Introduction

A long time ago there was a man who was very active in church.  He had a great desire to live a life pleasing to God.  There was only one problem.  He was all too aware that he was sinful and that he was unworthy of God’s love.  He tried everything, from performing religious rituals to punishing his body.  No matter what he did, he was all too aware of the tremendous gulf between himself and God.  Then one day he was reading Romans 1:17, where Paul quotes the Old Testament: “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17 ESV)  That’s it!  People are not justified by their own good works, they are justified only by faith.  That realization changed not only the young man, but the entire world.  That young man was Martin Luther, and what Luther discovered about faith was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, a movement in which we also are included.  Why do I bring this up?  Luther had mixed emotions about the letter of James that we have been looking at.  Luther quoted from James and did praise the epistle.  But he also said that compared to the Gospel of John and Paul’s letters, James was an “epistle of straw.”  When opponents began to rely on James to teach that salvation required works, Luther said “I almost feel like throwing Jimmy into the stove.”  I can understand how a person who is sensitive to legalism and a religion heavy with rules would struggle with James.  If you are looking for a text that will encourage you to sit back and just enjoy your ticket to heaven, James is not the book to read.  James is action oriented, describing the things we are expected to do and the ways we are expected to act.  James is not trying to teach a salvation that is based on how much we do or how hard we work.  But he is teaching that following Jesus means following Jesus and that must manifest itself in outward ways.  This section of the letter will give some practical on how a Christian should be.

Be Quiet

I spend a lot of time talking with skeptics and people of other religions or philosophies.  I also spend a lot of time with other Christians who also like to interact with skeptics.  I will tell you that it can very easily get quite nasty.  It starts with Christians making assumptions about what others believe and their reasons for being skeptical.  Being passionate about the Christian faith, they share their beliefs vigorously.  They then get frustrated when the person has not embraced in a few minutes what we have been taking in over years of attending church.  It is not just about the sharing of faith.  Look at any conversation about controversial subjects such as abortion or homosexuality.  How does that conversation take place?  Is it about sitting down and looking at the issues, working through logic and reason?  From my experience, such conversations produce much more heat than light.  James has something to say on this subject.  His advice is not to attack people who are different, nor is it to automatically agree with everyone we encounter.  James instead teaches “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (James 1:19 NIV)  Yes we may strongly disagree with a person, their views may even seem offensive to us, but that does not give us the permission to shoot off.  The first step is to actually listen.  When you talk to people who are angry toward Muslims, homosexuals or atheists, it is common to discover that they have never sat down with one and heard their story.  There is a reason for this.  It is easier for to hate what we do not know.  We can set up our own caricature that is easy to dislike but might find that our response is different when we listen and discover that they are real human beings, not so different from us.  James tells us that we should be slow to speak.  Our temptation is to take over the conversation and keep things on our terms.  Perhaps the church would be doing better if we learned to just be quiet.  I often hear Christian leaders making harmful statements and I just wish that they would shut their mouth.  My preaching professor said that he had a prayer when he heard a pastor say something stupid from the pulpit: “Take him down Lord!”  Do not speak just because a thought came to mind or you see an opportunity to make the other person look foolish.  Before you open your mouth, ask the question: “What will the result be if I say what I am thinking?”  Is it a statement that will build a bridge, strengthen the relationship, open their eyes to a new perspective and pass on helpful information?  Or will it be an expression of your anger and frustration?  If it is the latter, then there are more productive ways for us to vent our feelings.  When we say something, we can never take it back.  So we better choose carefully.

Be Active

Christianity has always been a faith that has emphasized learning.  We are a people of the book, and wherever Christianity has spread, literacy has increased, often as people begin by reading the Bible.  Some cultures did not even develop an alphabet until missionaries had to create one to translate the Bible.  The church is in a constant mode of teaching, through sermons, Bible reading, communion services, hymns and even stained glass windows.  As a result, Christians value learning.  We read Christian books, attend Bible studies and go to inspirational conferences.  All of these things are good, but there can be a danger.  While most of the things that we take for granted were in their infancy in James’ day, the New Testament had not even been compiled, he saw the potential problem.  It is very easy for us to immerse ourselves in Christian teaching and then somehow neglect to put it into practice.  You could do a Ph.D. on the role of love in the New Testament church, with detailed research of the cultural, religious, theological and social contexts, and yet never show love toward another person.  You could study music, master every instrument, go through vocal training and learn the history of hymn-writing and yet never truly worship God.  At some point, we have to take what we have heard and learned and put it into practice.  Jesus spoke to this.  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24–27 NIV)  The problem here is not ignorance of God’s Word but refusal to put it into practice.  Our challenge is not how to gain more knowledge but rather to figure out how to start doing the things we have already learned.

Be Merciful

If someone asked you if you were religious, what would you say?  You would have to have a clear definition of what you mean by religion and have some idea what they mean by religion for that question to mean anything.  What is religion?  For some people religion is a collection of rituals such as singing, prayer, meditation, sacred meals, candle lighting, reading of holy scriptures etc.  For others, religion is about the organization that takes part in these activities.  If rituals are seen as being boring by some people, the organizing of such rituals is seen as dangerous.  Think about how often people criticize organized religion.  It is okay to have an individual spirituality but it is bad to organize beliefs as a religion.  There is so much I could say about that, but instead I want to redefine religion according to James.  There are two parts to to religion.  One is about being unstained by the world.  This is not about keeping away from movie theaters, playing cards and rock music.  It means Christian religion should not be shaped by the moral values of society.  There is a thought that the church should stay with the times, adapting to what society thinks is right.  Many churches have done that.  Society says that what matters is our own comfort and material gain.  It is all about us.  So some Christians baptize that morality and teach a selfish Christianity.  If Christianity is not about adapting to society, what is the foundation of our morality?  James makes it clear that it is about visiting widows and orphans, in other words care for the poor and marginalized.  That has been the message of the Bible from Old to New Testaments.  The early church was very much focused on caring for the poor.  Think about religion as being about care of the poor.  The next time someone tells you that they do not believe in organized religion, ask them “Do you really want us less effective at helping the poor?”  Being a Christian also means being merciful.

