As unto the Lord... a sermon on conscience given in Sydney in April 2024

 As unto the Lord—don’t judge the servant of another!

 

A sermon on conscience from Romans 14

By Bob Mendelsohn

Given at Sans Souci Anglican Church

14 April 2024

 

Shalom! You have been studying the book of Romans, one of my favourite books in the Bible, and I like to say the big theme of that letter is “Getting Right with God.” Sometimes we title that in terms of justice or righteousness. Paul, the author of this letter says that the entry, the admission ticket to obtain this being right with God is through faith, particularly faith in the death and resurrection of the Son of God, Yeshua the Jewish messiah. Judgment is given to him and he will judge all, and he will welcome all who come to him. That reality of this judgment is going to be the basis of Paul’s comments today as we look at judgmentalism and mutual affirmation from chapters 14 and 15.

Can I ask that those watching this sermon later than live on YouTube, please pause your playback and read this section of the Bible. It will only take a few minutes, then press play and re-join us as we explain the text. Thanks.    

Let me give you the outline of today’s talk. 

1.     The strong and the weak contrasted --Don’t condemn! (.1-12)

2.     Faith is the key (.13-23)

3.     Acceptance, not tolerance, is how the Body works (15.1-7)

Now let’s unpack this section and see what it has to say to us who are reading this letter written nearly 2000 years ago. The title of the message is “As unto the Lord—don’t judge the servant of another!”

First then, The Strong and the weak contrasted (.1-6)

It’s likely that some Jewish people, who were kicked out of the city of Rome from AD 49 to AD 53 or so, were now back in town. In the gathered community, the church there in Rome, there would have been some Jewish believers who saw some practices which were alarming. Some believers were eating foods that were out-of-bounds, like seeing pork ribs at the Saturday potluck lunch. And other practices were a bit different, as some in the church were not observing new moons or even the Sabbath with propriety. These Jewish believers would have been scandalized by the changes they saw in the faith since Jesus had been around and might have wanted things to be ‘like the old days.’ They might have had some racial pride and some racial prejudices in action. 

But as some of you will attest, even here in Sydney, and certainly in other global cities, you will meet Gentiles who strongly believe in Yeshua and who want to maintain some Jewish laws. They want to honour God by keeping kosher (Leviticus 11) and by observing the festivals of the Lord (Leviticus 23). Over many chapters, Paul has showcased the inadequacies of these to make ourselves right with God. (Romans 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). 

With those two categories of peoples in mind, I find it fascinating that Paul doesn’t label the weak here in our text as either Jewish or Gentiles. In other words, he doesn’t want to aggravate any natural branch vs. wild olive branch hostility. He’s already highlighted that Gentile believers ought not to boast over the Jewish believers (Romans 11.17-24). By using ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ in this section, he’s not making this point into a racial consideration, but rather a matter of faith in action.  He uses the phrases ‘Unto the Lord” or “For the Lord” over and over. 

Let me give you an Older Testament single word that may help us in this matter of understanding what informs the apostle.

In Torah, over 250 times, the word “La’adonai” is used. Sometimes it’s about direction. He spoke “to the Lord.” Other times, it has to do with offerings being given “to the Lord.” Leviticus 25.2 says, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the LORD.” 

Sabbath then is either unto the Lord or not! Widening this truth, in fact, everything that I do can be unto him or not. 

So many people get this wrong. They think that some believers are weak or strong in faith, by what they wear, how loudly they sing, how they seem to have a perpetual smile on their face. Paul says their weakness is defined here in terms of legal observance of not eating all foods and by celebrating certain days. Wow, that would smack against the beliefs of many Jewish believers and legal observers in our days. But Paul’s statement is that no matter what they believe or what they practice, let them do or not do, AS UNTO THE LORD.

When people tell me they keep kosher ‘unto the Lord’ I’m good with that. When they say “God wants me to keep kosher so I can please him more” I wonder if they are short-sighted and missing the point. But even to them, the weak in the faith, as Paul says, I must have kindness and openness and NO contempt.

Verse 3: Not showing contempt for the other. I hear this language, this sentiment regularly in politics and in Facebook, in conversations like we have with those not yet no board with the Gospel. I remember a couple of years ago being on the corso in Bondi Junction. I offered a hand sanitiser bottle to a middle-aged man who looked intensely at the product on my tray and said, “No, that’s a contradiction. I won’t take that.” But it wasn’t so much his words as it was his attitude which spewed out hostility. Contempt. Not a simple dismissal or like some say, ‘No thank you.” No it was derision and disdain for me, for my product, for my kind offer… contempt. 

