Our guest speaker this morning was Brian Kirik of Gospel For Asia UK. The main verses he preached from were Matthew 9:35-38.
Notes are below. As usual the material is made available so that any may use it, adapt it and preach it. Our copyright is only so you do not sell it or make money from it.
Of Credit Crunch And Kings
Intro
We are living through momentous times. One banker I heard on Radio 4 described events as apocalyptic. For some people this is a time to fear.
I suspect that if I searched the internet I would find some predictions that we are now witnessing the end of the world and that this will usher in the long awaited return of Christ. I will not make any wild predictions but I do think this, that at momentous times believers should keep their brains plugged in, with an eye on the news and on scriptures.
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax, Of cabbages and kings.. (Lewis Carroll)I will start by speaking to you, not of cabbages, but of kings - the Book of Kings.
I am not really covering 2 Corinthians 10. I simply start there to see if we can learn anything from Paul about his character. And then, from that, if I can learn anything about my character.
1) National character matters
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
If there’s one thing we learn from history it’s that we learn nothing from history.
I don’t know how long it would take to read, in one sitting, the history known in the Bible as the Second Book of Kings. It would certainly not take a whole lifetime to read. Yet for anyone who does read it they can see an account of God’s dealing with generations of people. There can be found the experience and wisdom of many lifetimes for all who care to learn from it.
In 2 Kings (as it is known) we can read that when those ancient people turned to God they experienced great blessing. When they turned away from God, lawlessness and social injustice increased, national prosperity eroded and eventually the nation cried out to God for forgiveness and mercy - and received it.
Our culture has worshipped money and possessions for a long time. The point in the cycle we are at now can be seen in the first Book of Kings. Read it for yourself and see where you think we fit.
If the Book of Kings offers us hope it is that we can see the mercy of God if we turn to him again. I wonder how bad it would get before our society would do so. In that ancient account it got very bad indeed in some of the turns of the cycle, with extremes of desperation and cruelty.
Why should God care about what people believe or do? Because he cares about the eternal. He cares about the eternity of the people who belong to him. God cares for people more than “stuff”. Character lasts for all eternity and money does not. Moral failure damages the individual, damage that lasts - only complete forgiveness can release us from the damage it causes.
2) The God who shakes
They called it a “credit crunch” and now they tell us we are in a recession. Some say we are on the verge of a depression.
Some commentators say we are seeing the end of Capitalism, as momentous a time as when we once watched the fall of communism. The “West” will never be the same again.
God once said he would shake the heavens and the earth and the nations.
Haggai 2:5-7 Do not fear.’ This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.
This prediction came true when, after the Assyrian empire, Alexander the Great conquered the known world. He scraped the earth from the ground and cast it into the sea fulfilling the ancient prophecy of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 26:3-5 “..therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock.
Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishing nets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. She will become plunder for the nations..”
The first fulfilment was the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar, but he did not finish the job. The prophecy referred to “many nations”, and one of those nations that came later was Greece. Alexander scraped away the rubble and cast it into the sea.
When God decides to shake the nations nothing can stand in his way. He shakes the nations, and the lives, so that what can not be shaken (that which is eternally valuable) might remain.
3) Personal character matters
Do you/I have faith to welcome each and every time that God chooses to come into my affairs to shake out the worthless stuff?
But what of those who, in these special times, go to bed in fear and find no refuge in sleep before rising to more fear? I could say Jesus is the answer, but suspect that some would think that I mean that to turn to him means he will see all our bills are paid and all our wants satisfied. I do not suggest that, nor do I think did he. But I do believe he is the answer and to turn to him is the best course of action.
When Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” He was promising quality of life to all who would hand over their lives to him. Quality of life that would not depend upon whether I am rich or poor, sick or well. And once a person belongs to him they have the privilege of prayer too.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
The writer of Hebrews quoted the prediction of Haggai.
Hebrews 12:18-29 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear.
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken- that is, created things- so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
This time the prophecy is linked to to the return of Jesus Christ.