Conclusion

Many people struggle with Christianity as an abstract and mystical concept.  That’s fine as James presents a Christianity that is concrete and practical.  There are certain things that belong with the Christian life.  First we need to learn to listen to people and hold back our words, especially when those words are fueled by anger.  We then need to take that which we have learned and put them into practice.  Christianity is no theory, it is meant to be action-oriented.  Finally, Christianity is meant to be merciful.  Instead of adapting to changing moral values, our permanent orders are to take care of the needy and poor.  This is an important description of Christianity that helps us to keep a proper perspective.

Introduction

Why do bad things happen to good people?  It is a question that has crossed most of our minds.  We have all seen people, that from our perspective, deserve an easier life than they experience.  Where is God in all of this?  There are a few options.  One is that God cares but that he just is not able to help us.  Perhaps God sends trials to us to punish us for our sins.  Maybe God sends hardship because he just does not like us.  None of those options seem to bring much comfort.  Is there any other answer?  Thankfully, James teaches on this subject.  As a brother of Jesus, we should perhaps listen to what he has to say on the Christian response to trials.  Throughout this message, I am going to try and apply these principles to our experience with autism.  I do this not because we are the best example of good people but because practical examples may help this to seem less theoretical.  Let us see what James can teach us.

The Myth

One of the things that we must realize is that James understands something that we may still be confused about.  Many Christians assume that God’s primary concern is that we have an easy, comfortable and trouble-free life.  When this does not happen, we are left wondering what went wrong.  What likely went wrong was our expectations of God.  What makes us think God is primarily concerned with our comfort?  Is that how we raise our children?  Do we try to just give them an easy life, providing all the toys and candy they want the moment they want it?  Do we do their homework for them and when they become adults send them a cheque each month so they won’t have to suffer through a job?  Or do we try and prepare them for the trials that will and should come in order for them to mature?  James understood that trials in life are not a fluke but are a necessary part of life.  James knew this in a very unique way.  If trials were based on God’s correction or displeasure, then Jesus should have had the easiest life ever.  Yet Jesus faced trial after trial.  There was a constant stream of people trying to trap him, humiliate him and turn the people against them.  How did James know?  James, though the half-brother of Jesus, was one of those people.  James did not believe that Jesus was the Christ and not only did he lack faith, he publicly mocked Jesus.  It was not until Jesus‘ resurrection that James believed.  What James saw through the trials created by himself and others is that they did not destroy Jesus but rather strengthened him.  It is out of that experience that we understand James‘ teaching.

The Truth

So if the myth is that trials are to be absent from the Christian life, the truth is that God uses trials to transform us.  James gives us some very detailed teaching on this.

James says something surprising when he suggests that we should be joyful when trials come.  The reason for the joy is not that there is religious value in suffering.  The reason is that suffering actually produces a positive change in us.  James says that trials produce perseverance and perseverance matures us.  It is as we encounter the resistance of hardship that we grow as human beings and as Christians.

If God had given us a choice on whether or not our children would have autism, I would have taken a pass.  However, having dealt with autism over the last nine years, I will grudgingly admit that autism has made me a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better follower of Jesus.  I can honestly say that my growing moments have been when life was the hardest and not the easiest.

James then moves on to talk about prayer.  This is easily misunderstood.  James is not talking about prayer in general, but rather prayer for wisdom.  Even then, he is not talking about wisdom to pass that school test or about the kind of car you should buy next.  This is about wisdom in the context of trials.  What kind of wisdom?  Not wisdom about why this is happening.  Job wanted that information and God made it clear he was not getting the explanation he wanted.  The prayer for wisdom is for dealing with trials, to be able to see what we can learn, to make good decisions and to understand where God is active in our life.

Dealing with autism is not easy.  When we first discovered that Logan and Abby had autism, there were many dreams that were dashed.  We could have easily fallen into despair.  My first prayer was that the children would be healed.  Beyond that, my prayer is that I would be the best dad that I can in these circumstances.  I don’t know how to be the dad and husband I need to be.  But God does and he has continually guided me through this journey.

James then goes on to make a comment about the rich and poor.  This is a theme that is very important to James and it will appear again.  But why does James mention it here?  It is easy for us to judge our circumstances by outward appearances.  The clearest example is that of the rich and the poor.  The rich are blessed and the poor are cursed, it seems pretty obvious.  Except that is not the way God sees things.  In fact it is often the exact opposite.  In God’s economy, things are upside down as we see in the Beatitudes.  The lesson for us is that things are not always what they seem.

Any time you are going through a trial, it is easy to fall into “why me?” syndrome.  The fact that other people seem to have it so easy seems to reinforce this.

Especially in the early days of the children’s diagnosis, I would sometime look at other typical children with some resentment.  Why were their brains wired correctly and Logan and Abby’s not?  Why did all the other parents have such an easy life?  The truth is that things are not always what they seem.  Our three typical children have all talked back to us, Logan and Abby have never.  There are blessings where you least expect them.

Perseverance and endurance is a virtue, but how does one keep it up?  Why should we bother to endure?  I work out on a treadmill but I do not enjoy it.  Why don’t I quit as soon as I get tired?  Because I have a set time to work out and keep my eye on that time, knowing that at that point the work will be over.  James encourages endurance by reminding people that one day we will stand before God.  No matter how hard things are at the moment, they will not always be that way.  God has an eternal reward that will make up for whatever suffering we go through today.

