Watch at: https://youtu.be/7iuyyXtC1e0?si=q9PYfL3y8tEXbR4P

21 Days of Focus: Restoring Rhythm2. Work, Rest and Restoring Identity Dan Bidwell, Senior Pastor 15 January 2023

Intro: Whats in the box?

A member of church gave me this book early last year. Half Time by Bob Buford. A book by a Christian business man about how to make the most of the second half of your life.

Bob Buford was a TV station owner from the early days of television. He was wildly successful from a business perspective. But somewhere around the middle of his life, he got to a point in his career where he asked himself: Is this all there is?

And so in the book, he describes this pivotal conversation with his business mentor. His mentor, Mike Kami, had been a strategic planner with IBM and Xerox in the early days, and went to consult at Coca Cola a heavy hitter. And an atheist.

And Buford finds himself asking his mentor: (quote on handout)

What should I do? How could I be most useful? Where should I invest my own talents, time and treasure? What are the values that give purpose to my life? What is the overarching vision that shapes me? Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? How do I get there?

In this blizzard of wonderment, Mike Kami asked me a simple and penetrating question: Whats in the box?

If you had to decide THE one thing thats the most important part of your life, the one non-negotiable, the puzzle piece that everything else is built off, the thing that defines and motivates you, what would it be? Whats in the box?

Thats what were going to be thinking about today as we open the Bible. So why dont we pray and ask God to give us wisdom.

Our heavenly Father, we pray today that you would give us clarity and focus as we think about what the most important thing in our life is. Give us wisdom as we read your word, and keep transforming us into the image of Christ. In his life-giving name we pray, Amen.

Well we are in the middle of our 21 Days of Focus something we do every January to help us refocus our faith at the beginning of the New Year.

This year were calling the series Restoring Rhythm how to find balance in a busy world.

We started last week with the premise that, as a society, we have a busyness problem.

Two cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman have labeled our busyness problem as "hurry sickness." They noticed their patients in this continuous struggle [] to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time."

Taken to the extreme, hurry sickness can cause real health issues. But most of us dont even notice it happening to us, because busyness is such a normal part of modern life. Its the air we breathe.

But its not how life is meant to be. Jesus said:

28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

Commentator F. Dale Bruner said that the rest Jesus is offering us is not a vacation or a mattress to lie down on. Jesus offers us equipment, a new way to carry life so that our work and our rest are part of a life-giving rhythm.

So today I want to share the first piece of equipment that Jesus gives to help us restore rhythm, and to find balance in a busy world.

And that equipment is to restore our understanding of work, rest and identity (because theyre all tied up together).

1. Order and Disorder

To restore a right understanding of work, rest and identity, we need to go back to Creation.

At creation, God made humans in his image. And he gave us a role to play bringing order to creation.

God gave Adam and Eve a job: to rule over creation; to subdue it; and to fill it. They were to bring shape and creativity to the world. This is the original pattern for work. Work was good and purposeful and life-affirming. That was day 6 of creation.

Then on Day 7 God rested from his work of creation. And he commanded all of creation to do likewise.

Gods deliberate act of stopping, and resting, shows us that in his world, there is balance between work and rest. Both work and rest are part of the goodness of creation. Work is good. And rest is good. Together work and rest are how Gods people are to experience the fullness of life and purpose in Gods good creation.

But once we get to chapter 3 of Genesis, we see a big disruption when sin enters the world, a big upheaval.

Sin takes the good order of creation and turns it into disorder.

That leaves us experiencing a disordered pattern of work and rest. Work is often fraught, and rest is not so restful.

This is the result of the curse in Genesis 3:

God says because of sin, we will have thorns and thistles in our work. Work will not always be life-giving and purpose-affirming. It will not always be good. Our work life may be filled with trouble.

Thats not the only trouble that comes as a result of the curse.

- Sin creates trouble in good things such as parenting and childbirth.

- Sin creates trouble in human relationships. The man and the woman now fight with one another, and that spreads into every human relationship.

Sin brings upheaval to the good order of creation; and everything good is brought into disorder. Sins corruption makes its way into every corner of creation, every corner of society. And ultimately, into every corner of our own hearts and desires and dreams.

