We come now to our final look at the seven deadly sins from proverbs, and we have left lust for last. Traditionally lust was the obvious deadly sin and things like greed and envy and sloth had to be spelt out. But as culture and its idols change lust is no longer a taboo subject, nor seen as a deadly sin. Since the sexual revolution of the mid twentieth century we have seen the steady eroding of the biblical definition of lust as a sin. Virginity is no longer a gift you give to your spouse on your wedding night but an embarrassing indicator of a lack of desirability or personal progress. Marriage is no longer seen as the God-given way to nurture love but a foible of those ‘traditional’ types who are struggling to adapt to our new world. Where once upon a time the laws of the land reflected at least some sort of agreement with biblical norms in that divorce was not easy and homosexual relationships carried consequences. The situation is now reversed. Incest laws are being dropped around the world, so called same sex marriages are being acknowledged, and even recently sanctioned to be blessed by the Church of England. What was once frowned upon adult entertainment, shows involving transvestites, are now forms of education where public readings for primary age children by transvestites are common fare. Children who were once protected from sexualized material are now inundated by once trusted family friendly entertainment companies like Disney. What was once hidden is now public, what was once shameful is now celebrated, what was once forbidden is now forced upon our children.

Background: The eleven disciples probably felt a lot like Frodo did inRivendell as Jesus was giving them the great commission. They arelittle peoplewith simple backgrounds and no formal education. Andworse yet they are painfully aware that theyall just abandoned Christin his time of need at the crucifixion. Some of them, like Peter,haddenied knowingJesusall together. Butin our passage,Jesusgathersthen togetherand sends them onan epicmission.

Background: The pivotal issue for the book of Mark is the author’s demand that the reader figure out an answer to the question: “who is this?” The central question of the whole book is given in chapter 4, describing the experience of Jesus disciples. Jesus Calms the Storm: • Jesus suggests that the group head to the other side of the lake on their fishing boats • While they are on the way, Jesus d ecides to take a nap in the back of the boat in the stern. • Then a huge storm comes, water starks entering the boat, and disciples are afraid. So the disciples become very perturbed. . . in fact, they are terrified. • I am guessing after some deliberation; th ey decide to wake Jesus. They wake Jesus and immediately he speaks to the storm, and it calms down. • And in the resolution of this story — after the storm has abated and the problem is over — the disciples are filled with wonder, awe and fear. And they whisper to each other: “who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41).

Our next deadly sin is the sin of anger or wrath. Evolutionary science tells us that our anger is something that was once beastly that has become something beautiful. That we had a fight of flight reflex that was used to defend ourselves; or a hunting instinct to hunt and overcome our prey for survival; or a territorial aggression that preserved our pack, and now as ‘evolved apes’ we have to reign it in and make it useful to the community. This is exactly backwards. The bible teaches that our anger was once something beautiful that has become beastly. We are made in the image of God, God is said to have righteous anger. The NT does have two different words for God’s wrath, one scholar describes them this way, ‘God’s anger ( thumos ) is his vehement fury or boiling rage. His wrath ( orge ) is his settled indignation or his settled anger. In other words, in God’s anger the emphasis falls on the emotional, boiling intensity of it. And in God’s wrath the emphasis falls on the controlled, settled, considered direction and focus of its application. But we dare not draw a hard line between them.’ 1 It is a wrath that is revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness, Rom. 1:18. It is because of God’s character as righteous and His role as judge that He is righteously angry, Ps. 7:11, ‘God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.’ God is only angry against that which is sin, evil, unjust and wrong, against that which is contrary to His holy will. God is not volatile, He is slow to anger, Nahum 1:3, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty....

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Some of the most stirring things have been written by saints who have been in prison for Christ. Scottish Puritan Samuel Rutherford who was imprisoned for his stand against the divine right of kings wrote once, ‘I am well. My prison is a palace to me, and Christ’s banqueting-house. My Lord Jesus is as kind as they call Him. Oh, that all Scotland knew my case, and had part of my feast! I charge you, in the name of God, I charge you to believe. Fear not the sons of men, the worms shall eat them. To pray and believe now, when Christ seemeth to give you a nay-say, is more than it was before. Die believing, die with Christ’s promise in your hand.’ 1 The spiritual classic Pilgrim’s Progress written by John Bunyan was written while he was in prison. Paul was another author who wrote from prison and out of the sweet comforts that Christ gave him we have some very famous verses that have sustained us through many difficulties. 1:20-21, ‘as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ 1:29, ‘For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.’ 2:12-13, ‘Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good...