If you were to talk to me the morning after a sleepless night or in the middle of a meltdown or during one of Logan’s escapes, you would not find me particularly cheerful.  But in quieter moments I can remember that this is not the way it will always be.  One day we will stand before God and Logan and Abby will no longer have trouble communicating or relating.  Everything will be made perfect and that hope gives strength for today.

Why is God doing this to me?  Have you ever asked that question?  Have you felt like a small animal or insect being tortured by a thirteen year old boy?  James brings perspective to these emotions.  Why is God tempting you?  He is not, that goes against his nature.  God is not someone who enjoys pushing you to see what it will take to make you give up.  Temptations do not come from God, they come from our own weakness and desire for comfort and gain.  God uses these trials to bring about spiritual growth but that does not mean he brings the temptation.  For example if my children have to deal with a bully, I will help them to learn from that experience but I am not going to hire a bully in order to facilitate a teaching moment.

Why do my children have autism?  I don’t think God is testing me to see if I will give up.  I think that they have autism because that is how their DNA worked.  At the same time, God uses this genetic disorder to work in my life and the life of my family.

My favorite part of this passage is “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17 NIV)  Again, this is a verse that we often rip out of its context.  In the midst of trial and confusion about God’s activity in our life, James reminds us that God only gives good things.  God has good gifts for us and those gifts will only get better.

What does God have for our family?  It is not punishment by severe autism.  The good gifts that God gives us are patience, strength, joy, laughter, love, hope, peace and numerous little miracles that remind us that God is working in the life of Logan, Abby and the rest of us.

Conclusion

Why do bad things happen?  Why do bad things happen to you?  God is not a sadistic bully that enjoys to introduce pain into your life.  But nor is he a jolly old grandpa that just loves to spoil his grandkids with all sorts of treats.  While we would love comfort and ease, that is not God’s priority.  God is more interested in who we will become than keeping the old us satisfied.  That growth come through trials.  Those trials are not sent from God, but they are not deflected either.  God works through those trials, strengthening and transforming us.  We may feel as if we see the full picture but we do not.  God sees far more than we do.  He understands what is truly happening and he sees how that fits with eternity.  You may be suffering right now but there is much more to the story.  You may not understand now but you can pray to God and the Giver of all good gifts will give you the wisdom you need.

Introduction

What should the Christian life look like?  That is not an easy question to answer and every tradition has struggled with it.  I can see this in my own church background.  I grew up in a church where there were no expectations about lifestyle or behavior.  There were no sermons about what the Bible taught about morality.  Later on, I attended a church were there were strong expectations about how people lived.  There were rules for everything from music to movies to the way you dressed.  There were regular sermons calling people to live a holier life.  This is the challenge.  Should the Christian life be about having a detailed list of rules and regulations to be carefully followed?  Or should the Christian life be an anything goes kind of attitude?  Is it live the way you want as long as you have your ticket to heaven?  Different people and different churches have gone from one to the other extreme.  There are problems with both.  There is no joy in legalism.  And if there is no difference between what it means to be a Christian and being a non-Christian, why bother?  What we need to do as a church is to learn to navigate between these two extremes.  Paul’s teaching on the fruit of the Spirit is a helpful way for us to do this.

Galatians

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22–23 NIV)  There is something about this passage that draws us.  Perhaps because we look at this list and long to have these qualities.  However, Paul did not just write a beautiful verse for us to put on a nice poster or bumper sticker.  Paul wrote an entire letter and it is in the context of the entire letter that we need to understand this passage.  Paul wrote to the Galatians not just to say ‘hello‘ but because there was a serious issue going on.  The Galatians had become Christians because they had heard the Gospel of grace, they had received in faith the forgiveness that Jesus had purchased on the cross.  That was good.  But after Paul left, some other teachers came around.  They taught that faith in Jesus was okay, but in addition they needed to take on the Jewish Law, symbolized by circumcision.  Paul was livid.  For Paul, adding anything to what God had already done was a war on grace.  Paul mentions grace eight times in this letter alone to emphasize his understanding of the Gospel being about grace.  Grace plus something else is no longer grace.  It would be like me saying to my children that I love them just for who they are but that if they wanted to keep my love, they better make me a sandwich.  That’s not grace.  It is in this context that we must understand the fruit of the Spirit.

Fruit

So what are the fruit of the Spirit?  It begins with love.  God is love.  Jesus boiled down true religion to loving God and loving people.  Love is the foundation of the Christian faith.  Next comes joy.  This may surprise people.  Some people may think Christianity is all about feeling guilty about how sinful we are and collapsing in a pile of sorrow and regret.  Both the Old and New Testament place a high value on joy.  It is not joy because all things are easy and trouble-free but because we know who we are in relationship with.  Peace is not what you think it is.  Peace is not tranquility and serenity.  Biblical peace is about wholeness.  We have peace with God, not because of absence of conflict, because of the presence of a healthy and loving relationship.  Our lives should be marked by peace, not in the sense of everything quiet but by having all that we need.  It is the ability to sit down, fully aware there are problems and difficulties and yet still find a sense of peace.  As the hymn writer says “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.”  Patience is an eagerly sought virtue.  We want patience and we want it now!  Why should we want patience?  Because God has treated us with patience.  When we have done bad things, we don’t duck lightning bolts.  God is patient with us as we grow.  We need to be patient with others as God is patient with us.  At the same time, we need to be patient with ourselves.  It takes time to become who God wants us to be.  Don’t condemn yourself.  Why does Paul include kindness, when he has already included love?  Isn’t kindness second rate love?  Not at all.  Kindness is love in action.  You can look at a person and feel something toward them.  It is another thing to disrupt your own schedule and help a person in their time of need.  That is kindness.  Goodness is about the overall state of the person.  There are certain people that we look at instinctively know that they are good.  It is hard to pinpoint it to a specific word or action.  It speaks more to the overall character of the person.  Faithfulness is about our relationship with other people and with God.  People should be able to trust us, not just to specific promises but see us as trustworthy person.  We must also be faithful to God.  Not just because faithlessness is against the rules but because we love God.  Faithfulness to a spouse is based in love and so should our faithfulness to God.  Gentleness is not the same thing as weakness.  Gentleness is not about being gentle because you have no other options.  Gentleness is a choice to treat a person the right way.  Someone does something that was wrong and you have every right to blow up at them.  Yet, you decide to treat them with gentleness.  Self-control is given last, not because it is the least important but because it summarizes all that has gone before.  Our nature is to do what we want, when we want.  But we do not have to give in to every urge or impulse.  Self-control is not about being shackled to rules but rather being free to be you, the you that deep down you really want to be.  Do you notice something about each of these fruit?  They all describe the character of Jesus.  It is as if Paul was just saying be like Jesus but actually giving us more detail.

