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We Believe in the Returning Judge   Romans 2v1-6 & Matthew 25v31-46

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Two stories in the news this week seem to have touched deeply our instinct and impulse for justice. On the one hand, we have been shocked by the details emerging of the police raid on a family home in Forest Gate, London  – a raid in which a man was shot, a family traumatised and a community shaken - a raid based it now seems on totally false and misleading intelligence about potential terrorist actively. Instinctively, as the facts emerge and are verified, we feel that this family and community have been dealt with unjustly. On the other hand we have witnessed the outcry caused because of the leniency shown by some elements of the judiciary towards those convicted of assaulting and sexually abusing babies and children in the most terrible and cruel ways imaginable. Instinctively we feel that the perpetrators of these gross acts have not received punishment in proportion to the crimes they have committed.
 
In most people the instinct and impulse for justice is deeply ingrained. We feel deep within when something is wrong. As Christians we would affirm that this instinct, this impulse, is part of our createdness in the image of God – a God who is both just and righteous - and it leads most human beings on most occasions to seek for the sort of justice that puts to right that which is wrong, and punishes appropriately those who are found to be guilty.

This morning in our series on the Nicene Creed we are going to think about justice and judgement from a very particular perspective: the justice of God and how that justice will be realised fully at the time of Jesus’ return. It is a profoundly important subject. It is important not least because God’s justice and judgement will be brought to bear upon every woman, man and child that has ever lived. No one will escape this judgement. It is universal, and the standards against which God’s judgement will be made are revealed in Scripture. Therefore, today we are going to think about something that impacts directly upon ourselves, and upon people we know and love: our families, friends and colleagues. And it is important because when we talk about the justice of God we are considering something that has an eternal perspective. God’s justice has to do with eternal life and eternal death. What we are looking at today is therefore of eternal significance for all human beings, and causes us to come trembling before the Word of God.

This morning I intend to address this profoundly important subject from two discreet perspectives.  I want firstly to talk from scripture about what determines ultimately whether God pronounces a human being innocent or guilty: we will look at the basis upon which God makes His judgement, and we will look at the centrality of Jesus in the outworking of God’s justice. This will call forth a response from some of us today and will form by far the longest portion of the sermon. Secondly, I want to emphasise the certainty of Jesus’ return, for scripture makes it clear that it is at the time of Christ’s return that God’s judgement will finally and fully be realised.

So, first of all: what determines whether or not we will be pronounced innocent on the Day of Christ’s return? By what standard and what means will God make his judgement?

The fundamental thing that needs to be grasped when considering the justice of God is that our Holy and Righteous God abhors and condemns utterly all that is evil, sinful and unholy. The reason this is so is simply because nothing evil, sinful or unholy can exist in the presence of such a Holy God, not even for a moment. It offends His character and corrupts His purposes.

For such a God, therefore, any human sin is a serious business – whether individual sin, or the sin of institutions, nations and peoples. It cannot be simply ignored or excused. It has to be dealt with. And since the time of Adam and Eve all of us have sinned and fallen short of his glory – by which the bible means that we have failed to keep absolutely each and every one of His laws and commandments. Therefore all of us justly deserve his condemnation. No one stands outside God’s condemnation. This is something that many folk make a grave mistake about. Thinking that they are ‘good’ enough for God to count them as innocent, within accepting that even the most moral and upright human beings – which few of us honestly are – still fall short of God’s standards.

The way that such a Holy God deals with sin is by the outpouring of His wrath in judgement. Mistakenly some churches have erased from their preaching and teaching any notion of God’s wrath. I pray that they turn again from this dreadful error, one that weakens the Gospel offer of salvation and neuters any notion of God’s mercy, grace and love. For scripture is clear and unambiguous. God’s wrath is directed against all that detracts from or diminishes God’s creative purpose: that of calling human beings into relationship with Him, fully alive in the image and presence of God, with all that this means. For example we find the Psalmist saying (Psalm 7 v 11) and the writer to the Hebrews declaring, based on Deut 4 v24, Hebs 12 v28-29.

Of course, God’s wrath is not the same as human anger. Human anger is often motivated by passion, loss of temper or desire for revenge. Road rage or when a parent loses control out of frustration with a child - God’s wrath is nothing like this: driven by passion or a desire for revenge. God’s wrath is motivated purely by justice and righteousness, not by emotion. When we speak of God’s wrath, we must be careful not to confuse it with our experience of anger, for the two are by no means the same. God’s wrath is the experience and expression of God’s righteousness and judgement being worked out in human affairs, where sin and evil corrode and corrupt.

And because God’s wrath is directed at sin and evil, it is a remedy not revenge. It destroys only what corrupts and corrodes, not what is beautiful or righteous or good. God’s remedy for sin is rather like a surgeons remedy against disease. It must be cut out, burnt away, discarded, so that the whole body can continue without the malignancy that is corrupting it.
God’s wrath is therefore a remedy against sin and its effects – it has to do with healing - not simply revenge. GR and tumour from hand last year: getting bigger and very painful. Cut away – and my hand functions properly once more.

It is in this sense of remedy that we see God’s wrath being outworked the OT, where God orders the destruction of communities and peoples which do not conform to His standards of purity and holiness. It is in this sense, too, that we are to understand his judgement against Israel, who are exiled and punished for their lack of faith and faithfulness. Our Holy and Righteous God condemns utterly all that is unholy and out of accord with His purposes. This is sovereign remedy and renewing, not revenge.

