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Reference: Matthew 6 v 19-34

First Things First
Reading: Matthew 6:19-34
As Christians we seek to honour God with our lifestyle and activities. We try to be caring and kind to others, to serve our community and be good citizens, to promote family life, to live morally and in the workplace to be people of integrity. We enjoy one another’s company and actually have some fun!
But we are not alone in all this. Many people around us, of other faiths and none, do the same. So, although these things should characterise us they do not in themselves define us. In fact, if that is all we do then we turn our churches into social clubs rather than temples of the living God.
Here, then, are some of the things that make us fundamentally different.
• We have a relationship with God. We have been born again, Jesus lives in us and our walk with Him is an absolute priority. That is why worship, Bible reading, prayer and meeting together in His name are not add-on accessories but essential to our Christian lives.
• We live in the light of eternity. The world tries to squeeze us into its materialistic mould so that we define blessing in terms of financial prosperity, physical health and long life. But nothing is more important than recognising that our greatest blessings are spiritual and that we are destined for heaven.
• We depend on the Holy Spirit. Success in this world is usually the result of our natural abilities, acquired skills, hard work – and sometimes a bit of luck! Christians, however, look to God for strength, guidance, and the power to live victoriously whatever the circumstances.
• We have a message to proclaim. Social action may help us to relate to people, but the gospel is good news as well as good deeds. They will not in some mysterious way understand that Jesus is the Son of God, and that they need to put their faith in Him for salvation, unless we tell them.
• We put God first. We live for Him, not ‘me, myself and I’. It’s worth asking ourselves the searching question, ‘In what ways do I actually prove that Jesus Christ has first place in my life?’ C.T. Studd, who gave up an England cricketing career and a substantial fortune to go as a missionary to China, said: ‘If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.’
Such a distinctive, spiritual way of life is not just for ‘keen Christians’, but is necessary and normal for all who follow Jesus Christ.
Andrew Parfitt

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Reference: John 13 v 1-17

Sermon preached at Poole Christian Fellowship 23 October 2011
Reference: Luke 10 v 38 – 11 v 13

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When I was involved in recruiting to fill a vacancy and a really good candidate had been identified we always tried to find out the candidates Most Important Thing (MIT). What was it they really wanted from a job? Was it salary? Recognition? Job satisfaction? Once we had identified their MIT, we could see if we could match it.

We all have a Most Important Thing. Even if we are not aware of what it is, we subconsciously make all our decisions in the light of our MIT.

In the case of Paul there was no doubt about what it was: in Philippians 3 he puts everything that was once considered to his credit on one side and says that they are rubbish compared with “the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”. Knowing Jesus was Paul’s MIT!

The Psalmist (Asaph) said: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”

Surely our MIT has to be our relationship with Jesus, our time spent with our Father, and our relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is our theme as we look at this passage together.

The discussion of prayer that occurs below is thinking of prayer in its widest context. Prayer is simply our time spent with Jesus.

1. The Priority of Prayer

The story of Martha and Mary is a familiar and touching one. We are more than tempted to feel a little sympathy for Martha as she rushes round doing all the jobs that have to be done m whilst her sister is simply sitting at Jesus’ feet and not helping at all. Martha’s frustration builds up and up until she finally explodes with an accusation at her sister and irritation at the Lord for condoning what she sees is Mary opting out of responsibility.

Jesus’ reply “Martha, Martha…” comes out of love, affection and concern…not rebuke. Martha is het up about many of the things that concern us…meals have to be cooked, the house has to be tidied, children have to be looked after…and so on. But what is the most important thing? The most important thing is our relationship with Jesus. Mary understood that. Jesus is not condoning laziness – but he affirms someone who has their priority straight. Our MIT is our time with Jesus. Do our lives reflect that?

2. The Pattern of prayer

Luke deliberately follows this passage with what we now call “The Lord’s prayer”. Here he is not giving us a speech to recite our Father (who needs speeches when there is a relationship?) but is giving us an example of what that relationship with our Father looks like.

What do we see in this prayer – in this “model” prayer that Jesus gives us?

We see:
- Addressing God as father – not the authoritative distant Victorian father, but the intimate “daddy” – no speeches are necessary!

- Talking to God about the things that are important to Him –his name and His kingdom

- Depending on the Lord for our daily needs

- Asking for the mercy and undeserved forgiveness of God to be poured out on our lives – whilst recognising that every day we will receive it to the extent that we are willing to share that mercy and that forgiveness with others.