Our Role

So we have a snapshot of what the Christian life is supposed to look like.  There are only two problems.  One is, I don’t know about you but I am definitely not all the way there.  Second is we still do not know how to get there.  Should we have a card each Sunday with this list and ask you to check off where you are at and we can discipline those with low scores?  But then again, these things are called the fruit of the Spirit and are contrasted with the works of the flesh.  If this is the fruit of the Spirit, maybe I can relax on the couch, put up my feet and passively wait for the Spirit to do his work.  If I am not loving or kind or patient, well maybe the Spirit has not got there yet.  It is true that we cannot make something grow simply by our will.  I can put a seed in a jar, but all my positive thinking will not make it sprout and grow into a plant.  But that does not mean that we are totally passive.  The fruit may be that of the Spirit, but that does not mean that we are uninvolved.  Paul calls on us to partner with the Spirit in order to provide the proper soil for this fruit to grow.  “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Galatians 5:16 NIV)  “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25 NIV)  “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The 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. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:7–9 NIV)  So what does this mean?  How does one sow to the Spirit or provide fertile soil for the Spirit?  The key is our attitude.  What is our focus?  If we are completely focused on our needs, wants and desires, we are not leaving much room for the Spirit to work.  If we are stubborn and inflexible, we are making the ground pretty rocky.  But if we can put our eyes on Christ, see his example, be moved by his obedience on the cross, we are moving in the right direction.  The Spirit begins to work in us and if we resist, he will not force himself upon us.  That does not mean we have to be perfect before God will do something in us.  Nothing would ever happen.  God knows our heart and whether we are longing to change and be transformed.  Some people are so humble that the Spirit works in their life immediately and they soon become tremendously Christ-like.  The rest of us need more time, we give in here and there, slowly trusting that God really loves us.  It is not easy work but it is better than trying to develop these virtues in our own strength.

Conclusion

So what does that Christian life look like?  It is not about the old life lived as we wish but with the addition of a free ticket to heaven.  It is not a legalistic bunch of rules governing every aspect of life, robbing of us all joy and life.  The Christian life is supposed to look like the fruit of the Spirit.  These virtues are not a new law, nor are they a bunch of things that we passively wait for, if God so chooses to give them.  Our role in this process is active as we seek to provide a fertile ground for the Spirit to do his work.  We do this by providing a willing heart and an open mind.  We humble ourselves before God, submitting to his will, not in terms of rule but of heart and relationship.  The fruit of the Spirit is the measure by which we understand where we are at.  It is not a measure to condemn us but to challenge us as to how we are walking in the Spirit.  Being a Christian is living in grace, but it is a grace that transforms us into something wonderful.

Introduction

I want you to imagine that you were in some serious legal difficulty.  You hire a lawyer and you discover that he is an expert in Canadian law and he has read every law and every related court case… up to 1920.  How would you feel?  Pretty good if you were living in 1920, but living in 2012 you might want someone more up to date.  Of course there would be much in common, between pre and post 1920 law, but the details of how the law has changed with the years would be very important, especially if it was going to affect your legal standing.  What about our standing with God?  God gave a Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.  It was a covenant between God and the people.  A covenant is an ancient form of a contract and was typically used between a king and his subjects.  It outlined the responsibilities and the rights of each of the parties.  In this case, God promised to be their God, to give them a land and provide for them.  In return, the people were expected to follow the Law.  Details were given as to the good things that would happen when they were obedient and the bad things that would happen when they were disobedient.  It is helpful for us to understand this covenant that was given to Moses.  But just as with criminal or civil law, we should know if there have been any important updates.  The passage we are looking at in Jeremiah is a prophecy about a new covenant that was to appear.  We are going to look at what Jeremiah said about the new covenant and what the New Testament says about the fulfillment of the prophecy.