This is an important theological idea to understand. Because sometimes we dont recognize the disorder. The messiness just seems normal to us. Weve grown up with it and its just what we expect from the world.

Like the two fish who were swimming in the ocean. And one fish says to the other, The waters lovely today! And the other fish says, Whats water?

Sometimes we get so used to the way things are, that we forget that things are not the way they are supposed to be.

Disorder is not how our lives are meant to be.

And thats where the Christian message is such good news. The gospel of Jesus is all about restoring order to a world disordered by sin. Its all about undoing the curse of sin, and helping us to recover the purpose we were created for.

So thats the first big point: we need to recognize the disorder that sin brings to life, so that we can start to allow Jesus to re-order us

2. Disordered Identity

Theres a new documentary on Netflix about the lives of tennis players. The first episode is all about Nick Kyrgios, an Australian player who has been hailed the greatest talent of his generation. Hes one of only a handful of players to have beaten the Big 3 Federer, Djokovic and Nadal and he beat each of them the first time they played together. Kyrgios is a major talent, but he has never really achieved at the highest levels. Hes just too volatile.

So you watch Kyrgios play, and sometimes he plays with absolute confidence, hits trick shots, get the crowd behind him. Kyrgios is one of the best players in the world when hes on. But then other times its like somebody flicks a switch, and he gets inside his own head. He starts to yell and curse and he implodes.

Its like his whole identity depends on whether he is winning or losing.

I think we often share that same disordered thinking when it comes to our identity. Particularly because our identity is often tied to our work.

Our society often equates a persons work with their value or status as a person. The higher paying the job, the higher the prestige and personal value we assign to that person. Or the more public a role, the more kudos and status they receive.

It also means that we assign less value to those in lowlier paid positions. We assign them less value as humans because in our society, personal value is tied up with work. And so is our identity.

When we meet someone for the first time, we ask them: What do you do for a living? And whether we mean to or not, we assign them value as a person based on how they respond. We equate their identity with what they do.

And we do the same for ourselves. When our identity is tied up with our work, then its good when were winning. But what if were not? What happens when we retire? If our identity is tied up with our work, then its like we lose a part of our identity, or were somehow lesser of a person.

I talked about this on Tuesday at our Hymns and Communion service, the idea that when we retire, the world often looks at us differently because they dont know who we used to be. They dont know what we used to do. They dont see the former football player, the former head of a department, the former mom to six children. Nobody sees that. They just see a person of advancing years, and sadly, we assign them less value as people because they no longer have a job.

Do you see the disorder with that way of thinking?

It has implications for the way we think about people with dementia, or diminished mental abilities. We bind personal value and identity to the ability to produce.

No wonder we have hurry sickness. No wonder we cant rest. Because if we stop, then what happens to our identity? What happens to our value as a person?

This is the water we swim in everyday, but were like the fish that has never heard of water. So often we dont even recognize the disordered way of thinking that is so normalized in our world...

3. Restoring Identity

So how do we fix our disordered thinking? How do we restore the right understanding of our identity, so that we can restore healthy rhythms of work and rest?

I think thats the yoke that Jesus offers tools to retrain our thinking so that we see the world through his eyes.

The answer starts in creation.

First we need to remind ourselves that our identity is not derived from our work, but from our status as a beloved child of God. The creation story reminds us that we are each created in the image of God. And that means our innate value and worth as a person is not derived from what we produce in this world, but who produced us. We are loved because of who God made us, not what we have made of ourselves.

And when we look at how Jesus treated the people he met, we see that principle in practice. Jesus loved everybody who came to him: the rich and the poor, women and children, the sick, the disabled, the outcast. Jesus offered them all equal dignity, regardless of social status. Their worth in his eyes had nothing to do with their earthly achievements.

And the same is true when it comes to salvation. We are not saved because of our work, or our righteous acts, or the roles we played in a church. Salvation is the gift of God! And it is due solely to his love for us, and his merciful grace to pardon our sins through faith in Christ.

We can learn a lot by looking at the way Jesus went about in the world. Like I said last week, Jesus is not just the truth, but the way and the life. We need to learn from him.