- Asking for help in the daily battle with the enemy so that we can live lives that please God.

If we want to know what spending time with God looks like – here it is!

3. Persistence in prayer

Jesus follows the model prayer with a most amusing story of about the man who has such an extraordinary cheek that he dares to wake up his neighbour in the middle of the night, because of his own lack of planning. What a nerve! And Jesus Is pointing out that God is quite happy when we behave like this. There is no suggestion that God is like the impatient neighbour who only acts to get rid of the nuisance. Jesus is saying that God honours the bold, persistent and even outrageous cheek of those who bring their requests to God.

To emphasise this point Jesus says that we should go on asking, go on seeking, go on knocking, because we can be assured of an answer. There is, in this sense, no such thing as unanswered prayer. God always respond to the cries of his children.

His final comparison is with the Father who still knows how to give good gifts to his children, even though he falls far short of God’s love. And the thing that Jesus says we will receive is the very thing that we need most to enjoy our relationship with Jesus- the Holy Spirit.

Let’s make our Most Important Thing the thing that God wants it to be – the same as Paul’s – to know Jesus. Let’s follow Jesus’ pattern of prayer as we seek to develop our relationship with Him, and let’s be bold and persistent as we seek God and ask Him to continually fill us with His Holy Spirit

John MacDiarmid
October 2011

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Sermon preached at Poole Christian Fellowship 2 October 2011

Luke 10 v 25-37

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Preaching a sermon on the parable of the Good Samaritan creates problems for the preacher – it has even been referred to as “The preachers’ nightmare”

The problems come under four headings:
1. Over-familiarity – when a story is very familiar – as this one is – there is a real tendency for listeners to assume they know what it means, and what the preacher is going to say. And whilst it is certainly true to say that this is one of the best – known and best-loved of the parables, it is certainly NOT true to say that it is one of the best-understood.
2. Under-familiarity – notwithstanding the above, there are some features of the passage where the problem is one of a lack of familiarity. For example – do many Christians know that this story was told as an answer to a specific question asked Jesus by a lawyer? And so we understand the type of story that Jesus was telling and the shock impact of the hero of the story being a Samaritan?
3. The tendency to allegorise – theologians down the ages have turned the story into something that it never was – an allegory, where every detail of the story means something particular.
4. The tendency to moralise – and secular thinkers have taking the story out of its spiritual context and turned it into a statement of Utopian type of caring for one another, that ignores what Jesus was really trying to tell. This story is in fact the darling of those who advocate the “social gospel” – the belief that our faith is about social action. This is a tragic misrepresentation of biblical truth. As John Stott wrote: “We must distinguish between the social gospel of theological liberalism, and the social implications of the biblical gospel”.
Most of a congregation will be carrying one or more of these – which makes preaching a sermon on it a challenge at best!
So, we look today at this passage under four headings:

1. A Question to Answer

The “Expert in the law” was a highly respected person in the religious system of the day. Pharisee’s and synagogue rulers would seek out this highly educated person to tell them of the minutiae of the interpretation of the Law of Moses. This man would have been highly skilled in understanding an applying the law in a way that gave very specific and clear directions as to what to do and what not to do.
The question that he asks goes right to the heart of the message of the Bible. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” is the question that every man woman and child should be asking. “What do I have to do to go to heaven?” is the way we may ask it. There is no denying that it is a good question, if a simple one. But there are two problems with the question. The first problem is that it assumes that inheriting eternal life comes as a result of something we do. The second problem is the manner in which the question is asked. We read that the lawyer “stood up to test Jesus” – a dangerous game if there ever was one!
Jesus gives a very straightforward answer to what is a very easy question. In accordance with the custom of the day he answered by asking another question: “what is written in the law”. The lawyer replies by giving the classic rabbinic answer. It was a combination of scriptures from Leviticus and Deuteronomy which summed up everything in the law. So far, so good. Jesus confirms that this is the correct answer – and there the conversation could have ended.
But this exchange has raised two more difficulties. Firstly, the Lawyer now looks foolish. He has, with great ceremony stood up, asked an obvious question and got an obvious answer. The crowd may well have been giggling at the sight of this self-important, learned lawyer being put in his place by the young rabbi from Galilee. So we read “he wanted to justify himself”. The lawyer, as most of us, cared deeply about how he was perceived, so he asks a supplementary question. But there is something else happening here. Jesus answer “Do this and you will live” has in it the sense of needing to continue to do this, every moment of every day, so surely, thinking must go, there must be some limitation on what is expected here. After all, how could someone be expected to live a life of total love to God and their neighbour? So the supplementary question to Jesus is a justification question.
It is in this context that Jesus tells us the famous story. It is a story to answer the question: “and who is my neighbour?”