Paul says not to show that contempt for ‘the other.’ Why not? Because GOD has judged him already and has accepted him. Because of that person’s relationship with God, the ‘la’adonai’ that’s going on in the heart of the believer who is weak or who is strong… who eats or who doesn’t eat.. because of the acceptance by the Almighty, we ought to accept him as well. Paul says that here in verse 1: “accept the one” and in verse 18 “acceptable to God and approved by men” and in chapter 15 verse 7, “Therefore accept one another just as Messiah also accepted us to the glory of God.” 

Verse 4, “Who are you to judge the servant of another?” Again the point Paul makes, based on his understanding of the Judgment of God in Yeshua, that all who are known by him, that all who are by faith welcomed into the community, then I’m not to judge that one in terms of eternity. There are plenty of Bible verses about judgment beginning with the house of God (1 Peter 4.17) and that we are to judge those living in error (1 Cor. 5.11-13) inside the church. But in this case, here in Romans, that judgment is on matters of style rather than matters of life and death. This can be confusing, and I appreciate the difficulties some have. 

NT Wright makes the point in his book on this (Paul for Everyone) using two extreme examples. One a person who ‘believes’ that stealing is acceptable and you shouldn’t judge me for doing so. The other, a person who reads in Torah that you shouldn’t wear garments at the same time of two different materials. How we put this section of ‘not judging the servant of another’ into practice depends on the situation. I’m reminded of the old axiom, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” Paul is highlighting the non-essentials of food laws and holy day observance. How we treat each other in Messiah, at the fellowship table over morning tea, on the golf course, at the chemist… those are what evidence the godly life. Amen?

I know a lovely woman who is homosexual. She attends a church dedicated to gay people here in Sydney. She claims to be a Christian. To me, that’s similar to the first extreme example, of stealing. Sexual sins are clearly listed in the Bible, in both Older and Newer Testaments. Even in Romans chapter 1. What then is my response as a man of God? Dunn says, “The point is that the Christian is not a law unto himself or herself. But neither is any Christian a law unto someone else.” She cannot be living a gay life ‘unto the Lord’ since the Lord has made this very clear. 

Same with Sabbath observance. Verses 5 and following. Some observe with technical precision the Jewish Sabbath. Some of us grew up with a deep commitment to going to Friday night meals with candles and challah and wine, with Saturday synagogue and prayers, to the hearing of the Torah and Haftorah being read and sometimes explained. Then the lunch and the study session, the 3^rd meal and the final prayers before returning home for Havdalah. In fact this weekend I was in Hobart, with a long-time mate who is Jewish and his wife, and on Friday night we welcomed Shabbat with candles and wine and bread, and yesterday he and I both led portions of the prayers at the oldest continuing running synagogue in the Southern Hemisphere on Argyle Street. We are both religiously ritualistically Sabbath-keepers, but maybe not enough for some Orthodox Jews. Sabbath has a certain rhythm all its own. But some of you here at Sans Souci might regard ‘every day alike.’ Let each man… What, Paul are you saying? Allow each man to make up his own rules? You’ve got to be kidding! People in modern times would dismiss any regulations because hey, it’s inconvenient or I don’t have time or the kids have football games or.. But that’s exactly NOT what Paul is saying. Either do it or don’t do it ---UNTO THE LORD. Let God, not convenience, be your guide. Let God, not the kids, be your guide. Let God be the one to whom you submit and whom you seek to honor BECAUSE he has accepted you. Whatever is not of faith is sin, he says. (verse 23)

Dunn says this, “With repeated emphasis Paul presses home the point: “God has welcomed him . . . he is God’s servant . . . he will stand because it is precisely and solely God’s prerogative and power to make him stand” (vv 3–4). This is a crucial step in Paul’s pastoral tactic: to get the traditionalists actually to accept that someone who differs from them, and differs from them in something they regard as fundamental, is nevertheless acceptable to God and accepted by God.”

Paul quotes Isaiah (45.23) which indicates that God will judge all people, even the weak in this passage, not only for their biblical compliance but also with their haughty self-projection and attitude of superiority over their brothers and sisters who belong to God. Be careful!