Because Christ comes to restore order to a world disordered by sin. He comes to restore right thinking, and to renew our whole approach to the world as he removes the distorting effects of sin from our lives. He comes to make us a new creation, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

When our kids were little, we used to take them to a park that had funny mirrors. You know the sort of mirrors that make you look tall, or short, or fat, or skinny. Theyre great fun. But theyre all a distortion of reality.

But when Christ recreates us, its like looking in a regular mirror for the first time. We start to see (understand/realize) that all the other mirrors were distorted, they all emphasized the wrong things, they all gave us the wrong perspective on the world. But now in Christ you can see clearly for the first time.

And thats one of the ways that Jesus brings us rest. By giving us a renewed mind, and restored thinking (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we are weary of all the comparison, when were burdened from the pressure of the performance treadmill, when were exhausted from trying to create our own identity and legacy through our achievements, Jesus says: Come to me and Ill show you a better way. Come and Ill show you a new way to work and rest that is life-giving, and purposeful.

I find it very freeing when the Apostle Paul says essentially that it doesnt matter what we do in life. What matters is how we do it:

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)

Paul wants us to do whatever we do for the glory of Jesus. In Ephesians, he tells us that we have been created in Christ to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God is part of your story, and whatever season of life you are in, you can work (and rest) to the glory of Jesus. You can do whatever your work is in a way that serves Jesus, and honors him. Whether youre in a corporate job, or in a hospital, whether youre retired or looking after a home, the way you work helps to bring Gods kingdom in whatever realm God has placed you in.

~

Come back to Bob Buford, the TV exec from the beginning of the sermon. He finds himself in this conversation with his atheist business mentor. Hes midway through a very successful career, but wondering how to make the most of the rest of his life.

What should I do? How could I be most useful? Where should I invest my own talents, time and treasure? What are the values that give purpose to my life? What is the overarching vision that shapes me? Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? How do I get there?

In this blizzard of wonderment, Mike Kami asked me a simple and penetrating question: Whats in the box?

What is the most important thing in your life? What is it that drives your identity, your hopes, your dreams? Where do you find meaning and purpose in life? And how do you know youve succeeded at life? Whats in the box?

For Buford, he decided that he wanted to put Jesus in the box at the center of his life. He had a moment of clarity where he realized that all the business success, it meant nothing if it pushed Jesus into the background, if it pushed Jesus out of his life altogether.

He had a moment of clarity that changed everything.

What about you? What is in the box?Watch at: https://youtu.be/1Z-OjM8Zj7I File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2023/01/27/00/02/28/2647faa1-89fe-475e-beac-1ecddd0e92fc/01.15.23%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf

21 Days of Focus: Restoring Rhythm2. Work, Rest and Restoring Identity Dan Bidwell, Senior Pastor 15 January 2023

Intro: Whats in the box?

A member of church gave me this book early last year. Half Time by Bob Buford. A book by a Christian business man about how to make the most of the second half of your life.

Bob Buford was a TV station owner from the early days of television. He was wildly successful from a business perspective. But somewhere around the middle of his life, he got to a point in his career where he asked himself: Is this all there is?

And so in the book, he describes this pivotal conversation with his business mentor. His mentor, Mike Kami, had been a strategic planner with IBM and Xerox in the early days, and went to consult at Coca Cola a heavy hitter. And an atheist.

And Buford finds himself asking his mentor: (quote on handout)

What should I do? How could I be most useful? Where should I invest my own talents, time and treasure? What are the values that give purpose to my life? What is the overarching vision that shapes me? Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? How do I get there?

In this blizzard of wonderment, Mike Kami asked me a simple and penetrating question: Whats in the box?

If you had to decide THE one thing thats the most important part of your life, the one non-negotiable, the puzzle piece that everything else is built off, the thing that defines and motivates you, what would it be? Whats in the box?

Thats what were going to be thinking about today as we open the Bible. So why dont we pray and ask God to give us wisdom.

Our heavenly Father, we pray today that you would give us clarity and focus as we think about what the most important thing in our life is. Give us wisdom as we read your word, and keep transforming us into the image of Christ. In his life-giving name we pray, Amen.

Well we are in the middle of our 21 Days of Focus something we do every January to help us refocus our faith at the beginning of the New Year.

This year were calling the series Restoring Rhythm how to find balance in a busy world.