2. A Story to Enjoy

And what a wonderful story this is. Jesus, the master story-teller tells us a story in the classic genre of the “story of three”. Everyone listening would know that the first two characters would get it wrong, and the third would get it right. The story of a dangerous journey between Jerusalem and Jericho was well-known, the plight of the man would arouse sympathy, and the indifference of the priest and Levite would horrify the lawyer, and raise knowing looks among Jesus entourage as Jesus moved towards the climax of the story. The lawyer would have assumed that the one who would get it right would be a Pharisee or similar. And Jesus entourage would be waiting for the punch line – a parable is a story with a sting in the tail. Surely the hero of the story is going to be the average Jew, who Jesus champions.
The shock of what comes next is hard to over-emphasise. The Samaritans were the sworn enemies of the Jews. Prayers were offered by some Jews that the Samaritans would not inherit eternal life. The very idea that a Samaritan would be the one who Jesus would put up as a model of integrity, as an example of love for others, and that Jesus would tell the lawyer to go and imitate the love of the Samaritan was unthinkable. The story was told to answer the question that one who is our neighbour is the worst of our enemies. That is the one that we are to love as ourselves.
What possible response could there be to this other than the thought that this represents a level of love that is entirely beyond anything that we can find in ourselves?

3. Some Characters to Ponder

Commentators down the ages have found in this story a string of allegorical representations that range from the fascinating to the bizarre and the fanciful. Augustine understood the story as an allegory thus:
“A Man” Adam (the human race)
Jerusalem” Heaven (from which Adam fell)
“Jericho” Fallen earth
“Robbers” the devil
“Stripped him” i.e. of immortality and innocence
”Beat him” caused him to sin
“Leaving him half dead” alive, but spiritually dead
“Priest and Levite” ministry of the Old Testament
“The Samaritan” Jesus
“Bandaged his wound” binding the restraint of sin
“Oil” comfort of good hope
“Wine” exhortation to work with a fervent spirit
“Donkey” the flesh of Jesus’ incarnation
“Inn” the church
“The next day” after the resurrection
“Two silver coins” the promise of this life and the life to come
“Innkeeper” Paul

Some of these seem plausible – some are fanciful. The problem we have is that these are not the main purpose that Jesus had for telling the story and in any case, Jesus did not specify what, if anything, he was referring to in the characters. We will never know for certain until we can ask Jesus face to face what – if anything – each of the characters refers to.

But there are some points that seem to fit so well that it is worth dwelling on. Even if the parallel was not what Jesus intended, the points convey truth to the hearer.

A, The Man – the man, who recklessly travels from Jerusalem to Jericho – a notorious trouble spot – and finds himself mercilessly beaten up by adversaries is just like us. We have been spiritually “mugged” by the enemy (without back peddling on our own responsibility), we are helpless to save ourselves, and we desperately need a saviour.

B: The Priest and Levite – are like the law, which only serves to confirm our need of a saviour, but which does nothing to help.

C: The Samaritan – surely Jesus is our Good Samaritan – the “stranger “who see us in our need, who at great personal cost rescues us and sees that we are cared for, who takes full responsibility for us even though we have done nothing to deserve His favour.

D: The Inn – if the above are true, then it seems reasonable to liken the Inn to the place where Jesus deposits us to be cared for – the church. What a responsibility that puts on each to us to care for one another.

E: The Samaritan leaves enough for the individuals to be cared for, and promises to return with more if needed. Jesus continually provides the church with what it needs to carry out its ministry and will, of course, return to make sure that his instructions have been complied with.

So the gospel is in this story, if we want to see it there.

4. A Theology to Understand

We now need to pull all these thread together and ask, what does Jesus really want us to know through this passage, which includes the story of the Good Samaritan.

The thrust of the passage is the questioning of Jesus by a man who wants to know how he can get to heaven. Jesus responds by telling him a story that confirms his worst fears. The standards is perfection. Nothing else will do. The reaction of the assembled crowd would surely be”This is impossible” And that is the point. We cannot justify ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. We need a saviour, we need a Good Samaritan, we need someone who will take us in his heart, rescue us and see that we are saved. Jesus is our Good Samaritan. We can trust in our good works for salvation or we can trust in Jesus for our salvation. The message is clear. Trusting in our works will not get us anywhere near the kingdom of god. Trusting in Jesus is what brings us to heaven.

