Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
Sunday 16th March, 2014. 11.00
Genesis 12:1-9 Now the LORD said to Abraham, "Go from
your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will
show you. 2 I will make of
you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you
will be a blessing. 3 I will
bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you
all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 4 So Abraham went, as the LORD had
told him; and Lot went with him. Abraham was seventy-five years old when he
departed from Haran. 5 Abraham
took his wife Sarah and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that
they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they
set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of
Canaan, 6 Abraham passed
through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the
Canaanites were in the land. 7
Then the LORD appeared to Abraham, and said, "To your offspring I will
give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared
to him. 8 From there he moved
on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel
on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and
invoked the name of the LORD. 9
And Abraham journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Revelation 14:1-7 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb,
standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred forty-four thousand who
had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven
like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I
heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they sing a new song before
the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one
could learn that song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who have been
redeemed from the earth. 4 It
is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins;
these follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from humankind
as first fruits for God and the Lamb, 5
and in their mouth no lie was found; they are blameless. 6 Then I saw another angel flying
in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the
earth-- to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice,
"Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and
worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water."
Revelation 21:1-5 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for
the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no
more. 2 And I saw the holy
city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. 3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is
among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God
himself will be with them; 4
he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and
crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed
away." 5 And the one who
was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new."
John 3:1-17 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a
leader of the Jews. 2 He came
to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher
who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the
presence of God." 3
Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of
God without being born from above."
4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after
having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be
born?" 5 Jesus answered,
"Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being
born of water and Spirit. 6
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is
spirit. 7 Do not be
astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' 8 The wind blows where it chooses,
and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where
it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus said to him, "How
can these things be?" 10
Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not
understand these things? 11
"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we
have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about
earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about
heavenly things? 13 No one
has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of
Man. 14 And just as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, 15 that whoever believes
in him may have eternal life. 16 ¶
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 "Indeed, God did not send
the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might
be saved through him.
Do you ever have those days where you wonder whether it’s all worth it?
…Where you wonder just where it’s
all going,
what the point of it all
is?
The stress!
the hassle! the disappointment! the frustration!
I’m talking,
of course, about church life…
I mean, it’s
such a great idea in theory, isn’t
it?
A community of people, filled with
the Spirit,
walking the path of Christ together
in loving relationship
with one another,
and in faithful
communion with God.
And yet the
reality is so often so far short of the ideal.
Arguments,
relationship problems,
sinful behaviour, and petty politics,
are all too
frequently the day to day reality of church life.
Recent
research into why people leave church
shows that whilst many pastors
believe that people leave their churches
primarily due to a loss
of personal faith,
the reality is often more prosaic,
and in many ways more worrying,
with a general
disillusionment
with the
structures and institutions of church itself
being far more
influential
than any
disillusionment with God.[1]
In other
words, it’s other people that cause people to leave,
not God.
And then there’s
the numbers issue.
We might, in theory, believe that
through us
Jesus Christ offers good
news to all people,
but either we’re not that great at
communicating it,
or a lot of people don’t
want that kind of good news.
And we tell
ourselves that numbers aren’t everything,
and that depth is as important as
breadth,
but
fundamentally, if no-one comes,
we’ve not got much of a church.
One might
wonder why we carry on?
And many, in fact, do just that.
I remember
reading an article
in the Baptist Ministers’ Journal a
few years back,
written by a
recently retired anonymous minister,
who said that the moment he received
his pension,
he stopped going to church.
He had stayed the
course because he had had to be there,
but over the years he had utterly
lost faith in the people of God.
And if I’m
honest there have been moments in my ministry,
when never darkening the door of a
church again
has seemed like a tempting
proposition.
So, honestly,
is it worth it?
Is it worth the stress, the hassle,
the disappointment, the
frustration?
What is the
point of being part of this so-called ‘people of God’?
There are many
people sitting in congregations across our city
who are asking what on earth the
point is of persevering with church.
And there are
many others who used to be in our
churches
who have come to the conclusion that
it’s just not worth the struggle.
So, what is
the point? Is all this worth it?
Well, I think
that this question is addressed is by the passage
we had read to us a few moments ago
from Genesis chapter 12.
Here, in this
story of the call of Abraham,
we find an account of the moment it
all starts.
Here, with
Abraham, we get the story
of the beginning of the journey that
we are now a part of.
The origin of
the ‘called and commissioned’ people of God
begins right here in Abraham’s
encounter with God.
And in this
story, which echoes down the millennia to us,
we find that the call to be the
people of God,
the call to follow
wherever the path takes us,
is also a call to be good news to
all nations.
