Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

This sermon was preached on 28/4/2011 Paul has been describing the priorities of the new man, that is, the new humanity or the people of God redeemed by Jesus Christ. They should be identified by their spiritual attire of love (vv. 12-14), by their experience of peace as they submit to the rule of Jesus (v. 15), and by an ongoing focus on the word of Christ (v. 16). We have already considered the attire and the experience of peace, and we will now think about the apostle’s instructions about the church as a word-centred community. The initial comment that I would make is that the order of Paul’s instructions is important. It is not possible to be a word-centred people if we are not marked by the spiritual qualities specified for us to wear, such as compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other – all of which are expressed through love. The existence of such attitudes enables the believers to experience peace as the...

This sermon was preached on 24/4/2011 The Jews were proud of their temple. At the time that Jesus spoke, it had been in construction for about fifty years. Josephus records that some of its stones were over thirty-five feet long, twelve feet high and eighteen feet wide. Its white walls, combined with gold coverings, would cause the complex to shine in the sun. The courtyard was three times bigger than the average soccer pitch and could hold thousands of worshippers. Of course, it was not only its size that gave the Jews great confidence in the temple. In addition, it was the location where the true God met with his people. They believed that it would stand throughout the reign of the Messiah. Therefore when Jesus predicted that the temple would be knocked down, his words caused great surprise. In this incident, we see once again the importance of asking questions of Jesus. While we cannot speak to him in the manner that Peter and his three friends (his brother Andrews and their...

This sermon was preached on 10/4/2011 Peter has so far focussed on how the Christian exiles were enduring the difficulties they were facing because of the opposition that was causing trouble for them. Despite their problems they possessed great joy as they anticipated receiving final salvation – a salvation that had been the focus of the message of the Old Testament prophets – when the time of their exile would be over. Peter was aware that the current attitude of his readers could change, that their priorities could shift, the longer they lived away from their homeland. Therefore he proceeds to explain to them how they should continue in the Christian life. We can see from verse 13 that the key to success for Peter lies in getting his readers to think in certain ways. In particular, he highlights three crucial areas which should dominate their thinking. First, they should think about what they are going to receive when Jesus returns (v. 13); second, they should think about the requi...

This sermon was preached on 10/4/11 The failure of the rich man to give up his possessions in order to follow Jesus led to a discussion of how difficult it was for a wealthy person to become one of his disciples. From Peter’s question to Jesus regarding compensation for following him, we can deduce that the disciples were puzzled as to why Jesus should have made things so difficult for the rich ruler. Most groups in society would have been delighted to have such a benefactor! Yet it is clear that Jesus observed that the young ruler was in love with his riches and did not fully understand the mission of Jesus and his message about eternal life. In order to expose his wrong attitude, Jesus asked the ruler to follow him in a literal sense just as Peter and the others of the twelve had done and given up all their possessions. (Jesus did not then and does not now ask every wealthy believer to make this type of sacrifice.) The discussion eventually led to what recompense would be given to t...

This sermon was preached on 7/4/2011 Paul continues his description of the new man, the new community that lives in union with Jesus. We have already observed that the members of the new community are to dress differently from those outside of it – of course, the attire Paul describes is the attire of their souls. The apostle is fully aware that although his readers belong to the new man they still have aspects of the old godless community within them, and that these aspects will always cause trouble individually and communally. He has already stressed that love is the public practice of the new community (they had to put love on as the outer garment which everyone could see, and which would keep them close together, v. 14). This raises the concern that their remaining corruption will hinder the practice of love. This raises another consequence, which is, what is the best environment for ensuring that love is present? I would suggest that Paul answers this question in what he says i...

This sermon was preached on 3/4/2011 One of the hardest things to do in life is forgive a person who has sinned against us. As C.S. Lewis said, ‘Everyone says that forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.’ Why did Peter ask this question about forgiveness? In the preceding verses, Matthew records the teaching of Jesus about what one believer should do when another believers sins against him. Peter would have realised that Jesus’ teaching was revolutionary. Apparently it was generally accepted in Jewish practice that one could forgive another person three times. Peter had been ready to double that number, and even add another forgiving experience to the total. We can see him drawing near to Jesus, pleased that he has made some progress in spiritual understanding. Yet his words betray an obvious problem regarding forgiveness: a person does not count the number of times he truly forgives. Forgiveness is an aspect of love, and as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, ‘L...