Being saved and saying thank you (Go Teach)

Text Luke 17:11-19 Time 26 04 21 Place Go Teach thanksgiving on Zoom

This evening I want us to worship God by looking briefly at the story of Jesus and the ten lepers. Lepers not leopards. I heard of a boy who thought it was ten leopards! It would be quite a different story if it was ten leopards. No, ten lepers! It's a great story for kids. I'm not sure if it's on the Go Teach syllabus. There is Jesus healing a leper and Elisha healing lepers but not this specific story.

The Bible uses the word leprosy for various serious skin diseases. It's not entirely clear whether the word is used in exactly the same way as we use it. Leprosy, as you know, is a horrible, debilitating illness, that leads to various levels of disfigurement. Today called Hansen’s disease it can be healed quite easily through a course of medication – as long as the patient is able and willing to keep taking the tablets. Sometimes if the disease is quite advanced, a person can have serious problems being rehabilitated.

As you know, in Jesus’s day there was no cure. Lepers were obliged to live apart from society. It was a wretched thing to get leprosy, then. It meant the end of regular contact with family, friends, the worshipping community, society in general. It meant a bleak future with practically no hope of recovery. Whenever we read about it, it reminds us of our own wretched state by nature.

This story of Jesus miraculously healing a group of lepers reminds us first of all then of our wretched state by nature and the fact that there is hope for all who come to him in faith and then secondly of the importance of those who have been saved always giving thanks to God.

1. Remember the wretched state of men, women, boys and girls by nature and how to be saved

If we are involved in Go Teach in any way then we must never forget this.

1. By nature we are all in a wretched state.

That's the first thing to take in. These lepers give us a striking picture of sin.

• Diseased. By nature we are riddled with sin. It's something we're born with. Sin manifests itself in different ways in different people – some are more disfigured than others - but the truth is we all suffer from it. It begins subtly but there is no permanent way, humanly speaking, of stopping its daily advance. In the end it leads to death. In our very souls something is seriously wrong and there is no cure. There are things designed to produce relief; some even claim they can cure you by means of rules, etc, but the truth is the heart is desperately wicked, beyond cure. Our situation is hopeless by nature. Remember that.
• Cast out. Cut off from God. As I've said, lepers were outcasts, not allowed to live in society once they contracted this terrible disease for fear of contaminating others. Now because in this world we all have leprosy that sense of being an outcast isn't always there. We need to remember, however, that as large as the world is, it is nothing but a great leper colony where we are living out a wretched existence but for the grace of God. This is a fallen world, a world cut off by nature from God's presence. We have no right to heaven, no right to come into God's presence. This is one of the reasons for the sense of alienation people often feel. Remember that fact.
• Far off. Far from Christ. At the beginning of the story we read how the lepers stood at a distance from Jesus. They knew they had no right to approach anyone, least of all him. Again that's our position, in one sense. What right have we to draw near God? What right to come to him? None at all, in ourselves. However, and this is the amazing thing, we can draw near to Jesus today and ask him, as these people did, to have pity on us and rescue us and save us from sin.

These things are true not just of some of us but all of us. We know nine of these men were Jews and one was a Samaritan. However, they all had leprosy. There was no difference in that respect. So whatever differences there may be among us, we are wretched sinners.

2. The only one who can save us is Jesus Christ.

This is the second thing we need to underline. As I've said, leprosy was incurable at this time and these men knew their situation was hopeless. However, somehow they'd heard about Jesus’s power to heal so when they encountered him they saw an opportunity and cried out for mercy. We're told that at this point (11) Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, but at that point he was travelling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. Jesus was headed for the cross. It is by his death that he would win atonement for sin. It is because of that death that your sin and mine can be taken away. He was at this moment on the border between Samaria and Galilee. Jesus is often found on the borders – at the margins of life. He is seldom centre stage. He can be found at the edges of life.

We too need to see Jesus is our only hope. Because of his death on the cross there is forgiveness for all who come to him. Are you aware of the burden of sin? Do you have a sense of its misery, its power over you, how it threatens to spoil everything in your life? There's no way to be rid of sin in the ordinary way. Jesus is the only one who can deliver you. He alone can save you. There's no point looking in any other direction. He alone can save. Come to him; come to the margins and find him. If you've already found him, remember there is but one way to be saved - through him.

3. Cry out loudly to the Lord and seek his pity.

We read (13) that these men called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! These men knew how wretched they were so when Jesus came by, they cried earnestly and loudly. They were determined not to miss this opportunity. They acknowledged Jesus as their Master and they pleaded with him to show them pity. That is how to go to Jesus. If you know how bad things really are, then you'll cry earnestly for forgiveness. Look to him for mercy!

4. How to be saved.

So what did Jesus do? Three things. They show how he deals with all who come in faith.

• He sees us, so take comfort. Jesus could've ignored these men, I suppose. He could've looked the other way, passed by on the other side. But he doesn’t do that. He sees them. He sees us too. He sees you; he sees me. He sees the children in Sunday School or club, whether their parents are believers or not. He knows our need. He understands.
• He commands us to obey. 14 When he saw them, he said, Go, show yourselves to the priests. What is this about? Well, you'll recall those Old Testament laws that explain how anyone with signs of leprosy was to show himself to the priest. It was the Old Testament priest who was able to pronounce a person clean or unclean. Jesus planned to cleanse these men so they needed to go to a priest and be declared clean. No doubt it crossed their minds that this would happen but they still had to obey. We too are under an obligation to obey. Whatever Jesus says, we must do. He calls on us to repent and believe. This we must do. Are we?
• He cleanses from sin, so be glad. And as they went, they were cleansed. It is in the path of obedience that Christ meets us and saves us. Jesus didn't say to them ‘If you obey me I will cleanse you’ nor does he say today 'if you do this I will save you'. No, in both cases he says ‘Do this’ and as it is done so he cleanses and saves. Here is reason to be glad then – Jesus can cleanse, he does cleanse, as we obey. Obey him, therefore, and be sure of salvation.

That's the first part of the story. But there's more. There's the story of how one leper, a Samaritan, comes back and says thank you. On the face of it there is a lesson there about thankfulness. But there's more. Surely it's a lesson for believers on how to live, now we've been saved.

2. Remember now to be grateful, if you've been saved and if God has blessed you in any way

1. Here is an example to follow

• Come to the Lord. We learn that of these ten men (15) One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back. It seems that as these men went on their way they were healed. Nine just carried on. One of them, however, was so thankful to the Lord for what he'd done that he went straight back to him to thank him. If you're a Christian, if you're repenting from sin and trusting in Christ then surely you have an obligation daily to come to Christ. There is never any excuse for neglecting him.
• Give him praise. This man came we read praising God in a loud voice. No surprise there. What a deliverance he'd known. What a change! And it was all due to this one man, to Jesus. Shouldn’t we have the same attitude too? What reason we have to give praise to God.
• Humble yourself before him. 16a He threw himself at Jesus’ feet. When did you last do that? He knew he owed everything to Jesus. He was therefore willing to humble himself before the Lord. Isn’t that the attitude we ought to show to the one who has shown us such loving kindness?
• Give him thanks. This is the most obvious thing and thanked him. Christ had given him life. He'd delivered him from disease and misery and separation. Imagine how thankful he was. The same sort of thankfulness ought to be typical of the believer. What good things God has given us. How kind, how compassionate he's been. What mercies we've known. We ought to be thankful every day and yet how often we are not. How often we fail to give thanks.