We started last week with the premise that, as a society, we have a busyness problem.

Two cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman have labeled our busyness problem as "hurry sickness." They noticed their patients in this continuous struggle [] to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time."

Taken to the extreme, hurry sickness can cause real health issues. But most of us dont even notice it happening to us, because busyness is such a normal part of modern life. Its the air we breathe.

But its not how life is meant to be. Jesus said:

28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

Commentator F. Dale Bruner said that the rest Jesus is offering us is not a vacation or a mattress to lie down on. Jesus offers us equipment, a new way to carry life so that our work and our rest are part of a life-giving rhythm.

So today I want to share the first piece of equipment that Jesus gives to help us restore rhythm, and to find balance in a busy world.

And that equipment is to restore our understanding of work, rest and identity (because theyre all tied up together).

1. Order and Disorder

To restore a right understanding of work, rest and identity, we need to go back to Creation.

At creation, God made humans in his image. And he gave us a role to play bringing order to creation.

God gave Adam and Eve a job: to rule over creation; to subdue it; and to fill it. They were to bring shape and creativity to the world. This is the original pattern for work. Work was good and purposeful and life-affirming. That was day 6 of creation.

Then on Day 7 God rested from his work of creation. And he commanded all of creation to do likewise.

Gods deliberate act of stopping, and resting, shows us that in his world, there is balance between work and rest. Both work and rest are part of the goodness of creation. Work is good. And rest is good. Together work and rest are how Gods people are to experience the fullness of life and purpose in Gods good creation.

But once we get to chapter 3 of Genesis, we see a big disruption when sin enters the world, a big upheaval.

Sin takes the good order of creation and turns it into disorder.

That leaves us experiencing a disordered pattern of work and rest. Work is often fraught, and rest is not so restful.

This is the result of the curse in Genesis 3:

God says because of sin, we will have thorns and thistles in our work. Work will not always be life-giving and purpose-affirming. It will not always be good. Our work life may be filled with trouble.

Thats not the only trouble that comes as a result of the curse.

- Sin creates trouble in good things such as parenting and childbirth.

- Sin creates trouble in human relationships. The man and the woman now fight with one another, and that spreads into every human relationship.

Sin brings upheaval to the good order of creation; and everything good is brought into disorder. Sins corruption makes its way into every corner of creation, every corner of society. And ultimately, into every corner of our own hearts and desires and dreams.

This is an important theological idea to understand. Because sometimes we dont recognize the disorder. The messiness just seems normal to us. Weve grown up with it and its just what we expect from the world.

Like the two fish who were swimming in the ocean. And one fish says to the other, The waters lovely today! And the other fish says, Whats water?

Sometimes we get so used to the way things are, that we forget that things are not the way they are supposed to be.

Disorder is not how our lives are meant to be.

And thats where the Christian message is such good news. The gospel of Jesus is all about restoring order to a world disordered by sin. Its all about undoing the curse of sin, and helping us to recover the purpose we were created for.

So thats the first big point: we need to recognize the disorder that sin brings to life, so that we can start to allow Jesus to re-order us

2. Disordered Identity

Theres a new documentary on Netflix about the lives of tennis players. The first episode is all about Nick Kyrgios, an Australian player who has been hailed the greatest talent of his generation. Hes one of only a handful of players to have beaten the Big 3 Federer, Djokovic and Nadal and he beat each of them the first time they played together. Kyrgios is a major talent, but he has never really achieved at the highest levels. Hes just too volatile.

So you watch Kyrgios play, and sometimes he plays with absolute confidence, hits trick shots, get the crowd behind him. Kyrgios is one of the best players in the world when hes on. But then other times its like somebody flicks a switch, and he gets inside his own head. He starts to yell and curse and he implodes.

Its like his whole identity depends on whether he is winning or losing.

I think we often share that same disordered thinking when it comes to our identity. Particularly because our identity is often tied to our work.

Our society often equates a persons work with their value or status as a person. The higher paying the job, the higher the prestige and personal value we assign to that person. Or the more public a role, the more kudos and status they receive.

It also means that we assign less value to those in lowlier paid positions. We assign them less value as humans because in our society, personal value is tied up with work. And so is our identity.