Faith is the key (.13-23)

Whereas the first section of the chapter seems to be focusing on the weak, this section clearly has the strong in view. Even so, verse 13 opens with ‘don’t judge!’ and both groups could have heard that being said to them. The use of the phrase ‘stumbling block’ brings my mind to Leviticus 19.  There in verse 14 we are told not to put a stumbling block in front of blind people, nor are we to curse deaf people. This is a serious charge to keep peace in the whole community. Blind people wouldn’t see the block, and deaf people wouldn’t hear the malediction, but God sees what you do secretly. That seems to be in Paul’s mind as he writes this, ‘do not judge’  Verse 15, “do not destroy with your food.’ Verse 16, “Do not let what is for you a good thing…” Verse 20, “Do not tear down the work of God” All of these negative words are designed to remind the readers in Rome of what he says in verse 15, “you are no longer walking according to love.” Where did Paul get that? Back to Leviticus 19. Verse 18, after the stumbling block and deaf curse line, he says, 

‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbour fairly. You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbour; I am the LORD. You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbour but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself; I am the LORD.” (15-18)

Listen to those charges, ‘no injustice in judgment’, ‘judge fairly’, not a slanderer, not hate your countryman, no vengeance… all summed up in LOVE your neighbour as yourself.

Paul hears the words of Moses and takes them on board. By the way, ‘stumbling block’ in Greek is the word ‘scandalon’ from which we get the word for offense, or ‘scandal.’ Don’t let your freedom scandalize another, and don’t be scandalized by their behaviour if they are seeking to honour the Lord in their life, by faith. 

Do you have some passages that stick out as highlights in your reading of the Scriptures? I have many favorites and 14.17 is one of those. I love the ‘order of things’ and here Paul says the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. He obviously was not an Australian where after every event, any sporting contest, any election, almost any agreement at work, “I’ll drink to that” comes into play. What time is it? It’s ‘beer o’clock’ they say. Paul says the kingdom is not found there, and therefore not to be lost because of food or drink. It’s three things: righteousness, peace and joy in the Ruach Hakodesh. If you have right relationship with God (what he calls ‘righteousness’) then that gives you peace with God (Romans 5.1) and thus joy in the Spirit realm. 

Faith, our entry key, our admission ticket into that right standing with God is what makes the difference. Not only in Paul’s life, but in my life, and in your life. Faith in the death and resurrected Messiah of Israel…that will bring us into righteousness. And anything short of that, like judging others, like condemning others, like having contempt for others… that’s falling short of faith and thus is titled ‘sin.’

Acceptance, not tolerance, is how the Body works (Chap15.1-7)

Our third and final section today is the beginning of chapter 15. Paul says, “accept one another, just as Messiah also accepted us to the glory of God.” Clearly the struggles between the strong and the weak, between the libertarians and the legalists are resolved in faith in Messiah and in accepting of one another. But, do you see, 15.7 starts with a therefore? There are 24 ‘therefore’s’ in the letter to the Romans. So much sequential and logical thinking.  What is this therefore there for? See 15.1-6.

Lest we miss it, Paul continues his teaching with the ordinance that the strong ‘ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak’ since we are in the same Body. He says in verse 2 we are to ‘please his neighbour for his good, to his edification.’ On what does Paul base this? Verse 3: “even Messiah did not please himself” and he had reproach fall on him.” (Psalm 69.9) What is reproach? It’s the shame and blame for all wrong things. Obviously Yeshua took our sins, our punishment, and even our reproach on himself. Paul here says if you want to follow Messiah, you should bear reproach as well as the annoyances of strong vs weak regarding health, Sabbath and other Jewish law matters. 

Verse 4: Whatever was written in the past, meaning the Tenach, was written for our instruction. And for our having hope. It was not written to knock us back or knock us down. It’s not a stumbling block to offend or scandalize us. The record of Scripture is written for us so that “through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.” He uses the word ‘encouragement’ a translation of the Greek word ‘paraklesis’ or comforter, the one called alongside to help. And what will that lead to? 

