Matthew 28:1-10 Hope (Easter Day Talk)

Introduction

It was described as a great miracle, when hope had all but gone, the wonderful, the amazing happened. I am of course describing the discovery last week of nine year old Shannon Matthews, who went missing from her home in Dewsbery in West Yorkshire in February and was discovered safe and well three weeks later.

The safe discovery of Shannon has been one of the few positive items reported in the news for quite some time. Over the last few weeks the headlines have been dominated by news of the financial crisis affecting American and British institutions, riots in Tibet over Chinese rule, new evidence about the damaging effects of global warming, and the ongoing problems in Iraq five years after the toppling of Saddam’s regime. You can be forgiven when watching or reading the news not to feel rather despondent about the state that the world is in, and wonder whether there is any hope for the future.

But as Christians we believe that there is real hope, hope for ourselves and hope for our world, and it is this message that I want to talk about today. But before I do, when we talk about hope what do we actually mean? What is hope?

Definition of Hope

Wiklipedia defines hope as “a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life.” So for example we may say that we hope the weather might be good tomorrow, or we hope that our football team will do well in their next match. According to this definition hope is wishing for something, or expecting something to happen, but without any certainty of it being fulfilled. It is to desire something, without any real assurance of getting what you desire.
But the Christian understanding of hope is quite different to the definition I’ve just given. In Scripture, “Hope” means a strong and confident expectation. In other words the Christian understanding of hope is an indication of certainty. Christian hope is the confident expectation, the sure certainty that what God has promised through Scripture has occurred or will occur.
Hope in the Bible is never a static or passive thing. It is dynamic, active, directive and life sustaining. Christian hope is something that makes a difference, it has the power to change and transform.

We see this in the story of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. It was on early on a Sunday morning that Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Clopas, two of Jesus’ followers, went to the tomb of Jesus. They went to the tomb according to Luke’s Gospel, to anoint Jesus’ body with oils and spices, which they had not had an opportunity to do when he was first placed in the tomb. These two Mary’s went to the tomb where Jesus lay, with hearts heavy with grief and despair. They had followed Jesus for a long time, and like Jesus’ other followers, must have felt as though their lives had been shattered and their world turned up side down, when Jesus had been betrayed, arrested and crucified. On Good Friday when Jesus hung on the cross, it must have felt as though all their hopes and expectations had been completely Destroyed. Emptiness and despair must have filled their hearts and minds, as they watched Jesus die.

But what they discovered when they reached the tomb was to change them and change the world for ever. What they discovered when they got to the tomb was that the large stone that had sealed the grave had been rolled away, and where the body of Jesus had been laid, now stood an angel, telling the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”

We could ask ourselves the question, why did the angel role away the stone? Jesus was already gone, he didn’t need help getting out. The stone was rolled away, not so that Jesus could get out, but so that the two Mary’s could get in and see the empty tomb, and to give them a profound new sense of hope and joy.

Jesus’ resurrection gives us also a profound sense of hope. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead vindicates and validates all that he said and did. Jesus declared “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (John 11:25). Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead gives us hope that these words are indeed true. Hope, not just in the sense of wishful thinking, but a hope which is based on certainty.

Just as the stone was rolled away from the tomb of Jesus, so Jesus comes to roll away the stones of fear, dread, uncertainty, purposelessness that can mark our lives. (John 10:10) Jesus comes to breathe new life, new joy and new hope into our lives. His resurrection gives us real hope for the present and for the future. In Jesus we can discover reason to live, we discover God’s true purpose for our lives, we can discover a freedom, a joy and a peace that no one else can give us.

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ really is who he says he is. It shows us that we can trust his words. What’s more his resurrection tells us that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of His Son for you and for me. Paul said, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." But Christ has risen! "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." He did that in order to put us right with God, whom we can now call, Father. And as a result of being forgiven for the sake of Christ, He says, "Because I live, you also will live." He hands to us the sure gift and promise of eternal life! "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." Jesus Christ broke through death! He broke down death! There is now no death for those who are in Christ Jesus! Because of the empty tomb, you and I, by faith in Him, have life today and life forever, this is the Hope in Christ!The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, makes a huge difference to our lives if we allow it to. It turns night into day, despair into hope, and death into life. Jesus wants us to let him live at the centre of our lives so that we can experience purpose and meaning, hope and healing, peace, and joy that comes from God. He wants to be the risen Lord of your life!

