking for is a plumb job –a good position.  Like many of you, you want to live in the best suburb or the best country.  You want to work in or run the best company.  You want to attend the best school or university because the best prospects are usually there.  This scribe is no different.  This guy is no fool.  Jesus is the rising star of the Jewish religion.  He could become a top Rabbi.  He wants to attach Himself to Him.  Who knows?  Maybe Jesus will form a prestigious, well-funded new institute that will have a cosy, important little job in it for him?

But Jesus can’t offer that to him.  Jesus has come to give the kingdom to the marginalized, the poor and the most excluded people of this planet.  Jesus is going to violate the world’s strongest social, political, ethnic, cultural, and gender-based boundaries in order to do this.  It will cost him everything.

So He has to say, “Man, maybe this is too much for you!  Maybe this is too tough for you to do!  You need to think about this.  Are you up to this kind of lifestyle?” What He is saying to this hasty disciple is ‘MAKE SURE YOU COUNT THE COST’ because this could cost you everything!

And the same thing applies to you.  You know many preachers’ they say, “Come to Jesus and be healed.” [Pause]  Is this really what Jesus offers? Maybe Jesus is really saying, “Come for Me. Come with Me.  Come build My Kingdom.  Find my healing along the way.” So, if some of you say, for instance, “Andrew, I’m not sure I’m ready to be baptised and to become a disciple of Jesus,” I’m sad, but I say, “That’s fine.” Because Jesus wants you to be ready when you commit.  Jesus wants you to weigh it all up (this whole world that we live in) and then commit yourself to Him without any reservations.  So the big question for some of you today is, ‘how are you going to count the cost?’

But the second man who came to Jesus, he knew the score.  He knew what Jesus was on about.  He knew what and how Jesus was building.  He wanted to go, but ‘all‘ he was asking for was time to bury his Dad.  This was his most sacred obligation.  This was one of the most important things that a Jewish man could ever do!  The Jewish Rabbi’s taught that you did not have to pray, or even keep the religious rules, if you needed to bury your Dad.  But there was only one problem!  His Dad wasn’t dying yet.  What he was really saying was “Sure Jesus, I’ll follow you, but not just yet!”

He was a cautious disciple and Jesus word to Him is ‘COMMIT.’ He says, “You know the score.  You know where spiritual and eternal life is.  You know that following me gives life an eternal meaning and purpose that you will never ever find elsewhere.  So get on with it!  I want you to be with me!”

And this might be Jesus word to you today.  Even if you’re already baptised, what are you putting off?  Why are you putting Jesus off?  What might be holding you back?  Why delay doing what is most important thing in your life –following and obeying Him?  Are you going to wait until your life is over before you do this?  Jesus says if you aren’t following Him, your life is already over -meaning nothing is more important than this!

So what are the next steps you will take to either count the cost or to commit? How are you going to move out of your comfort zone, the rut you are in?  I want to encourage you to do two things this week.

The first one is to have some conversations with others.  Maybe you can talk about it in your small group, or go out for coffee with a trusted friend.  Process what we’re talking about here.  Talk about what you need to let go of in order to follow Jesus more closely.  Find out what you are going to do in order to commit your life unreservedly to following Christ.

And then will you let us know, if you are comfortable, what you have decided on a yellow communication card next Sunday?  Maybe you decide to be baptised, maybe you decide to become a member of this band of disciples, maybe you increase your giving, and maybe you decide to study or to volunteer to serve God in some capacity somewhere?  Whatever it is, whatever you decide to do, please feel free to let us know.

And can I urge you to remember just one more thing before we close.  Just because you’re not ready, it’s doesn’t mean this is over with.  Jesus is still waiting in that boat for you.  Do you remember that loan I was turned down for at the beginning?  I subsequently thought about things, changed my approach, got my documents together and went back to another branch of that bank.  I got that loan we needed, and we have never looked back!  You can sort things out to be a disciple of Jesus!  You can look forward to a long and rewarding discipleship –so …just… go for it!

Would you please bow your heads?  As your head is bowed I want to ask you two questions.  1.  What do you know you need to do to count the cost and become a disciple of Jesus?  2. What do you need to do in order to commit to what you have started?

“Lord, may you grant each person here the courage to do what they know they need to do this day, this week. In Jesus name.

Amen.”

I want to begin today by saying “It‘s good to be a guy!” I mean this is Father’s day, so we can say these kinds of things!  Men, who thinks it’s great to be a guy?