It seems that
the foundational principle,
right at the heart of the origin the
people of God,
is nothing less than gospel itself
– a gospel of good news
for all, not just for some.
In the book of
Genesis, the move from chapter 11 to chapter 12
is an important one
because it
describes a fundamental shift
in the story of God’s relationship
with humanity.
It is, if you
like, the move from pre-history,
to human history.
And Walter
Brueggemann describes it as
‘perhaps the most important
structural break in the Old Testament’,[2]
and it marks
the point of transition
between the history of humankind,
and the history of Israel,
between the history of the curse,
and the history of the blessing.
Up until this
point, through Genesis chapters 1 to 11,
we meet the stories of humanity’s
inability to save itself.
From the fall
from grace in Eden, which we were looking at last week,
to the growing hostility between
humanity and creation;
from the first
murder
to the more general wickedness of
humanity;
from the
destructiveness of the great flood
to the curse of Babel.
Through the
first eleven chapters of Genesis
we find God’s good creation on a
downwards spiral,
with the story
of humanity up to this point
leading to nothing beyond barrenness
and futility.
In the Abraham
story, his wife Sarah
is famously unable to
have children, having got too old,
and so the promise from God
that he will become the
father of a great nation
is one which seems to them a
laughable dream.
The barrenness
of Sarah in Abraham’s story
is in many ways symbolic
of
the barrenness of the world as a whole,
which has itself got old,
without having borne the
fruit of new life.
The way
Genesis has been telling the story,
up until this point, humanity is
going nowhere
other than an eventual
petering out,
and
a dwindling away to nothing.
So it is into a
world that has run its course,
to a world that is dying without
issue,
that the promise and call of God
comes.
Just as the
God of creation called something from nothing,
calling ‘order’ from chaos,
so in the call
of Abraham
the same God calls humanity to new
life;
calling forth life from
a barren womb and a sterile world;
calling people of death to experience
the gift of life
which they meet through
covenant relationship
with the living God.
This call of
God then echoes through history,
through the prophets of Israel, down
to the first century,
and it’s a
call repeated in the invitation of Jesus
who invited his own disciples to ‘follow’
him.
The call of
Jesus is likewise heard as a summons
to move from chaos to order;
it is an invitation to move from
barrenness to new life.
And like the
call of God to Abraham,
it’s a call that is accompanied by
promise.
The Lord told Abraham
that through his descendants
‘all the families of the earth shall
be blessed.’
And to this
end promised Abraham a new world,
where humans are reborn, are born
again,
into covenant relationship with their
creator.
Through the
call of God and the promise of the covenant,
new way of being opened before
Abraham,
where
that which could not be achieved by other means.
That which building
a tower to the heavens at Babel failed to accomplish,
became possible because of God’s
gracious intervention.
Humans could
not reach God through their own efforts,
and had to discover that gift of new
life that comes from God
comes as a gift from the
God of love,
not as the result of human activity
and attainment.
The promise of
God is fulfilled by God’s action,
rather than by the efforts of humans.
The lesson of
the call of God on Abraham
is that people are not ultimately reconciled
to God
through Abraham’s
efforts,
nor through the efforts of his
descendants,
nor through the efforts
of humanity as a whole,
but only in and through the one who
calls
and gives the gift of
new life.
But this call
to Abraham,
and the promise to him and his
descendants,
also carried a commission.
God’s chosen
people are not to live in a vacuum,
separated and holy.
They are to
live with, for and among the nations of the world.
The good news
for Abraham
is also to be good news for all
peoples,
good news for all nations.
Without
qualification, without barrier, without condition.
Just as the
Lord called Abraham into new relationship,
so through Abraham and his descendants
the same call must go to
all people.
The same
promise,
of new life in relationship with
God,
is for all nations, not just for one
nation under God.
In the New
Testament,
we find that both Paul and Peter
grasp this truth,
and see its fulfilment in Jesus
Christ as good news for all people.
In his letter
to the Galatians,
Paul says that (Galatians 3:8)
‘the scripture, foreseeing that God
would justify the Gentiles by faith,
declared the gospel
beforehand to Abraham,
saying, “All the
Gentiles shall be blessed in you.”‘
And in his
sermon at Pentecost,
Peter declares to his Jewish
congregation that they (Acts 3:25)
‘are
the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant
that
God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham,
‘And in your descendants all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.’’
This is the
purpose of the people of God,
and it has been so from the very
beginning.
The Good News
is for all nations, for all peoples,
and has always been so.
This same principle
can also to be found in the book of Revelation,
where the church is described as the
Bride of Christ.