John MacDiarmid
October 2011

Sermon preached at Poole Christian Fellowship 25 September 2011

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Reference: Luke 10 v1-24

The main theme of this passage is that there is plenty of work to be done for Jesus, but there are not many workers. That was the case then, and it is the position today in every place where Jesus is served. There are often plenty of people prepared to ally themselves with Jesus and to declare allegiance to Him – but not necessarily to work in his harvest field.
The image of the harvest is highly significant. It talks of blessing, opportunity, and hard work. But, importantly, it also talks of urgency. When the harvest is ready it has to be brought in – tomorrow may be too late. The farmer and his workers have to use every possible minute of daylight and every ounce of energy to make sure that harvest is brought in.
So our main challenge today is that there is plenty of work to be done…but not enough people to do it.
Four points:

1. An Amazing Commission

As Jesus continues on the road to Jerusalem he sends some of his disciples ahead of Him in order to prepare the way for Him. There is rich symbolism here. There were thought to be 72 nations in the world at the time of Christ. The fact that the otherwise odd number of 72 was chosen represents that the ordinary disciple will be sent into all the world. We, like the 72, are chosen to go into all the world. And we, like the 72 are sent to prepare the way for Jesus.
What else can we say about this commission?
Jesus says that we are being sent out to do a job that means we will have to trust him for provision (“take nothing for your journey”) for protection (“lambs among wolves”) and that it is a mission on urgency (“Greet no one on the road” and “do not move around from house to house”). Our mission is a mission whereby we bring peace between Go d and man, and where the kingdom of God is demonstrated in power. Nothing has changed!
There is a solemn note to our commission. Those who reject our message are rejecting the God of heaven who has sent us. And to illustrate this, Jesus speaks of those areas that have rejected His message and the fate that awaits them for doing so. The gospel is not only a gospel of grace – it is a gospel of judgement.

2. An Astonishing Consequence

The excited evangelists return to report an astonishing consequence of their mission. Even the demons have to go in the name of Jesus. In reply Jesus tells them that the enemy of their souls, the one who had illegally occupied planet earth pretty much unchallenged since Eden was on the retreat. This is the same thought that is behind the statement recorded elsewhere when Jesus says that the gates of hell will not stand against the church. The kingdom of darkness is on the retreat, and we are a part of the rout!

3. An Astounding Choice

Jesus acknowledges the joy that his disciples have in the victories that they experience. But he points out that there is a greater joy than that. The fact is, that we belong to Jesus and we are headed for heaven. Our salvation is a greater miracle than anything else that we will experience in this life. Jesus rejoiced in the fact that this has been given – not to the “wise” and the intellectual but to the lowest of the low, the children who would be despised by the world. We are in His kingdom and a part of His plan because we are those to whom God has chosen to reveal his purpose. What a privileged people we are!

4. An Awesome Challenge

Finally, we return to the main thought of the day – the fact that there is plenty of work to be done, but few to do it. What are we to make of Jesus’ assertion that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few?
Firsly we have to rejoice in the workers that are already there. We need to give thanks for every person, both in our local setting and round the world for those who sacrifice their time , their energy and sometimes their very lives for the kingdom of God.
Having said that, we have to acknowledge the reality of what Jesus says. The kingdom of God is a sphere of limitless opportunity, which means that there are never enough workers.
How do we respond to this challenge? It is possible to respond defensively, by saying that we can’t possibly do any more. It is possible for a preacher to respond aggressively by bullying his congregation into giving more. But surely a responsible response is to follow Jesus exhortation and to bring the need to our Father in heaven. We have the extraordinary position here of having a prayer requests from Jesus! So when we come to Him with our request we know that he will be responding to us and hearing what we ask, and, in His own time and His own way, providing the need.
The sting in the tail here is that as we come to our Father asking fervently for Him to provide workers…he often comes to us with a solution: what about you? Are we available, not only to ask, but to go ? This does not mean that everyone will be called to go abroad. It is more than likely that the sphere of mission service will be in our workplace, our family, our street. And, of course, there is a huge need in the local church for the different jobs that need to be done. But there will be some who are called to give up their lives to serve God in a place that is far away from home. He is the Lord of the harvest – so He decides. But the question is – will we pray? And will we go?

John MacDiarmid
September 2011