Jeremiah

This prophecy came to Jeremiah at a specific time.  Why?  It is helpful to understand the context.  What was happening at the time?  The people had received the old covenant centuries before, with all of its commands to be obedient to God and warnings about the consequences for disobedience.  So what had the people done?  They had a long history of continual disobedience.  I don’t mean minor mistakes in Temple offerings or in the celebration of some festival.  Their disobedience was in worshipping other gods and in acts of injustice, especially against the poor and marginalized.  God sent prophet after prophet to warn them and the disobedience only went deeper.  So instead of just more prophets, God sent an army, a Babylonian army to take the people out of the Promised Land and into exile.  Jeremiah’s job was to announce this judgment and to explain its purpose.  This left people in a state of despair.  Had God really completely forsaken them?  Was all lost?  In the midst of judgment, there was hope.  It was not just that God was going to give them a second shot at the old covenant, he was actually going to give them a new covenant.  This is what the new covenant would be like.  In some ways it would be similar to the old, in that it was a covenant between God and the people and its purpose was to keep them in right relationship.  However, the form of the new covenant would be radically different.  It would not be a minor adjustment to a few rules, a tinkering here or there.  The new covenant would be different from the old covenant that had been broken by the people.  How would it be different?  Instead of a list of rules inscribed on tablets of stone or scrolls, this law would be placed on the people’s minds and hearts.  What does that mean?  Here is what it would be like.  Imagine I give you a task and give you a 500 page manual that explains how to complete the task.  You completely mess up and instead of giving you a new and improved 1000 page manual, I decide to enter into a relationship with you.  We will complete the task together, as I share my knowledge with you in the context of a friendship.  That is what the new covenant is supposed to be, an intimate relationship between God and the people.  The other part of this new covenant is that it would involve the forgiveness of sins.  Being a people on the edge of receiving a good measure of God’s wrath, this would be of interest to the people.  The wording of the forgiveness is important.  God would remember our sins no more.  This is not forgetting, as if God came down with amnesia.  Rather it is a choice by God to not remember, in the sense of having the sins in a file somewhere but choosing not to pull them out and go over them.  This new covenant had the potential to provide great hope.  Unfortunately, it seemed a prophecy for the unknown future.  What help is that for us?

New Testament

While the coming of the new covenant was the future for Jeremiah, it is a past event for us.  The coming of the new covenant took place with the work of Jesus Christ.  In Hebrews 8, the author quotes the Jeremiah passage and identifies it with what Jesus did.  While that is nice that we can thank Jesus for the new covenant, it would be nice to have a little more information.  Thankfully, the new covenant is mentioned a few other times.  Chronologically, the first mention of the new covenant is by Jesus in the institution of the Lord’s Supper as recorded in Luke and 1 Corinthians.  Here Jesus describes the new covenant as being in his blood.  When we were looking at the new covenant from Jeremiah’s perspective with a relationship with God and forgiveness of sins, it sounded very pleasant.  Now we see that there was a tremendous cost to the new covenant.  It was much more than God issuing a memo about a new covenant.  God’s own Son had to die in order to establish this new covenant.  The author of Hebrews connects the new covenant with the death of Jesus as well.  “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15 ESV)  As Christians we use cliches such as Christianity not being a religion but a relationship, or we are not perfect but we are forgiven.  There is truth in those statements.  However we can state them as if they were something we found in a fortune cookie.  The truth is that a relationship with God comes only by the blood of Jesus.  The forgiveness of sins comes only through the blood of Jesus.  The new covenant only comes through the blood of Jesus.  That should cause us to take these truths extremely seriously.  But there is one more mention of the new covenant that needs to be looked at.  Paul says something important.  “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.  Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:3–6 ESV)  There are two things we need to see here.  First is the active involvement of the Holy Spirit.  The new covenant is not just a belief that Jesus died, it is actually the work of the Holy Spirit in our life in response to our reaching out in faith.  This is how that law gets on our mind and heart.  The new covenant is not about doing whatever we want, it is about the Spirit working in us so that we will want what God wants.  Paul then speaks of himself and his colleagues as ministers of the new covenant.  This is a vital truth.  Not only has God done something amazing in the new covenant, he calls us to be ministers of the new covenant, that is people who share the new covenant with others, expressing both the joy of relationship and forgiveness and the seriousness of the blood of Christ.  I hope you understand what it means to be a minister of the new covenant.  It is not about shoving religion down people’s throats so they will be forced to follow some arbitrary rules.  It is about being invited into a relationship with full knowledge of what was needed to make that relationship available.

Conclusion

Have you heard what’s new?  The covenant is new.  The old covenant was and is important.  It gives us an important glimpse as to the nature and character of God.  It points us to his holiness and justice and challenges us on our own human limitations.  Israel struggled for centuries with the old covenant and eventually they failed, being removed from their land and sent into exile.  In the midst of that, God spoke through Jeremiah of a new covenant.  This new covenant was about a relationship with God and about forgiveness of sins.  That new covenant was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  Not just in his birth or in his teachings but in his death.  The new covenant was birthed in blood, blood of the Son of God.  Through the death of Jesus on the cross, the way was opened for us to be in relationship with God and have our sins forgiven.  This is not just for our personal benefit, we are invited to be ministers of the new covenant, sharing this relationship with others.  The new covenant is literally good news.

Introduction

New Years is a time for people to think of new beginnings.  People think about losing weight, working out, quitting smoking, picking up a hobby and so on.  That is a good thing.  It is very good that we want to make positive changes in our life.  Unfortunately, we know too well how difficult it is to stick with a resolution.  I have no advice on how to lose weight, but the Bible gives us some guidance on how to make some lasting change in our life, on how to have a new beginning.  We will do this by looking at the story of Zacchaeus.  Zacchaeus was someone who needed a new beginning.  As a tax collector, he was hated by many people.  Tax collectors had contracts with the Romans to gather the taxes and they were paid by what they over charged people.  This put them on bad terms with many people.  Not only did they make their money by taking advantage of their own people, they were doing it to help the Roman occupiers.  But how would one get out of such a lifestyle?  The money was too good to give up easily and you were not left with too many friends to help you in the transition.  The story of Zacchaeus gives us some clues as to what real change looks like.

Desire for Jesus

Before anything else happens, we are told that Zachaeus wanted to see who Jesus was.  What was Zacchaeus looking for?  Was it as simple as having heard about Jesus, he wanted to check out the rumors and see what all the hype was about?  Perhaps.  We don’t really know the exact motivation.  What we know is that he wanted to know more about Jesus and that is a good thing.  If you want to see lasting change in your life, begin with a conscious desire to know more of Jesus before trying to make a change in your own power.  When people ask me how to make a change in their life or how to deal with a persistent sin, I always encourage people to get close to Jesus.  I am convinced that the most effective way to change is to get close to Jesus and that his presence will set off a chain reaction that will transform our life.  Zacchaeus, may have begun with insincere motives, but by choosing to seek Jesus, he chose the right path.  The moment he decided to see who Jesus really way, he was doomed, at least in terms of his old life.