Now, I don’t
want to get too earthy about this,
but seeing as we’ve already spoken
about Sarah’s child of promise,
it seems to me that there
is another promise
inherent in the image of
a bride and a groom.
In the first
century world, the celebration of a wedding
included the hope that it wouldn’t
be long
before new life came
into being,
as a result of the consummation
of the relationship
between bride and groom.
All of which
raises an interesting question:
Given that in the book of Revelation
John describes Jesus as
the Lamb that was slain,
and the church as the
bride of the Lamb,
One might well ask who it is that he
envisages
as the offspring of this
marriage that he describes
between Christ and his
Church?
The Abraham
story may help us here:
The covenant with Abraham
was built upon a
marriage,
with the barren Sarah becoming
miraculously pregnant,
thereby
beginning the ‘great nation’
through whom, we are told, all nations will be blessed
(Gen. 15.5; 18.18).
It may be that
John’s image of the final consummation
between Christ and the Church,
which
he depicts as a marriage
between a bride and her
husband,
has in view the ultimate fulfilment
of the promise made to Abraham.
If this is the
case, then the marriage of the Lamb and the bride
may not be so much the end of the
story, as it’s present reality.
This may not
be a marriage that has yet to happen,
and which will occur only at the end
of time.
It may
actually be a description of the here-and-now,
with the church united with her Lord
in loving and fruitful union.
Rather than
seeing the marriage of Christ and the Church
as the final goal of creation,
we find before
us the possibility
that there is a much greater
inheritance due to the Church,
as the embryonic
promise of the Abrahamic covenant
is brought to birth in the
proclamation of a gospel
for ‘every nation and tribe and
language and people’ (14.6).
The book of
Revelation ends with this picture
of the church as the Bride of Christ,
and she is
seen joining her voice with that of the Spirit
to call all the nations of the
world,
all those beyond the gates of the
new Jerusalem (cf. 22.15),
to enter into the city
and drink from the river of life
which runs through the
city (22.1–2).
The covenant which
began with Abraham
thus finds its fulfilment, as the
people of God
become a source of
blessing to all peoples,
releasing them from their
enslavement to the satanic forces of evil
and
enabling them to enter into the new life
that
is theirs when they are born again
as
citizens of the heavenly city.
As Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus shows us,
those who want to
enter into the new life that begins in Jesus,
must do so through
being born again, through being born from above.
But they do so as those who are born into the new life
that came into the
sterile world of Abraham,
through
the barren womb of Sarah,
at the invitation of
the Spirit,
by
life-giving relationship with Jesus.
This same principle can also to be found in the image of 144,000,
who are another one
of Revelation’s symbols
for the faithful
and chosen people of God.
Within John’s story, only the 144,000
can sing the song of
salvation to the earth.
Only the faithful people of God
can speak the gospel
to the nations.
However, what becomes clear is that
through their
faithful proclamation of the gospel for all,
they are seen to be the
firstfruits of a much greater harvest (14.4).
The seed is
sown, and the Lord brings it to fruition.
This image
evokes the Jewish practice
of offering the first fruits of a
harvest
to symbolize the fact that the whole
harvest belongs to God.
Understood in
this way, the faithful witness of the Church
is seen once again to result in good
news
for all the nations of
the earth,
as the Abrahamic covenant is
fulfilled
in the gathering in of
the great harvest,
of which the church are
simply the first fruits.
So, to return
to the question with which we started:
Is it really worth it?
Is it worth persevering in witnessing
even through difficulty
and persecution?
Is it worth persevering with the
people of God,
even when all seems lost
and despair, despondency
and defeat
lurk round
every corner?
Yes, says
John, it is!
Because the gospel is good
news for every nation,
and the ultimate result
of the
faithful witness of the people of God
is the freeing of all
the nations
from their
enslavement to the forces of evil,
as the coming
judgment of God consigns to the flames
all those
systems and principalities and powers
which
distort, demean and destroy the covenant relationship
into
which God calls the people of the earth.
When seen from the perspective of the earth,
the people of God might
be a feeble, frail and flawed grouping,
with the good news
hard to discern within them.
But when seen from heaven’s perspective,
those of us who gather
faithfully and
steadfastly in the name of Christ
are seen to be the fulfilment of the
Abrahamic covenant.
We are those
who proclaim a gospel
which is good news for all nations,
and we are
those who pave the way
for the eventual ingathering
of all those who pass through judgement.
We are those
who have been born again and from above,
and we are those who will in turn
bring to birth
a
nation so great that no-one can count it.
This, surely,
is good news.
Good news for
all nations,
good news for all the world.
This is the
gospel of Christ.
Thanks be to God