Just recently I came across a list of reasons why it’s good to be a guy.  See what you think of these?  It’s great to be a guy because: Phone conversations only last 30 seconds.  Bathroom queues are 80% shorter.  You can be showered and ready for work or church in under 10 minutes.  You know really useful things about tanks and aeroplanes.  You never have to clean the toilet.  If someone forgets to invite you to an event, they can still be your friend, and if another guy turns up at a party wearing the same clothes as you, you might even become lifelong mates.  PTL -the same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe even decades.  Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.  In fact the general rule is one wallet, one pair of shoes, one colour, all seasons!  Guys don’t have to shave below their neck.  They never need to worry about other people’s feelings.  Besides flowers fix everything.  They can also admire Clint Eastwood without having to starve themselves to look like him!  And chocolate well it’s just another snack.  A well-delivered burp is okay and even expected.  Christmas shopping for 15 people can be completed on Christmas Eve and all in 45 minutes, and best of all, the remote control is yours and yours alone!  Well I hope you can laugh along with those, even you ladies.

But let’s also admit that there has been quite a long time in NZ when we have been unsure if it’s a good thing to be a guy. In New Zealand at least for the last few decades there’s been a lot of uncertainty about what it really means to be a man.  You see when I was growing up in ‘Smallville’ in the 1960’s things were very simple.  (We’ll need some volunteers.  Can I have a man and a woman please?).  This was woman [apron and frying pan] and this was man [rugby jersey and beer jug].  But then somewhere along the way something changed [women swaps pan and apron for briefcase].  Women went out to work.  Women’s roles changed from homemaker to [sheepishly hand back pan] super-woman. After that men weren’t too sure who they were.  I mean, what were they needed for? As one feminist even stated, “A woman needs a man in the same way that a fish needs a bicycle!” It left many men wondering [scratch your head] ‘what does it mean to be a man?‘ So the men changed too in response to women.  We saw the emergence of (can we have two more guys) family man [car wash brush and soccer ball], the wild man –also known as ‘the outdoors guy’ [wheel & helmet], and the metro-sexual [picture of David Beckham]!  The good news, though, the good news is that just in the last few years’ men have been finally breaking free of these stereotypes and are figuring out who they are for themselves!  Men are felling free to say “That’s not me either.” Some men are entering a new era of understanding of who and what God has called them to be, and I call it the second coming of man.  (Thanks guys –you can have a seat.  Let’s give them a round of applause).

You see what I think many men are just beginning to wake up to is two things. The first is that every man is a mixture of many different things. We are actually one part family man, one part wild man, one part David Beckham (maybe), one part Brad Pitt, and so on and so on.  Men were never meant to be put into boxes.  After all boxes are just ruts with the ends hammered in.  Men are actually a ‘quality’ blend of many different things.  For example, to help you know what I mean, how many of you struggle to fill in a census form?  If you are South African born Indian living in New Zealand for thirty years, which box do you tick for ethnicity?  If one parent is English and the other parent is Fijian, does that make you Pacific Island?  Just because you have Maori blood, do you automatically have to tick Maori background?  Or is it easier to simply tick all of the above?  We are used to operating on different levels, managing multiple identities depending upon who we are with and what we are doing at the time.  It’s the same thing with men.  We are multi-talented individuals, not monochrome.  The big question is only ‘what elements will you add into your distinctive blend?’

The other thing many men I think are discovering is that men need to see the big picture. Men you need to know where you stand in the grand scheme of things.  Do you define yourself by your relationships to women, by your relationships to other men, to society or to something larger?  I don’t know if it’s just me, but as I’ve said many times before, I don’t want to go to yet another funeral where they say, “He was a good family man.” Yes, we need good family men –men who look after their parents, men who care for their immediate and extended families, but isn’t there more to life than just preserving or passing on your DNA?  Shouldn’t there be days that you will one day look back on when you knew that you were truly alive?  Job knew those days in verses 1-3, and even Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4).

Rick Johnson talks about this issue in the Christian Post.  He recalls how in the movie, ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, a young widower blacksmith meets his father for the first time as his Dad travels to Jerusalem to defend it during the Crusades. The father asks forgiveness for never having been a part of his son’s life, and, with nothing to keep him in his village after the death of his wife and child, the young man follows his father and trains to become a knight. In the short time that they spend together just before his father’s death, the young man matures under his father’s guidance and follows in his footsteps to become a man of honour. Throughout the movie the young knight relies upon his father’s inspiration and example.