The message of Jesus’ resurrection gives us a real hope.
- Because Jesus lives… We can have hope for today
- Because Jesus lives … We can have hope for tomorrow
- Because Jesus lives… We can have hope for eternity

So may “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)

Baptism of Jesus: Matthew 3:13-end

John’s Baptism

The baptism of Jesus is a key turning point in Jesus’ life, and is recorded in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In contrast, the birth of Jesus, which we’ve just been celebrating, is only recorded in two of the Gospels, Matthew and Luke.

Because we are familiar with the idea of baptism as Christians, we probably don’t see anything that unusual in what John was doing by baptising people, but John’s baptism was unusual.

Up to this point in time, baptism in the Jewish religion was something that was administered to Gentiles who wanted to become Jews. When someone wanted to convert to Judaism, they underwent a process of initiation which had three stages to it. The first stage of the initiation was to take a ceremonial bath in a Mikveh, to wash away their ‘Gentile impurities’. After this special bath, the convert was said to be born anew, to have had their sins cleansed, imagery and language that we use when it comes to Christian baptism. Then following on from this, the males of the family were circumcised, and the head of the family would offer a sacrifice.

But there were some significant difference between the self administered baptism of a Gentile (non Jew) becoming a Jew, and the baptism that John was offering.

1) John’s baptism was given to those who were already Jews.
2) John’s baptism took place in the Jordan river, as opposed to the Mikveh
3) John’s baptism was not self administered, as proselyte baptism was.
4) Fourthly John’s was a baptism of repentance. All through the Bible God pleads with us to turn away from our sins, failures, and mistakes, and to turn toward him—trusting in God alone to save us. That is what repentance means, and John’s baptism—like Christian baptism—was intimately connected to repentance. Baptism marked the “turning point” for those who chose to turn toward God. In Matthew 3:1 John’s message is "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." And in verses 5 and 6 we’re told, “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” John the Baptist was calling people to turn away from their sins and return to God.
And whilst all this is going on, Jesus comes to John and asks to be baptised. Jesus’ baptism raises a very interesting question, which is why did he get baptised? The baptism John was offering was one of reprentenance, but of all the people ever to have lived, there was only been one person who did not need to repent, because they had never sinned, and that was Jesus. So why did Jesus feel it was important to be baptised by John, and what is its significance for us today?

There are three things I want to mention about Jesus’ baptism, that helps us to understand what our own baptism as Christians means. It’s about Belonging, Identification & Commissioning.

Belonging

When Jesus was baptised by John in the river Jordan a voice from heaven was heard saying "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." In his baptism Jesus was publicly declared as being God’s very own Son.

Baptism is a sign that we belong to God’s family, that we are children of God. The bible teaches us that we too are chosen and created by God. Psalm 139 says, “You created me, and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” And in Jeremiah we read. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;”

In baptism we are brought into the family of God, it is a public sign and acknowledgement that not only do we belong to our earthly family, but also to God’s family. Baptism is also a sign that we are loved and accepted by God. This is what the apostle John writes in his first letter. “See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children – think of it- and we really are… Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, right now.”

Baptism is not only a public sign that we are God’s children, but also that we are joining his family the church. This is why when someone is being baptized, we begin the service with the words, “In baptism the Lord is adding to our number those whom he is calling.” So baptism is a sign that we are joining God’s family the church.

Identification

Secondly baptism is about identification.

Why did Jesus need to undergo a baptism of repentance if he was without sin? When Jesus came to be baptised, John tried to deter him, saying “I am the one who needs to be baptised by you, not you by me.” So why was Jesus baptised?

He was baptised in order to identify himself with the message that John was preaching, which was message of turning back to God, placing God first in our life. When John questioned Jesus why he needed to be baptised, Jesus said, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." In other words Jesus is talking about living a life in total obedience and faith to God. So by submitting himself to baptism, Jesus is demonstrating his commitment to serve and obey his heavenly Father.