2. Hear this rebuke to the many.

Listen next to these words of rebuke (17, 18) Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? (he was a Samaritan). Nine out of ten lepers did not come back to give thanks and the one who did was perhaps least instructed in the way of righteousness. Perhaps it's the same today. How many believers are as prompt and as thorough as they should be to give thanks? It may be that the most thankful are those who we'd least expect. Perhaps it's not the ministers and missionaries, not those who grew up in Christian homes but those who seem to be very ordinary Christians in many ways but who are thankful people. Oh how thankful they are. How they praise God! We don't know who the most thankful are but God knows. He sees. What about us? How thankful are we? Thanksgiving ought to seep into every part of our lives.

3. Hear this encouragement for the few.

The final thing to notice is what Jesus says to this unnamed man, this good Samaritan. He says

• Rise. There's a word to lift him up. It's right that we humble ourselves before God when we think of all that he's done for us but it's right too that we rise with confidence when we know our thanks and praise have been received.
• And go. We must also go. We can't spend every moment in prayer. There are things to be done, lives to be lived. There ought to be regular coming to Jesus to give him thanks but also regular going out in his name and strength.
• Your faith has made you well. Salvation is by faith. Jesus wanted this man to see faith's importance. Whether it was true in the same way of the others or not it was true of this man that his faith in Jesus had healed him. If you're a true Christian it must be by faith. It's because you trust in Jesus that your sins are forgiven. It's very important then that you go in faith. It's by faith you've been saved – in faith you must go on, looking only to Jesus.

How to be saved and how to react if you are

Text: Luke 17:11-19 Time: 17/07/13 Place: Childs Hill Baptist

This evening I want us to look at the brief story of Jesus and the 10 lepers, that’s lepers not leopards. I remember reading a story about a little boy who thought it was 10 leopards! No, 10 lepers it is.

The Bible uses the word leprosy for various serious skin diseases. It is not entirely sure whether the word was used in exactly the same way as we use it. Leprosy, as you know is a horrible and debilitating illness, which in its different forms leads to various levels of disfigurement. Today it is more often known as Hansen’s disease and can be healed relatively easily through a course of medication – provided the patient is willing to keep up the tablets. Sometimes when the disease is quite advanced a person will have serious problems in being rehabilitated.

In Jesus’s day there was no cure for leprosy and lepers were obliged to live apart from society, on their own. It was a wretched thing for a person to get leprosy, therefore. It meant the end of regular contact with family and friends and society in general and a bleak future with practically no hope of recovery. Whenever we read about it, it reminds us of our own wretched state by nature. This story of Jesus miraculously healing a group of lepers reminds us first of all then that despite these facts there is hope for all who will come to him in faith.

1. Remember your wretched state by nature and how to be saved

1. By nature we are all in a wretched state. That's the first thing to take in. These lepers give us a striking picture of sin.

1 Diseased. Riddled with disease. By nature we are systemically diseased. We are riddled with sin. It is something that we are born with. Sin manifests itself in different ways in different people – some are more disfigured than others - but the truth is that we all suffer from it. It begins subtly but there is no permanent way of stopping its daily advance. In the end it leads to death. At the very heart of our souls something has gone seriously wrong and there is no known cure for it. Oh, there are things designed to produce relief. Some claim they can cure you through various rules and regimes but the truth is that the heart is desperately wicked and beyond cure. Our situation is hopeless by nature. Do you realise that?

2 Cast out. Cut off from God. As I have said lepers were outcasts. They were not allowed to live in society once they contracted this terrible disease for fear of contaminating others. Now because in this world we all have leprosy that sense of being an outcast is not always there. We need to remember, however, that as large as the world is it is nothing so much as a great leper colony where we are living out a wretched existence but for the grace of God. This is a fallen world, a world cut off by nature from the presence of God. We have no right to heaven, no right to come into the presence of God. This is one of the reasons for the sense of alienation that people often feel. Are remembering that fact?

3 Far off. Far from Christ. At the beginning of the story we read how these lepers stood at a distance from Jesus. They knew they had no right to approach anyone, least of all Jesus. Again that is our position, in one sense. What right have we to draw near to God? What right have we to come to Jesus? None at all in ourselves. However, and this is the amazing thing. We can draw near to Jesus today and we can ask him, as these people did, to have pity on us and to rescue us and to save us from sin.

These things are true not just of some of us but of all of us. We know that nine of these men were Jews and one was a Samaritan. However, they all had leprosy. There was no difference. And so whatever differences there may be among us, we are all united by this – we are all wretched sinners.

2. The only one who can save us is Jesus Christ. This is the second thing we need to underline. As I have said, leprosy was incurable at this time and these men knew that their situation was hopeless. However, somehow they had heard about Jesus’s power to heal and so when they encountered him they saw their only opportunity and cried out for mercy. We are told that at this point (11) Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, but at that point was travelling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. Jesus was headed for the cross. It is by his death that he has won an atonement for sin. It is because of that death that your sin and mine can be taken away. He was at this moment on the border between Samaria and Galilee. Jesus is often found on the borders – at the margins of life. He is seldom centre stage. He can be found at the edges of life.

We too need to see that Jesus is our only hope. Because of his death on the cross there can be forgiveness for all who come to him. Are you aware of the burden of sin? Do you have a sense of its misery, its power over you, the way it is spoiling everything in your life? There is no way to be rid of sin in the ordinary way. Jesus Christ is the only one who can deliver you. He alone can save you. There is no point looking in any other direction. Jesus alone can save. Come to him then, come to the margins and find him.

3. Cry out loudly to the Lord and seek his pity. We read (13) that these men called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! These men knew how wretched they were and so when Jesus came by they cried earnestly and loudly. They were determined not to miss this opportunity. They acknowledged Jesus as their Master and they pleaded for him to show pity. That is how to go to Jesus. If you know how bad things really are then you will cry earnestly for forgiveness. Look to him for mercy!

4. How to be saved. And so what did Jesus do? There are really three things. They show us how he deals with all who come to him in faith.

1 He sees us, so take comfort. Jesus could have ignored these men, I suppose. He could have looked the other way or passed by on the other side. He doesn’t, however, he sees them. He sees us too. He sees you and he sees me. He knows our need. He understands.

2 He commands us so obey. It is (14) When he saw them, then that he said, Go, show yourselves to the priests. What is this about? Well, some of you will remember those OT laws that explain how anyone with signs of leprosy is to go and show himself to the priest. It is the OT priest who is able to pronounce a man clean or unclean. Jesus planned to cleanse these men and so they need to go to the priest and be pronounced clean. No doubt it would have crossed their minds that this was going to happen but they still had to obey. We too are under an obligation to obey. Whatever Jesus says we must do. He calls upon us to repent and to trust in him. This we must do. Are we doing it?

3 He cleanses from sin so be glad. It then says And as they went, they were cleansed. It is in the path of obedience that Christ meets us and saves us. Jesus did not say to these men ‘If you obey me I will cleanse you’ nor does he say today 'if you do this I will save you'. No, in both cases he says ‘Do this’ and as it is done so he cleanses and saves. Here is reason to be glad then – Jesus can cleanse and he does cleanse as we obey. Obey him, therefore, and be sure of salvation.