And God warns through His word that this is so, so that no one can be in ignorance of the standards against which his judgement will be shown and his wrath outworked. One example from the OT will suffice: Jeremiah 5 v 7-9 (words to a people who knew what God looked for in them, and had promised to them, and yet who have chosen to abandon God’s ways). And to those who think that God will not act in judgement, turning a blind eye to them and their deeds, as if they will be excused what will come upon everyone else, God says this: Jeremiah 5 v 12-13. God’s wrath against sin is certain. His judgement is pronounced.

The Good News of the Gospel is that because God takes sin so seriously, and because his righteousness demands not simply revenge but remedy and renewal, He sends Jesus to us to save us from the wrath that is to come: the wrath that is the wages of sin, wages that issue in eternal death. Make no mistake. God takes no pleasure in pouring out his wrath against human sin and sinfulness. He created us in love, so why should he delight in destroying us in wrath? But because it is in the character of our Holy God to destroy all that is not holy, so that it does not spoil further what He has made, and because he loves utterly those He has created specifically to live in community and communion with Him, He has provided a gracious means for sinful human beings to come into His presence without the stain and stench of sin still clinging to their frame, a stain and stench that would destroy them in a moment.

That means is His Son, Jesus Christ– the one who is both human and divine, as we thought about a few weeks ago. Jesus is the One who can effect uniquely reconciliation between sinful human beings and God, holding together in Himself fallen humanity and Holy divinity. (Do the bridge – from Tuesday evening). No longer does a priest sacrifice a victim to placate the wrath of God – as in the OT. Instead God literally becomes both priest and victim, in the person of Jesus Christ.

You see, one of the many aspects of the salvation that Jesus won for us is that on the cross the full outpouring of God’s wrath against sin takes place. It is directed towards Jesus on the cross, so that Jesus himself becomes the object of God’s wrath and judgement. Therefore, Jesus not only shows the love of God by going to the cross, He also willingly absorbs the wrath of God. The result of this is that on the day of judgement those who are saved in Jesus – incorporated into Jesus - are shielded from the final outpouring of God’s wrath, as creation is finally and fully remedied and renewed, with the establishing of a New Jerusalem and the coming together of heaven and earth.

It is because Jesus becomes the object of God’s wrath that we can be pronounced innocent in Jesus and saved from the wrath to come. For the punishment that should be ours because of our sin – and we know instinctively don’t we that we do not conform to the standards of God – has been meted out justly and properly by a Holy God who has to deal with sin. By Christ taking our punishment, God’s wrath has been satisfied and His loving forgiveness made possible.

Paul puts it this way in Romans 5 v 6-11. Salvation from wrath and for righteousness.

Our part in all of this is simply to accept and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour by turning to him in honest admission of our sin and in asking for His forgiveness. Once we do this, then we are incorporated into the very Body of Christ, so that on the Day of His return we are not just with the Lord but are a part of his very self. Therefore, the wrath that will accompany His return will not consume us. For we will justified – just as if I’d never sinned.

And in a moment I’m going to ask some of us here this morning if we want to turn to Jesus for saving grace today. For now is the time of salvation. But before I do this, I want to point out the alternative. You see scripture is clear that unless we turn to Jesus with a repentant heart, then our sin is not dealt with and the terrible wrath that is to come against sin because of the Holiness of God will be directed against us on the day of judgement and renewing – for we will be standing apart from Jesus on that Day and not with Him. Read Romans 2 v 5: follow this will Romans 2 v 16. We will be without excuse. For God has warned us of the consequences of sin and sent a remedy for it.

We therefore have a choice. To turn to Jesus in saving faith. Or to not turn to Jesus. Each has an eternal consequence and affects directly the outcome of our judgement by God – innocent in Jesus or guilty apart from him. This is the ultimate standard against which god will make His judgement. It is one of the works of the Holy Spirit to convict us of our need of Jesus, and of the freedom and forgiveness that is to be found in Him. Some of you will know this morning that stirring of the Holy Spirit within you even now – convicting you of sin and of your need to come to God today through Jesus is repentance.

Others of who have previously turned in faith to Jesus will know of outstanding sin and sinfulness, what is unrepented of and which is affecting our walk with him. To you I make an appeal – do not let your salvation be affected by your persistence in sin. Make your salvation secure by leaving behind consciously that which is dragging you away from Jesus. Jesus has come to bring life, life in all its fulness. You know that to be true. You have tasted it. Choose that life once again. Today. Even if there is something you will have to put to death to receive that life – and you know what that is.

Like to tell you a story Ronnie. And when all of this made sense for him. Ronnie was someone I got to know when we were in Cambridge. He and his wife Maureen worshipped with us for a while in Bar Hill. Ronnie was originally from Newmarket and was involved in racing. He made a great deal of money through racing, much of it illegal through betting scams and fixes. Eventually the police caught up with him he fled to Spain, taking his riches with him. It was while he was in Spain that Christ found him, and he turned in repentant faith to Jesus. His wife Maureen was converted also. And as a result of their conversion Ronnie and Maureen came back to England to face up to his crimes and to pay the penalty for his wrongdoing. It was whilst they were in rented accommodation in Cambridge as they awaited the trial that Ronnie and Maureen came to worship in Bar Hill.