Obstacles Will Come

In a perfect world, all we would have to do is want Jesus and the changes would automatically take place.  But this is far from a perfect world.  Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus.  Fine.  But he is short and cannot see over the crowds.  Being a tax collector, it probably is not a good idea to try and push his way through the crowd to get to the front.  He might find more than an elbow in his ribs.  Circumstances do not make this process easy for Zacchaeus.  This is an important realization to come to.  We too easily fall into the conclusion “I guess, it just wasn’t meant to be.”  As Christians, we may express it in more spiritual terms.  When things come easy, we see it as God opening the doors and when things are difficult, we see it as God closing the door.  We attempt to discern God’s will by how easy or difficult the circumstances are.  Where in the world did we get that from?  The Bible has very few examples of people who had things easy.  We grow when we encounter the resistance of obstacles, not when we effortlessly pass through times of comfort.  When I go to workout, it would be a lot easier if I didn’t put weights on the barbell or didn’t turn on the treadmill.  But what would the point of that be?  God’s plan for us is not that we would be comfortable but that we would grow.  So we should expect that obstacles would come our way.  An obstacle does not mean that God is trying to stop us going down this road, only that he wants us to get the most out of the experience by overcoming the obstacle.  A lack of height and a great crowd was not an excuse to quit but an excuse to climb a tree.

Make the Change

Assuming the power to change comes from Jesus, we are still expected to make a choice to change and to follow through with that decision.  There is Zacchaeus.  He wanted to see Jesus and he did see Jesus by climbing the tree.  But the story did not end there.  Jesus responded by noticing him in his perch and inviting himself to Zacchaeus’ house for supper.  What happens next is very important.  Without needing Jesus to tell him what to say, Zacchaeus volunteers to make good the abuses of the past, to dismiss the love of money that ruled his heart and to take tangible steps to demonstrate the change that has taken place on the inside.  The first step is always to be close to Jesus but it is never the last step.  At some point we have to choose to change and then actually make that change.  Change is possible, no matter how hard it feels at the time.  There was a time when I could not imagine stopping the abuse of alcohol.  But that change has taken place, both by the power of Christ and my willingness to make that change.  I have seen this in many areas of my life.  The key is not to rely solely on our own power or just on a love of Jesus.  We need to be in the presence of Christ, as Zacchaeus was, and then let that power enable us to choose to change.

Becoming Who You Are

What is the purpose of change?  It is not to become to someone you are not.  I am not going to try and change and become a professional football player.  That goes against everything I know about who I am.  Zacchaeus gives us clues to this as well.  As Zacchaeus made his changes, Jesus announces that salvation had come and then he says something significant but often overlooked.  “Because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” (Luke 19:9 NIV)  What is Jesus saying?  Jesus is saying that Zacchaeus has not become something totally unexpected, he has in fact become what he was always meant to be, a son of Abraham.  The changes have simply brought Zacchaeus to a lifestyle more in line with what God has always wanted for him.  Zacchaeus has not become someone different, he has become a better, a more godly Zacchaeus.  Who are you?  For one thing you were created in the image of God.  That is already inside you.  Godly change will help bring the outside more like the inside.  If you are a Christian, you are already in Christ, connected to him spiritually.  Godly change will help make it obvious to others and even yourself that you are a follower of Christ.  As each change takes place, you are simply becoming a better you, you are becoming the person you were always meant to be.

Conclusion

As we start a new year, we may be contemplating some change in our life.  Some of this change be shallow, some of it may be deep.  There is a place for change, and not just change for change’s sake.  Rather this is about important life change.  To learn about this, we look to a tax collector, hated by most people, named Zacchaeus.  We see four important aspects of change.  Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, needed to overcome obstacles, made decisions on what the change would look like, and finally became the person he was always meant to be.  The same principle applies to us.  Our priority must be get closer to Jesus.  We should not be surprised or discouraged when challenges come our way.  As we spend time in the presence of Jesus, we gain the power and motivation to change.  But we still have to choose to change and to follow through with that choice.  The change that takes place is not to make us someone different than what we really are, but becoming the person we were always meant to be.  That is what godly change looks like and it is what we should be seeking.

Introduction

One of the things that I find very interesting is the near universal fear of darkness, at least at some point in our life.  We do not teach children to fear darkness, they figure it out on their own.  My children will ask to have their light left on or their door left open.  We don’t do that because it is too distracting for them and causes problems for them falling asleep.  Still, I feel bad because they express to me their fear of the dark.  I can remember back to my childhood, how I wanted my door left open so that I could have just that bit of light shining in from the dining room.  There seemed to be something terrifying about absolute darkness.  The truth is that there is nothing physically different between a room fully lit and a room completely dark.  Yet instinctively, we prefer the light to the dark.  How we feel about visual darkness may be a hint of something deeper.  The concept light appears in John’s prologue.  We have been saying that the Gospel writers begin their Gospels in such a way that we are given clues as to how to interpret the rest of the book.  That is true here as well.  Let us take a look.