Verse 5-6: One mind, one accord, one voice. It’s not only for one individual. It’s about unity in the midst of diversity. Not a tolerance of misbehaviour, but rather an acceptance of one another. Tolerance usually in modern days is a word of allowance. Sort of, ‘agree to disagree.’ But acceptance goes well beyond that. Tolerating is what you do with a toddler who is screaming in the restaurant while you are eating. Tolerating is what you do with the neighbour who is playing loud music long after midnight and you hear its sounds as you try to sleep. Acceptance is much deeper. 

Eric Mason writes in his book titled, Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice. “This is one of the strongest expositions on God’s justice.” Mason argues that “righteousness is an active, not static attribute of God. He forcefully argues that for us to understand the righteousness of God, we have to understand that God’s righteousness works itself out in the world. This is what justice is, and just as we do not sit back and say that God’s love will one day win out, but that has no bearing on our today, so too we must see an active call for today in God’s righteousness.” (comment by John Beeson, Goodreads, review of Mason’s book)

Our accepting one another is based on God accepting this person. The purpose: to get to the glory of God, where he is glorified and manifest. In my life. In your life. In our lives. Together. That’s how the Body works. Maybe that’s why we enjoy studying the Bible together. Or why we pray together. Or fellowship in the Spirit together. We represent Yeshua that much better as a result.

Dear friends, if you are not yet a believer in Yeshua, I urge you today, call on him while he is near. If you know your Torah, and you know yourself, you know you need help, you’ve been stumbling, you need salvation, you need a Saviour. Joel the prophet said, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be rescued, will be saved” That is, you will be made to be in right relationship with God. It’s worth all the rejection of others who don’t want to know about God’s love in Messiah Yeshua. 

If you want, you can pray a prayer with me just now to solidify your choice. Something like this, “Father in Yeshua’s name, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Yeshua to save me from myself, from my selfishness, from my despair and the harm I cause so many. Thank you for making me right with God by your sacrifice. I receive Yeshua (Jesus) as my saviour and the lover of my soul. He frees me to love others. I repent of my sins and ask for God’s forgiveness to be my portion. I receive the free gift of God, eternal life in Messiah Jesus our Lord. Amen.”

If you just prayed that, would you please contact Ps Stephen here at church or speak with me back at the book stall with morning tea. For those here in the sanctuary who want to donate to Jews for Jesus, please use this QR code on the screen or we will have an offertory at the stall also. I’m happy to share more on this as we are all able. 

Ps Stephen, thanks so much for your love and support and for your care for me and my people. I’m so pleased God has given us this partnership. Let us live, as unto the Lord, in 2024 and throughout our days, amen?

 

Palm Sunday and where is your hope?

  

Palm Sunday: Where is your hope?

 

Sermon given at South Sydney Anglican Church

Palm Sunday 2024

Readings taken from Luke 19.28-40, 22.39-71

 

Shalom. Thanks to Pastor Matt for this warm welcome again and for each of you in giving me your attention as I speak this morning. Maybe you have been watching the television and other media and you know full well that the world is a mess. Ukraine and Russia, Gaza and Hamas murdering innocents in Israel, and continued noise from Parliament here about our economy and all other problems. Where is there hope for repair? 

The Jewish people talk about our religious responsibility to the planet and use the phrase “Tikkun olam” which basically relates to the “repair of the world.” We are responsible to fix what others have broken. Or that we have broken. We pray about this daily and we seek to make this happen in a social context. Are we the hope of the world’s repair? Honestly, where is there hope for repair?

Some say that war and violence is the key to repair the world. 

Some say that government and its capacity to solve problems is the key to repair the world. 

Some even say that religion has the power to change folks, and eventually the world.

But I’m of the opinion, and many of us in this sanctuary agree, that none of those are sufficiently significant or powerful to accomplish what is needed. We need something from the outside to make this work. 

Where is there hope for repair?

In today’s Bible readings we see some answers to that question. And today is Palm Sunday which is where some of my story begins.  You might know that Ps Matt sent me the actual Bible readings a few weeks ago and as I read them, I saw some of the biblical answer to our question. Of note, for those who are not sure, this building is an Anglican church, and the official doctrine or teaching of the church is that next weekend is the most dramatic and fulfilling season of a person’s life. Thus I invite you who are watching this online or listening here in the nave or online, to return next week for Part 2 of this greatest story ever told. After all, according to the story, Palm Sunday begins the Passion week, the final week in the public career of Yeshua, the central figure of the entire Bible. There is enough in today’s lesson to hear God’s answer to our question of finding hope, so let’s dig in.

