Sunday Sermon
sunday morning 3rd Aug 2008
John 13:17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Context:
V2-11 Jesus takes off his outer garments and puts on the dress of the lowest slave to clean the feet of the disciples as they reclined at the table for the evening meal.
Why? V12-17 gives the answer.
Jesus explains to them why he did what he did.
This was no inconsequential activity. This was the master, teaching at its best.
He was giving them an acted out parable, then applying the meaning.
He could have given them a story about a king who got down on his hands and knees to serve his subjects, and then explained its meaning.
But no, he acted out the story in practice before there very eyes.
The wider context is mentioned for us in v1. Just before the Passover feast.
It was Thursday. He would be killed Friday!
So to text v17 “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
1) The Promise: you will be blessed.
We all want the blessed life. We want peace, happiness, joy, love etc.
We want to be satisfied and fulfilled.
The great search is on for the good life.
It is not just followers of Jesus Christ who want the Good Life.
Almost everyone wants the good life.
Some give up hope of ever having the good life, but most still seek it.
Our text today gives us the secret of the Good Life, the blessed life.
You will be blessed is the promise.
And we always need to start with the promise.
The promise is blessing, what does that means?
At it’s base it means happy. You will be happy! And is that not what we all want!
It is happiness that is associated with being in a good relationship to God.
What is the condition?
2) The Condition: “if you do these things”
Jesus point’s to the way that we live as of pivotal importance for blessing.
The way that we live is far more important than what we say we believe!
Belief is important, we are called to believe. But we believe in order to live!
Again that is the theme of John’s gospel, belief leading to life.
People can believe but not live.
Isn’t that what James warned about - James 2v19.
Jesus here says the blessing will come “if you do” the things you know!
Knowledge must flow into practice.
Of course there is no real dichotomy between what we believe and how we live.
All of us live what we really believe. Be that for good or evil.
There is no escape, our practice flows from our beliefs rightly or wrongly.
The dichotomy is between what we say we believe what we really believe.
Is it fair to have a condition attached to the promised blessing?
Possibly in our selfish society we think it’s not fair. We just wants things!
We want to accumulate “stuff” without the responsibility, to buy without work.
To have sex without the commitment of marriage.
Do we end up with a blessed world? No, far from it. Lives are destroyed. The environment is destroyed. We have suffering in place of blessing.
The conditions are all important and can never be sidestepped!
The condition to blessing is living out what we know!
3) The Doctrine: what do we know? “now that you know these things” “if you now”
We know a lot is suppose. We have theological tombs that could fill libraries!
What is it here that we are supposed to know from Christ?
We are to know about the full extent of the Incarnation - v1.
God became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We are to know that Jesus took on the role of the lowest servant - doing a job that Jewish servants were not allowed to do.
Only the gentile slaves were unworthy enough to wash feet!
But Jesus the Master and Lord, humbled himself and washed the disciples feet!
Picture the scene. The meal was being eaten. (not ended as KJV) The food was going down well. Jesus would have been the centre of attention. Then v4 he gets up, take off his robe, puts on the servants towel and starts to wash and dry the disciples feet v5!
Jesus was teaching the disciples a lesson. A very simple lesson.
A lesson that he had given many times before, a lesson that reflected his whole life.
The lesson is told us in v14-16.
The lesson is that if we are followers of Jesus we must live the way he lived.
How did he live? He lived “self-emptying”. “kenotically” kenosis.
He was God, he became Man, he was Man he became lowest slave!
Further he was slave, he became Crucified Criminal / outcast.
- that is the key to the blessed life! Living for others, not for self. Giving not taking. Serving not being served!
- how counter cultural that is! The world screams at us to take care of number one! Look out for yourself first!
Jesus says, live for Gods glory first. Don’t worry about yourself!
Do you want to be happy? Blessed? Then live the way Jesus lived. Serving others whatever the cost.
sunday evening 3rd Aug 2008
Abraham life of faith part 3. Gen 12 v10-20
The life of faith is often tested by circumstances out with our control.