In the Beginning

When I say the words “In the beginning…”, what do you think?  You likely think of Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  That is not an unfortunate distraction for John as he begins his work with the words “In the beginning”, it is exactly what he is hoping for.  As he starts off the story of Jesus with the same words as Genesis, he wants us to be thinking of the story of creation.  What happened long ago in creation is happening again in a different way with Jesus.  With Jesus?  I thought it was only God who was involved in creation?  You should be asking that question and John has an answer for us.  John speaks of Jesus before the incarnation as the Word.  He then gives a very important clarification of the relationship of the Word to God.  The Word was with God and the Word was God.  First see that the Word was God.  John wants us to know up front who Jesus is.  Jesus is not just a prophet or a teacher, he is God incarnate, God made flesh.  When Jesus forgives sins, he is really able to forgive sins.  When Jesus saves, he really has the authority as God to save us. By saying that the Word was with God, John is telling us that there is some distinction within God.  This is important.  When Jesus died on the cross, there is a reason that the universe did not explode with the death of God.  Jesus was not the only way that God was active at that time.  Christians believe that God is a Trinity, that he is Father, Son and Spirit, one God in three persons.  We do not fully understand it, but it is the best explanation for the biblical data we have.  Even at the original creation, Jesus as the Word was involved: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:3 NIV)  Think of the significance of calling Jesus the Word.  How did God create in Genesis?  Did he have a factory with machines producing each item?  Genesis says that God spoke and it was.  It was through word that God created, it was through the Word that God created.  What was the first act of creation in the Genesis account?  Let there be light!  Even before the creation of the sun and moon or stars, light appears.  John takes that image and shows how Jesus brings about light in the new creation.

Light

So Jesus comes into the world to bring light.  What does that mean?  I want to take some time to reflect on what kind of light that Jesus brings.  First, John speaks of light in terms of life.  Light is necessary for life, they are closely connected.  When we read the Genesis creation, the emphasis is much more on the appearance of life than that of land formations.  Jesus too, came to create life.  That life, in a way was a new form of life but not the way we often think.  The new form of life was a human being, one that looked liked any other human, but who was adopted into God’s family.  The new creation is one born of the Spirit.  The light of Jesus in this dark world will create such a life.  Secondly, the light of Jesus brings truth.  Darkness is ignorance and light is knowledge.  The kind of light that Jesus brings is not just facts and figures but understanding of who Jesus is and what God is doing through him.  As you go through the Gospel, you find that people are gradually coming to understand more and more of who Jesus is, until at the end you have Thomas exclaim “My Lord and my God!”  The light of Jesus is not on a switch but on a dimmer.  It is not that Jesus appeared and everyone understood but rather with Jesus appearing, there was a gradual growth in understanding.  By the way, just because the light of truth increases, does not mean that people will be open to the truth.  There will always be people who will plug their ears and close their eyes to the truth that is before them.  But in Christ the truth is made available.  Thirdly, the light of Christ brings hope to a dark and hopeless world.  The world two thousand years ago was no different than the world today.  People worried about how they would live and how they would die.  There seemed to be little reason to hope.  All you could do was hold on by your finger tips and pray that death would not be too lingering or painful.  Jesus came into the world to bring hope.  This was hope for this life and the life to come.  The central message of Jesus as found in John is that of eternal life.  Eternal life is not just a belief in some sort of continued existence after death.  It is about a quality of life that exists on both sides of the grave.  Jesus taught: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NIV)  That full or abundant life gives us a reason to hope beyond the specific circumstances that we might be facing.  Finally, the light of Jesus came to bring holiness.  Salvation is by faith and not be works.  However, that does not mean that God has no interest in how we live or what we think or say.  A part of the purpose of the light is to shine in the darkness of our hearts and reveal who we really are.  One of the significant events in the Gospel of John is when a large number of followers leave Jesus because they can’t really follow him.  John in his letter writes “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” (1 John 1:5–6 NIV)  When the light of Jesus shines on us, we have two options: flee the light or allow the light to transform us and make us into the holy people we were always meant to be.

Conclusion

Christmas time is full of light.  We have lights on our trees and lights on our houses.  We light candles for Advent and enjoy candlelight services.  But light is not just a beautiful sight, it is an essential aspect of what Jesus does in our life.  Two thousand years ago with the coming of Christ, a new creation began.  Just as in Genesis God spoke and there was light.  So also, Jesus as the Word of God brought light into a dark world.  That light was life and truth and hope and holiness.  The light that was needed two thousand years ago is still needed in our life and in the life of our friends and family.  May that light shine through our lives as we live in the light of Christ.

Introduction

Growing up, I did not realize how easy my parents had it at Christmas.  Since I was an only child, not only was it cheaper to buy presents for only one child, it was also lacking in dangers of jealousy or competition.  As a father of five children, I have to take all of this into account.  Not only do I have to divide my Christmas budget by five, I have to anticipate how they will react to each other’s presents.  What I want to hear is “Oh mom and dad, thanks so much for all that you have given, it brings such joy!”  What I dread and will likely hear is “That’s not fair, how come they get that and I only get this!”  It’s not fair.  That should not be a part of Christmas.  And yet a reading of the Christmas story in Luke sometimes brings up questions of fairness.  The short story is that Luke begins his Gospel with angelic announcements of the supernatural conception of two babies: John and Jesus.  Gabriel brings this news to Zechariah and then brings this news to Mary.  The parallels demand that we read these two stories together.  The problem is that both Zechariah and Mary seem to question Gabriel on this and yet Zechariah seems to be punished and Mary seems to be praised.  That’s not fair.  Since they were related, you could almost imagine Zechariah complaining at family gatherings about how unfair it was that Mary was treated the way she was and he was treated the way he was.  We have been saying that the Gospels begin a certain way for a reason.  I believe that this is true of Luke as well.  The question is: Was Luke’s purpose to remind us that God is sometimes just not fair or is there something else going on?