Ronnie pleaded guilty and was imprisoned. Maureen was also put on trial, but acquitted. Ronnie wrote to me from prison and on release gave testimony to the church. I have here a letter from him. In it Ronnie speaks of the huge difference between paying for his crimes and the forgiveness he had found in Jesus. I want to read part of it to you this. Between being properly condemned by the courts and at the same time pronounced innocent in Jesus.

Ronnie had discovered whose judgement really matters. He knew that he had been pronounced innocent in Jesus by turning in repentant faith. Nothing else mattered. I urge you to have the same wisdom and to do likewise.

And the reason I say this, and this is the second and final point I want to make this morning, is that there is a Gospel urgency about your decision. You see, we do not know the timing of our Lord’s return and the coming of the cleansing and renewing wrath that will accompany it. But Scripture says it is certain: of the return of Jesus there is no doubt eg Matthew 25 v 31, where we read also that it is in and through Jesus that God’s judgement is pronounced, and Romans 2 v16. The outworking of our innocence or guilt will take place in the ordinary choices we make about Jesus as we live and breathe- John Ch 16 v 8 - 11. The judgement will be pronounced at the time of the coming of Jesus, when all who are not in the Lamb’s book of life will be condemned. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. Joel 2 v11ff and Hebrews 10 v31

For some of us, therefore, today is the most important day of our lives. For today you can make a choice. To turn in faith to Jesus, and to be saved from the wrath to come, or to walk away from his offer of forgiveness and salvation. And in a moment I will ask you if you want to do this and give you a simple way of responding.

For others of us, today is the day when we will are being challenged afresh about the urgency of our calling in the world to be agents of the mission of God in the light of Christ’s return as judge. To be the part of the Body that we are set aside to be.

So going to ask you to respond. Bow heads and hold hands up if want to turn to Jesus. Give book? Invite to basics? And then do the same for those of us who want to recommit to the missionary task. Pray for grace and mercy for you all. Finish with Romans 5 vs 6-11.
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We Believe in the Son of God   1 John v 1-4  &  Luke 2 v 66-71

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This weekend the film of the book ‘The Da Vinci Code’ hit British cinema screens. I have not seen it, and do not intend to see it, so I cannot comment on the film, though I understand it has received generally poor reviews. Nor have I read the book, and do not intend to read it, though I love thriller novels as a genre. It that sense, too, I cannot comment on the style or structure of the novel, or the ability of the author as a writer – and do not intend so to do this morning.

 But what I can comment on, and do intend to comment on, are the theories – historical, ecclesiological and theological – that underpin ‘The Da Vinci Code’ – theories which it is not necessary to read the book to comment upon, as they are in the public dopmain in many different forums. The reason I want to comment on ‘The Da Vinci Code’ in this regard today is twofold.

 Firstly, because at the heart of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ is the claim by Dan Brown that the Nicene Creed contains falsehoods perpetrated by the Church for its own reasons and purposes, and not universal Christian truths based upon historic facts. Not for some centuries has the veracity of the Nicene Creed been such hot, contemporary, cutting edge gossip. And of course, in our morning sermon series, we are looking at the Nicene Creed, working through some of its statements that we might both understand and explain our faith more fully. It is of no surprise that a creed of such foundational important for the whole of Christianity should be at the centre a book that seeks to undermine historical Christianity.

 And the second reason I want to comment on the history, ecclesiology and theology undergirding
‘The Da Vinci Code’ is precisely because the focus of the book and the film has to do with controversies regarding the humanity and divinity of Jesus – controversies which originally gave rise to the Nicene Creed itself. Indeed, the relationship between the humanity and divinity of Jesus is focus of the statement from the creed we are looking at today – ‘We believe in the Son of God’. Lest we are ever tempted to think that such concerns do not interest most of the population – that great lie of the devil in our age - remember this book has been read by tens of millions of people in the UK, and many more tens of millions across the planet. In one sense, therefore, what we are looking at in our sermon series today speaks right into the heart of one of the most contemporary debates raging across our planet – who is Jesus? And why is it so important to find out the truth about Him? We Christians need to give account in the face of such debate, and speak confidently of the two natures of Jesus Christ. To that end, this sermon is being posted on the church website, so please feel free to down load it – or – if you haven’t got access to a pc – please ask for a paper copy.

So let’s begin with the Council of Nicea, a meeting of church leaders and bishops that took place in 325AD. Something I spoke of in detail a couple of weeks ago when I introduced this series. Dan Brown claims "almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false." Why? Because at Nicea, Brown argues, church leaders who wanted to consolidate their power base (he calls these leaders, anachronistically, "the Vatican," or "the Roman Catholic church" – though these did not exist at the time) created a divine Christ and an infallible Scripture to support their claim —both novelties he says that had never before existed among Christians.

Brown is right about one thing (and not much more). In the course of Christian history, few events loom larger than the Council of Nicea in 325. When the newly converted Roman Emperor Constantine called bishops from around the world to present-day Turkey, the church had reached a theological crossroads.