That is the first part of the story then. But there is more. There is the story of how one of the lepers, and he a Samaritan, comes back and says thank you. Now just on the face of it there is a lesson there about thankfulness. But I think there is more. Surely there is a lesson for believers here on how to live, now that we have been saved by grace.

2. Remember to be grateful now if you have been saved

1. Here is an example to follow.

1 Come to the Lord. We are told that of these 10 men (15) One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back. It seems that as these men went on their way they were healed. The nine simply carried on to find the priest. One of them, however, was so thankful to the Lord for what he had done that he went straight back to him to thank him. If you are a Christian, if you are repenting from sin and trusting in Christ then surely you have an obligation daily to come to Christ. There is never any excuse for neglecting him.

2 Give him praise. This man came we are told praising God in a loud voice. No surprise there. What a deliverance he had experienced. What a change! And it was all due to this one man, to Jesus. Shouldn’t we have the same attitude too? What reason we have to give praise to God.

3 Humble yourself before him. 16a He threw himself at Jesus’ feet. When did you last do the same? He knew that he owed everything to Jesus. He was therefore willing to humble himself before the Lord. Isn’t that the attitude that we ought to show to the one who has shown us such loving kindness?

4 Give him thanks. This is the most obvious thing and thanked him. Christ had given him life. He had delivered him from disease and misery and separation. Imagine how thankful he was. The same sort of thankfulness ought to be typical of the true believer. What good things God has given us. How kind and how compassionate he has been. What mercies we have known. We ought to be thankful every day and yet how often we are not. How often we fail to give thanks.

2. Hear this rebuke to the many. Listen to these words of rebuke then (17, 18) Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? (Remember he was a Samaritan). Nine tenths of those lepers did not come back to give thanks and the one who did was the one who was perhaps least instructed in the way of righteousness. Perhaps it is the same today. How many believers are as prompt and as thorough as they ought to be in giving thanks. It may be that those who are most thankful are those who we would least expect. Perhaps it is not the ministers and the missionaries, not those who have grown up in Christian homes but those from the outside. They seem to be very ordinary Christians in many ways but they are thankful people. Oh how thankful they are to God. How they praise him! We do not know who the most thankful are but God knows. He sees. What about us who believe? How thankful are we? Thanksgiving ought to seep into every part of our lives.

3. Hear this encouragement for the few. The final thing to notice is what Jesus says to this unnamed individual, this good Samaritan. 19 Then he said to him

1 Rise. Rise. There is a word to lift him up. It is right that we humble ourselves before God when we think of all that he has done for us. It is also right that we rise with confidence too when we know our thanks and praise have been received.

2 Go. And go. We must also go. We cannot spend every moment in prayer. There are things to be done, lives to be lived. There ought to be regular coming to Jesus to give him thanks but also regular going out in his name and strength.

3 See that salvation is by faith. Your faith has made you well. Jesus wanted this man to see the importance of faith. Whether it was true in the same way of the others or not it was certainly true of this man that it was his faith in Jesus that had led to his healing. If you are a true Christian then it must be by faith. It is because you trust in Jesus that your sins have been forgiven. It is very important then that you go in faith. It is by faith that you have been saved – in faith you must go on, looking only to Jesus in all things.

The believer's relationship with hs brothers and his Lord

Text: Luke 17:1-10 Time: 31/07/13 Place: Childs Hill Baptist

When a person becomes a Christian everything changes, including his relationships.

Firstly, his relationship with God is changed. Secondly, his relationship changes with all his fellow believers.

We could put it this way – there is a radical change on both the vertical and horizontal planes. If we really are Christians then there will be both an observable change in our relations with our fellow Christians here below and what is in some ways less observable – a change in our relationship with God above.

I want us to explore these two aspects of the life of the believer as they are developed in Luke 17:1-10.

One difficulty with the material in this part of Luke is knowing quite why one part follows another. Various suggestions are made as to why the material in Chapter 17 follows the material in Chapter 16. None of these seem particularly convincing. Perhaps we simply have to accept that we do not know quite why Luke has placed this material where he has. Verses 1-10 hang together pretty well, however, and I think we can see easily enough how it connects. Let’s look at these verses together then. I want to say three things to you.

1. Consider your relationship with your brother below and the attitude this demands

In verses 1-4 we are in the horizontal realm, the realm below. Here we are dealing with two aspects of the relationship between a believer and his brother, his fellow believer. We are speaking to believers then, those who profess to trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation and so here we want to issue two warnings in this area.

1. Beware of being the cause of your brother’s sin.

1 Recognise the inevitability of sin. 1 Jesus said to his disciples: Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, …. That’s the place to begin in all of this – sin is inevitable. It is bound to come. This immediately rules out all ideas of sinful perfection on earth, of some sort of paradise where no-one sins. Life in this fallen world is not like this. People sin on the streets and in their homes. If you lock them in prison they will sin there too. It is no good either setting up monasteries or nunneries because they sin there too. The Pope sins. People of every religion sin. Muslims sin, Hindus sin, Buddhists sin. All of them. Unbelievers sin but so do believers. Ministers sin, elders and deacons sin, theological students sin, missionaries sin. People of all ages – babies, children, adults, the elderly. All sin. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor people are they still sin. It doesn’t matter how educated or ill-educated they are, they sin. It doesn’t matter what they invent, people will find ways of using it to sin. It is not a nice thought but it is true. I sin, you(s) sin, he sins, she sins. We sin, you(p) sin, they sin. Do not be surprised at the fact that believers sin therefore.

2 Understand the evil of causing sin and the need to watch yourself carefully

Jesus’s point, however, is that although we cannot prevent sin as such we can make sure that we are not the cause of sin. But woe to that person through whom they (the things that cause people to sin) come. In various ways, as people interact with one another, they have an effect on one another. It is vital that we not only do everything we can to make sure that we do not sin ourselves but that we take great care over the effect that we have on others and do nothing to cause them to sin. When a person sins he bears the responsibility for his sin, of course, but there are such things as contributing factors and we must not be the source of such.

Think about it. By what you say or do or in the attitudes you show how easily you can have a bad effect on fellow believers. It is not only what you do but what you fail to do too. If you are always bad tempered isn’t that likely to make others bad-tempered? If you are greedy won’t others see your example and copy? If you go to certain places you ought not to or let your eyes see things you shouldn't, isn’t there the danger that others will be influenced? Won’t the way you live on a Sunday have an impact on how others live? If you don’t come to the midweek meeting won’t others be tempted to think that they don’t need to come either? Surely that is obvious. Our effect will especially be on the weaker sort – those younger in age than us, those less well thought out, those who are younger in the faith.

We always need to be thinking not only – is this okay for me? - but also - what effect will this have on any others who know me? It may be okay for you to have a TV or a computer but what effect might that have on others? It may be okay for you to drink alcohol but what affect will it have on others? Perhaps you can stay up late on a Saturday night and be okay the next day; can others? Remember Paul’s word on this (1 Corinthians 8:13) Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

Look at the strong words Jesus uses here in verse 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. That’s how serious it is – better to die than to be the cause of sin. Do we take this matter that seriously? We have to confess that we do not. We are altogether too self-centred and careless so often in these matters.