When we meet someone for the first time, we ask them: What do you do for a living? And whether we mean to or not, we assign them value as a person based on how they respond. We equate their identity with what they do.

And we do the same for ourselves. When our identity is tied up with our work, then its good when were winning. But what if were not? What happens when we retire? If our identity is tied up with our work, then its like we lose a part of our identity, or were somehow lesser of a person.

I talked about this on Tuesday at our Hymns and Communion service, the idea that when we retire, the world often looks at us differently because they dont know who we used to be. They dont know what we used to do. They dont see the former football player, the former head of a department, the former mom to six children. Nobody sees that. They just see a person of advancing years, and sadly, we assign them less value as people because they no longer have a job.

Do you see the disorder with that way of thinking?

It has implications for the way we think about people with dementia, or diminished mental abilities. We bind personal value and identity to the ability to produce.

No wonder we have hurry sickness. No wonder we cant rest. Because if we stop, then what happens to our identity? What happens to our value as a person?

This is the water we swim in everyday, but were like the fish that has never heard of water. So often we dont even recognize the disordered way of thinking that is so normalized in our world...

3. Restoring Identity

So how do we fix our disordered thinking? How do we restore the right understanding of our identity, so that we can restore healthy rhythms of work and rest?

I think thats the yoke that Jesus offers tools to retrain our thinking so that we see the world through his eyes.

The answer starts in creation.

First we need to remind ourselves that our identity is not derived from our work, but from our status as a beloved child of God. The creation story reminds us that we are each created in the image of God. And that means our innate value and worth as a person is not derived from what we produce in this world, but who produced us. We are loved because of who God made us, not what we have made of ourselves.

And when we look at how Jesus treated the people he met, we see that principle in practice. Jesus loved everybody who came to him: the rich and the poor, women and children, the sick, the disabled, the outcast. Jesus offered them all equal dignity, regardless of social status. Their worth in his eyes had nothing to do with their earthly achievements.

And the same is true when it comes to salvation. We are not saved because of our work, or our righteous acts, or the roles we played in a church. Salvation is the gift of God! And it is due solely to his love for us, and his merciful grace to pardon our sins through faith in Christ.

We can learn a lot by looking at the way Jesus went about in the world. Like I said last week, Jesus is not just the truth, but the way and the life. We need to learn from him.

Because Christ comes to restore order to a world disordered by sin. He comes to restore right thinking, and to renew our whole approach to the world as he removes the distorting effects of sin from our lives. He comes to make us a new creation, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

When our kids were little, we used to take them to a park that had funny mirrors. You know the sort of mirrors that make you look tall, or short, or fat, or skinny. Theyre great fun. But theyre all a distortion of reality.

But when Christ recreates us, its like looking in a regular mirror for the first time. We start to see (understand/realize) that all the other mirrors were distorted, they all emphasized the wrong things, they all gave us the wrong perspective on the world. But now in Christ you can see clearly for the first time.

And thats one of the ways that Jesus brings us rest. By giving us a renewed mind, and restored thinking (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we are weary of all the comparison, when were burdened from the pressure of the performance treadmill, when were exhausted from trying to create our own identity and legacy through our achievements, Jesus says: Come to me and Ill show you a better way. Come and Ill show you a new way to work and rest that is life-giving, and purposeful.

I find it very freeing when the Apostle Paul says essentially that it doesnt matter what we do in life. What matters is how we do it:

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)

Paul wants us to do whatever we do for the glory of Jesus. In Ephesians, he tells us that we have been created in Christ to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God is part of your story, and whatever season of life you are in, you can work (and rest) to the glory of Jesus. You can do whatever your work is in a way that serves Jesus, and honors him. Whether youre in a corporate job, or in a hospital, whether youre retired or looking after a home, the way you work helps to bring Gods kingdom in whatever realm God has placed you in.

~

Come back to Bob Buford, the TV exec from the beginning of the sermon. He finds himself in this conversation with his atheist business mentor. Hes midway through a very successful career, but wondering how to make the most of the rest of his life.

What should I do? How could I be most useful? Where should I invest my own talents, time and treasure? What are the values that give purpose to my life? What is the overarching vision that shapes me? Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going? How do I get there?