You will remember that I said that the Nicene Creed came about because of two tectonic shifts in the life of the church. First of all, Christianity became the state religion of Rome under Emperor Constantine following his conversion. It relocated its centre of gravity from Jerusalem to Rome, it became much less organic and plural, and much more hierarchical and single – and consequently sought a unity of practice and belief. Secondly, a huge controversy was raging over the two natures of Jesus – his divinity and his humanity, especially how he could be both human and divine at one and the same time. The debate was being led by two men called Arius and Athanasius. There had been many such controversies and debates before – how could Jesus, the divine God, die? Was he really incarnate, or just a vision? But the controversy between these two men – in this new context of a unifying state church that wanted to define belief and practice across the Church at large - brought things to a head.

In essence, Arius said that Jesus could not have co-existed eternally with God, but that, being also human, he must have been created by God the Father as an instrument of salvation. Thus Jesus was not divine in the way God the Father was divine. He based his arguments on texts such as John 14:28: "the Father is greater than I." Arius argued that Jesus of Nazareth could not possibly share God the Father's unique divinity. Athanasius, on the other hand, declared that Jesus was eternally co-existent, and that he was incarnate not created, and thus his divinity was equal to that of God.

So in this new unified church, the great state church, one in which a single set of beliefs and practices were being defined, a great council was held at Nicea in modern Turkey in 325 AD to resolve the relationship between the humanity and divinity of Jesus, along with some other issues – notably the person and work of the Holy Spirit, and his relationship with the Father and the Son. What came out of that council was, amongst other things, the creed we have today, the Nicene Creed. The Council came down on the side of Athanasius and what we would today see as orthodox Christian belief. The Creed set the boundaries of belief, it defined orthodox Christianity. It still does. The whole way in which it was written sets out to affirm both the humanity and the divinity of Jesus (Examine.).

In The Da Vinci Code, however, Brown adopts Arius as his representative for all pre-Nicene Christianity, as if up until Nicea everyone had only ever believed Jesus to be a man –something that no right minded and serious historian would ever claim - and that at Nicea a huge state run plot to give Jesus divine status took place – with even scriptures being written and fabricated to support these claims. And that the reason for the plot was to secure the political and religious power base of the Roman Emperor – something the Roman Catholic Church has sought to maintain since. Referring to the Council of Nicea, Brown claims that "until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet … a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless." What poppycock.

In reality, early Christians overwhelmingly worshipped Jesus Christ as their risen Saviour and Lord. We find proof for this not just in Scripture, but also from the writings of other early Christian leaders. To take one example, a prominent second-century bishop Irenaeus wrote the following, basing his words on 1 Corinthians 8:6: "Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ." Lord being a divine title, the name of God – kurios. Further, the canon or body of scripture was settled long before Nicea, long before Christianity became the formal state religion of the Empire. Again, the adopting of the canon was a process that took, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, some years to resolve – with books such as Hebrews and Revelation finding their way last of all into the canon. To suggest that those gathered at Nicea wrote a New Testament to support the claim that Jesus was divine, something that no one had believed hitherto before – is simply preposterous nonsense.

Brown could not be more wrong in his views. There has never been a time when the Church did not worship Jesus Christ as both human and divine, nor have scriptural and textual evidence based on eye witness accounts that declare that this is so. Look at John 1 and 1 John 1. (READ) Both natures are held together in perfect symmetry – the divinity and humanity of Jesus. To suggest that Nicea was a political conspiracy and that before this everyone believed Jesus to be a man is nonsense – but dangerous nonsense nonetheless, untrue nonsense. Especially if this book is being read by millions of people who do not have a grounding in the Christian faith – the Christian  faith as defined and articulated in the creeds.

Such is Brown’s view of Nicea. Such is the fundamental proposition of his book – allegedly the story of one of the greatest conspiracies ever mounted – a book that claims to have some grounding in fact. It falls at the first hurdle.

 To move on to the claims about the human and divine natures of Jesus. Although a work of fiction, the book claims to be meticulously researched, and it goes to great lengths to convey the impression that it is based on fact. My research (including looking on Friday morning at the official websites of the Catholic Church, the Church of England and Christianity Today for their comments on the book) state it even has a "fact" page at the front of the book underscoring the claim of factuality for particular ideas within the book. As a result, many readers are taking the book's ideas seriously.

The problem is that many of the ideas that the book promotes are anything but fact, and they go directly to the heart of the Christian faith. For example, the book promotes these ideas:

  • Jesus is not God; he was only a man.
  • Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.
  • She is to be worshipped as a goddess.
  • Jesus got her pregnant, and the two had a daughter.
  • That daughter gave rise to a prominent family line that is still present in Europe today.
  • The Bible was put together by a pagan Roman emperor.
  • Jesus was viewed as a man and not as God until the fourth century, when he was deified by the emperor Constantine.
  • The Gospels have been edited to support the claims of later Christians.
  • In the original Gospels, Mary Magdalene rather than Peter was directed to establish the Church.
  • There is a secret society known as the Priory of Sion that still worships Mary Magdalene as a goddess and is trying to keep the truth alive.
  • The Catholic Church is aware of all this and has been fighting for centuries to keep it suppressed. It often has committed murder to do so.
  • The Catholic Church is willing to and often has assassinated the descendents of Christ to keep his bloodline from growing.