By his own baptism, Jesus shows us that a healthy relationship to God means submitting our lives to him. As Christians we are meant to give every part of our lives over to God, our relationships, our money, our time, our very selves. I’ll be honest and admit this is something I struggle with, something that does not come easily, but the more we do it, the more we experience God’s love and mercy in our lives.

Secondly, in his baptism Jesus identifies himself with a world where there is so much sin and suffering. God choose to reveal himself to the world, through his Son Jesus, by immersing himself in the world and in its struggles. And in that way God is able to identify with you and me. At his birth, Jesus stepped from heaven to take on our flesh. At his baptism he waded out into the water to stand with us in our sinfulness. Baptism was for the immoral, the impure, the liars, adulterers and thieves, and yet Jesus willingly plunged into the water as if to say, “I’m with them!” Jesus in his baptism identifies himself with you and me.

And through our own baptism we identify with Jesus. In baptism we identify with Jesus in his death and resurrection. When someone is baptised, the sign of the cross is made on their forehead as a reminder that Jesus died on the cross for them, and for each one of us, it is a mark of identity. And when we go into the waters of baptism, it is symbolic of dying to sin, and being raised to new life with God.

This next short video, reminds us of our identity in Christ as Christians:

The Jews saw baptism as a rite of passage for proselytes. John preached baptism with repentance for the forgiveness of sins—acknowledging that, apart from God, we are all unclean. But Jesus added a whole new level of meaning to baptism, as it came to be a living picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. This is why Paul writes, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? When we were baptized into his death, we were placed into the tomb with him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life.” (Rom. 6:3-4)Just as the waters of baptism provided Jesus with a way to identify with us, they also provide us with a way to identify with him.

Commissioning

Thirdly baptism is a commissioning.

When Jesus was baptised it marked the start of his public ministry. At his baptism the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, affirming that he is indeed God’s Son, and equipping him for the task ahead. “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.”

In our baptism we too are commissioned and equipped to follow and serve God for the rest of our lives. We are commissioned to share the love of God that we have received with the world around us. We are all called to full time Christian ministry, because our calling is to live the Christian life 24/7, whatever we may do. his is both a tremendous privilege and a tremendous responsibility, and so we need help in doing this, and so in baptism we are equipped to do this by receiving God’s Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a promise to everyone who places their faith in Jesus. The Bible says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39 NIV).God enters into our lives through his Holy Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit that guides and directs us as we follow and serve God. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us our new identity in Christ so that we truly are born again spiritually.

Conclusion

So Jesus’ baptism tells us something very important about who Jesus is, and also reveals something important about who we are.

It reveals to us that through baptism we belong to God’s family, that just as God spoke ‘this is my son whom I love’ so he says this to you and I. He loves us, he calls us into his family.

We see that in baptism we are identified with Christ’s death and resurrection, and that through baptism we are commissioned to serve God in the world.

I want to finish by inviting you to renew the promises made at your baptism, as a way of recommitting ourselves to serving and following God. It doesn’t matter whether you can remember your baptism or not, and if there is anyone here who hasn’t been baptized, you also can join in with these words.

Renewal of Baptism Promises

Luke 9:23-25 & Matthew 25:31-40: The Cost of Discipleship

Introduction

Advertising has become a huge business. You can’t escape from it, it is everywhere, on the radio, on tv, on our computers, on the clothes we wear, on the back of buses, everywhere.

The purpose of a good advert attempts not only to sell you a particular product, it tries to sell you a life style choice. For example, we are encouraged to believe that the type of car we drive, the sort of clothes we wear, the place where we choose to go on holiday, says something very important about the sort of people we are, it says something about our values and aspirations. Charles Revson, who owns a factory making lipstick, said this: “In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope.”

But when people came to Jesus and asked him what they would have to do to follow him, Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) Clearly Jesus hadn’t had any lessons on advertising, because if you are going to try and sell something, talking about taking up your cross, and loosing one’s life, is probably not going to attract many takers.

The Royal Marines run a recruiting advert which has the strap line, 99.9% need not apply, the point being that clearly only a select few are good enough for the Royal Marines.

Although Jesus’ words are not to be interpreted in this way, he is making clear the cost of discipleship.