There are three scenes in his final week. The first is the occasion of the palms and Yeshua’s entry into Jerusalem. Yeshua had instructed his disciples, his closest followers, to go and secure a donkey on which he would ride. This story is found in all four biographies of Jesus, and today I will cite Luke’s account, in chapter 19. Verses 28-40. There we read that Yeshua sent two fellows to “go into the village, and as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.” (.28-30) 

Doesn’t that sound like what a thief would organize? Hey, boys, I’ve got a job for you, see? Go to the shopping centre, see? And bring back a Mitsubishi Colt, see?  But he’s not a thief. 

Sure enough they went into the village, and found it as he had instructed, even telling the owner “The Lord has need of it.” (.34) Yeshua had local support and the owner must have been one of those. So, they “brought it to Jesus and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks, that is, their outer garments, on the road.” What a scene! He came down from the Mt of Olives, there on the east side of Jerusalem, and “the whole multitude began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven.” (.37-38) Other Gospels record that they laid out palm branches. Others said, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” And what’s clear is that this is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, of messianic prophecy, that the King of the Jewish people would be known. Zechariah predicted this over 500 years before. “Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9.9)

Jewish people believed that this very path was to be how Messiah would enter Jerusalem. (Zech. 14.4) Josephus associates the location with a messianic figure. (Ant.20.169) “There came out of Egypt about this time to Jerusalem, one that said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common people to go along with him to the Mt of Olives.” (J.W. 2.262)

Riding on a donkey according to Amy-Jill Levine in her Jewish Annotated New Testament, “indicates royalty” (see 2 Sam 18.9, 19.26, 1 King 1.33-40) (JANT, page 155)

I see in this Public Scene #1 a cry of a desperate people, a longing to make something happen, a messianic hope by the people. If you will, I see what I will label religion at work. And yes, for me this religion is Jesus-centered, which ought to be satisfactory, but unfortunately I know the rest of the story. These same people who come when it’s time for a trick or a miracle, who attend to Jesus with cloaks and palms and a magnificent show, in less than a week will cry, “Crucify him.” They will turn on him, turn their backs to him, and not only resist him but cry for his banishment and punishment. They will yell for his destruction. 

What causes their complete change of mind? I believe their cries of Hosanna were desperation for a change. They shouted “hosanna” which means “Oh, save us!” hoping that this guy on the donkey would overthrow Rome and relieve them of the taxation and the oppression in which they lived.  They even called Yeshua “Son of David” which again is a messianic title, but one they didn’t understand. More on that later. 

This first public scene is about religion, and dare I say, particularly a misunderstanding of the Christian religion itself. Thinking Jesus is coming as a trick pony to serve us, to relieve our pain, to make our lives better, to give us a new house in Vaucluse or a new wife way better than the previous one. Widening this thought, I think religion or the modern term many use, ‘spirituality’ is affixing our personal plans to a fixture of religious terminology and philosophy. This notion of religion is aspirational and yet it’s driven by our own desires. That’s why the cries of the people here which sound like praise and recognition of the messiah turn to demands in less than a week.

Friends here at South Sydney, Public Scene #1 tells me that Religion is not the hope of the world.

Public Scene #2 is in the Garden of Gethsemane. There again at the bottom of the Mt of Olives just east of Jerusalem we read about this moment in all four Gospels or biographies of Yeshua.  He goes to pray there, as seems to be his habit. (Lk 21.37) He invites his inner circle of Peter, James and John to join him. They don’t exactly join him well in the late night of prayer. After they have finished sharing Passover with Jesus and drinking several cups of wine at the dinner as is our Jewish custom, they fell asleep in the garden while Yeshua continued to pray fervently. Even painfully. His prayer is intense and dramatic. It’s full of pathos and wishing. It’s the most human prayer you can imagine. Yet, his closest friends fell asleep and disappointed him in both the prayer time and in the arrest scene which follows. 

I think that war and violence itself is a common assertion of people as far as how to bring hope to a world in trouble. Isn’t it an interesting conclusion? A madman somewhere in the Middle East sent 27 men to fly four different planes into American buildings on 9/11 back 23 years ago, and we around the world join forces to level country after country, bombing our way to peace. It didn’t work and never really does work, but that doesn’t change the minds of folks who think that war will bring hope to a troubled world. Not since 1837 has there been peace throughout the world. Yes, that was the last year in recorded history when no country was fighting with another country. 