Now we may not like this line of reasoning. I for one find it very uncomfortable. It is tempting to try and tone it down a bit and make it a little easier. I’m thinking – well, here I am preaching against causing others to sin and may be I’m one of the worst offenders in this. A minister has a lot of influence and it may well be that I am the cause of many sins in this congregation. We need to think long and hard about these things – all of us I’m sure. So watch yourselves. These are Jesus’s solemn and searching words. Self-examination is necessary. Are we causing others to sin? We need clear consciences in this area.

2. Beware of failing to forgive your brother’s sin. Then in verse 3 Jesus moves on to another matter. Again we say two things.

1 Recognise the inevitability of sin. If your brother sins, says Jesus. We could put it ‘When your brother sins’. As we have established very clearly there is no-one who does not sin. Scripture is clear about that. Even believers sin. Now given that my brother is going to sin – sometimes against me – then it is surely wise for me to think through what I am going to do when I see a fellow-believer sin. This is what Jesus considers here. Do you know what to do when you see a fellow Christian sinning? You won’t find everything here but the basics are there.

2 Understand the ongoing duty to rebuke and to forgive sin

• What should I do if I see a brother sin? Jesus says rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. So there are two duties here
  • Rebuke him. He needs to be admonished. His wrongs need to be pointed out. Proverbs 27:5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. It is not an option to turn a blind eye, to pretend it didn’t happen. We have a duty to confront them about the matter. Now obviously there is a measure of discernment here as to what you approach them about. If we spoke to one another about every single sin where would we be? Clearly Jesus has in mind persistent, serious sin not petty every day things. We must take sin seriously and be willing to speak against it to our brothers in Christ. We may get a good response, we may not, but we have to speak up.
  • If he repents, forgive him. If the man repents, if he turns from his sin at your rebuke then it is your duty to forgive him. You may say, what if he doesn’t repent? The Bible does answer that question (see Matthew 18 a chapter with some parallels to this) but for the moment Christ simply concentrates on what happens if he does repent. Jesus is not dealing here either with how we deal with unbelievers. If a believer sins and then repents then he is to be forgiven. That is why we don’t have to chase up every little sin. We assume that the believer repents from these. It is only when a sin persists that there is to be a rebuke and then forgiveness on repentance.
• How often should I allow him to repent and still forgive? This is another question that is bound to arise in our minds. Jesus is very radical. He says (4) If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, I repent, forgive him. I once heard a preacher picture it like this. Say a fellow Christian hits you for some reason – sock! You must rebuke him and if he repents (sorry he says, etc) then you must forgive him. Now say an hour later he comes back and hits you again – sock! You must rebuke him and if he repents you must forgive him again. Even if it goes on happening time after time, every time he repents you must forgive him. Sock! Sock! Sock! Seven here is not an exact number but a complete number. No matter how many times …. Yes, you may wish to question the sincerity of the man’s repentance but if he says he is repenting then you must forgive him – no matter how many times it may happen.

So if you thought the last section was a tall order, what about this? It really does give pause for serious thought. We need somehow to be able, on the one hand, to avoid causing our brother to fall into sin and, on the other, to be able to forgive them when they do sin. Both watchfulness and love are vital.

That leads us then to our second main point.

2. Consider the connection between your brother below and your Lord above, how these connect and the attitude this demands

Now there are various ways to react to this difficult teaching.

• You could ignore it, try and push it out of your mind. Please don’t do that.
• You could say ‘well this looks a tough task but I can do it.’ That is not a good approach You will either end up very discouraged or puffed up with false pride because you think you are doing what Jesus says. No our response needs to be more like that of the disciples. On hearing this (5) The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith! And so I ask you
  • Do you sense a need for more faith? Like the apostles here, have you seen that these demands cannot be ignored and that there is no way humanly speaking that they can be achieved. This is a spiritual matter, a matter of faith. It is as we grow nearer to God that we are going to be more watchful and more caring with regard to our brothers. The vertical and the horizontal are intimately linked. When you read hard verses like these, as the thumbscrew gets tighter so you should be seeing more your need for God’s help. The tighter the squeeze at the sides the higher your thoughts should rise.
  • Do you see the need to have the right faith? What Jesus says in response is very encouraging. The disciples are aware of how poor their faith is, how small, how meagre. But Jesus says – don’t worry how small your faith is, how little of it there is. As long as it is the right sort of faith then you will be okay. 6 He replied, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you. 

Now here is something that can really help us in all sorts of ways. When confronted by something clearly beyond us we must not panic and be fearful at the poverty of our faith. Rather, we must seek the Lord and ask him to give us the sort of faith we need – Holy Spirit-given faith – even the smallest amount of faith like that is powerful indeed. Think of washing up. If you’ve got one of the cheap brands there you know that they can be rather thin and you keep putting more and more in to try and make it sudsy. If you’ve got Fairy Liquid or something like that, however, it’s much more concentrated and it goes much further. Perhaps we would solve some of our problems if we could only see that what we need is not so much more faith as better faith, faith that more truly looks to the Lord and to the Lord alone. Certainly, if we are going to make any progress at all in this matter of not causing sin and of rebuking and forgiving then we need to look above to the Lord. Are we? That leads us to our final point

3. Consider your relationship with the Lord above and the attitude this demands

To help his disciples and us with this point Jesus gives a brief parable of sorts to help us understand our relationship to the Lord. This is not everything that can be said about this matter. The New Testament much more often pictures our relationship as a Father/son one. However, it is also a master/servant one.

1. Understand the nature of a master and servant relationship. Let’s concentrate just on the picture first.

1 The duty they have. 7 Suppose one of you had a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. The apostles were not rich men really but some of them might have had servants just as sometimes many of us employ people to do things for us sometimes perhaps – cleaning windows, doing decorating or building work, bringing your shopping or your newspaper, etc. Here the job would be ploughing a field or looking after sheep. A certain duty is specified.

2 The honour and thanks they deserve. Jesus goes on Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, Come along now and sit down to eat? Well no. He is much more likely to say the opposite. 8 Would he not rather say, Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink? Or what about this? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? Now I know that because of the impact the gospel has made our culture is a little different but still when the window cleaner or the paper boy has finished his round you would be unlikely to invite him in and give him a meal as a reward. When someone serves you in a shop I’m sure you’re polite but you don’t think to yourself ‘I must buy a thank you card and post it to them’!

You see the picture then.

2. Appreciate the insight this gives into our relationship with the Lord

1 The duty we have. Jesus begins (10) So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, …. Imagine you do manage by faith to live as we have been describing – always avoiding offence, never leading anyone into sin; always rebuking and then forgiving an doing all the other things that make up the Christian life. Now, of course, the truth is that we never do keep up all our duties. We are always failing at some point or other. However, we must aim for perfection. Anyway, suppose we did do all our duty – how should we feel?

2 The honour and thanks we deserve. So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do should say, We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty. That is the attitude of faith. The moment we begin to think ‘Hey I’ve achieved something, I’ve earned something’ then we know we have gone astray. Paul quoting Job 41 asks (Romans 11:35) Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? Now, of course, this is only part of the story. We know that at the end there will be a well done good and faithful servant for every faithful believer. However, this is clearly on the basis of grace not simply of what we have done. So we say remember God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Salvation is not a matter of what we do. It cannot be earned. Nevertheless if we truly do belong to the Lord above it will profoundly affect the relationship we have with our brothers below and how we serve the Lord above.

He will be great

Text Luke 1:32 Time 25/12/13 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I'm not sure what you have planned for the rest of the day. It is a holiday for most of us. If you want to mark the day in some religious way, however, you may have to work hard to do it. What I suggest at these times is to take just one verse from Scripture and try to fix it in your mind now so that you can think about it through the day.

