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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

We were visited this week by Evangelos Sikoutris from Greece, along with his wife, during their brief tour of the UK. Evangelos spoke about perseverance from Acts 4.

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Reference: Acts 4 v 21-31

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Sermon preached at Poole Christian Fellowship 4 September 2011

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Luke 9 v 44-62

Jesus is now on the road to Jerusalem for the last time in his earthly ministry. Jesus has been unmasked as the Messiah, and together with His entourage, is taking the journey to Jerusalem, where he will reach the culmination of His ministry.
In the passage that we consider today we have a series of events and conversations that happened to Jesus over a period of time whilst he was on the road. Luke has helpfully grouped them together so that we can see how Jesus dealt with the various issues that arise.

Travelling with someone is a great opportunity to get to know them better and to learn from them. The ultimate experience of that must have been being on the road with Jesus. Here we see five lessons that emerged whilst Jesus was travelling, five lessons that came out of real life situations whilst He was on the road with his disciples. A disciple is a learner, and so we may expect that the issues that emerge to be ones that, as disciples of Jesus, cause us to learn from Him. The trouble is that learning from Jesus doesn’t only involve adding to our knowledge and becoming more theologically astute (though we certainly need to learn to do that), it also means learning about patterns of behaviour that Jesus wants us to follow, that may well be different from our own. In other words being with Jesus challenges our behaviour. When we spend time with Jesus, we expect our behaviour to be challenged. Approach with caution!

So here we have five lessons that emerge from being on the road with Jesus.

1. A lesson about the Cross (v 44-45)

Jesus has just appeared in radiant glory in the presence of three of the disciples and he has followed this up with an outstanding miracle in the life of a demon-possessed boy. Now all the talk, once again is about the future of this Messiah, how he will kick out the Romans and set up the kingdom of God on earth. But Jesus will have none of it. For the second time, he tells the disciples about the future of his ministry, that he will suffer, die and be killed.
The message of Jesus is the message of the cross. It is a message of Jesus suffering and dying to bring us back into a relationship with our Father. It is not a message of triumphalism and glory – that is for the future. The disciples didn’t get the point. Do we?

2. A Lesson about Humility (v46-48)

Incredibly, the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. Jesus deals with this by having a little girl stand in their midst. The lessons from this are:

a. If you want to be received as a messenger of Jesus, you need to be like “the least among you”. That is the way to be great in the kingdom of God – take the lowly position, do the jobs that no one else notices or wants to do and be like Jesus, who washed the feet of his disciples and took the position of a slave,
b. There is also a strong inference that Jesus will assess our service by the way we treat the most vulnerable, the most lowly and the least significant in our midst. What a challenge that is for us!

3. A Lesson about Unity (v49-50)

Here the disciples show how parochial and partisan-minded we can all be. Unless someone is the same as us, unless they wear the same badge and belong to our group – we often don’t want anything to do with them. The ones who are most prone to this are leaders, maybe because they see their positions threatened if others start to others in leadership.
The lesson from this is not that all efforts at unity should be blindly followed. Jesus referred to those who are “against us” – and there are plenty who are! Those who do not adhere to the basic truths of Christian faith are not our allies. But those who do, even if they do some things that we could not endorse, are our allies and our colleagues in the kingdom of God, and we should continually be looking, as God leads, to build alliances and to work together wherever possible. May God help us to do so wisely?

4. A Lesson about Opposition (v49-50)

Jesus is headed to Jerusalem. The quickest and most direct route was through Samaria, an area where the sworn enemies of orthodox Jews lived. The normal practice would be for a Jew to circumvent Samaria by going many miles more than would be necessary. Yet Jesus deliberately puts himself in the ways of opposition and puts himself in the place of those who would be likely to reject Him. .
We have to understand that there will be those who will reject us, refuse to welcome us, and do what they can to oppose us. Every time we share the gospel we are telling people that they are sinners, that God’s anger is burning against their sin and that he is offering them undeserved mercy to escape from that judgement. It is not always going to be a popular message. Yet, we have to be like Jesus and still be willing to put ourselves at risk of rejection.
What happens when we are rejected? The two hotheads – the “sons of thunder”, James and John – live up to their nickname, saying in effect, “Lord – let them have it”. In a sense they are quite right. The time will come when Jesus will judge with fire those who have rejected him. But the response of Jesus is telling. For now, we are in a time of grace, a time when the judgement of God is suspended. So how do we react to rejection? We move on, and leave them with God. In this case, a few years later there would be revival in Samaria, which these people would miss had the judgement of Jesus been poured out then and there.
When people reject us, in fact when they hurt us or those we love in any way, there is an uprising of indignation and hurt often becoming bitterness and resentment, that longs for God to let them have what they deserve. We simply must ask God to help us deal with this, until we can say with Jesus “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing”. Until we can say that, we have not truly forgiven, and until we have truly forgiven, we will never be free from the pain of the hurt. Notice Jesus’ displeasure here is not aimed at the Samaritans who did not welcome him here. It is aimed at the disciples who reacted wrongly.