At this time perhaps there are many who wished they had taken the advice of Jesus (in the Gospel of Matthew) and had used their lives for better purposes and pursued better goals. Jesus said,
Matthew 6:19-21 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
So whatever lies ahead for you and I, let us keep close to Jesus and:
- trust him for our tomorrows
- make your requests known to him
- let us all walk in faith together
We’re very pleased at how well Tuesday’s Alpha at the Biltmore went. The Biltmore is a beautiful restaurant, suave and sophisticated but enough about me, the Biltmore is a pretty special place. Altogether there were 15 of us, we were served our complimentary food and drink and enjoyed a little dinner party for about 40 minutes. Then Graham, the senior pastor gave his powerful testimony of how Jesus transformed his life. It was a great night. The coming weeks should be splendid.
Apologies, due to some technical difficulties we don’t have a recording this week but the notes are below. I ran out of time this week so the sermon’s been split into two parts. There will be a recap of the first part in Part 2 in a few weeks time. Feel free to use the notes below in anyway you wish.
Sources: The Century of the Holy Spirit
Chasing the Dragon
Recommended: Speaking in Tongues: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives (Studies in Pentecostal and Charismatic Issues)
The Holy Spirit and Tongues
I did a small survey about Tongues in the church a few months ago. Thirty five people responded.
Out of 35:
11 had never spoken in tongues.
9 spoke in tongues occasionally.
15 spoke in tongues frequently, once per week or more.
What are Tongues?
Starting at the beginning: Luke 24:45-49 (Jesus promises the Holy Spirit)
Fulfilment at Pentecost: Acts 2:1-9 (The Holy Spirit comes, one of the results is tongues)
Two Examples of baptism in the HS in Acts:
Believers at Samaria: Acts 8:14-19 (Already Christian but had no baptism in the Spirit, no tongues).
Cornelius and his Household: Acts 10:39-46 (Holy Spirit at same time as believing and tongues).
The Holy Spirit Cannot be Formulised.
I want to resist applying a formula to the Holy Spirit that isn’t there. Sometimes the Holy Spirit comes when a person believes, sometimes he does not. Sometimes the result is speaking in tongues, sometimes it is not.
There are two different types of tongues:
Xenolalia: An actual earthly language (Brazilian, Italian etc) Acts 2.
Glossolalia: (more common) a non earthly language, some call it the language of angels. I don’t actually think there is a literal national dialect of the angels, I think we could more generally regard it as the language of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:2 Paul says: “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no-one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit“.
It has no rhythm or rhyme that can be subjected to the tests of modern lingusitic methodologies, in this sense it’s something completely different from an earthly language. Possibly because tongues isn’t really about the sound, it’s about the movement, the movement of the Spirit. In our earthly vessels this movement produces sound and God understands us. But the sound is secondary to the movement which creates it. Just as a groan of pain is secondary to the pain itself.
Now I Want to Talk About Crying.
I’m Not Crying Video (Flight of the Conchords)
“I’m not crying, It’s just been raining…..on my face.”
“I’m not weeping because you won’t be here to hold my hand. For your information there’s an inflammation in my tear gland.”
“I’m not upset because you left me this way. My eyes are just a little sweaty today.”
Why Crying?
Why do we cry? Not, what makes us cry? But what purpose does the body achieve by shedding tears or contorting the face?
The particular type of crying that the guys in the video were experiencing, it has a technical name “psychic crying”. It releases higher levels of hormones into the blood that relieve pain and stress. But why this outward expression? Why the tears? And the contorted face? In the academic world, this question is still open and when I studied psychology at college the function of crying was one of the things we studied. One of the explanations I like is that we cry when we cannot find the words to express our hurt or our happiness, so crying is the physical expression of our feelings.
Why Tongues?
Why do we speak in tongues?
We can answer this question for the first type of tongue, xenolalia, it’s a miracle. God is demonstrating His power by giving someone a language that has not been learned for the benefit of anyone listening who does know that language.