In this blizzard of wonderment, Mike Kami asked me a simple and penetrating question: Whats in the box?

What is the most important thing in your life? What is it that drives your identity, your hopes, your dreams? Where do you find meaning and purpose in life? And how do you know youve succeeded at life? Whats in the box?

For Buford, he decided that he wanted to put Jesus in the box at the center of his life. He had a moment of clarity where he realized that all the business success, it meant nothing if it pushed Jesus into the background, if it pushed Jesus out of his life altogether.

He had a moment of clarity that changed everything.

What about you? What is in the box?Watch at: https://youtu.be/1NSLUAyQaIY File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2023/01/16/07/55/43/eb95b175-44a3-4788-b051-d1995afeb887/01.08.23%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf

Zacchaeus: A New Start - New Years Day 2023Zacchaeus: A New Start Dan Bidwell, Senior PastorLuke 19:1-10 1 January 2023

Well good morning and Happy New Year!

I always like to start my New Years sermon with a list of the top New Years Resolutions. According to one survey , the top New Years resolutions for Americans are:

#1 exercise more#2 eat healthier#3 lose weight#4 save more money#5 spend more time with family and friends

Highly ranked spend less time on social media (Speak more about that during January as we take the month to re-focus on God at the beginning of a new year)

I was at an exercise class a few days before Christmas and the instructor said: Remember, come January 1, this place will be packed. Dont be put off, most people will be gone again by the start of February

We love to make resolutions, but its hard to stick to them.

So I found a different list of resolutions. On a website for a company that sells mattresses. (puffy.com). Here is Puffys list of 7 New Year Resolutions You Can Actually Accomplish In 2023

7. Do One New Thing A MonthNew Year resolutions often crash and burn because they try to tackle too much too fast. Set a goal once a month to do something youve never done before. That could mean eating at a new restaurant, gardening, or learning to salsa. However small or big, its still something to look back on at the end of the year.

6. Save A Small Percentage Of Your Paycheck

5. Do Your Bit For The EnvironmentTake baby steps. Carry a reusable tote bag to the supermarket (Im still trying!)

4. Be Kind To Yourself And OthersA small act of kindness will suffice. Text a friend you havent heard from in a while. Call your parents. Cook a meal for your partner. Treat yourself to a cupcake from your favorite bakery. Allow yourself to take a whole day off and do what you want to do.

3. Change Up Your LookTake a few inches off your hair, try a new hair color, get a tattoo, or simply switch up your personal style. Make 2023 the year you decide to embrace bold colors, mix patterns, and find the courage to wear outfits youve always wanted to but never thought you could pull off.

2. Try A New Recipe Each Week(This one actually sounds exhausting to me!)

1. Get More SleepWhile it sounds easy enough to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep every night, not a lot of people do. God has made us for Work and Rest, and were going to talk about this more as the month goes on

But there you go. 7 resolutions you can actually accomplish in 2023. (Some I really like!)

What about your spiritual goals for 2023?

My question to you as your pastor is: What do you hope God will do in you in 2023? Where do you want this journey to take you? What are your spiritual New Years resolutions?

Because were not just here for our weekly shot of religion. Were here for transformation. The kind of transformation that happens when people meet Jesus.

So thats what were going to see in our Bible passage today a transformation story, with three take away lessons that we can build into our own faith story for 2023.

So lets pray that God would start that transformation work in us (even now!) as we open his word.

Our heavenly Father, will you speak to us through the Bible as we open it now. Will you use it to sharpen us, and focus us, so that we become more and more like Jesus every day. In his mighty name we pray. Amen

1. Seeking Jesus

If you grew up in Sunday School, then you might know the story of Zaccheaus already. What does the song tell us?

Zacchaeus was a wee little manAnd a wee little man was heHe climbed up in a sycamore treeFor the Lord he wanted to see

If Zacchaeus was remembered for anything, it was that he was short! But possibly not the shortest man in the Bible. In the running for the shortest man you have Nehemiah (knee-high-mia). Jobs friend Bildad the Shuhite (shoe-height). But the winner is Simon Peter who fell asleep on his watch.