Firstly Jesus said we are to deny ourselves. But what does he mean by this? We are in Lent, and during Lent many Christians give up things that they like, is this is the sort of denial Jesus was referring to? The answer is no, although self denial of this sort is a good spiritual discipline.
Denying OurselvesBy denying ourselves, Jesus is saying we need to renounce self. We need to put God, and not ourselves at the centre of our lives. It is about letting God be the one who is in charge of our lives. It is about putting God in the number one spot, rather than ourselves.

We are living in a society, where so much emphasis is placed upon putting self first, and so Jesus’ words are incredibly counter cultural. As a rock star Alice Cooper, is very famous, he is also a Christian. In an interview about becoming a Christian this is what he said. “People think it’s ironic that Alice Cooper, this rock ‘n’ roll rebel, is a Christian. But it’s the most rebellious thing I’ve ever done. Drinking beer is easy. Trashing our hotel room is easy. But being a Christian – that’s a tough call. That’s real rebellion.”To put God first in our lives is not easy. Martin Luther said “Here is what Christian living entails: wishing in all things whatever God wishes; desiring his glory, seeking nothing for oneself, either now or in the hereafter.” Many people find this difficult. This is why many people find it easier to live their lives their way rather than God’s. C.K Chesterton said “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it’s been found difficult and not tried.”

Take up your crossThe other instruction Jesus gives is to ‘Take up your cross’. Mark was writing this gospel for Christians living in Rome, who were undergoing persecution. It would have been a familiar site to see a condemned man carrying his cross to the place of execution. This theme of having to suffer for your faith would have been very relevant for the Christians in Rome. And today many Christians around the world face real persecution for their faith.

But living in this country, we do not have to face the same hardships. So what does Jesus actually mean by ‘taking up our cross’? It means being prepared to surrender everything to God, giving our whole life over to him, submitting our lives to him. Just as Jesus submitted himself to the will of his Father. There is actually a great paradox in what Jesus is saying, because it is when we surrender our lives to God, that we discover true freedom.

Dietrich Bonheoffer was a German theologian and pastor, who established the Confessing Church in the 1930s, and was involved in the German resistance movement against Hitler. He wrote a book, called ‘The Cost of Discipleship’, first published in 1937. In this book he writes, To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. … All that self-denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to Him.""…and take up his cross." … Only when we have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear the cross for His sake. If in the end we know only Him, if we have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed looking only unto Him. If Jesus had not so graciously prepared us for this word, we should have found it unbearable.

He goes on to write, “To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. … the suffering is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.

It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection… for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity… We have then forgotten that the cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering.

Bonheoffer, had to carry his own cross, he was killed by the Nazi’s days before the end of the war.

The parable of the sheep and the goats, from Matthew’s Gospel is a reminder to us that we cannot live our Christian lives in isolation from other people. And this too, is part of the cost of discipleship. I have heard people say that their Christian faith is a private matter, but this parable demonstrates that it cannot be purely private. Our faith has to impact our life, and the way we treat others.

In James chapter 2 verse 14 we read, ‘What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

As Christians we are called to demonstrate God’s love through the love we show to others. These acts of love and compassion aren’t dependent upon wealth, ability or intelligence, they are simple acts freely given and freely received.

The people Jesus reached out to, and the people we also are called to reach out to, was the prostitutes, the alcoholics, the drug addicts, the homeless, those people on the margins of society. The challenge here is not only to demonstrate love to those people that are similar to us, but to those people who the rest of society would shun. This takes us beyond our comfort zone. To people and places we would rather not go to. And it can be costly. And Jesus makes it clear that we will be judged on the criteria of how we have treated others.

Being a Christian is not easy, we know from the Gospels, that there were many people who wished to follow Jesus, but found the demands too difficult, like the rich young man. The Christian life is challenging, and at times it can be a struggle, as we seek to overcome our own wills and passions, in order to put Christ first. Fortunately, the God we worship and follow is merciful and kind, and understands are struggles and our frailties. To be a disciple of Christ requires a full-time, long-term, commitment, being prepared to endure all manner of things for the sake of Jesus Christ, but which results in the reward of eternal life in the kingdom of God. Augustine said: “Christ is not valued at all unless he is valued above all.” God has called us be comfortable Christian consumers, silent spectators, or a half asleep half-hearted halfway follower, he has to be at the heart of our lives.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-20 How to make the most of Lent

I wonder how you feel about Lent. Personally I really value Lent, because it gives me an opportunity to look again at my relationship with God. It is the equivalent of a spiritual MOT.