In one powerful scene near the end of the movie as he is preparing the city of Jerusalem against attack by overwhelming forces, he makes all the city’s commoners swear to become knights by repeating the same oath that his father gave him: “Be without fear in the face of your enemies, Be brave and upright that God may love thee, Speak the truth even if it leads to your death, Safeguard the helpless. That is your oath!” However the local high priest soon afterwards berates him, “Who do you think you are? Can you alter the world? Does making an ordinary man a knight make him a better fighter?” The young knight looks him straight in the eye and boldly tells him, “Yes!” Look these men who have accepted this challenge to greatness.  They are now swelling up with pride and determination.  Exhortations and expectations of greatness do make a man more than he could ever be without a knowledge of God’s vision for his and every man’s life. As men’s writer Edmund Cole often says, “Being male is a matter of birth, but being a man is a matter of choice.” Sometimes men need to fight for something larger in life (like a Kingdom)!

So what does ‘man’ look like? What does a real man look like?  Where are we now headed in this new day as men?  Well obviously if you are a follower, then it’s towards Jesus.  Jesus is the ultimate male.  All of you will one day look like Him (maybe minus the beard), but since this goal might be little too high, a bit too ideal for most of you today I want us to have a quick look at Job 29. You women will be familiar with Proverbs 31 –‘A Woman of Noble Character.’ That’s where you can turn for a picture of a woman at the height of her powers, but Job 29 is there for the men, and I just want to sketch for you a few brief details of what it takes to be a truly formidable man.

1. The first thing is that a mature man walks with God (v1-3). A man in the prime of his life cultivates an intimate friendship with God.  It has been this way before.  It will always be this way.  You see what you sometimes see in western men, a somewhat lax lack of interest in God, is a cultural anomaly, an abnormality, and a blip on the radar of history.  Instead men have worship God on mountains, men have worshipped God in mines, they have worshipped God in the deserts, they have worshipped God on the seven seas, even in outer space.  On the first flight to the moon the astronauts took the Lord’s Supper as we did today.  Men have frequently been the leaders when it comes to spirituality –worshipping God, pioneering new mission fields, writing the books and building the cathedrals, filling the monasteries. Spirituality is at the very core of what it means to be a guy!

You can see this in Job’s life –that this is the source of his strength.  What is it that enables Him to lead and to guide His family?  What is it that gives him the confidence and guts to face every day?  What is it that sees him through the storms of fear so that when the clouds have passed he and he alone remains? It is his sense of being intimately connected with God.  Job knows God’s presence and blessing in his life.

Psalms 1:1-3 says, “(1) Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. (2) But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (3) He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (4) Not so the wicked!  They are like chaff that the wind blows away.”

I wonder, do you know the depth that knowing God brings into your life?  You men, have you experienced the joy of close friendship with this world’s Creator?  Have you ever had one of those moments when God suddenly speaks to you out of the pages of the Bible and radically transforms something significant in your life?  Do you know this God?

You can know Him.  You can know God today, if you want to.  As St Augustine once said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest our Lord in you.”

2. The second thing is that a mature man mentors his family (v4-6). He watches over them and guides them in the right way.  He is a pathfinder and a shepherd and a help and a resource to the family in which God has placed him.  He takes responsibility for them.

For example, men, do you know who is the most significant voice in your child’s life?  Some voices will tell you that it’s their teachers, or their peer group, or TV and video games, or rock music. You might be thinking now my kid’s a teenager or older, there’s nothing left for me to do.  Men wake up.  Fight for your families.  Fight for the sake of your children.  Do you know what the research says –father’s are by far the biggest influence on the values and views of the children.  Now I don’t want to take anything away from Mums.  Mother’s and wives have their own special role to play, but how many of you will have heard of a survey conducted in Switzerland in 1994? They looked at the impact of parents’ church attendance on the subsequent church attendance of their adult children. The results showed the radical impact of a father’s example.

For instance, if both father and mother attended church regularly then 33 per cent of their children became regular churchgoers, a further 41 per cent irregular attendees and about a quarter not practising at all. If the mother was a regular church attendee but the father irregular then only 2 per cent of their children (that’s one in 50) became regular church attendees, 59 per cent irregular attendees and 38 per cent non-attendees. But the big surprise was that, if the Dad is a regular church attendee, regardless of the practise of the mother, at least one child in three would become a regular attendee.  In fact amazingly the less regularly the mother attended church, the greater the likelihood that the kids would attend in the future!  (But I won’t encourage you to follow that example)

-The point though is not about church attendance.  The point is that you men, you have influence, so use it wisely for whatever you value.  Mentor and lead your family where you want them to go.  Make intentional choices about where you lead.  Look I know it sends shivers up and down the spine whenever you hear it, but little eyes watch you wherever you go.  -And not just your kids, but your nieces and your nephews, your grandchildren and beyond.  You got the power men!  Make the most of it now!