Where Leonardo Da Vinci comes into the story is that he is portrayed as a former head of the conspiracy guarding this "truth" about Jesus Christ. In the novel he is said to have planted various codes and secret symbols in his work, particularly in his painting of the Last Supper. According to the novel, this painting depicts Jesus' alleged wife, Mary Magdalene, next to him as a symbol of her prominence in his true teaching. (Though in reality, the figure that Dan Brown identifies as Mary Magdalene is John the Evangelist, who traditionally has been regarded as the youngest of the apostles and so is often pictured in medieval art without a bear – defining his youth.) The ‘truth’ that needs exposing is that Jesus is merely human – not divine – that the whole of the Christian faith is a political sham, one kept going for 1700 years or so and sustained by murder and intrigue – and that the bloodline of Jesus is being protected in Europe by a secret society entrusted with the task.

 In contrast to this supposed theory, the heart of the historic Christian faith is as follows:

Jesus Christ is the incarnate - or enfleshed - Son of God, born of Mary the Virgin, who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and thus conceived both miraculously and immaculately

Because of his birth of a woman, and yet his divine conception, Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine

Because of his two natures we see both the humanity and the divinity of Jesus expressed in the Gospels – he is tired, thirsty and hungry, he sleeps in a boat and weeps at the death of his friend and he is able miraculously to control nature, heal the sick and overcome all the manifestations of evil he encounters on the way to Jerusalem

It is as fully human and fully divine that Jesus dies on the cross and rises from the dead, and that witnesses attest to these things – a claim that is fundamental to both our salvation and our hope of resurrection

It is in heaven that Jesus, now reigning with the Father until the day of His return, still bears the scars of His death and our redemption

Christians, empowered and emboldened by the Spirit, have since proclaimed the Lordship of Jesus and the need to turn in repentant faith to Him, so that human beings may be saved from the wrath to come on the Day of God’s Judgement against sin. They have never kept secrets or kept silent.

So powerfully are Christians compelled to preach such things that they have prepared to sacrifice all for the sake of Jesus, and many still do. Few people would give all for what they know to be a lie.

Fundamental to the heart of the Christian faith is the claim that Jesus is both human and divine, that Jesus, son of Mary, is also the incarnate Son of God. So central is it, that were it not true, our hope would be utterly in vain and we are more to be pitied than all others, caught up in a delusional fantasy.

 I want this morning to declare without ambiguity that this claim is true, and I want you to have the confidence to declare it as true also – at work, school, college, and home. I want to do so in three ways: some words of Jesus, the experience of Christians, and a simple illustration.

Firstly, some words of Jesus – describe the scene in Lk 22. Jesus confesses to being the Son of God. Kept under wraps – apart from the disciples and one or two others until now – for now it is the time of redemption and decision. It is on the basis of this alleged ‘blasphemy’ that Jesus is put to death, though the crime is finessed for the Roman authorities so that Jesus is killed as a rival King to Caesar. Reason these words are so important is that Christians have always claimed a unique authority for scripture – the divinely inspired word and testimony of God. And if they have claimed a unique authority for scripture, so they have given a particular authority to the words of Jesus Himself – often printed in red in Bibles.  Therefore, if the Bible has a unique authority, and the words of Jesus Himself a particular authority within the canon of Scripture, then we have a startling choice before this claim of Jesus – to believe that He is the divine and unique Son of God, whilst born of Mary – or not. We cannot sit in judgement over these words, or suggest alternative theories – rather the obverse is true: these words judge us just as much as the Sanhedrin Jesus stood before.

 Secondly, the experience of Christians. Christians have since the time of the resurrection claimed to have encountered personally the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether it be Mary in the Garden, the disciples in the Upper Room, or Paul on the Damascus Road, or me in St Barnabbas’ church in 1977 or you when Jesus met with you – Christians have claimed to have met with Jesus and turned in repentant faith to Him. Now, either we are corporately deceived and deceiving – or we have truly met Jesus because He is alive. And if He is alive then He is uniquely so in heaven – where He now reigns with God the Father. And that can only be so if His origin is divine and not just human.

 Finally, the illustration. In Durham there is a bridge over the River Weir which is a feat of engineering genius. Spans a large gap, and built into two very steep banks. The bridge was built in two halves, each half looking like an upside down capital ‘L’: one half on one bank and one half on the other, with the river flowing between. When both halves were ready, the platform sections of the bridge were swung together and the engineering equivalent of a knot was tied in the middle to hold them permanently together. These two sides can never be taken apart, except that the knot be untied.

 I have walked over that bridge many, many times, and each time I marvelled at something quite spectacular - how a bridge built in two halves, separate though mirroring each other, with feet on either side of a fast flowing river, could join so precisely and so exactly in the middle. One piece could have been too short or two long, or too high or too low: and then it would never have fitted. But with precision and skill the engineers built a bridge that did meet in the middle, and therefore do that for which it was intended - take people across.

 The hope of the Gospel is that a bridge been built over the chasm that separates the righteous and Holy God from his unrighteous and sinful fallen creation. Something we will think more about next week when we consider Jesus’ death and resurrection. For now we simply note this: a bridge which could only be engineered and constructed in two halves; half reaching out with love from God’s side of the bank and a half reaching out with longing from that side of the bank occupied by humankind. And there had to be someone capable of sealing and holding the two halves together so that love and longing could each be fulfilled in the other.