So I have a verse for you. You can find it in Luke 1:32.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

It is an easy verse to learn. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. Even easier if you just focus on that first bit - He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High or even just He will be great which is what I want us to focus on this morning.

The words, of course, refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary before Jesus is even conceived or born. In the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth who would be the mother of John the Baptist, Luke tells us, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. Gabriel's greeting Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you troubled Mary and she wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Gabriel's main message was as follows

Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.

There's a lot there. Let's just narrow down and think about this word great. Mega is the word more or less I suppose. Idiomatically – he's going to be big, he's going to be huge. He will be great.

*

Whenever we think about Jesus we have to remember that though he is one person, he has two natures. It is often useful to ask which of the natures is being referred to in each case. When Gabriel says He will be great he cannot be referring to the God nature as God cannot become great, he is always great. As far as he is God Jesus always has been great and always will be. However, as far as his human nature is concerned we know that he made himself poor and lowly. He was not obviously great when he was conceived or even when he was born as a baby and placed in a manger. It was only later that he became great. He will be great says the angel.

*

So what does this greatness consist of? We use the word great in all sorts of ways, of course. It can refer to volume or size or being first. More often though it refers to something remarkable or outstanding or of outstanding significance or importance.

Someone may say to you “Did you have a good Christmas?” and you might say “I had a great Christmas”. On the other hand a person may be quite sarcastic. They step out of the house and the rain comes down and they say “Great!”

Sometimes we speak of kings and emperors as Alexander the Great or Alfred the Great or Peter the great. There have been religious figures too. I have been hearing recently about the theologians Gregory the Great and Albertus Magnus in the middle Ages.

When Nelson Mandela died recently people spoke understandably of a great man. Someone wrote of a great man, a great spirit, a great soul, another wrote of the greatest political leader of the twentieth century and many of Africa's greatest son. At least one article addressed the question of what made him great and gave reasons. An Australian politician wrote

“How does one judge his place in history? Of all the people I have met, he was by far the greatest. I do not know anyone who could stand near to him. In the pages of history, there would be few who would stand as an equal.”

There was an interesting moment when a British journalist on Radio 4 was interviewing the former US President Jimmy Carter.

Justin Webb said to Carter Some people have compared Nelson Mandela with Jesus. You’re a religious man. Would you? Carter’s replied decisively No I would not go that far. I’m a Christian. I look upon Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as God himself, and I certainly wouldn’t compare any human being with Jesus. He went on to pay tribute to other greats and then re-iterated his point: I wouldn’t compare any other human being with Jesus Christ.

That is surely right. The greatness spoken about here is far superior to anything found in anyone else. When it says that Jesus Christ will be great it is not referring to his fame and influence. Having said that, that cannot be denied to be the case. I think it would be fairly easy to show that Jesus is better known than anyone else in history and has had far more influence and creates much more interest too. That is not Gabriel's point, however, I'm sure.

What is his point? Given the context of Christ being called the Son of the Most High and receiving the kingship of a never ending kingdom, I think we are wisest to see this promised greatness in terms of Jesus's person and work.

We can only begin on the subject this morning but think of just three things.

1. Think of the greatness of his person, the greatness of who he is

Jesus Christ is the God man. He is God come to us in the flesh. In his person are uniquely united all the attributes both of God and of man. That is true of no-one else. He is Emmanuel, God with us, in a way that no-one else is. Nothing could be greater. We ought to be often thinking about this. One good thing about Christmas is the way it focuses on this very thing. Every time you think of humanity you should recall that among us is Jesus Christ. He is our brother. Every time you think of God you should think of Jesus Christ the God man. What greatness! Worship him.

2. Think of the greatness of his office, the greatness of the role he takes

Do you know what we mean when we speak of Christ's office? We are thinking of the fact that he takes the role of being the one Mediator between man and God. He has the threefold office of prophet, priest and king. There are plenty of prophets, priests and kings in the Bible and in this world – some good some bad. He however is the greatest of them all. He is the greatest prophet – no-one reveals God in the way that he does. He is the greatest priest for he has made the perfect atoning sacrifice, the matchless sacrifice of himself. He also lives now in heaven ever to make intercession for his own. No priest is like him. He is the greatest. He is also the greatest king. There is no king more powerful (All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me), no king more wise, no king more kind and compassionate. There is none greater. Worship him.

3. Think of the greatness of his different states, the greatness of his actions

Most obviously, think of his life. His miracles, his teaching, all he did so wonderfully well. Think of his death on behalf of sinners. Think how be rose again from the dead. No-one else has ever done that yet. Think of his teaching his disciples those six great weeks – we still have much of that teaching in the Bible. Think of his wonderful ascension. Think of his pouring out the Spirit. Think of his interceding now in heaven for believers. And do not forget that soon he is coming again., What glory then. Ah what greatness! Worship him.

4. Think of the greatness of what he has done for us, the greatness of salvation

Perhaps this is the greatest thing of all. Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? Do you know it? Nothing is greater.

 

Great God of wonders! All Thy ways

Are matchless, Godlike and divine;

But the fair glories of Thy grace

More Godlike and unrivalled shine,

Crimes of such horror to forgive,

Such guilty, daring worms to spare;

This is Thy grand prerogative,

And none shall in the honour share,

Angels and men, resign your claim

To pity, mercy, love and grace:

These glories crown Jehovah’s Name

With an incomparable glaze

In wonder lost, with trembling joy,

We take the pardon of our God:

Pardon for crimes of deepest dye,

A pardon bought with Jesus’ blood,

O may this strange, this matchless grace,

This Godlike miracle of love,

Fill the whole earth with grateful praise,

And all th’angelic choirs above,
Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?

I am like a proper Welsh preacher now. I don't often quote hymns. This one is from the Welsh and translated by Graham Harrison who went to be with the Lord this year.
 

Mighty (Great) Christ from time eternal,

Mighty, he man’s nature takes,

Mighty, when on Calv’ry dying,

Mighty, death itself He breaks.

See His might,

Infinite,

King of Heaven and earth by right!

Mighty was He in heaven’s purpose,

Mighty, in the pledge to save,

Mighty, from His birth to Calv’ry,

Mighty, bursting from the grave.

Still will He

Mighty be When things hidden now we see.

Great my Jesus in His Person.

Great as God and man is He,

Great His comeliness and beauty,

White and ruddy, fair to see,

Great that sight,

Sovereign Might,

Throned secure on heaven’s height!

How many will be saved? Will you be one of them?

Text Luke 13:22-30 Time 20/05/12 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

Let's start with an interesting question. Are there lots of people who will be saved and go to heaven or will it only be a few in the end? It's a fascinating question and one that there would be evidence for on both sides, both in support of the view that there will be few and the view that there will be many.

Often with difficult questions like this we find ourselves wishing Jesus was on hand to ask. We feel certain that if we could ask him then he would give a perfect answer and we would soon know what to think.

I raise this matter because it is the question that Jesus is asked here in Luke 13:23 where we read that Someone asked him, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? Of course, the answer he gives is not the one we might expect. He certainly doesn't give a straight yes or no – Yes, only a few go to heaven or no, more than a few go to heaven. I think it would be unfair to suggest that he does not answer the question. Rather he goes at it in quite a different way to the way that we might have expected.