Now if we ever have Church Camp, youll know the answer to at least one of the Saturday night trivia questions ;-)

But lets get back to Zacchaeus. There was more to Zacchaeus than his height. Look at Luke 19 starting at v1:

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. (Luke 19:1-3)

Zacchaeus was a tax collector. In fact, a chief tax collector for the Roman Empire.

At the time of our Bible passage, the Romans had conquered most of the Mediterranean, North Africa, Egypt, modern day Turkey and Syria, and of course Israel where Jesus lived. Rome had army garrisons throughout their territories, but they also used local governments to keep the people in check. One way of doing that is through taxation.

In New Testament times, tax collectors were seen as collaborators because they worked for the Romans to collect taxes from their own people. They were also known for adding a little bit on for themselves quite liberally. And so not only were they collaborators but crooks. And Zacchaeus was a chief collaborator, I mean, tax collector. It tells us in v2 he was very wealthy.

Im sure the townsfolk knew who Zacchaeus was.

In fact in v5, they call him a sinner.

But Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Or more accurately (v3) he wanted to see who Jesus was.

By the time this encounter happened, Jesus had been traveling and teaching for almost 3 years. Doing miracles, healing the sick, preaching wisdom that no-one had ever heard before. He had been transforming lives and communities and Zacchaeus wanted to see it for himself.

Perhaps Zacchaeus was looking for his own transformation story.

Are you looking for a transformation story?

Perhaps, like Zacchaeus, youve heard these stories about Jesus, but you just dont know what to make of them. Youre not sure if they could be true in your life. Does Jesus really heal the sick? Does he really cure addiction? Does he really bring forgiveness where there is only pain? Could it really be true?

Zaccheaus decides to find out for himself (v4)

4 [Zacchaeus] ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. (Luke 19:4)

I am guessing it was highly undignified for Zacchaeus to climb that tree. Probably he didnt think anybody would see him, because they would all be focused on Jesus. But how else was he to see Jesus? He couldnt be lifted on somebodys shoulders like a child. That would be even more humiliating. So he climbs the tree. He does what it takes to see Jesus for himself.

And thats our first big idea for today Seeking Jesus. If you want to know who Jesus is, you cant just stand back and wait. You need to go after him. You need to climb the metaphorical tree. You need to do whatever it takes so that you can be sure, one way or the other.

And it might raise some eyebrows. When you decide to start coming to church regularly. Or you decide to join a course to learn more about Jesus. Your family or your friends might look at you a bit funny if you start reading the Bible. Why would you do that? they might say.

But take a lesson from Zacchaeus. Transformation starts by seeking Jesus, making a deliberate decision to seek after Jesus. What steps will you take in 2023?

2. Welcoming Jesus

Ive told you before about one of our favorite ever television series at our house the Long Way Round. Two celebrities Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman ride motorcycles 19,000 miles from London to New York.

Route: London through Europe, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, across the Pacific to Alaska, then down through Canada and America. 106 days.

One of the parts I remember the most is when they were invited to stay with locals. Not set up, just people who invited them to stay in their homes, gave them beds when they were tired, shared their food with them. And made them feel welcome. Complete strangers, invited into their private world for just a moment

Have you ever had an experience like that?

It happened to Zacchaeus.

Remember Zacchaeus is up in the tree, (v5):

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (Luke 19:5-6)

Jesus invites himself over to Zacchaeus house.

In my mind, Id be wondering if the house was neat enough to invite a celebrity in. Zacchaeus was wealthy he probably had a lovely home. But Jesus didnt go to peoples houses to admire their dcor. Jesus went to do business with peoples souls. Think about the other examples when you get home later on. Whenever we find out that Jesus is in a certain persons home, there is always a lesson to be learned. Something of significance always happens

And this time the business is transformation.

Zacchaeus is ready, I think, for whatever Jesus has for him. Look at the urgency in v5-6. Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. So he came down at once.

This was Zacchaeus one chance to meet with Jesus. His one chance for a face-to-face with the greatest teacher of all time. This was his moment. And he took it.

It may be that today is your moment. Jesus is rounding the corner and looking right at you and saying, You and I need to sit down. Today. We need to talk.