But why glossolalia? Why utter mysteries with our spirits that no one else understands? Why can’t we just say what we want to say to God in our own language? Nobody knows. We know what the benefits are but we don’t know why they happen. I like to think that just as crying gives us an expression when we are overwhelmed with emotion, tongues give us expression when we are overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit.
Tongues Disappeared.
Something happened to tongues in the early church, after 2nd Century AD it seems to have died out along with the other Charismata (meaning spiritual gifts).
There are lots of different explanations for this but I like John Wesley’s. Wesley claimed that tongues died out because “dry orthodox” men would “ridicule” those who spoke in tongues accusing them of “madness or imposture“.
The early church grew very rapidly and became very structured and what we would call very orthodox today (ritualistic a bit solemn - no fun). Particularly after it was tolerated by the Roman Empire (the Edict of Milan 313). Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, decided to hold a council to debate, among other things, a heresy that existed in the church at the time. This was less than three hundred years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. I had it in my mind that the Council of Nicea was just a small group of guys around a table. But Constantine invited 1600 Christian bishops of the east and west! Each bishop would have had oversight over hundreds and thousands of christians. The council of Nicea was a big event but the church had become very formal. It wanted to be taken seriously. So tongues and the charismata disappeared.
Cessationism in the Face of Continuationism
Centuries passed and although we have evidence of small outbursts of tongues and charismata in every century for the vast majority of christians there was nothing. And so theologians asked why? Where had the gifts gone? Martin Luther decided they had been withdrawn by God because they had been replaced by the primacy of scripture. John Calvin believed they had become disused as a result of lack of faith. But then toward the end of the 19th Century beginning of the 20th Century Christians started to believe in and expect the power of the Holy Spirit again. Pentecostalism was born and then Charismaticism and it is growing still today. Martin Luther’s view is what’s known as a cessationist view. Cessationists today tend to believe that the charismata were only given for the establishment of the early church. But the problem is these views came about as a way of trying to explain why the gifts were not practised, when they were not practised. Now that they are, I think they have a hard job pretending that they’re not. If Calvin or Luther were alive today, they would retract their views.
Tongues is Silly
The problem with formality and structure and becoming too civilised is that we are unwilling to look or sound silly. Tongues is silly! It sounds silly! We don’t want to look silly, we are afraid to. We sing “And I’ll become even more undignified than this” but we don’t mean it. But “Seriousness is no more a guarantee of truth, insight, authenticity or probity than humour is a guarantee of superficiality and stupidity.” (From Stephen Fry’s speech about the BBC). When we want to be taken too seriously, we are unwilling to be fools for God.
Example
I speak in tongues but don’t think I didn’t struggle with it. I was as cynical as the best of them and actually quite distressed about it all. But I’m going to cheat a little bit, I’m not going to tell you about my experience. I’m going to tell you about Jackie Pullinger’s experience. Chasing the Dragon page 50-51 and page 54. Are we willing to be fools for God’s sake? Jackie was and she had a really powerful ministry. She began speaking in tongues for 15 minutes per day and people started to believe what she told them about Jesus and her Chinese improved!
To Be Continued in Part 2……
Notes are below. As usual the material is made available so that any may use it, adapt it and preach it. Our copyright is only so you do not sell it or make money from it.
Sermon 2 Corinthians 10
Last week:
Intro
A change of topic now. We have seen many topics in this letter. I summed up this letter recently by saying the great theme of the letter is The Life of Faith. This letter deals with gritty stuff, what The Life of Faith is all about.
I said, and I think you agree with me, that I want this church to biblically literate, an intelligent church, a people of the Truth, people of the word, of revelation. We want to be a church that wins the lost, that displays Christ in the way we serve our community, and a church that has discovered what it is to “be” in a way that pleases God. I want us to be people that live the life of faith.
This letter is a rich manual for those wanting to live this way. After covering various topics in this letter Paul reaches his final crescendo in his summary of the life of faith in his teaching on the topic of mastering money before money masters us, as covered last week.