 The Christian claim is that the one who seals the connection secure and permanent and in an unbreakable fashion is Jesus Christ. In Him the love of God and the longing of humankind meet in perfection. Through Him there could be a fusion of the heartbeat of God and the heartbeat of humankind. That Jesus achieved this through his cross (holding in Himself both the divine and humankind) and made it real in His resurrection - and that now through Him in heaven there is access back and forth across the bridge - God coming to us by the Spirit, and we coming back to God in faith, trust and confidence. Uniquely is Jesus the Son of God – and thus our salvation is secured.

Though unoriginal in its allegations, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ proves that some misguided theories never entirely fade away. They just reappear periodically in a different disguise. Brown's claims resemble those of Arius and his numerous heirs throughout history, who have contradicted the united testimony of the apostles and the early church. Those witnesses have always attested that Jesus Christ was and remains God himself. It didn't take an ancient council held at Nicea to make this true. It was true and it is true and one day when Jesus comes again all humanity will know it to be true - and the pseudohistorical claims of a modern novel can never undermine these things.

We can be confident that Jesus is the Son of God, who was and is and is to come.

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Spiritual Warfare’ Ephesians 6 v 10-20 & Mark 9 v 14-32

A few years ago my brother in law and his family gave me one of those ‘Magic Eye’ book for Christmas. One each page is a picture which presents itself readily to the eye. Apparently, if you stare long enough at the presenting picture then another picture emerges from within, as if by magic - hence the name.

I say apparently because I spent a good portion of Christmas Day, and Boxing Day, and part of the following week staring at the pictures in this book. I could not see the picture underneath. No matter how hard I tried my brain could only pick out the presenting picture – for some reason it simply could not decode the picture underneath. This was despite the encouragement of Karen, Jessica and Simon, all of whom could see the hidden picture and who would say things like, ‘You mean you really can’t see that beautiful lion’s head, or that marvellous dancing dragon.’ No I could not. There might have been two pictures, two images, on the same page - but I could only see one – the presenting image.

You can imagine, therefore, how delighted I was when for Christmas the next year my brother in law and sister in law brought me - another version of the same book.

You might find it helpful to hold in your mind the thought of two images on the same page – one obvious and one hidden, though both equally present at one and the same time – as we consider together this morning the matter of ‘spiritual warfare’. For it is vital when considering this topic to have in mind the existence of two simultaneous realities – on the one hand, that which is seen and obvious – the world as we see it through our eyes – and, on the other hand, that which is just as real, though hidden to all but the eye of faith – the veiled spiritual realm which impacts directly on all human endeavour, history and activity. These two realities the Bible speak of as existing simultaneously. We might call them, as does St. Paul in Colossians 1 v 16, in a phrase employed by the creed, the ‘visible and invisible’.

My contention in this sermon this morning will be quite simple. That unless we acknowledge the presence of these two realities, and begin to engage appropriately with them both, we will never get to grips with the battle to which fundamentally we are called, nor employ adequately the weapons that God has provided for his children by the Holy Spirit to engage with that battle. Further, we will be confused by the notion of struggle that attends to Christian discipleship, and how this sits easily with a Gospel of grace, and we will lack in the confidence that Christ provides to speak with certainty of the victory He has already won. ‘Spiritual warfare’ involves recognising the two realities that determine the thought world of the whole of scripture – what we call the biblical cosmology, the visible and the invisible – understanding the nature of the conflict in which we are not puppets but participants, and making use of the resources God freely provides to engage with the battle over which Christ already has the ultimate victory.

In his book, ‘Don’t just stand there, pray something’ a very useful little book on intercessory prayer, one commended by RT Kendall, Ronald Dunn says this: ‘We must break the habit of taking the visible part for the whole, of confusing what the eye beholds with the ultimate reality. The consequence of such confusion is…slavery to the unseen power behind the visible elements.’ It is this recognition of ‘the reality behind and beyond the reality’ that is the starting point for effective spiritual warfare. Without such recognition everything I else I am going to say this morning will be meaningless nonsense. With such recognition, everything I am going to say this morning will be a mobilisation and equipping of the saints for the task to which God has called us – ministering effectively and purposefully in the name of Christ and in the power and the presence of the Kingdom of God.
To help us through this morning’s subject I want to break down what I am going to say into three small bite size sections. These I want to call: the visible and the invisible; the conflict of the powers; the armoury of God.  I am also going to make available my sermon notes if these would be of help to any individuals or groups for further study and reflection. I do this in part because we are going to cover a great deal of ground today, and you might need some time to re-visit the scriptures and the commentary I give, and in part because this is a topic of such fundamental importance in the ministry and mission of God.

1) The visible and the invisible. I have little real understanding of how television and radio works. I don’t have any real comprehension of what a digital signal looks like or how sound waves travel. What I do know, in my very limited understanding, is that all around me in the pulpit – all around you in pews – are waves and digitised signals which, if we turned on a TV or radio, would suddenly be translated from something we can’t see or hear into something we can see and hear - as a breakfast radio show or Coronation Street.  Because we can’t see these signals does not mean they are not real. They are just as real as apples and eggs – but invisible.