But that doesn’t mean there were no arguments in families. That doesn’t mean people were not ruining each other’s properties in villages in Ireland or South Africa, in Eastern Europe or in Chicago. The world is a messy place and violence is never the answer to a troubled, messy world. 

Public scene #2 in Gethsemane zooms in on the prayer of Yeshua AND the guards arresting him. At the time of the arrest, we read this, “When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.” (Lk. 22.49-51)

Violence and war are not the answer. Yeshua said, “Stop! No more of this.” What is the “this” to which he referred? What did he correct immediately after? He fixed the slave’s ear; he healed a slave in his moment of pain and in Yeshua’s moments of pain. 

Think about it; Yeshua had taken his friends, his closest associates with him to support him. And they abandoned him. The soldiers came with Judas, one of Jesus’ previous disciples, and Judas kissed Jesus. What a mockery. The soldiers demanded his coming with them. Verbal confrontation takes place. And then Jesus knows full well what is about to take place. He knows that he is going to die, brutally, he will suffer the mockery of a fake trial. He knows he will take on himself the sins of the entire world. 

In all that malady, in all that affliction he is afflicted. (Isaiah 63.9)  And yet he still takes a moment, takes a personal time-out, and heals the man Malchus, the slave of the high priest. (John 18.10) 

Public Scene #2 is a painful reality about war and violence, about Peter saying he will support and guard Yeshua at all costs, but within hours he has denied the Messiah three times, even before the sun fully rose. And the conviction, the pain Peter feels is amplified in that one phrase, “Jesus looked at Peter.” (Lk. 22.61). Ouch. I feel that, too. 

War and violence is not the hope of the world.

In today’s final reading we see Public Scene #3 in the Sanhedrin. That’s the official government of the Jewish people of the day. Those 70 men decide all kinds of matters of domestic and in our term, international consideration. They are government, which to many is the hope of repairing the world. They issue decrees which must be held to by the multitudes. In this moment in our history, the Sanhedrin conducts trials and classes. They pass on their conclusions about religion and about war and about all things. They are government. 

By the way, today in the Jewish world is a holiday. Many people have calendar notes. In Persia today continues Nowruz, the Persian new year. In our calendars, many of us noted the 21^st as the equinox. But in the Jewish calendar last night began the festival of Purim, the story of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai. It’s about the defeat of Haman, the evil sinister anti-hero of the story recorded in the book of Esther. He got King Ahashuerus of Persia to sign a governmental decree that was to eradicate in his world, his empire which stretched from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces in total. The king signed a decree at Haman’s advice to remove all Jews from his domain. If you will, from the river to the sea, and then some. Haman was an evil man and if you re-read the story of Esther later today, you will see the similarities between Haman in those days and Hamas in our day. But that’s for another sermon.

For us, I want you to see the government, whether in Persia in Esther’s day or the Sanhedrin in these days of the Gospels, as insufficient to provide all the hope of a desperate world. The Sanhedrin conducted an inquiry, if you will, an inquisition. Listen again to the words at the end of our chapter today. 

"If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD.” And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “You say that I am.” Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.” (Lk. 22. 67-71)

Amy-Jill Levine says, “Jesus does not answer directly (cf. Mk 14.62) No charge directly applies to Jesus; he has technically neither blasphemed nor engaged in sedition” (JANT, page 162)

Look, the reality is that Jesus came for this trial. He came to bear our sins. He came to die. That’s why you need to come back on Friday and Sunday next week to hear Part 2 of this Greatest Story. The trial by Jewish government of the greatest Jew who ever lived stands out but within the context of the whole story it makes sense. Without the death and resurrection which will be Part 2, this just stands out as inhumane and wrong. Please return. Thanks.

In light of my talk today, Public Scene #3 in the Sanhedrin highlights for me how government is not the answer to our woes. We live so close to the scene in television reporting every day from State government. We hear from Canberra all the time about their working out fixes to our systems. But really, government cannot fix our morals; they cannot fix human interaction with humans. Yes, they can regulate our speed on the highways and try to diminish accidents. Yes, they can regulate the drinking age and try to slow down youth crimes. But at the end of the day, government cannot fix the brokenness of humanity. Look at Russia and Ukraine, Poland and Ukraine, Hamas and everyone around them. No government near them wants to open their doors to Hamas. Government can regulate; they cannot fix. 