We are called to follow Jesus, and in that call Jesus is quite clear that following is not going to be a bed of roses! In fact he calls us to carry the Cross.
Not something nice and easy!
Is there in fact a single follower of God in the bible who has found things easy!
The life of faith is a tough life. Today we need to follow Jesus in that same manner.
Battling, fighting, not giving up, pressing on etc.
In this text today we find Abram fighting his first challenge in his life of faith!
V10 Abram finds himself in the midst of a sever famine.
What should he have done?
1) applied scripture. God had told him where to go. It was not Egypt!
2) used his mind, in prayer seeking the Lords will. Built and alter!
3) then acted.
What did Abram do?
Moves to Egypt to live for a while!
Any move is a stressful change. Moving country is even more so.
Abram seems to have just gone and done it! Was he right or wrong to have do so?
1) he acted. He still lived! He got on with things. Did not get paralysed by the situation. Which was good but!
2) there is no mention of him praying. Seeking Gods will. He used his mind but with out reference to God. He was not acting in faith.
3) surely he was wrong because he was going against scripture - that is Gods word to him originally!
V11-13 show that on this occasion the great man of Faith was getting it badly wrong.
He notes how beautiful Sarai was. And how evil the Egyptians were.
They would kill him and take her! Thus they lied about the situation!
Does this sound like faith? Where is the bold trust in God?
Abram is a man running scared. He has left the security of home in great faith, followed God to the Promised Land. But then due to circumstances has turned into a quivering wreck!
He is looking out for number one. Does not even care what will happen to his beautiful wife!
Lesson one: take care of your life of faith!
How? We need to recognise our fragility. We are reliant upon God.
We are the dust of the earth and can fall any time.
Circumstances can creep up on us and before we know it our faith has failed us!
Take care of faith after times of blessing and progress.
Pride can set in and then there will come a fall.
Take care of faith in dry times.
Maybe you have been feeling cold and distant from God. Not hearing his voice. Not feeling his Presence. Stir things up a bit. Repent.
Take care in challenging circumstances.
V14-16. Abram’s plan works well. Sure enough Sarai is noted for her beauty and taken to live in Pharaohs palace and Abram is treaded very well indeed! He is given animals and slaves of all sorts. He goes from famine to fame and fullness!
Note though:
Abram is living outside of faith and yet is experiencing abundant blessing.
But it is ill-gotten gain. It comes to him through lies and deceit! It’s fools gold.
Later on it leads to real trouble and strife in the family with the story of Hagar and Ishmael!
Lesson 2: the criteria for judging ones faith.
The life of faith cannot be judged by outward prosperity or outward poverty.
God may allow seeming success even when we are in rebellion. Or poverty while we are being faithful. We can’t judge by the outward appearance.
Often we think about success in the life of faith in worldly terms.
Thus we have “prosperity gospels”.
Or we judge everything by numbers, and results!
Faith has a different perspective. It asks “am I being faithful, am I being obedient”
Not, “am I being successful.”
The person, the attitudes, the motives are more important than the results.
V17-19: the outcome of this sojourn into Egypt.
God intervenes. He takes care of Abram and Sarai better than they do themselves.
Pharaoh discovers the truth about the situation because God has plagued him and made him aware somehow of the truth of the situation.
As it turns out he lets Sarai and Abram go, but he gives them a rebuke in the process.
V 18 - “why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?”
A question that must have provoked Abram to reconsider his faith.
Why did he act that way? What was wrong with him!
Faith has to learn through its mistakes! What do we learn here?
Lesson 3: the life of faith in not perfect, but the God of faith is!
a) to live by faith does not mean that we are perfect!
Maybe this comes as a relief to us. We are never going to be sinless on earth.
Abram the great Father of Faith fell many times!
Don’t get downcast, simply continue to live by faith. Trust in God, to remain Faithful!
b) We learn about the God of Faith.
Even when we are faithless, he remains faithful 2Tim2v13.
God will only let us go so far in our folly.
Our faith is more important to Him than it is to us!
Sometimes it is only through our rebellion that we are brought to see this great truth.