5. A Lesson about the Cost (v 57-62)

The cost of following Jesus is not like the cost of an airline ticket bought with a low cost airline, where the price keeps going up until you are paying far more than you actually thought. Jesus always spells out well in advance the cost of following Him.
This passage concludes with three conversations that Jesus has about the cost of following Him.
What do they teach us?

a. The first man promises to follow Jesus with all his heart. How easy it is to make rash promises! Jesus warns him that it will not always be easy saying, in effect “ bear in mind that I have nowhere to stay tonight” if we follow Jesus it will mean saying goodbye to the securities and the trappings of life and accepting whatever God chooses to give us. We are not told the man’s response. What is our response to that warning?
b. The second man respond to an invitation to follow Jesus, with the excuse that “Yes – I’d love to, but I need to bury my father” This meant that the father was no yet dead, and that the man would need to look after him in his old age, and when that was done, he would consider being a disciple of Jesus. The response of Jesus? Blunt, direct and devastating. Service in the kingdom of God trumps family responsibilities every time! How easy it is to use family ties and responsibilities as an excuse for putting God’s kingdom second. That does not mean that we should abandon our God-given family responsibilities, but it does mean that they should never be used as an excuse for back-peddling on our responsibility to follow Jesus.
c. There are some things that you cannot do unless it has your full attention. Ploughing a field is one of them. Gazing anywhere other than ahead is a dangerous business when you are ploughing, as it is with driving a car. The challenge of this is “Where is your gaze” – on the kingdom of God, or on something else? It is interesting that the issue of family is the one that comes to the fore as the distraction.

So Jesus has five lessons for his disciples on the road. What one speaks to you – and what do you intend to do about it?
The hard reality is that time with Jesus will always be challenging. We will always have our beliefs, our attitudes and our behaviours challenged when we dare to spend time in His company.

John MacDiarmid
September 2011

Sermon preached at Poole Christian Fellowship 28 August 2011

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As we have gone through Luke’s gospel we have seen how Dr Luke systematically, and chronologically sets the scene for the life of Jesus, starting with the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and telling us in detail about the early days of Jesus ministry, the so-called Galilean ministry. During the Galilean Ministry, Jesus has gathered around himself a band of disciples, has preached the gospel of the kingdom, healed the sick and raised the dead.

In chapter nine we have seen how Jesus was acknowledged as the Messiah by Peter and from that moment on a new era starts. Immediately following Peter’s recognition of who Jesus is, Jesus starts to point to the cross. He dispels the disciples’ assumption that the Messiah will setup the kingdom of God on earth here and now by telling the incredulous disciples that he will suffer and die.

After the remarkable events of the transfiguration and the deliverance of the demoniac boy when the crowd is once again looking forward to the emergence of the messiah, Jesus once again points out how he will be going to the cross, and then we read that Jesus sets out resolutely towards Jerusalem.

From this point on Luke’s narrative is all about the journey to the cross. Jesus continues with His teaching, his miracles and his confrontation with the religious establishment but the progress is always towards Jerusalem.

Luke, along with the other gospel writers, describes the events leading up to and surrounding the death of Jesus in some detail. The explanation of the event, however, is left to the writers of the epistles. Peter explains the cross in this way:
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 25 For “you were like sheep going astray,”[f] but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2 v.24-5)
From this let us draw out four points of learning:

1. Remember

As we break bread today, let’s remember what Jesus did for us. A very small child can understand the concept that wrongdoing deserves punishment, and that if someone else pays the price then I can go free. Today we remember that Jesus stood in our place. The cross is an offence precisely because we find it unacceptable to think that we are sinners, that an angry God punishes sin and that there is nothing that I can do to save myself. Today we remember and believe that Jesus took my punishment.

2. Reflect

The first letter to the Corinthians was written, amongst other reasons, to insist that the Corinthian church treat the Lord’s Supper with respect. They were over-eating, getting drunk and showing no regard for what Jesus had done. Today we reflect on the fact that by his wounds we have been healed. The very thing that brings death to Jesus – his wounds – brings life to us.

3. Rejoice

It is perfectly proper to remember the death of Jesus with a big smile on our faces. We were like sheep going astray but now we have returned to our shepherd. Just like a child reunited with a parent, there is great joy and great relief at the re-union.

4. Respond

Reflecting on the life of Jesus brings us to a decision. Are we prepared to live in the light of it. Peter says that a purpose of the cross was for us to die to sins and to live for righteousness? Are we taking on board our responsibility?

John MacDiarmid
August 2011