Scripture is framed from beginning to end with a world view that declares that two parallel realities exist side by side. On the one hand is what we will call with scripture the heavenly realities, and on the other hand, the earthly realities. Our very creation is the product of the heavenly realities birthing the earthly ones and our final redemption will be complete when a new heaven and a new earth are reconciled and realised in the New Jerusalem where Christ is on the throne. And throughout the rest of scripture – from creation to our final redemption – we witness the continuous interaction between these two realities. Most fully do we have that interaction in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ – where heaven and earth combine most perfectly in the mystery and majesty of the incarnation.

Of course, Scripture makes it plain that there is a boundary between the two realities, one that humankind cannot by itself bridge. After the Fall, when Adam and Eve were expulsed from the Garden in which God Himself walked – where the boundaries at first did not exist - we read that God does not remain shut away in the court of heaven, separated from the affairs of humankind. Instead we read that He still on occasion chooses to open up the border between the two realities over which He has sovereign authority. We read, too, that generally He does so in one of two ways: either for the purpose of self revelation or at particular moments of history or ministry. So, for example, we have the barrier being pulled back in the great call of Isaiah in Ch 6, which we looked at last Sunday evening. And in 2 Kings 6 v 8-23, the scriptural passage for this evening, we find Elisha praying – and this is significant for what I want to say this morning – praying that his terrified servant would be enabled see beyond the visible to the invisible. This prayer God answered, and the servant is given a momentary glimpse of the angelic host (read v 15-17).

In the NT, with the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh and the new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we find the boundary between the visible and the invisible becoming much more porous. So, at the birth of Jesus angels appear repeatedly. So, during the ministry of Jesus the Kingdom of God is brought near in acts of healing and authority. So, in the death of Jesus the curtain of the temple, that symbolic separation of sinful humankind from a holy God, is torn from top to bottom and access is granted to all. So, in the resurrection we see Jesus able miraculously to disappear and relocate after the manner of angels – for example by coming into the locked Upper Room or suddenly disappearing after the journey to Emmaus. So, after the Ascension we find Stephen, the first Christian martyr, declaring in Acts 8 that he sees Jesus at the right hand of God himself.

This more fluid relationship between the heavenly and the earthly realities, a relationship brought to birth in the new covenant made by Christ, brought to the early Christian community a new comprehension about the involvement of God in the affairs of humankind. In particular they grasped three truths about these two realities which punctuate and shape the whole of the NT. They grasped firstly that the Holy Spirit was God’s unique and personal investment of the energy and impetus of heaven for the continuation of the work of Christ; they grasped secondly that, now that in Christ the boundary between heaven and earth had been made so much more transparent, so it would not be long before Christ returned in majestic judgement to make that boundary disappear fully and finally and forever; and they grasped thirdly that, in this final period of history, when death had been defeated but where the evil one still writhes in the throes of his own dreadful damnation, so there would be a terrible battle for the hearts and souls of humankind. 

It is in this period between the incarnation of Christ and His glorious return, when the visible and invisible are not yet one but where the borders are porous, that we also mission and minister. As such it is also a period of battle and struggle, one where the very battle lines of heaven are encountered in the arena of human affairs – and where the response of humankind influences the outcome of the battles being fought -  and of a call to stand firm in the face of a powerful yet defeated enemy. It is to the conflict between these powers that I next turn.

2) The conflict of the powers. In Ephesians Ch 6 v 10 onwards we find Paul drawing his letter to an end. What Paul has been writing about up to now has been to do with the new society that God has created in Christ, one where unity and reconciliation and holiness are to be particular marks. In Ch 6 v 10 Paul is warning the Christians in Ephesus that all that God is seeking to build up in Christ the devil will want to undermine and undo. Where there is unity he will want to bring division, where there is harmony he will want to bring discord, and the like.

In these verses Paul is in no doubt about the personal reality of the evil one, nor his minions. Nor was Jesus in doubt about the personal reality of the evil one or his mission – see Luke 10 v 18 and Luke 22 v 31-32. Jesus never describes the evil one in purely objective terms – an evil force – for Jesus and Paul and the NT writers the devil is a personal reality, one whose mission is to destroy all that God is doing in Christ. I stand with them. Neither Jesus nor Paul fell into the two great errors that the church can sometimes fall into – either of ignoring the devil or of paying him too little credence, nor of paying him too much respect and seeing him as more powerful than he actually is. Nor should we.

Paul’s purpose about turning to the evil one at this point in his letter is not to satisfy their curiosity about the evil one but to warn the Ephesians about the nature of the conflict they are in and how to stand in the face of it. So Paul begins ‘finally’ – better ‘henceforth’ ie ‘from now onwards’ for those of you in the Kingdom of Christ this is how it is going to be. And what he says is sobering in the extreme. For Paul confirms what we read elsewhere in the NT - the whole of the interim period between the Lord’s two comings is one of conflict. The peace which God has wrought in Christ is found in the midst of a relentless struggle against evil. Perhaps it should be no surprise, therefore, that even the birth of Christ was marked by the murder of the innocents. In this conflict situation the strength of the Lord and the armoury of God are indispensable.

The nature of the conflict is described graphically in the words Paul repeats in these verses. ‘Put on the full armour’ is repeated twice as is ‘fearlessly’. The word ‘against’, which in Greek is the word used to describe hand to hand combat, is used four times, as are the words ‘to stand ‘or ‘withstand’. Paul has no doubt about the reality of the battle or the hostility of the enemy. He is in no doubt either that wobbly Christians – those without adequate armour or sufficient foothold to stand firm on the slippery field of battle – are an easy prey for the evil one to pick off.