Public Scene #3 tells me that no human institution can repair the world. 

BUT, and you knew this was coming, look at verse 69. 

“But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD.”

The answer to who can repair the world is the King, the Son of Man, seated as King, enthroned as King, ruling the world in his ways. It’s God, and it’s specifically the Son of Man, the Son of God, who will repair our worlds, one by one, life by life, yielded to him. It’s Jesus or Yeshua, in whatever language you speak; it’s the Messiah the Saviour who is the Son of David. If we yield our lives to him and trust him today, with or without palms, with or without grand statements of declaration of our own loyalty. It’s letting him have his way in our lives that will repair our world. 

I don’t know if you saw the movie last year “One Life.” Featuring the true story of London stockbroker Nicholas "Nicky" Winton who helps rescue hundreds of mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in the time before the Nazi occupation closes the borders. Fifty years later, he's still haunted by the fate of those he wasn't able to bring to safety. The phrase, ‘one life’ is taken from the Talmud, “Whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved the whole world.’ (Sanhedrin 37A)

So when I tell you that Jesus wants to repair our world, it starts with you. He wants to repair you and your world, and then you get to go and help share his love and bring repair to those around you. Even in your world.

If you want that, if you have never given your life to him, not religiously and not violently. If you want to yield to him, to surrender your life to the One who will heal more than your right ear, he will heal your heart, and your world, one person at a time, then do so just now. Please. I urge you. Be reconciled to God. Today can be your day of freedom. 

Thanks Ps Matt and all you here at South Sydney. Happy Palm Sunday. Happy end of Lent. Happy Easter and a joyful walk with the Lord. Shalom.

 

 

 

Replacement theology? What it just might be...

 For those who want to discuss replacement theology, this is a good way to introduce the issue. Or issues. 

I wrote on another's Facebook in answer to their question about this topic.

I think it's a misnomer. Most Christians believe in something like replacement. 

In Matthew 21:43 Yeshua says, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it." Who were those people to whom it was given? Jews. From whom was it taken? Jews. God replaced some Jews with other Jews. Yeshua chose the 12 Jewish apostles to lead the new community of faith when he departed. Did replacement happen? If not, you who dismiss the term should actually follow the rabbis in 2023. But you don't. Why not? Because you believe in 'replacement.' Those who follow Yeshua (Jews first, then also Gentile believers) have replaced those Jews who didn't follow him. 

A great read on this by Ligonier: https://www.ligonier.org/.../the-church-and-israel-in-the... especially dealing with 'true' Israel vs 'national' Israel.

We three kings... the real story?

We three kings. I love the carol sung by the choirs just now. But here are some historical realities that add to the story.

There was probably a caravan of magicians travelling to find the babe-- not only 3 wise men. It was probably up to 3 years after the birth of the baby. Do the dates matter? Not at all to me.

The story is the lesson.

Gentile kings (leaders/ mayors/ magicians) came to find the baby. They followed a star. A comet? To me-- irrelevant. Here's the story. Gentiles from Iran/Iraq saw something in the sky that indicated a king was coming/ born in Israel. They probably had been taught about this over several generations from the information that either Queen Esther or Daniel the Prophet had deposited previously. Who is the king who is coming? Where is he? They believed he was the messiah, but beyond that, they were not sure.

They didn't know, but they followed the star. The star stopped 'above' the child. According to the biblical record, they travelled to Jerusalem. After all, kings should be born in a capital city. Not Galilee or Gaza. But also not Oslo or Salt Lake City. They came to Jerusalem. (Matthew 2.1) They brought him presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Takeaway: if Gentiles from Mesopotamia can believe in a Jewish king and travel to Israel to worship him, then maybe we Jews from Israel, New York, Sydney, Jo'burg, and anywhere else can stop to listen and discover if this Yeshua (Jesus) is actually of note. And is he to be worshipped? And is he our Messiah? Stop. Look. Sh'ma.

The actual story as recorded in the Bible:  "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ² “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written ¹by the prophet:

⁶  ‘^aAND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, 

ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; 

FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER 

WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’” [quote from Micah chapter 5 in the Older Testament]

Matt. 2:7   Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” ⁹ After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshipped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way." (recorded in the biography written by Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1-12.

Do you hear what I hear?