Zechariah and Mary

While at first glance it looks like Zechariah and Mary are in the same situation and are responding in the same way, there are actually some significant differences.  Let us look at the situation more closely.  First of all Zechariah and Mary did not have the same background.  Zechariah was an old man and was a priest who served in the Temple.  His many years, it should be assumed, would bring wisdom.  As a priest, he should have a good idea of what God does and the traditions of Israel.  Mary was a thirteen year old girl.  She would have had almost no education and no experience.  It could be questioned as to whether Gabriel should have treated them the same.  Zechariah should have known better, Mary deserved a bit more patience.  Secondly, let us look at the content of the message.  Zechariah is told that his wife, who is both barren and old, will become pregnant.  Of course that is unusual.  But how unusual?  There is a strong biblical tradition of this in the Old Testament.  Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, the unnamed mother of Samson, and Hannah who was the mother of Samuel, were all barren and required divine intervention to become pregnant.  Zechariah, as a priest, would have known this story and would have known that God does this sort of thing.  What about Mary?  Here we have a young girl who is engaged but not yet married being told she was going to have a baby.  Oh and by the way, this child was also going to be the Son of God.  How many examples of this do we have?  We have Mary and … well, just Mary.    While from our perspective both announcements seem unlikely, from a biblical point of view, it was much more likely that Zechariah was going to be a father than for Mary to become a mother in the way Gabriel was announcing.  Thirdly, Zechariah asked for a sign.  While losing the ability to speak was a manner of correction, it was also what Zechariah was asking for, and that was an immediate sign that this would indeed take place.  Mary does not ask for a sign, but she gets one anyway and that is she becomes pregnant.  And speaking as a male, I can say for myself that I would prefer a temporary loss of speech to having to give birth.  But that might be just me.  Finally, and most importantly, notice what Zechariah and Mary say.  They do not question in the same way.  Zechariah asks “How can I know this will happen?” while Mary asks “How will this be?”  Those are two different questions.  Let’s start with Mary.  Should Mary have already understood how this was going to take place?  Was it obvious?  We are familiar with the virgin birth but there was no Jewish tradition of a virgin birth for her to fall back on.  There is the prophecy of Isaiah but it was not obvious in the original context that it was talking about a virgin born Son of God.  It is a prophecy that we recognize after the events took place.  Mary could be asking two things here.  She might be literally asking how this was going to take place.  What was she supposed to do?  Was the angel suggesting that Mary go through with her marriage to Joseph and that one of their biological children would be adopted as the Son of God?  Or was something even stranger going to happen?  If you look, before Mary asks the question Gabriel has said nothing about a virgin birth.  It was a fair question.  But there is another way to understand this question.  It is an expression of awe.  Wow God, how could you do something so amazing?  That is not an expression of doubt, that is an expression of wonder.  Think about that word ‘wonder.‘  I wonder how something can happen.  Is that bad?  What is something that is full of wonder?  It is wonderful.  Mary wonders about the actions of a wonderful God, she is in awe of the awesome God.  Does Zechariah have that same sense of wonder and awe at the thought of finally becoming a father?  “How shall I know this?”  Zechariah is requesting some sort of confirmation to relieve him of his skepticism.  Zechariah is not thinking “Wow, God is so amazing!”  Zechariah is thinking “Have you seen my wife, I can’t believe that is going to happen unless you give me a really good reason.”  What Zechariah is showing here is a lack of trust, a lack of faith.  Zechariah can believe he is speaking with the angel Gabriel but he cannot believe that his wife will become pregnant.  Zechariah does not see God as wonderful or awesome but as unlikely to be actively involved in his life.  Zechariah was wrong.  His wife Elizabeth gave birth to John and Zechariah received his voice back.

You and I

So Zechariah made a bad choice.  He should have known better.  God had performed a number of similar miracles in the past and could do so again.  Compared to Mary, who was much younger and less experienced and was facing something much greater, Zechariah does not come off very well.  But what does that mean to us?  There are a couple of applications.  First, we might be tempted to interpret this as teaching to never ask questions.  That does not seem to be the case.  There are many examples throughout the Bible where people, facing incredible circumstances, asked the hard questions.  God does not ask us to abandon our minds.  When something unusual or supernatural comes our way, we should not pass it off as if it was an every day event.  Ask the hard questions but do it in the appropriate way.  Zechariah asks “How shall I know?”  The truth is that everything in life is about a mixture of fact and faith.  I truly believe that my wife loves me.  I have evidence of this based on what she says and does.  But how do I know that Amanda loves me?  I have never submitted her to a lie-detector or taken her to a mind reader or had the phone tapped to record her conversations with friends.  I suppose I could bring the relationship to a halt and insist that I don’t know she loves me in the sense of knowing every detail of what goes on in her mind.  However, I take the evidence as far as it goes and finish the way with trust and faith.  This is not blind faith, it is the balanced way that is the only way to live out our life.  We cannot know everything and we should not act out of complete ignorance.  This is the philosophy followed by Luke throughout his Gospel.  Luke writes his Gospel in the style of ancient history, using the methods of his contemporaries.  He presents the facts and details needed to get people started in the process of following Jesus.  Luke gives us reasons to believe.  But Luke also knows that we need more than facts.  At some point we have to acknowledge that we don’t know everything and we are never going to know everything.  But we have to do something and so we act on what we know, trusting in God, believing that he knows what we don’t know.  The rest of Luke’s Gospel describes people who, to a lesser degree, take the same steps as Mary.  Luke in turn challenges us to make the same choice.

Conclusion

Zechariah and Mary.  Two people who encounter God and are faced with something amazing.  On a surface level Zechariah and Mary have much in common.  On a deeper level, they are worlds apart.  Zechariah, despite age, experience and biblical training, has trouble believing that God could do for him what he has done for a number of others before.  Mary, despite a young age, lack of experience and no education, is able to with a sense of wonder and awe accept something that God had never done before and would never do again.  Where are we in this mix?  God has some amazing things for us as individuals and as a church.  We can look at this, knowing our weaknesses and the immensity of the challenge, and say with Mary, “How can this be?”  But may we never respond with the skepticism of Zechariah, “How shall I know?”  Reflect on what you know, try to understand what is possible and then make the leap of faith, trusting that God will accomplish his will.