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Last week we began our look at the deadly sin of Greed. We spent most of our time looking at definitions for greed, the problems it creates and warnings against it. Greed we saw is not only a rich person’s sin but a heart problem we all have where we psychopathically and self-destructively idolize the gifts at the expense of worshipping the Giver. A problem where we look for the satisfaction we can only find in God from those things that are intended to direct us to Him. Today we want to look at an action plan in tackling greed and our text to help us with this is Paul’s teaching in 1 Tim. 6:6-10; 17-19

‘Thank God that I am not a gentile, a woman, or a slave.’ This was a common prayer that was once prayed in the synagogue and I believe that it is even being revived today. 1 Luke who is showing how the gospel is the gospel not just for the Jews, but a gospel that goes from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and even to the ends of the earth; shows us in the church in Philippi how God is building a people from all people and places. Jesus is the King of the Universe and not just Israel; the Saviour of all peoples and not just the Jews, this is graphically illustrated throughout the book of Acts and especially in the birth of the church in Philippi. In Acts 16:11-40 we have the gospel impacting the lives of a woman; a slave; and a gentile jailer. As we begin our series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians we will familiarize ourselves with how the church was born.

One of the audiobooks I listened to last year was the book Affluenza How overconsumption is killing us and how to fight back. Here is how one reviewer summarizes the problem being addressed in this book, ‘When was the last time you bought something? Probably today, or at least in the last couple of days. But here’s a better question: when was the last time you bought something you didn’t really need? Let’s face it, most of us buy non-essential items fairly regularly. In fact, the average American spends about $18,000 a year on nonessentials. Ouch. Why do we spend so much on stuff that doesn’t really matter? Probably because we have a false notion that it will make us happier. But in truth, our addiction to consumption is ruining our relationships and sending us into debt. And it’s ruining our planet.’ 1 The book has strengths and weaknesses. It is good in that it is correctly highlighting our over consumption. It is weak in that its highest goals are to improve our relationships, get better control over ourselves, and have a cleaner planet. No doubt these are good goals but they do not get at the heart of what we are wanting to touch on—Greed as a deadly sin. In typical fashion it outlines personal techniques not conversion to bring about personal change, and promotes left wing political solutions and systemic changes as the hope for the future not Christ building His kingdom. Today we want to look at what the Bible says about greed. Our two headings are the sin of greed, and the cure for greed

We live in the age of deconstruction, where long understood concepts and ideas are being redefined and overturned. Marriage, justice, a man, a woman, truth, beauty, goodness, these were all once understood. Two of the great truths that have fallen on hard times are the truths of sin and forgiveness. In a world of no absolutes and personalized truth there can be no one definition for sin. Sin which was once an act against God has been trivialized and misappropriated to speak of acts against nature, self, and other things that are not God. With sin redefined human beings being seen as sinful is an alien concept. We live in a world where we are basically good, and with a sense of entitlement that God ought to be doing more good by us, seeing all the bad things that happen to us through a victim mentality. Forgiveness is no longer the most important thing that we need from a holy God but something that everyone owes to themselves. Self-acceptance has replaced acceptance with God. Something as central as the gospel, the truth of a holy but loving God saving sinners through the substitutionary work of Jesus on our behalf is no longer simple or uncontested. So this morning I would like us to go back to the Word of God to bring clarity at a time of uncertainty.

1 in every 5 NZ adults has a hazardous drinking pattern. ‘Note: ‘Hazardous drinking’ refers to an established alcohol drinking pattern that carries a risk of harming the drinker’s physical or mental health or having harmful social effects on the drinker or others. It is determined by using the World Health Organization’s AUDIT checklist – a score of 8 or more indicates hazardous drinking.’ 1 1 in 3 between the ages of 18-24 drinking in a dangerous way. 1 in 3 men and 1 in 5 women in this age range will binge drink once a week. This is a deeply worrying set of statistics, 20% of our nation abuse alcohol. 1 in 10 between the ages of 15- 17 likewise drink hazardously. Last week we spoke about the sin of gluttony, sins related to excessive eating. And we saw how the sin of drunkenness was often hitched to it. Drunkenness is not technically one of the seven sins, but to my mind it qualifies as a gateway sin, a sin that leads to many other sins. Christianity differs from the other major religions in that alcohol is not seen as sinful in itself. Islam forbids the drinking of alcohol. Some sects in Hinduism forbid it. Likewise the official teaching of Buddhism denounces ingesting intoxicating substances. Christianity how ever does not see alcohol as something sinful in itself. So I will in two parts go through the blessings of drinking and the sins of drunkenness.