I want us to consider this morning exactly what he does say and so I want us to look at Luke 13:22-30 and I want to say four things to you.

1. Understand the work that Jesus came to do, the work of teaching and dying

People have various ideas about why Jesus came to earth. Clearly here the person who asks the question has the idea that he has come as a wise man to answer questions like the one he himself poses. People liked to ask Jesus questions. However, they didn't always get the answers they expected or wanted. I think if we look carefully at the very first verse in this section we will get a pretty good idea of why Jesus came to this earth. In verse 22 it says Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

There are two things to see there. First, it says that Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching. Then it says that it was as he made his way to Jerusalem. Here we learn that two things then

1. Jesus came to teach us the truth

He was specifically going from village to village, town to town, not answering questions as such but teaching the people. Back in Luke 4 we read how people try to detain him from this task and get him to stay with them but he says (43, 44) I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. Luke adds And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. This is what Isaiah 61:1 would suggest Messiah would be like. There the servant says The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

Jesus came not only to do miracles but chiefly to bring the message of salvation to this world and if we are wise we will listen to what he has to say. In these last days God has spoken through his Son. Listen to him!

2. Jesus came to die on the cross

The statement that he taught as he made his way to Jerusalem may sound quite innocent on the face of it but, of course, we know why he was going to Jerusalem. He was going there to die. It is clearer back in Luke 9:51 where we read that As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Before that, when he was transfigured Luke says that Moses and Elijah spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem. In verse 33 of this same chapter Jesus himself says I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day - for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

Jesus came to teach and preach but he is very much the man who was born to die. Any understanding of Jesus that does not focus here (eg he came as a great teacher) is very much mistaken. His death on the cross is central to who he is and what he came here to do. It is because of the cross and his death there in Jerusalem that it is possible for anyone to be saved and to go to heaven. There is no salvation otherwise.

2. Consider this interesting question he was once asked about whether only few will be saved

Now in verse 23 we are told that Someone asked him, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? As we have said, it is a very interesting question. The questioner, no doubt, was not as clear on how to be saved as we can be now that Christ has come and not only preached but also died on the cross and risen again. However, given that some are going to be saved through Christ the question of how many are going to be saved is bound to come to mind. Are there only a few who will be saved?

Apparently this one of the questions that Jews often debated at this time. It was the general opinion of most of them, it seems, that only a few would be saved. Given that when the Children of Israel came through the desert only two of them (Caleb and Joshua) made it all the way from Egypt to the Promised Land surely those who are going to heaven will be proportionately just as few. Seeing how godless the Gentile world around them was for the most part only confirmed them in this opinion. Some of the discussions on this topic were very academic and trivial indeed.

Here is a question then. There is no simple answer to it, however. It is worth thinking about but only as far as it leads us to think about what Jesus has to say here. So let's look at Jesus's answer.

3. Hear this vital answer Jesus gave urging us to make every effort to enter his kingdom

He said to them, Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. In other words “enough of academic questions about how many will be saved. The real question is about whether you will be saved or not.” The Jews often spoke of heaven and salvation as like being at a great banquet. There was a tendency among them as individuals to assume that they would be at that great banquet. Of course, they would be there. Who else would be there, there was some room for conjecture over but they certainly would be there.

But here Jesus comes at them and he says “Don't be so complacent. Don't assume all is okay.” No, you need to make every effort to enter through the narrow door that leads to that banqueting house. It is a little bit like overhearing a conversation between some football fans about getting tickets for the big game. “Do you think there'll be a large number at the game?” says one. “I'm not sure” says another. “I think the numbers will be down this year” says a third. “No, no they'll be up if anything” says a fourth. And then you say to them “What about you? Have you got tickets for the game?” “Oh no” they say “we're not sure if we are going”. Weird.

Now something similar could be said to us. It is all very well to sit here and ponder deep questions like how many will be saved? Will there be more in heaven than in hell or less? Rather we should be saying to one another with great urgency Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. That is the real issue. Make sure that you put in every effort to make sure you enter through the narrow door that leads to eternal life. You notice the door is narrow. That means that it is not easy to get in. Think of the wicket gate that Bunyan talks about. A wicket gate is a small gate or door built into a larger one. You sometimes see them on warehouses where there is a big roller shutter that they use for lorries and a door within that so people can go in and out without opening the main door. It is through such a door we must pass to get into the kingdom. You can't drive in with a big lorry load. No only an individual can get through and as the door is narrow he has to leave everything else outside. Or think of a turnstile or the ticket barrier at an underground station. Only one persona at a time can come through and the passage is narrow. Are you making every effort to get through the door? I urge you to do so. Let go of everything else and make sure you can get through. As Jesus himself says elsewhere Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Make sure you find it. Make sure you come through.

4. Consider the reasons why he must be heeded

In the rest of the section Jesus is really underlining his main statement by giving reasons why we must make every effort.

1. Because many will try to enter and not be able to

He goes on Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. There is no automatic entry through this gate. There are people, he says, who will try to get through it, who will think they are going through it but they will find that is not the case. He goes on in verses 25-27 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, Sir, open the door for us. But he will answer, I don't know you or where you come from. Then you will say, We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets. But he will reply, I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers! It is like a little parable, I suppose. There is the owner of the house which must be a reference to God. There is the house, a banqueting house no doubt, representing heaven. At a certain point the owner of the house gets up and closes the door. The door is now open – you can come in if you make every effort to do so. But soon the door will be closed. God will close it. Once that happens stand outside knocking and pleading, saying Sir, open the door for us. But he will answer, I don't know you or where you come from. You will try arguments. Jesus pictures the people here saying We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets. You will say perhaps “but I used to go to church and hear about you, I knew lots of Christians”. But he will reply, I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers! It is a frightening thought isn't it? It is very real though. How easy for someone here to get caught out. You say to yourself. I know I must believe in Christ. I know I must repent. But not today. And it may be that there will be other opportunities but still you will say not today. You refuse to make every effort to enter, to really struggle to get in. And then one day the door will be shut. You may well plead and call out but you won't get in. Have you ever been locked out? It is not nice, especially in bad weather. There you are right next to the warm house with the lights and the TV and whereas you could be making a sandwich for yourself and settling down to it you are outside in the rain. How unpleasant. It does not begin to compare with what it is like to be shut out for eternity. Or was there ever a day when no-one else would play with you or they had all gone away somewhere else, and though you were okay at first you felt very lonely in the end. Again, it does not begin to compare with what it is like to be apart from God's people forever.

Make every effort to come to Christ. So soon it will be too late otherwise.

2. Because to fail to enter is the worst disaster there can be

In verse 28 Jesus describes how in that place outside There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People weep for various reasons. You can weep for joy. You can weep just because your feeling rather emotional about something. When people weep and gnash their teeth it is because they are in agony and in anguish. This description of hell reminds us of how it will be for those who go there. They will weep and gnash their teeth when they see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, inside the house but they themselves thrown out. There can be no worse disaster. To be locked out of the house is a disaster. To be homeless is a much greater one. How sad if you have no friends at all. But to be in hell is an unmitigated disaster of the very highest order. There is no comfort whatsoever. Take care that it does not happen to you. Seek Jesus Christ with all your heart and mind and soul an strength.