Now Paul is on the final stretch in this letter and he appeals to his readers (and hearers as this would have been read out) to accept his teachings by reminding them of his apostolic authority.
He begins this next section at the beginning of chapter 10 by declaring the essential spiritual nature of our conflict.
1) The War
Verse 3 “Wage war” and verse 4 “we fight”.
Living the Christian life, the spiritual life, is to be in conflict. We go against the flow in this world.
See:
Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 10:16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Matthew 10: 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Let us not expect the worst though, see
Acts 7:9-11 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
Acts 2:47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 13:48-52 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
2) The Weapons
It is a strange war that ends in a victory that to most people looks like a defeat, Jesus Christ crucified.
The believers that Paul writes to in Corinth, understood that on the cross Jesus had triumphed. Therefore perhaps they were not being told, or being informed, about this point by Paul, but were being reminded by him of what they already knew and understood.
Hear what Alan Redpath says in his book, “Blessings out of Buffetings”, p174.
They were to win the battle by apparent defeat. By crucifixion they were going to be crowned. By refusing to counter attack they were to find the way to victory. By apparent failure they were going to conquer; by allowing themselves to be identified with His cross they were going to find they way to triumph, The paradoxes of the Christian life! Thus the Christian faith had in its birth, a new principle at the heart of it - the principle of sacrifice, the principle of of love, the principle of non-retaliation, the principle that was to lead to absolute victory.
Paul walked in the weakness of the flesh as we all do, but he didn’t wage war according to is.
I think this section has two possible meanings, perhaps one is right, perhaps they are both right.
(a) First meaning:
Paul and the righteous (the “we” in this section) can come against the false teachers at the work in that church and the false philosophies and religions (see Romans 1:18-23
- with divine power
- utterly demolishing the lie
- captivating the thoughts of those deceived
- and setting them free in The Truth of Jesus Christ.
This understanding of the passage fits with the final statement in verse 6. Once the majority are obedient again to the Truth, the rebellious can e dealt with. The ultimate and awful sanction was to put a person our of the church - to no longer associate with him/her (1 Cor 5)
(b) Second meaning:
Before anyone, even an apostle dares to wage war in the above manner on another person’s “rival gospel”, they must demolish “every pretension” in their own lives, they must take captive every thought of their own.
The greatest battles you and I face? Are those battles that are within ourselves.
A prayer:
Lord Jesus though I live in this world help me, for I do not want to wage war as the world does.
You tell me the weapons I fight with are not the weapons of the world, that they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Then help me I pray, to demolish the arguments and pretensions within me that set themselves up against the knowledge of God. Help me Lord to take my every thought captive to make them obedient to Christ.
I ask for this power Lord, the authority to build up rather than pull down. Thank you that you send me into the world to build for you.
Amen
Based on 2 Corinthians 10 verses 1-5
St Laurence’s Church, York
Since we moved our Sunday meetings out of our old building in the centre of York and into the school, we have experienced rapid growth. We are now frequently full with standing room only at the back. We urgently need a new larger place.
St Laurence’s Church of England is near our present location and we had thought it could be our future home. We had talks with the Anglican Church and had agreed to enter into a building share arrangement. However, before the share agreement was signed St Laurence’s church changed their mind about sharing their building with us. They wanted to try and grow without us taking their prime morning service time. We can hardly blame them.
We have now come to terms with this and are now looking elsewhere to accommodate our growing church. For those interested in the site, the story of St Lawrence’s is as follows:
The Old Church
There’s been a church here since the 1100’s. The tower of this original church is still standing in the churchyard and almost hidden by tall trees in summer. It is the surviving remnant of the medieval church dating from 1316, which served the parish just outside Walmgate. Only this tower remains, standing there on its own, after the rest of the building was demolished in the 1880s. The tower is enhanced by the fine Norman doorway from the old church of St Laurence which was re-erected into the east side of the tower when that church was demolished. The top storey of the tower was added in the 15th century.