However, I often feel I struggle to make the most of Lent, and so this evening I want to spend a few minutes looking at how we can make the most of the next five weeks.
In our reading from Matthew’s Gospel Jesus gives instructions about the three main acts of religious devotion which are: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Jesus warns his hearers against the ostentatious devotion sometime found in the religion of his day, and which can still be found today. Jesus says that what ever you do, do it quietly, without fuss, because you are doing it for the praise and glory of God, and not to earn the acclaim of others.
Very often when we think about Lent, we think about it in the context of giving something up, usually something we do a lot of and that we find pleasure in. For instance we may give up sweets, alcohol, or tea and coffee. Of course when we think about giving up things for Lent, it need not be material things. We could for example give up unhelpful attitudes, or ways of behaving. There are several reasons why have this tradition of giving up things: First of all it is a
· a discipline for learning self-control, to free our minds from the chase after material things,
· as a reminder of Christ's sufferings and what our true pleasures are as followers of Christ,
· as an act of sorrow over our sin.

There is sometimes a danger that in Lent we try to out do one another in our piety, bettering one another. So you’re giving up chocolate this year? That’s nothing, I’m giving up food altogether.

Jesus warned his disciples against this sort of attitude. “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen, and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Lent can also be an opportunity for us to take up new things as a spiritual discipline. So for example:
- you may wish to make time in the middle of the day to read some verses from the Bible and pray, even if it is only for 10 minutes.
-Alternatively you may think of ways in which you can show acts of kindness to people you meet, and thereby give them a taste of God’s love.
- Or think of something ordinary that you do every day, and think about God while doing it, in a way that ties into what you're doing. Or think of a place you come to regularly, and each time think where Christ might be in this place, what Christ might do there, or what you might be led to do for Christ.

There are many ways in which we can use this season of Lent, to examine ourselves and prepare ourselves for Easter. But whatever we choose to do, we need the attitude that this is something that we are doing for the praise and glory of God, and not to gain the praise of others.

We should heed the words of Paul who wrote, Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen.

Matthew 2:1-12 After Christmas

Sermon for first Sunday after Christmas, again based on 'Getting it Across' by Nick Fawcett.

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Props:

Image of nativity scene without wise men.
Leftovers from Christmas – deflated balloon, a pulled cracker, a discarded wrapping paper, etc

Talk:

Begin by asking the congregation questions such as: How many days of Christmas are there? How many of you are still celebrating Christmas? What sort of Christmas did you have?

After all the build up, Christmas is over all too soon, and for many each year it seems to be a bit of a let-down; like a deflated balloon, a pulled cracker, or a discarded piece of wrapping paper (show examples). But, while Christmas itself is over, what it celebrates is not finished! Point to the picture on the projector, and ask the congregation what is missing. When they spot that the wise men aren’t there, ask them if they have any idea why not.

Although we think of the wise men as an essential part of the Christmas story, it is almost certain that they arrived in Bethlehem some time after the birth of Jesus, well after the shepherds had been and gone. And there must have been times on their long journey when they wondered whether, when they finally made it to their destination it would be too late, the event they had come to see long over and done with.

But although what we might call the first Christmas was over when they eventually arrived, the truth behind it, and the reason we continue to celebrate this festival, was as real as ever! Jesus had been born in Bethlehem – the King of the Jews, the Saviour of the world – and so they fell down and worshipped him and celebrated. And, no doubt those few moments with Jesus must have lived with them for the rest of their lives.

So it is for us today. Christmas may be over, but our worship and thanksgiving continues; for the truth we have celebrated goes on being as meaningful and relevant today, tomorrow and every day. God has come among us in Jesus, he has shared our humanity, he has opened up the way of life, he is by our side through his Holy Spirit. And he will go on being with us for all eternity. Thanks be to God!