3. Because today the door is still wide open

Those last two arguments are negative and I suppose they lead to the feeling by this point that the answer to the question are only a few people going to be saved? must be “Yes”. But our final argument is a positive one – make every effort to enter through the narrow door because the door is still open. Or to sharpen the argument, see that

1 It does not depend on race or religion

Jesus says in verse 29 to his Jewish interrogator People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. The Jews tended to think they were the only ones going to the banquet. We all have a tendency to be narrow minded and parochial. But no says Jesus, stop thinking that there will only be a few who are saved, just the Jews and not all of them. No, People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Race and religion in the sense of the religious background you have are neither here nor there. What matters is getting in.

Further,

2 It does not depend on rank or riches either

Jesus goes on (30) Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last. The Jews looked at the world in their day and it seemed that they were first and so would be going to heaven ahead of any others. Within Judaism the Pharisees and others had quite a high opinion of themselves and a very low opinion of others like prostitutes and take gatherers. They needed to learn that come the end of the world there would be those who are last who would be first, and first who would be last. Today people think that being rich or good looking, skilful or successful is the great thing. They too need to know that there is a day coming when those who are last who will be first, and those who are first who will be last.

You are well aware that the Olympics are coming up in two months time here in London. One of the events is the tennis at Wimbledon and the great British hope is, of course, Andy Murray. Murray is more than keen to win Olympic Gold. What is he doing to bring that about? Well, he trains, of course. An article a little while ago described what that involves.

“Murray's workouts” the article says “fall into distinct categories: in tournament and out of tournament. They are equally tough. In the winter, when he is out of tournament, he checks into a gruelling tropical climate body boot camp for a month where he will exercise in hot temperatures for six hours a day.

On a typical boot camp day he will start with one hour of aerobic sprint training on an athletic track where he runs 400-metre laps at intervals of five minutes, aiming to get faster with each lap. He will also jump hurdles sideways, to improve balance.

This will be followed by a one-hour upper body weight training session in the gym where, among other drills, he ties a rope around his stomach and pulls 40lb weights using just his abdominal muscles.

A 90-minute Bikram yoga session comes next, where he stretches and performs dynamic yoga movement in a room heated to 40c, during which he will burn 1,600 calories and lose 4 litres of sweat.

His workout will be rounded off with a two-hour tennis practice session with his coach. In tennis season, his gym sessions are reduced to an hour a day but he still hits the practice court for two hours before a match.”

No if a man is willing to undergo that sort of effort for a mere earthly prize then why are we not wiling to make as great an effort to know Christ? Of course, we are not saved by what we do. Salvation is all of grace and the Lord says plainly Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Let's do so.

Good News of Great Joy

Text Luke 2:10 Time 25/12/09 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

Well, it's Christmas morning and we have agreed to come together to worship God. We have sung carols and prayed and read the Scriptures and now we come to the sermon. I think that in a service like this it is best if rather than attempting anything more demanding we try and fasten on just one text that we can try and keep in our heads through the day and hopefully beyond that.
What I want to do then is to focus on Luke 2:10
But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
This is part of the story of the announcement to the shepherds of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. After Jesus is born in Bethlehem and placed in the manger by his mother Mary, Luke switches attention to the hills around Bethlehem and to some shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel, a supernatural messenger from heaven, appears to them and makes this announcement
Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Now you will see that the verse naturally divides into three
Do not be afraid/I bring you good news of great joy/that will be for all the people
Therefore I want to say three things to you this morning. It is all very positive.
1. God is mighty and works powerfully but we do not need to be afraid
The very first thing the angel says is Do not be afraid. This, you will discover if you look, is a typical phrase to be found in the mouth of an angel. Why does he say what he says? Well, the fact is that the shepherds were terrified by the appearance of this angel. It was undoubtedly a frightening thing to witness his appearance.
Sometimes we get afraid when we think of the greatness of God and his eternity or of our won mortality. Part of the Christmas message is that we should not be afraid. Sometimes the world inadvertently stumble on this truth and understands a little of it.
If you know the lyrics of the Band Aid single “Do they know it's Christmas?”, often heard at this time of the year, you may remember that it starts in a rather odd way. The first line is a rather predictable “It's Christmastime” but then, rather unexpectedly there is the angel's line “there's no need to be afraid”. Surely no-one in Britain associates Christmas with fear. But, of course, the focus is on Africa, and particularly an Africa that was then familiar with famine. We may have no need to fear but they do. And so further on in the song we are encouraged to “say a prayer” to “pray for the other ones” the reasoning being that for them, unlike for us, “at Christmastime it's hard”. And so we are exhorted when we're having fun to remember that there is “a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom.”
This is fine as far as it goes, I suppose, but it would be very foolish to think that the only people who are afraid at Christmas or who have reason to be afraid at Christmas are those affected by famine in Africa. The truth is that we all know fear at certain times – even at Christmas sometimes - and in fact if we thought more soberly – about death and eternity and God – then we would perhaps feel fearful more often, including at Christmas.
Further, the way to deal with fear is not simply to “spread a smile of joy” and “throw your arms around the world” but to look above for some comfort and some encouragement. Yes, it is Christmas time, if we are happy to use that phrase, and there is no need to be afraid – but not because this is world of plenty and it's all going to be okay if we just stick together but because those charged with doing us good say “Don't be afraid” just as God himself calls on us not to fear if certain other things are so.
God is mighty and he does work powerfully but we do not need to be afraid if we listen to the message in this verse we are focussing on - Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
2. We have good news to share this morning that should bring great joy to all who hear
The angel goes on then Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy .... There is an argument here. Why should the shepherds not be afraid and why should I not be afraid either, this Christmas time? The Band Aid idea is that “at Christmastime we let in light and we banish shade” which is a good metaphor but puts the emphasis on what we can do. “In our world of plenty” they say “we can spread a smile of joy. Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime.” But the good news of Christmastime is not really to do with brotherly love or the idea that we can all help each other. Rather, the angel says Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy .... Here is good news and it will make you really, really joyful. But what was that good news? We know don't we. It was the news that a baby had been born in Bethlehem. Now the birth of a baby is always good news but this was a very special baby, of course, who had been born. This was the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ himself – the one who would grow up to be the Saviour of the World. This is good news and it should fill us with joy - Good news from heaven not from earth.
When we turn on the news on the radio or television we expect to hear bad news and it usually is bad news. I tried this morning – a deranged woman had attacked the Pope in Rome and someone had been stabbed during a snow ball fight in North Wales.
Sometimes there is so much bad news that it can make us very depressed. I found an article online headed “How to cope with so much bad news in the world” The article begins “These days there seems to be a lot of bad news in the world. Many people are struggling economically. Some people are even losing their homes. The winter weather has been treacherous in spots. Wars are still raging in numerous locations all over the globe. So what can you do to fight off depression during these difficult times?” Three basic answers are given. 1. Listen out for the good news stories that are there too 2. Switch the radio and TV off 3. Especially avoid stories that you find very upsetting.
Again, this may be of use for some people but it isn't that helpful really. Rather, we need to see all the bad news in the context of this wonderful good news that Jesus Christ has come. God has sent his one and only Son into the world to save the world through him.
This is our focus this morning then – it's on good news, the good news of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who can save us from our sins and from death and from the Devil and from hell itself. What greater good news could there be? What joy it is, what great joy, to know that God so loved this world that he gave his one and only son into the world to save sinners from eternal wrath.
According to the news this morning the Archbishop of Canterbury has been preaching about the fact that children are growing up too fast in our society and that may be so but it is not the message he should be preaching for Christmas Day is it? No we say Do not be afraid here is good news of great joy – Sing through all Jerusalem, Christ is born in Bethlehem!
3. This good news of great joy is for everyone who will hear
The whole sentence spoken by the angel is this - Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. That last phrase is very significant. He doesn't say Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all of you shepherds or Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the Jews. No, he says, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. This is good news of great joy for everyone.
That means good news for all of us present this morning. You can know real joy and solid good news if you know that God has sent his Son into the world so that whoever believes in him can be forgiven and know every blessing in him. Try and meditate it on this today – It's Christmas time – no need to be afraid. Why? Not because we have plenty to eat and lots of family and friends around us but because Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners!
It also means good news for all those who are not present this morning. They too can know real joy and solid good news if they know that God has sent his Son into the world so that whoever believes in him can be forgiven and know every blessing in him. The question for us is how we are going to get that message out in the year to come. There is no need to be afraid because Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners! Let's begin with our won family and friends and see what we can do. The shepherds we read (17, 18) spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. We also ought to spread the Word and who knows may be others will be amazed and turn to Christ.