This old church was badly damaged in 1644. York was a Royalist stronghold in the Civil War, and the Parliamentary army besieging the city had big guns stationed on Lamel Hill, where the water tower is now. They were shelling Walmgate Bar, but they weren’t very accurate, and hit the church as well as all the houses near the Bar. The church remained semi-ruined till 1669, when restoration was started.
By 1719, the church was in a fit state to hold one of York’s most exalted society weddings. On January 14th that year, Henrietta Maria Yarburgh, daughter of the Yarburgh family of Heslington Hall, married Sir John Vanburgh, the architect who designed Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace.
See post for some photographs of the old church before it was demolished.
The New Church
The population of the parish went up enormously in the next 150 years after that grand wedding. It went from 59 families in 1743 to an estimated 7,000 people in the 1870’s.
The old church held only 230 so an appeal was launched by the Vicar for a church to hold 800 people at a cost of £6,000 (or £7,500 with a tower).
The new church was consecrated in 1883 and was embellished and improved over the decades. The stained glass is probably the best collection of late 19th-early 20th century glass in York. Much of the woodwork is by Robert Thompson of Kilburn, bearing his famous trademark mouse. Most recently, a ring of eight bells was installed for the Millennium. The bells are rung for services and by visiting bands. It is known nationally as a fine place to ring a peal.
Thanks to Paul Shaw for providing the following information:
From Pevsner’s Buildings of England: York and the East Riding (1972) (a standard text) we are told that the Norman doorway of the old church (C13 and C15) includes on one capital (top of the column) is Sagittarius, on the others the Agnus Dei and a monster. Of the new church, that it was built 1883-1892 to the designs of J. G. Hall of Canterbury. It is described as ‘the most ambitious period church of Outer York and shows an extremely competent handling of the Early English style’ It is noted that the windows are all lancets and the capitals of columns ‘abundantly foliated - stiff leaf as well as waterleaf’. the font is described as ‘Small, Perpendicular, with friezes of tiny genre motifs’. Pevsner was a very distinguished architectural historian and not easily impressed so this is quite an accolade!
From Bartholomew City Guides-York by John Hutchinson and D M Palliser (1980) we are told that ‘St Laurence’s tower is the only relic of pre-siege [1644] Lawrence street’. It is noted that the tower has had its ‘pretty battlements restored away’ and certainly old pictures suggest a more florid and elaborate parapet once was there. Also mentioned in the graveyard is ‘The Rigg monument by Plows, marvellously ripe in a railed enclosure full of ivy, commemorates six children killed in a boating accident of 1830′. Of the Victorian church, it is stated that it was built in 1881 and the tower in 1893. They seem less impressed by the architecture, suggesting that it represents a throwback to the cheap ‘Commissioners’ churches’ of the 1830s. ‘It has lancets, Kentish rag, heavy French detailing of an unsettled style, and a towering, narrow interior. The 15th-cent font with 3 tiers of minute carvings repays the closest of inspections’.
From This is York by C B Knight (1951), a very erudite local historian, we are told that the historian of York Francis Drake (1736) believed the church to be ancient, but that his own researches have not confirmed the date of its foundation, though its catalogue of rectors goes back to 1316, and its annual value in 1428 was £9. It was nearly destroyed in the 1644 siege, but by Drake’s day was ‘in very good repair’. The dates he gives for the building of the new church are identical to those given in the Bartholomew guide. As a boy, he recalls the ancient stocks were still in the churchyard, though apparently a replica of them is in the church tower. The book includes a lovely illustration of the old church tower.
Further to this, I was interested to try to find something out about the architect of the Victorian church. His name does not appear amongst the most well-known of Victorian architects, but often much highly competent church work at this period was done by locally-based architects of whom little is known. I found reference on the web to 2 works by him in his home town:
Finally, regarding the lovely stained glass window showing the church choir, I strongly suspect that it is by a local artist, Harry Stammers, whose work is very distinctive and is represented in a number of churches in the locality e.g. a lovely Annunciation in St Olave’s near the museum gardens - though he did have a pupil who produced work in a similar style called Harvey, see:
