BENT

Luke 13.10-17

When Jesus moved around the towns of Israel, he taught in synagogues. He taught that God’s kingdom had come and they needed to personally receive it. Synagogues were buildings or chapels. They were meeting places where the local priests read and taught the Scriptures to the people of that town. On this occasion here - recorded by Luke - Jesus was the speaker of the day. He took the Scripture. He read it aloud and he explained how it tells about God's rule - God's kingdom. He explained how men and women must come under God's rule, willingly and happily. Because everything is actually under God's rule - but not everyone is under God's rule for their good - they are his enemies and he uses the force of circumstances to restrain them and direct them. Did you realise that if you are not a willing follower of Jesus Christ, God treats you like a stubborn horse - he uses the bit and bridle of circumstances and events in your life to both restrain you and give you the chance to wake up to your disobedience and respond willingly to him?

So, when Jesus taught in the synagogues, he used the Old Testament scriptures to explain how to repent and how to come to him in faith. He said things like, "You who are struggling, weary and overburdened in life, come to me! Come under my care and supervision because the life's work that I put on you will fit you perfectly and will not wear you down. I am meek and gentle and you can learn from me because I am ready to help you."

Every time, I or any one of us opens up the Bible, reads it and points out how to come willingly under God's rule, Jesus is calling you to bring your life and all its burdens to him so he can come to live in you - supervising, supporting and guiding your life.

On one occasion, as Jesus was bringing this good news to the people in a synagogue, there was a particular woman among the people. She was disabled. Disabled means to have some of your abilities broken or damaged in some way. In this woman's case, she was bent over. She could not straighten up her spine. Her back was bent - fused so she could not flex and reach and turn. She was bowed over so she was always looking towards the ground and could not look people - even her family - full in the face. No doubt there was pain that went with this stiffness and transferred pain into her neck and head and hips and limbs. Her internal organs, her digestive system were constricted. She could not get her lungs fully opened up to breathe, so tiredness and breathlessness must have been her daily discomfort. Her body was deeply stressed and disordered by this disability.

[Sickness and disabilities are part of the human experience because sin and death entered the world when the first humans were on probation in the garden. They had the chance to confirm their willing dependence on God, but they chose to try and assert their independence. Their disobedience lost for them and us the life of God - so we became a race of people with the imprint of God’s likeness on us, yet spiritually dead and unable to live up to it. Everyone is affected by this loss to some extent. Kids get sick. Swine flu attacks. Heart disease strikes. People get old. Everyone dies. All these are directly attributable to the disobedience of our first parents and the repeated and continuing disobedience that is passed on from one generation to another. We are sinful by nature. Yet God graciously allows us to live on in spite of our disobedient rebellion to allow us time and opportunity to come to repentance. However, even though we live on for a time, he does not cover up the seriousness of our spiritual deadness. Sickness and death remind us to seek God while he may be found – to call upon him while he is near – to give up our sinful way of life and our wrong thinking – to return to the Lord so that he can have compassion on us – because we have the promises here that he will fully and richly forgive us.

Sickness, accident and death are never good in themselves - diabetes is not good, an amputation is not good, headaches are not good - but God can even make the bad circumstances caused by human sin serve his good purposes. For example, an accident or sickness may finally get a person to pay attention to the word of life so that he meets Christ and secures eternal life in him.

However, while God uses the sickness and distress and death in the world to prompt, awaken and point us to repentance, forgiveness and life - Satan works hard to use sickness, accident and death to steal, kill and destroy people. He entices people to abuse their bodies so they will get diseases and die before their time. He tempts young people to behave recklessly so they are a danger to themselves and others. He soaks middle-aged people in anxieties and depression so that they give in to defeated lives. He also sends dark spirits (demons) into the lives of some, to bring specific sicknesses and disabilities. And because their spirits are dead and hollow, demons find those person's lives well-prepared for them to make their homes and cause all kinds of mayhem.

We don’t know what the direct cause of many people’s illnesses and disabilities are. There is often nothing to suggest that it was related to some particular sin that they are holding onto – it may well have been that many are just further examples of the collateral damage that sin has brought into the world – just like miscarriages, drownings, mental disability, blindness and the host of other disappointments that afflict humanity. Nevertheless, SIN lies behind them all, even when it is not that person’s specific sin.

ON this occasion, Jesus immediately perceived that this was not just a disability or sickness caused by the general sinful condition of humanity. This disability had a specific cause. An evil spirit was at work in this woman's life, so that she no longer had control of her back muscles, spine and nervous system. Though she worked her brain to send a signal to her back to straighten up, her back could not obey. Satan had her in the grip of a disabling spirit that held her bent over. Jesus resolved to do something about this.

He was announcing and explaining God’s kingdom and he wanted to confirm that this kingdom had arrived among them, by breaking the dominion of Satan over this woman. By straightening her up, he gave a powerful physical example of his spiritual power to release people from the oppression of evil - undo the damage done by sin - and put joy where there had been defeat.

So Jesus over-ruled and countermanded the damage that Satan had sent that the spirit to vent upon that woman. He simply told the woman that she was freed from her disability. He put his hands on her and immediately she unfolded and stood up straight. He did not shout, or rant, or make a show of this healing. He simply said what was going to happen and it happened. [Just remember this – God speaks in a still, small voice – directly to you. Get quiet. Listen. Be still and learn that HE is God.]

The woman must have suddenly seemed very tall to all who knew her. People that she had always looked up to sideways - now turned out to be shorter than her. Many of them she now looked down towards. Just get a picture in your mind of how dramatic the change was; her distorted body now standing confidently tall and straight! The body that children had mocked and adults had stared at, was now supple, graceful and free. Evidence of Christ’s good life acting upon her’s.

That evil spirit was quietly, almost matter-of-factly disposed of by Jesus [rather like disposing of a dead rat by its tail] - the loudest thing that occurred was the voice of the woman glorifying God …(and no doubt the gasps of the people in the synagogue). She knew exactly what had happened. The depression caused by that oppressive spirit which had cruelly bent her over, was gone and she was suddenly free of pain, free of disappointment, free of shame - she had a clear mind. Immediately, on the spot, with this new clear thinking - she chose faith in Christ. No hesitation, no second thoughts: She gave credit where she knew it lay - with God. She glorified God. To glorify God is to speak up that this is God's work - and it is good – very good.

Isn't it time you glorified God? Hasn't God done some remarkable things for you? I'd say that for almost all of you, no disabling spirit or any other kind of spirit has made its home in you - to bend you over or damage you. Are you waiting until such evil to come against you, before you will glorify God? Shouldn't you glorify God that you have never been troubled by such a spirit? Shouldn't you glorify God that your life and your mind are intact and you have the opportunity to come under Christ's good care and supervision? Shouldn’t you glorify God when your children are safe and healthy? Why would you test God?

Or worse, Why would you go on using up his good gifts without surrendering up your life to his Son? Why would you go on grabbing credit for yourself and soaking up others' flattery and praise when it is God who has given you the time and space to live relatively free of distress to this point?

Take a lead from the disabled woman. The moment she had a lucid, clear thought, free of oppression and distress, she immediately turned herself over to God. You have had many such times, why the delay?

Now, what happened next, is most interesting and instructive. Religion poked its ugly face in where it wasn't needed! You don’t need religion where Jesus is present. Satan is tricky. When he saw that a direct physical attack on this individual woman was not enough to rob God of his glory, he quickly shifted his strategy to stir up the religious feelings of men in the synagogue. The synagogue leader then got up and rebuked Jesus. He was gutless - not bold enough to confront Jesus directly, so he made a "general announcement"! He spoke to the people – but really he was contradicting Jesus.

In case anyone else like this woman thought that they should bring their troubles directly to Jesus without following the synagogue rules, and in case Jesus thought he could bring his unacceptable methods into his synagogue, the leader said:

"If you think you need to be healed – then come to the synagogue during the week - but this is a holy day of worship, the Sabbath, so don't disturb our worship on this day." In other words, he was putting his synagogue programme ahead of Jesus' work. He was preserving the religious routines ahead of having compassion on people who needed help.

Whenever people are not confident that God is present in the church, they will bring out their own programmes to fill the void. The leader should have said: “What you have seen here today is evidence that God is among us. He has sent his Messiah to teach us and deliver us from the evil that infiltrates our lives, like our sister, here. I urge you all to pay attention to him, to receive his word and to receive him as your true leader and saviour.” That’s what he should have said! Instead, he was thinking of his status as synagogue ruler and he didn’t want anything or anyone (even the Son of God!) to rob him of that. Be very wary of slick, big production value, Christian events. The more religious programming there is, the more likely it is that Christ himself is not there.

Jesus had a powerful answer to the synagogue leader, in case any of the needy were deceived into thinking that they had to keep religious rules and duties before God would help them. He called the synagogue leaders HYPOCRITES - that is people who make a fuss about the need to keep a certain rule, while all the time they were happy to break it when it suited their own desires. He gave them an example of their hypocrisy and just how far away they were from the love and the will of God. He said to them, "You are quite willing, on the Sabbath, to make sure your donkey or ox doesn't die of thirst and you untie them and lead them off to the water trough. So why are you unwilling to lead this poor woman - one of your own people, a descendant of Abraham - to be untied from her bondage to Satan on the Sabbath?"

They had nothing to say - they were shamed out, totally. But all the people felt a great load lifted off them. The load of religious duty that they thought they must keep if God was going to accept them, was untied and lifted from their shoulders. There was joy in the synagogue. People were delighted in Jesus and all the glorious things that he was doing for them.

So what are we to take from this as individuals and as a church?

First, you personally. Know this,

- Satan works through people and circumstances that attack you. As with this woman, he wants to bend you down. He does not want you at your full height and stature in Jesus Christ. Satan aims to keep you discouraged and defeated by your fears and anxieties - by your sins and by your doubts. That is his strategy concerning you. You will see him working on this in YOUR life every day.

- He wants you to be so bent down by your circumstances and weaknesses that this becomes your habitual and permanent condition - he wants you disabled and locked in the bent, defeated position. He wants your life to de-glorify Christ. He hopes to get you into a position where you are definitely known as a Christian (whether that be true or not) and then he wants you to portray as miserable, defeated, ungodly, weak ‘christian’ life as he possibly can. In this way, he wins two ways: he succeeds in ruining YOUR life and he succeeds in giving Christ a bad name. GOD FORBID! God forbid that your life, or mine, should serve Satan's strategy. You must fight the good fight. You must resist the devil. Resist him firm in your faith and he will flee from you. Fight for faith. Put on the whole armour of God and when you have fought to a standstill - stand right where you are - stand still and see the salvation of God. Get your helmet of salvation - know how God forgives you and get your thinking straight. Get your breastplate of righteousness - keep trusting in Christ to be your right standing with God. Get the belt of truth - strengthen your backbone by living a godly upright life. Put on the shoes that will get you attacking and running with the good news everywhere and in all circumstances. Take up the shield of faith - deflect all the flaming arrows Satan sends by holding up the promises of God. Grip and swing the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God - know it, think it, speak it.

And what shall we take from the account of the bent woman as a church family?

Care for each other. These religious men had no interest in their people. Jesus walked in and he immediately noticed the woman in distress.

We should expect, welcome and notice the presence of Jesus amongst us. You will see him in your brother and sister Christian’s lives. You will recognize him in the word that is spoken. You should be able to sense his encouragement and love in the praise.

The synagogue incident shows the importance of joyful worship and turning our personal experiences of Christ’s help into praise. Each of us have a part to play in this.

Finally, we need to have determination to get our individual lives so transparent and clean of sins that Jesus can freely and powerfully work amongst us as a people.

Spending Your Life

2 Timothy 4. 5-8

Wandering from or turning away from something, implies that you have seen, or heard, or known the thing you are leaving behind. You were once HERE and now you have moved to THERE! Am I speaking to anyone this morning who was once HERE – tasting the good things of God but who is now out THERE – having wandered off. Turning away from listening to the truth suggests that a person once had opportunity to learn Bible truth, but has stopped listening. That person has got off the plain safe path and wandered after wrong ideas – myths. The thing about myths is that you can make them mean whatever you want. Myths appeal to your feelings and want . They are theories, clichés and stories that provide excuses for the way people are – they don’t demand change or challenge you. And because they don’t have the sharp edge of reality, they don’t threaten – you can take it or leave it. Myths are comfortable – they say what you want to hear.

Recently an Israeli tourist was lost in the bush near the Routeburn Track. She was missing for a long time and eventually her body was found well off the track. She had inexplicably wandered from the well-marked path. From her camera, the Police were able to work out what had happened. On it were a series of images. Pictures of the views she enjoyed as she wandered further and further into the deep bush and away from the safety of the marked track. From her picture-taking, it was obvious that she didn’t realize how lost she was or the danger she was in. They could see from the last image before her death, that she would have seen the safe road far in the distance. She tried to take her own route towards it but slipped on a wet boulder on the edge of a river and broke her neck. Sadly, she lay their unable to move until the cold came and robbed her of life. She died there - alone –frightened - far from help.

Wandering from the truth is like that. Myths lead to that kind of loss - Leaving the well-marked path to chase after ‘views’ and experiences that interest you - Trying to cut your own way through life - Wandering further and further away from the way of Christ.

This is different to the solid truth that the apostle Paul recommends. Bible truth is not vague, subjective philosophy – it is the truth written in real lives and none more real or more truthful than Jesus Christ. Unlike myths, God’s Word is a mirror in which you can see who and what you really are. It is a hammer that shatters make-believe. It is a fire that challenges, motivates and stirs up change. It is food and drink. And above all, it is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

All this is why Paul urges Timothy to be sober-minded and clear thinking so that he can fulfil his life’s work.

And having stirred Timothy up to spend his life wisely, Paul talks about his own life.

Paul and Timothy were at two different stages of life. Timothy was just hitting his straps while Paul was getting close to finish life’s race. Paul encourages Timothy and us to so live our lives that we finish as winners. No one remembers a person who started a race well but didn’t finish. Our school cross country was last Friday. Some boys run the first lap at a great sprint – especially when they go past the spectators. But later once the runners have been out around the streets and up the hills, the real winners come back into the school to the cheers of the kids. No one remembers those who began with a burst and faded. Paul urges Timothy and you and me to consider how we are running the race of life, so that we finish with honour and collect the medal.

Paul describes his life as a drink offering to be poured out – wine poured over the sacrificial lamb. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering v6.

In the Old Testament, the Temple sacrifices had very specific meaning. They were not just a bunch of religious routines to be kept. They were very, very serious activities that had to be strictly kept, because they illustrated in a vivid way certain vital truths that people needed to understand about God and about themselves.

In a brief summary: the killing of certain animals and the burning of their bodies taught Israel about the offensiveness of human sin and God’s intention to judge it and destroy those who harbour it and practise it. Sin costs lives. The sacrifices taught that God was postponing his direct judgment of his people to give them time and opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness. More than that, the sacrifices that went on generation after generation pointed to the time when God would put forward a perfect, once-and-for-all sacrifice not just for Israelites, but for people of any nation or time. That is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world: Jesus Christ.

Now, those of us who live after the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross, when we read all about the sacrifices and the Temple in the Old Testament, we find out a lot of rich detail of what Jesus’ coming and his sacrifice means. Whereas, the Israelites who lived before Jesus was born at Bethlehem - about 28 generations back – they had to actually DO the sacrifices and keep all the ceremonies and rituals accurately, so that each generation would understand how God was holding back his judgment until he sent a Leader (Christ) who could put things right.

For now, that’s enough background to help us understand what Paul meant when he described using up his life in God’s work as the pouring out of a drink offering. One action in the sacrifices of animals in the Temple included the priest pouring out a couple of litres of wine onto the sacrifice so as it evaporated in the heat, a sweet-smelling vapour would be given off. In the Old Testament references, it says that this was a ‘pleasing’ aroma to God.

Wine represents blood – because it is liquid and red. It also stands for joy and fellowship – because wine is drunk with a meal and it has a warm, relaxing sociable aspect to it.

Paul’s life included suffering imprisonment and beatings and enduring the loss of all things so he could devote himself to serving out the good things of God to the church. So why did Paul liken this drink offering to the using up of his life in God’s service? Because of those two images: blood and joy.

Paul was very glad and grateful that he had something to offer up to God - his entire self. He considered all his energies, his intellect, his gifts and skills (both the things he was born with and the things he had learned in life – e.g. his leatherworking skills and his academic knowledge) – his relationships, his time, his health – everything that made Paul to be Paul – he considered all that his life consisted of to have its highest value when poured out in the service of Christ. Isaac Watts expressed the same idea that Paul has:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

So, Paul is ready to pour out his life’s blood as his worship to God. Actually, he was not speaking symbolically. He had already bled for Christ. Five times he received 39 lashes. Three times he was beaten with rods. Once he was stoned and left for dead. Three times he was shipwrecked. Paul had bled for Christ on numerous occasions and now he was in prison in Rome soon to be executed.

(And you thought the Christian life was boring!) When Paul thinks of his life as the wine was poured out as an offering to God – this is no theoretical outpouring. This is real. This is his lifeblood being spilled.

But, remember that the wine also represents joy. Paul was not a miserable man. He did not consider the pouring out of his life a miserable thing. Remember the jail cell at Philippi! There you had blood and joy together. Paul and Silas had been beaten with rods. They were covered in their own and each other’s blood spattering their bodies and soaking their clothes. They were fastened in chains so they could not move and get comfortable. And what do you hear from their cell – moaning? – yelled abuse? – mumbled prayers of “why me, God?” No. Singing. You hear two men making music, singing praises to God. This is not bravado but joy. Blood and joy together.

Paul wasn’t a young man. Such beatings no doubt took their toll on him and shortened his life expectancy. Some of his human life ebbed away at each of these difficulties he endured. But he did not see it as a waste. He did not see his life something to be pampered and preserved. He saw his life as something to be spent – with joy. It was pure joy for him to see the Holy Spirit using him in Christ’s service. Paul wasn’t alone in this. James said: Consider it pure joy when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1.

And of Paul’s hero, Jesus Christ, it was said:

Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb 12.2.

Paul gladly accepted the option of suffering for the sake of God’s people, because he wanted to be like Christ. Phil 3.

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul saw his life as something he wanted to offer up in harmony with Jesus, the Lamb of God. He knew HE couldn’t die to save people, but he wanted his life to be evidence that Christ’s sacrifice has saving power. He saw his life’s work for the church as harmonious with Christ who laid down his life for the people of God. If Christ, the Good Shepherd, laid down his life for the sake of the flock of God, then Paul wanted to do the same thing.

The apostle John had the same idea – Jesus laid down his life for us and we should lay down our lives for our brothers.

The using up of our lives for God’s people is an act of worship – like the pouring out of the wine on the lamb about to be offered at the altar. Paul wanted to declare ‘me too’ when he thought about Christ’s willingness to lay down his life so that God’s people could be made safe within God’s family.

Where does that leave you and I? How we are going to use our lives? Are we going to keep our life-wine in the cellar so that it ages nicely and can be brought out in our retirement and sipped while we sit on a deck watching the sunset? Or are we going to pour out our lives, living them with the fixed and steady purpose of treasuring and glorifying Jesus Christ? And the best and happiest way of doing that is to commit to his business which is to do the work of an evangelist – to promote the good news and build up the household of God – his Church.

For most of us that will mean settling in the place God has put us to build families and work in communities so through the usual human activities we make plain who Jesus is and call men, women and children to follow him. For some it will involve his calling for you to go to other places – perhaps hard places. But whether we stay or go, there will be times of tragedy and disaster and times of peace and prosperity – and through all those circumstances we must demonstrate the joy, wisdom, love and power there is in Jesus Christ for his people. We must be living evidence that we are not locked into this sin and death-scarred world, but that we are the signs that God has a kingdom and it is coming!

One of the myths that lead people astray is that retirement is the golden years – the time for sitting back and enjoying what you have worked for all your life. Lies! Haven’t you seen those miserable old men trundling along behind their wives carrying their supermarket bags! Haven’t you seen those sad old women with their New Idea and Women’s Weekly magazines, sitting in the hair salon waiting for their thin grey hair to be turned into something more stylish!

Now come with me and see Paul in the last months of his life, in prison, requesting his notebooks (v13) so he can record more good teaching for God’s people – including you and me! You know what… I know which old age I would prefer.

Come with me and see Priscilla and Aquila (v19) – that husband and wife (actually Priscilla had the major ministry in that marriage) – good friends and fellow-workers with Paul since the beginning of his church planting in Ephesus. Their lives turned out different to Paul – less dramatic – no ship wrecks, maybe no beatings – but they spent their lives nevertheless. They made their home the centre of God’s work wherever they lived. Lives well spent. Lives poured out.

How sad when you read of Demas (v10) – shame on you Demas – your claim to fame is to warn Christians of every generation that falling in love with the world is a dead end.

Paul says he used up his life fighting! (v7) Some of you may have got into the wrong fights, because Paul calls his fight “the good fight”. You might be fighting against family members who have done you wrong. You might be fighting over land, over an inheritance or over children. You might be fighting to make a name for yourself or fighting to prove something. All these fights will leave you discouraged and exhausted. You need to engage in the good fight. Like Paul we are called to fight against sin in ourselves – to fight against the lies that attack our people – we are called to use the sword of the Spirit – the Word of God and other weapons of righteousness, such as prayer and good works.

Paul said he had run his race and finished it. He had kept the faith – that is, he had kept to it. He ran according to the rules – cut no corners – kept to the safe track – not wandered away after myths.

Paul finished well and expected to collect his garland or crown of righteousness. In the Olympic games of those times, the winner of a marathon would be crowned with a winners wreath on his head – we might call it the gold medal. He calls his reward the “crown of righteousness”. The proof he is a righteous man is that he has completed his race without wandering away or turning aside. The confirmation that fighting through persecution, cold, loss, and distress is worth it is the crown of righteousness – endless life – that waits for you at the finishing line.

The final proof that you are on side with Christ is that you will run your race so that you finish – and finish strongly. The crown is available to all who have loved his appearing – all who have set their hearts on holding out for him and keeping faith with him. All who have treasured the thought of seeing him, being with him and being approved by him will be crowned. Will you?

How to Live in the Last Times

2 Tim 3.1-9

1. Paul describes a time he calls the 'last days' – what does that mean?

There it is in verse 1: Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty! Or 'But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.'

In a symphony or other musical composition, the finale is the section that brings the music to a climax or resolution. Sometimes the music builds and builds in intensity and volume until you get to that final resounding note. A finale is not just that last note – it is the whole build up to it, the gathering together of all the threads and emotion of the musical composition until it is resolved and completed on that final note.

Similarly, the last days are not just a few days at the end of human history. It is a longish period (long to man but not to God) during which God is gathering together all the threads and themes of his purpose for humanity and bringing it to a magnificent final note – the revelation of Jesus Christ as the King .

The last days are the finale of human history – the period between the ascension of Jesus – his return into heaven – and his final physical reappearance in the future to close off the long period of human rebellion and estabish his rule permanently.

These events are presented in the Bible as unique one-off actions by Christ, the Creator of everything.

So the Bible presents us with a period of time called the last times which is bracketed by Jesus' physical departure from the world and his physical return into it in the future. History and time are not just unravelling endlessly and randomly. They are being rolled out at Christ's initiative and there is a time appointed for him to bring the finale to it's last note.

In the 'the last times', God has a particular purpose he is working out in the world. God has a plan. He is not just reacting to what happens – he over-rules everything that happens. In this time, he is gathering people. Rescuing people from being locked into a world sentenced to death because of their sins. His plan is to rescue people from all people groups and nations into the safety of the Church.

We are in the middle of those last times in which the Church is being built as people get born again and added to the family of God. The information about Jesus Christ (the good news / gospel) is being spread across the peoples, nations and cultures of the world. That has been happening for 2000 years so far. Over the time since the day of Pentecost (which you can read about in Acts 2) when the Holy Spirit came and the gospel was first preached publicly by Peter - the Church has been planted in place after place – town after town (you can read how that got started in Acts, also).

And as the Church is built in a town and then a whole society it 'white-ants' those nations – that is, it eats away at the deceptive beliefs and self-confidence of godless living. Belief in idols and in peoples' ancestral heroes is undermined and Christ is lifted up as the one and only Man for us to worship and follow. It has happened in the Roman Empire, Europe, North Africa, the Americas, the Pacific, now Central and Southern Africa, and is just starting in Asia. These are the 'last times' and Jesus Christ is on a mission - to fill up his kingdom with people from every tribe, nation and language group. (Incidentally, that's why having multiculural churches like ours is an important witness to the success of Jesus' mission.)

The last days are a finite time – but we have not been given the end point. We don't know it. We only know that we have work to do - to add people to the Church so that people have the chance to see Christ transform their culture through a period when the Church is strong. For New Zealand, it seems that period was the from 1840s to 1970s – a time when the good effects of the gospel rubbed off on NZ society, resulting in peace and prosperity. New Zealand is rapidly now falling away from that blessing. In our time, we must fight against this decline. Not by protesting or complaining about society – rather by bringing the gospel alive within it. Perhaps God will graciously extend the period of his patience with New Zealand and we will be part of revival of interest in the gospel. One thing I notice, is that God has brought the people of his next big Church-building initiative to us! The peoples of Asia are coming to New Zealand. And what will they learn about Christ from us?

If we are to take up our calling and work with Jesus Christ, it first means getting ourselves right with God – that is, making sure the gospel has worked for us to make us acceptable servants of God.

It involves an ongoing, daily process of sanctification (that is making good). When we 'make good' something, we are repairing or refurbishing it. We set to work on our own lives, cooperating with the Holy Spirit to become closer and closer representations of Jesus Christ’s life. This involves fighting against sin and receiving God’s grace to add new behaviour.

But beyond that important personal rebuilding, we must also become Church-builders. We do this by finding people and adding them to the Church.

2. What makes these last times difficult (terrible)?

The last times involve struggle and suffering because there is a fight. The difficulties we struggle against are caused by sins.

Society's difficult times – your family's difficult times – YOUR difficult times are caused by loving the wrong things.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure – rather than lovers of God.

These sins describe a society in trouble – not just individual’s faults. It is pretty clear that New Zealand society is a match for this troubling description. These things are what we are working against. And the first place we have to defeat them is in our own lives!

We have to defeat SELF. It wants to dominate our lives and make itself bigger than God. It wants to be worshiped and served over God. Self makes its demands and we cave into them all the time. Self creates an image for itself so instead of us being remade in the likeness of Christ, which pleases God – we gather up friends and experiences and material things that will puff up SELF. We are lovers of money and stuff and pleasure, because SELF demands those things.

And when you put together cities and nations of people who are lovers of self, lovers of money and lovers of pleasure, you have all those destructive behaviours listed here:

boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited.

Now, we don’t defeat these flaws in society by protests, by judging or public shaming of people. We defeat them first, by having the Holy Spirit work in our personal lives and then together building a community within the community where these sins don't rule – the Church.

So, we have seen what causes the difficulties in society. And we have learned that the good news of Jesus Christ is what transforms individuals and forms churches which work against these evils that tear societies to bits.

3. What kind of lives Christians must live in times like ours.

First up, notice verse 5 where it says that even in the midst of these destructive behaviours, there will be people who maintain an outward appearance of religion or godliness .

Having the appearance of godliness by denying its power.

If we are to live successfully in times of difficulty (including persecution) we must kill off double-standards – saying one thing and living another – hypocrisy.

There are people who talk “God-talk” and say “Lord this” or “Lord that” and yet they deny the power of Christ to get in and change their actual behaviour. One of the most destructive things at work in Christ's Church is people who use the name of Christ and talk like Christians but deny the power of Jesus to give them a godly life to live. Paul warns Timothy to keep well clear of such people. Don't have them as your friends. Save them, help them if you can – but put on your rubber gloves so you aren't contaminated by their way of living.

So in these godless times, we must not deny the power of a godly life. Our number one personal priority must be to increase the godliness of our lives and to commit to prayers of faith and the Word of God, so that God can own his work among us by providing life-changing power.

And Paul, here, helpfully lists the type of life a godly Christian must live in these ungodly times. He reminds Timothy that he has committed to following the same kind of life that Paul has modelled to him.

Verses 10,11: You, however, have followed my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings.

You should be able to locate these things in your life:

teaching – that means learning from the Bible. That is an absolute cornerstone – utterly essential – and if you are struggling to live a godly life in Christ Jesus is probably a major reason why you can't. You NEED to be taught. You NEED to be immersing your thinking in the Word of God to shape you, encourage you, correct and discipline you and empower you.

Way of life and purpose – You have a clear idea of what is out of the question for you as a follower of Jesus and you are getting a sharper and sharper focus on the sort of man or woman you must be for him. You know what is expected of a Christian in terms of the sort of employment suitable for a Christian – you know what is expected for marriage – for raising children – and expecially you have an aim for how you will use your life to build the church.

Faith – you take action in your life – you aren't just floating but swimming in a definite direction, because you have found God's promises and you are depending entirely on him to hold you up and get you through. Your understandings about Christ are getting more comprehensive and so you are trusting him more and more.

Patience – your frustration and anxiety are falling away and you are willing to trust God for his good timing in everything.

Love

You love God and you love his people and you love to be useful to him. You have passion – you are not dull and selfish and full of self-pity. You spend your life for others.

Endurance

You don't give up all the time. You see things through. You pray about things until they are clear. You keep at your tasks even when things are against you.

Persections and Sufferings

You live a life that is going against the current of this world and you aren't afraid to suffer for it. You value Christ's approval above comfort.

Soldier, Athlete, Farmer

2 Timothy 2.3ff

1. Living as a Christian is not the easy option – but it is worth it!

Paul uses three illustrations to describe a committed Christian. Soldier, athlete and farmer. Christian! You are a soldier. You are an athlete. You are a farm labourer. These occupations suggest bravery, danger, strategy, effort, training, commitment, getting your hands dirty and perseverance. It doesn't sound like Big Wednesday to me – you don't get the 2 million dollars, you don't get the Audi, the Porche Cayenne, the overseas trip or the bach! Instead, you get challenge, fufiflment, satisfaction, joy and victory.

Don't buy into the lie that is being sold to you that you will have a nice life if you get stuff – that you will be happiest if you find fun and entertainment – that it will be best for you if you never face trouble and never have to suffer for anything! It is a lie.

Now some of you will immediately be turned off by the idea of a life that is challenging and at times tough. You may be saying, “I thought God was going to bless me if I go to church”. You won't be alone if you reject the life that Christ actually offers. There was a rich young community leader who came to Jesus and he couldn't face the cost of losing comfort and prestige. It pained him that he would no longer have money with which to make his life comfortable, solve his problems or gain others' respect. When Jesus said that for him to secure eternal life his decision to follow Jesus would be made around the matter of his money. He would need to throw away that crutch and lean on Jesus. But he could bring himself to do it. He went away sad. If you are still deceived into thinking that following Jesus means an easy life of getting more of what you want – then you will join the rich young man and sooner, rather than later turn sadly away from Christ – disillusioned.

Interestingly, Jesus was always making it HARD for people to decide to follow him! He doesn't want anyone to follow him under any misapprehension about what it involves. He said things like this:

Luke 14.25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Paul repeats this very challenging idea of 'counting the cost' to Timothy and to us. But it is not as if he is calling us to a miserable, downtrodden life! He is calling us to a life that counts – a life with meaning – a life that accomplishes something.

Many people would rather rust out than burn out. They waste their lives finding the easiest way through. When work is too hard, they just give it up. They are always looking for a comfortable, trouble-free existence. Their lives just peter out. It's very sad. They have a life but they never USE if for something of value. They eat the wrong food and make themselves weak and sick, because it doesn't matter to them that their body is not in the best shape possible so that it can be used in God's service. “Pop open another kingsize bag of Twisties – I'll just be curled up in front of a DVD tonight!” Wasted lives, counting for nothing, going nowhere, using up God's gracious gifts for no good purpose. This is not the life Christ calls us to take up when he calls us to follow him. He calls us to be soldiers, athletes and farmers.

According to Paul, a successful Christian life involves some suffering – it involves single-minded devotion to Christ – it involves determination to keep to the race and win it - and it involves taking a long-term view of life (not a short-term one that seeks instant gratification). IA successful life following Christ means living like a soldier, like an athlete and like a farmer. It means living with purpose and having a vision for God's big objective.

A soldier has an objective: it is to win fights and take ground for his commander.

An athlete has an objective: to defeat the opposition and win the race.

The farmer has an objective: and it isn't just to scratch the soil and throw seeds around – it is to raise a full harvest that will feed many.

You are called to THOSE kinds of lives and Christ is the only one who can make you equal to the task.

Soldiers suffer for their cause. They choose to put aside an easy life and many of the pleasures of life so they can commit to their cause. They will be eating basic food and sleeping rough. They will be under fire and have to remain alert at all times. They certainly won’t be mixed up in civilian life when there is a battle to fight. They have turned themselves over to the Commander-in-Chief and they aim to please him.

This is a metaphor for the self-discipline of men and women of faith. We are to live on a war-footing – we are not indulging ourselves. We are ready to go wherever we are sent by our Commander. It is all too easy to grab as much of the fun, comfort, ease and material things that are on offer. For some of us, our lives are just a kind of shopping expedition from one trinket to the next - or from one laugh to the next. We are being pulled along by the nose by Satan himself. He give us the sniff of another bit of fun or entertainment and we run along after it. Like dogs that smell a bitch on heat, we trot along with the pack for the next bit of fun. That is not living. Christ calls us to a noble and purposeful life. We pass up many pleasures, not because we think that that will make us more acceptable to God – somehow impressing God that we are serious people by being miserable. We do it because we have found something far better, more satisfying more important and imperishable to possess.

The reason for the weakness of the Church in New Zealand is because Christians have given up on being like soldiers. No one wants to endure any discomfort. We have been sucked into the lie that God wants us to be rich and comfortable – when his strategy requires that we are prepared to suffer the loss of all things. Paul put it into perspective writing to the Christians at Philippi:

3.7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

This is not a miserable life of loss – it is the setting aside of things that perish so you can gain what is imperishable.

Paul likens men of faith to athletes. An athlete who leaves the track is disqualified. If he moves out of his lane, he is disqualified. If he takes drugs he is disqualified. The athlete commits to his event, knowing that he cannot take liberties with it! He runs in a straight line to get the prize.This is a metaphor for the seriousness men of faith have in keeping to the Word of God. We want to win the prize. And to do so not only requires self-control but you have to compete according to the rules. This doesn't mean that living as a Christian is a burdensome keeping of laws and rules and duties. God's Spirit will lift you up on eagles wings so that you can run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Keeping to the rules of the race means that you have to understand which race you are in. God's word will help you to understand exactly what it is Christ has in mind for you. He has a path of good works marked out for you – like milestones or checkpoints on the way. You are running from one good work to the next until you finish you race. This requires what Paul describes like this:

Philippians 3.12 Not that I am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Here's the kind of challenge you will face. On Saturday night, instead of getting worn out by a late night enjoying some laughs with your friends – get to bed early enough so you are in good shape for church.

Listen to how Paul describes this athlete's approach to your Christian life:

1 Cor 9.24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, [2] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul likens men of faith to hard-working farmers. The farmer who puts in the long-term work of sowing, nurturing and pruning ought to get the first share of the harvest. Farming is not like working on a maching in a factory and instantly stamping out some product from a mould. It requires long-term planning, hard work and patience. This metaphor encourages people of faith that their hard work and self-discipline will not be pointless – there will be a harvest and they will be the first to share in the satisfaction of it. But it doesn't disguise the fact that there WILL BE hard work and that droughts may come or downpours might wash away the topsoil.

When you commit to working for Christ, you are committing to a long-term work. There will not be instant results in your home group. Raising your children to follow Christ will take years of consistent Christian living and encouragement and prayer and counsel and sacrifice. Building the Church is like farming – it is cyclical. Once you have planted and watered and nurtured and harvested a couple of Christians, you have to begin all over again. Paul wrote the Galatian Christians about not getting weary, lazy or discouraged by this important work:

Galatians 6.7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Three illustrations – dedicated soldier - disciplined athlete – diligent farmer – to describe your Christian life. Each of them occupations that imply a willingness to suffer in order to accomplish something of high value – defeat of enemies and the rescue of people – victory in a hard run race – a harvest of good things that will nourish a community. Are you up for it? Are you difting, or is your sail set firmly in the direction of God's will.

Paul having given these three powerful metaphors to describe the Christian life, then urges Timothy (and us) to pay careful attention – think deeply about these things. Don't let them briefly appear on the screen of your mind and then flick aside to make room for the next image you want to think about. Think over what I say...for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.V7.

One of the biggest reasons why you don't grow as a Christian is that you don't devote enough time to thinking over what God's Word says. This is why you keep falling to the same habits, the same disappointed frame of mind, the same disputes with the same people, the same frustrations and the same excuses. When we really hear what God's Word is saying and take it away to think if over before God, he will give you amazing insights and understanding about everything – starting with your own life – but exanding quickly to learn about him and what he is doing in the world of people around you. You can start to live and think realistically, instead of sloshing around in the shallow dregs of your own ideas of what your life is supposed to mean and be used for. If you will only spend time in the Bible – the Book for Man – you will start to see how everything starts and ends with Jesus Christ for you. You will see how out of Christ's fullness God will give you grace upon grace. He will lavish upon you wisdom upon wisdom – opportunity upon opportunity – strength upon strength – hope upon hope – forgiveness upon forgiveness – eternity upon eternity. How come? Because God's grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Giving Christ to the world is the means by which God's mercy, love and help comes to people like us, who actually deserve his judgement. But in order for you to get the sweet juice of these truths into your own spirit, you have to suck on his Word.

Look and see how Paul makes it really explicit what thinking over his message, his gospel, means: Verse 8: Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David!

That's where your thinking must be anchored – on that Rock. Get Jesus himself at the centre of your thinking and your life. Don't worry about how you will do this – it is the Holy Spirit's work. He make Jesus known toyou as you read the Bible. He will bring to your mind the things he said and did for you – even when you are in the midst of crisis. He will give you the words to say when you are challenged about your faith. That is his work; the Holy Spirit teaches you about Jesus through him you are joined to Jesus. That is what new birth is – the Holy Spirit joining your spirit to Jesus Christ, so that from Christ's fullness grace upon grace will come to you in every circumstance you face.

Remember Jesus Christ – risen from the dead. As you face criticism and attacks, remember that he has already defeated all your enemies – he is outside the grave on the other side of it – he has already endured the worst things your enemies might do and he promises to be with you – to never leave your nor forsake you. You were crucified with Christ because you are a guilty sinner, but his death and burial satisfied God's hatred of your sin and, through new birth, you were raised with Christ to walk in a new life. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, because he is your guarantee that death will not touch your spirit – you will not taste death.

And in case you think that what happened to the Son of God, can't happen to you – that you won't be able to defeat the temptations and weaknesses and death that claims human beings – remember Jesus Christ is the offspring of David. Christ took to himself flesh and blood and a human soul and mind like yours. He is genuinely human person as well as Son of God. He wept, he sweated, he got exhausted, he was strongly tempted, he felt pain, he experiened loneliness and he breathed his last. And STILL he triumphed over the grave and was seen by many (even 500 people at once) to be alive. Remember Jesus Christ – he has experienced more thatn the troubles you will ever know and death could not hold him down. So join his army as a good soldier. Get running in the race set before you, keeping your eye on Jesus who has already completed the section of the race still in front of you. Work as the diligent and patient farmer in his fields, knowing that there will be rich harvest and you will share in the unspeakable joy on the day it is brought it.

Paul bears witness to us what it is like to live like this. It certainly doesn't sound boring, depressing or useless. You can catch a sense of his pride and confidence in his Lord:

8Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. 10Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

11Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

Notice the tremendous promises in this short poem or hymn that Paul quotes. Promises that state that when we commit fully to Christ, he is fully committed to us. That having died to ourselves so we can live for his cause, we will share in his eternal reign of victory – but that if we disown him and choose to chase after short-term pleasures he will not include us has his own. However, even if some are faithless and fall away from such weighty promises, nothing will stop him from succeeding in his work. Even if some turn out to be faithless he will remain faithful to himself and his plan – he will not and cannot make room for evil.

So, there it is – you and I are called to a total giving up of ourselves to Jesus Christ. So total that it is called 'dying to ourselves'. But what a magnificent exchange: the loss of what is dragging us down into death and judgement – for the gain of a life forever joined to Jesus Christ, from which grace upon grace is forever poured into us. No short-term suffering is worth escaping if it means missing out on THAT.