Lessons from a repenting tax collector

Text Luke 18:13 Time 31 08 08 Place Childs Hill Baptist ChurchI want us to look this evening at a text that is found in Luke 18:13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The words are spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ as he gives the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
At the time the Pharisees, of course, were the strictest sect in Judaism. Basically orthodox in their beliefs, they were against compromise with the Romans and were generally admired by people. Where they went wrong was in raising human tradition to the same level and sometimes higher than Scripture. They were also marred by self-righteousness and hypocrisy. We get a very good idea of the Pharisee in this very parable. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself says Jesus. He prays God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.The tax collectors, on the other hand, were the very opposite. Compromisers with the Romans, they were not admired by the Pharisees or by the people in general. To add to their reputation for compromise with the enemy there was the fact that they often unfairly made themselves rich at other people's expense. They also tended to hang out with the more disreputable members of society anyway.
You see then why Jesus chooses these characters for his parable. On the one hand we have a very religious person, a churchgoer as it would be today, and on the other, someone who has turned from all that and who has been living a life that is marked by compromise and sin.
There is a contrast in who these men were then but also a contrast in the way they prayed when they went to the Temple to pray. As we have noted
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.
The tax collector, on the other hand, our text tells us, stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner.Now what I want us to do this evening is to ask some questions and see what we can learn here about the way to pray and to come to God.
1. What sin did Jesus give this parable to warn people against?You will often find when you come to Jesus's parables that just before or just after or sometimes at both points there is a little explanation of when and why Jesus gave the parable. It is always a good idea to take note of these as they really help us to understand what is being said. So in 9 we read that it was To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable. He has particular people in mind then here, people who were confident of their own righteousness – they thought they were good enough for God – and who looked down on everybody else – they thought other people weren't good enough for God. These two attitudes often go together and we need to watch out that we don't fall into them.
What about you? Do you tend to think of yourself as good enough for God? Not perfect, perhaps, but good enough? And what about others? Do you find yourself looking down on them and thinking they are not good enough for God? It is another warning sign that all is not well.
A good test is how you react to newspaper stories of wrongdoing – do you react 'I'm glad I'd never do anything like that' or do you see that but for God's kindness you could well be doing the very same things?

2. What do we learn negatively from the Pharisee tax described here?Jesus begins his parable by saying (10) that Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The temple included not just the Holy of Holies and the Holy place and the place for sacrifices but various courts around it where people would pray in public. Jesus speaks about the Pharisee first (11, 12). He says The Pharisee stood up that was the usual posture and prayed about himself (notice that phrase). He prayed like this - God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. So in his prayer he begins by looking down on others and then boasts about his own righteousness – the very things that the parable is intended to oppose.

Now we must be very careful here. Wouldn't it be the easiest thing in the world to say (at least to ourselves) “Well, I'm glad I don't pray like that man. I'm glad I don't pray about myself”. We might even be tempted to pray something like this “God, I thank you that I am not like other men – proud, a hypocritical, self-righteous - or even like this Pharisee. I pray every day and I give to the church and to charity, etc”. Rather, we ought to see that there is at least a bit of the Pharisee in all of us and it is so easy to see the faults of others and look down on them but much more difficult, at times, to see our own faults and to realise that we have no righteousness of our own.
May be you are not very much like the Pharisee – I hope you are not - but it is worth asking yourself – do I resemble him even just a little bit? If I do at all I have good reason to be sorry and to repent from my sin and seek God's forgiveness.

3. What do we learn positively from what the tax collector did and said?There's the negative lesson then but what we want to focus on is the positive example of the tax collector. I think we can learn something both from what he did – what people today would call his body language – and then from his actual words.
1. Learn from what he didLearn from his body language. We are told three things about what the tax collector did. Each is instructive (13)
1 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He hardly felt worthy to be in this place – the temple of God. It was not that he did not want to meet with God, rather there was a sense that he was not worthy to be with other worshippers. It's a little like people sitting in the back at church. Some do it for bad reasons, some for good. Wherever we sit a sense of unworthiness ought to be there somewhere.
2 He would not even look up to heaven. He remembered that God was in heaven and who was he to look up to God? His lowering of his eyes speaks both of humility and of shame. Without these we cannot come to God. Do you humble yourself before God? Are you ashamed before God for what you have done? That is how to come to him.
3 But beat his breast. He was not only ashamed he was very sorry. He remembered his sins and how it hurt him and exasperated him to do so. How about you? Are you genuinely sorry for sin?
2. Learn from what he saidHis actual lip language. His prayer was God, have mercy on me, a sinner. He wanted God to be propitiate some how. He wanted God to deal with him in way that was favourable even though he didn't deserve it. He was seeking God's mercy, God's pity. He describes himself as a sinner, the sinner. God, have mercy on me, sinner that I am. That is why he need mercy. There was nothing he could do to win God's favour. He looked only to the mercy of God.
This is what we all need to do – to go to God and to confess “I am a sinner”, to plead for mercy – say, not just "have mercy" but have "mercy on me, a sinner". Each individual needs to come to God and to find mercy from him through Jesus Christ and what he has done on the cross. Are you looking to him for mercy like this tax collector? I urge you to it.

4. What did Jesus have to say about this tax collector?
See 14. Jesus says I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. To be justified means to be "counted righteous". There was no justification for the Pharisee? Why? He never thought he needed it. I was reading a report recently about unclaimed pensioners benefits in the UK. Something like £4.2 billion a year is going unclaimed. A spokesman from Age Concern has said “Millions of older people across the UK are missing out on money that is rightfully theirs and could make a huge difference to their quality of life.” Now I don't know if these Senior Citizens feel they don't need the money or if they just don't know how to get it but as the man from Age Concern says “There is nothing to lose and everything to gain by making a claim”.

Do you see your need of justification and do you see that you can be justified simply by making a claim - by applying to God. Don't rely on your own righteousness. Look to him for righteousness. As Jesus says here everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. The Pharisee exalted himself and he would soon be humbled. So for all who exalt themselves.
How different the case of the tax collector. He sought mercy and found it. He was justified. Why? Because he sought mercy. As Jesus says he who humbles himself will be exalted. That is true for all who humble themselves before God. So humble yourself before God tonight.