But a good father will not only lead his own family.

3. He will have some kind of civic involvement (v7-10).  He will demonstrate some kind of social concern (v11-17). Maybe this is a factor of age. Our consciences often become more developed as we get older, but in James 1:27 it says that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Isaiah 1:17 (NKJV) says, “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.“ Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).”

I think Bill Hybels in his book ‘Holy Discontent’ really gets to the guts of this.  He asks, what is that gets you really wound up in life?  What is it that causes you genuine concern?  As you look at the world around you, which issues cause you the most holy discontent?  What’s the single focus of your frustration? Because it might be that where God is calling you to be.  It might be that it’s your mission –to feed the hungry, to care for the poor, to protect the abused, to house the homeless, to rescue refugees, to reconcile races or to intercede with God for the nations.  The prophet Jeremiah said, “But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot (Jeremiah 20:9).” What is it that you can not ‘not do?’

You see authentic men are passionate, fierce, and noble -they care.  In fact, they are a little dangerous, but it’s a good kind of dangerous. You might not see the passion on the outside, but bubbling under pressure just beneath the surface, is a spiritual longing for adventure, for a battle to fight that’s bigger than themselves, for significance in life, and like modern-day gladiators they stand in the ring facing the challenges of life with courage and passion. I’m not sure if I’m make myself clear, but followers of Jesus are not meant to be nice kids.  We’re not made to be nice.  We’re made to change the world.  So next time instead of getting angry at your teacher, or your boss, or your neighbour or the kids, try getting that anger white-hot about something that’s major and use that as fuel to fix it!

4. And finally in special way men are there to mentor and to encourage people (v18-25). That’s part of your role.  Men, you are there to help the young men to discover what it means to be a man, and for the young women to discover what it means to be treated right by a man.  Only you men can do that.  Strange as it sounds a woman can’t teach a man what it means to be a man. A woman can’t teach another woman how to be treated right by a man.  Only good men can do that. Certainly, men teach other men what code of honour they will live by everyday.

So men, who are you mentoring?  How well are you mentoring?  How well are you teaching others? Who do you relate to, and are you encouraging them?

-Because you have so much power in your words.  There is wisdom, experience, guidance and advice that you have gained over the years.  What do they cost you to give away –nothing or very little.  But what might your words be worth to a young person, or even to an older person that you speak to? Everything!  Your encouragement might be priceless to them.  So if could encourage you to do anything this Father’s Day, men, it would be to use the power of your words.  Go to your sons or the young men that you relate to and tell them “You have got what it takes.” Speak to the women that you are responsible to and who look to you, say, “You are a wonderful person.  You are someone special in God’s eyes.”

C. And men, before I do finish I really want to say ‘Thank you.’ Thank you for who you are.  You make all the difference in the world.

So have fun discovering who you are and all God is calling you to be.  You were made for fun and adventure so accept this opportunity to discover what men were made for.

Today we have looked at some of the characteristics of what it means to be a guy in the Bible.  I hope it’s got you out of the goldfish bowl and helped you see that there are other alternatives.  You can write the script for your lives.

Have a Happy Father’s Day and remember it’s great to be a guy!

Would all the guys stand?

God of earth, wind and fire, of ages past and of all eternity

God Almighty, our God and Father through the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again and ascended into heaven to sit at your right hand as the head of your Church

Send your Spirit upon these men today making them mighty in the Lord.

Grant them the heart of David that worship would flow from their spirits to the very throne of God, that their passion would be to touch Your heart, and that Your desires would become their own –make each of them a man after God’s own heart.

Bless them with the Wisdom of Solomon that their business will be fair and their judgments will be just. Give them an inherent knowledge of what is right, and what steps to take.  May you prosper them because of the wisdom you give them.

Gift them with the mind of Christ so that love would flow from their lips and compassion would be seen in all they do, so that anyone who comes in contact with them will sense the love of Christ coming towards them from within. May Truth will be their standard and Righteousness their path. May they serve God and the right so that in their homes and this nation will become a haven of peace and a centre of spiritual growth.

God bestow on each of these guys here a courageous spirit so they will lead diligently where-ever they are so that evil will not flourish nor the gates of hell prevail while good men do nothing and may the Kingdom that you long for soon be fulfilled upon earth as it is in heaven.  In Jesus name.

Amen.