Paul describes the full scope of the evil ones forces in v12. This is what we are actually up against. Further detail is given in the great and yet terrible vision of John in the Apocalypse – revelation. Be in no doubt, the struggle that Christians are called to enter as foot soldiers for Christ has as much with what I called earlier the invisible reality as the visible – particularly so now that both realities have been brought together in Christ and co-exist with greater transparency. This means at least three things.

a) It means that we have to be very careful that we do not engage with the evil one in our own strength. Often we wade into the battle armed with beautiful buildings, choreographed programmes, or acceptable liturgy, as if these will gain a stronghold for Christ. Don’t get me wrong, none of these things are bad in and of themselves, but they are not the primary weapons for spiritual warfare in the heavenly places. If ever we believe they are then our corner of the field of battle has already been conceded. We are called to be strong in the Lord, whose strength comes from very different quarters and is to be applied on a very different field of battle. 

b) It means that we have to be alive to the devil’s tactics. In v 11 Paul describes the devil as cunning – the word ‘schemes’ is one we might translate as ‘wiles’. Jesus warned his followers that the devil rarely attacks openly. He is a dangerous wolf who enters like a sheep into the fold of Christ. He comes in the form of an angel of darkness who masquerades as an angel of light. Or as James says, he prowls in the undergrowth like a lion hunting its prey. Open persecution or open temptations to sin – a full frontal assault on the community of Christ – are not his commonest weapons. He prefers to seduce us into compromise, deceive us into error or bind us with cords that are not loving or up-building – jealousies, rumours, lies, hatreds and suspicions that cause disunity and distrust. He closes minds and hearts, and brings not a joyful newness of life but infects with the slow decay of death. Knowing his tactics means that we can name them, expose them, repent of them and resist them. Many churches and Christians have fallen prey to the tactics of the evil one because they have simply not seen them for what they are.

c) And it means that we must never forget that the power of God is stronger than the power of the evil one. True, a battle rages in the heavenly places, a battle which we enter and which impacts directly upon humankind, but the principalities and powers that rage against Christ were defeated at the cross and are now under Christ’s feet and ours. Christ’s reigns fully over both realities – visible and invisible. The victory is complete and will be revealed as such at the end of the age, though the battle still rages – so that others have time and opportunity to repent. It should perhaps be of no surprise to us that when Paul urges us to draw upon the power, might and strength of the lord Jesus in v10 he is using exactly the same trio of words (dunamis, kratos and ischus) which he has used in 1 v 19 in relation to God’s work of raising Jesus from the dead.

Which brings us to our final section – how are we equipped with the strength of the lord? How do we identify the devil’s tactics?  How are we to access the power that comes from the Lord? The answer to them all is, thankfully, as single as it is simple. We fight this battle with prayer: prayer that accesses every aspect of the armoury of God.

3) The armoury of God. It is not enough to protest, plan or programme to win the world for Christ. Prayer is vital in the battle that belongs to the Lord. This was something that the disciples had to discover the hard way – Mark 9 v28,29. They could not by themselves overthrow the grip of the evil one – and nor can we. It is only by prayer that the battle will be won in places invisible and visible. 

It is for this reason that I want to finish today not by looking at the armour described in detail in Ephesians 6 – this I’d like you to do privately or in groups - but by highlighting the weapon in the armoury that Paul pleads to be made use of at the end of this section of Ephesians: intercessory prayer. And I’d like to finish with a story.

In Exodus 17 v 8-13 the Israelites meet Amalek in the Valley of the Rephidim. Amalek blocks their route and challenges them to battle. Faced with this enemy Moses tells Joshua that Joshua is to fight in the valley and that Moses will go up onto the mountain and hold up the rod of God in intercession. This Joshua agrees to.

In the Valley of the Rephidim a strange thing happens. When Moses holds up the rod, Joshua prevails. When in weariness Moses lowers the rod, Amalek prevails. So Aaron and Hur, on the mountain with Moses, find a rock for Moses to sit on. Then, one on each side, they hold up Moses hand’s until the ‘going down of the sun’. In the end Joshua prevails.

Where was the battle decided? In the valley with Joshua? No, the scripture could not be clearer - the victory in the valley was won by the intercession on the mountain. The two must go hand in hand. We cannot act without praying or pray without acting, especially if we are praying aright. Remember I said that a missionary church is a praying church and vice versa. And it could not be clearer, too, that intercession that is prevailing is demanding, serious, wearisome work.

I am fully convinced that the church would prevail more often in the battle for which it has been commissioned and to which it is called if it had more intercessors on the mountain, lifting high the rod of God, the name of Jesus Christ. Paul knew that this was the key weapon in the battle he fought as an evangelist. Hence, he covets prayer so often. (Acts 4)

This is why I am so glad in a moment to commission the PP’s – these are our Moses’ on the mountain. You can be one, too. And I am so glad that we as a church want to take prayer so seriously. As we do, so the field of battle is taken, the victory is more fully realised and the Kingdom comes in greater fullness amongst us. For Christ calls us not to withdraw from the battle – but to enter more fully in it. And to do so strong in the strength that God alone provides and consciously clad in the full armour of God.

 
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