You might be like Zacchaeus. You might have done things that Jesus wouldnt approve of. But that doesnt stop Jesus. (He will get to those things, BTW, but they are never an obstacle to starting the conversation.) He just wants the chance to talk to you, face to face, heart to heart.

Your job is to let him in. To welcome him. To welcome him into your private world and to let him speak truth into your life. That can be terrifying, especially if youre the sort of person who never lets anyone get close.

Nobody ever said transformation is easy. But its life-changing

PAUSE/FOOT OFF

Zoom out again to the people around Zacchaeus. Did you notice the reaction of the townsfolk when they heard Jesus say he would go to Zacchaeus house? (v7)

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, He has gone to be the guest of a sinner. (Luke 19:7)

Culturally, it was totally against the Jewish religious teachings for a Rabbi or a teacher to associate with a known sinner. Religion was for the righteous, and the righteous were to keep themselves separate from anything that might bring them into unrighteousness. Makes sense right?

But Jesus wasnt like other religious teachers.

Jesus didnt seek out the self-righteous. He was looking for people ready for a heart change

But the watching world can be pretty judgmental.

You picked that guy, Jesus? You picked the sinner? You think you can make a change in his life? Look at him. Look at her. Theyre hopeless.

Worse is when the attack comes as muttering.

When a person starts to change their life to include Jesus, other people often start muttering. She is going to church now? After what she did? He is going to church? You know what hes done, dont you?

Sometimes it will be work colleagues who start muttering. Or family members. Or friends. Sadly even sometimes the people sitting in the pews who sow the seeds of doubt

Dont listen to them. (Dont be those people either BTW! IT was probably the religious who were the ones muttering in the story)

When a person first starts to welcome Jesus into their life, it can be a fragile moment. They might be inviting Jesus into a marriage. Into an engagement. Into a family system. Into a lifestyle and worldview that theyve spent their whole life living in. Accepting Jesus will take adjustment. And sometimes big adjustments.

But nobody ever said transformation is easy. But if Jesus is who he says he is, then there is no better pathway to go down in life.

So welcome Jesus. Invite him into your personal world, ask him to speak to your values and your beliefs and your hopes and your dreams. He cant do that if you shut him out.

And church, we need to help people to welcome Jesus into their lives. We need to be advocates of Jesus and supporters when people take little steps in faith. We also need to keep letting Jesus into our lives! Sometimes those of us who have been Christians the longest are the most complacent. Dont settle for mediocrity. Let Jesus in this year, and welcome him into your secret places in 2023.

3. Changing because of Jesus

Do you really believe people can change?

When I was a High School Senior, I was part of the ROTC and we were out on a 24hr exercise one of those exercises where teams had to move around checkpoints without getting captured. Escape and Evasion they call it. Anyway I had a support role and so I was on a checkpoint overnight from 8pm 8am. The guy they paired me up with was also in my grade. Scott. Not somebody I had ever talked to much, even though we caught the same train for 6 years together, we had been in lots of the same classes, we had taken gym together. The difference was, he was on the rowing squad and he played football, whereas I was in the choir and spent my weekends rockclimbing. He was popular and I was a little alternative. The only interactions I remember having with him, he perpetuated the stereotype of the jock.

So when I found out it was Scott, I wasnt looking forward to spending 12 hours with him.

Our conversation started nervously. He was much more quiet than I imagined. He told me the reason he was on the checkpoint is that hed had a life-changing illness chronic fatigue syndrome which had robbed him of his athletic dreams. He now struggled with daily activities, concentrating, school work which he wasnt great at to begin with. But hed also had another life-changing event. Hed become a Christian.

So had I, I told him. You? he said. I thought youd be way too cool to become a Christian. I had thought the same of him.

Turns out you never know who will welcome Jesus into their life. We cant make presumptions that this person or that person is too cool for Jesus. Or too rich for Jesus. Or too [fill in the blank] for Jesus.

You see, when people meet Jesus, they can really change. I spoke to Scott again at our 20 or 25 year anniversary and he was still struggling with health but living life to the full with Jesus. Jesus rewrote his story, just like he rewrote mine.

And he can rewrite your story too, if you let him.

Do you know that expression, a leopard can never change its spots. It actually comes from the Bible (Jeremiah 13). And we use that expression to say that people never change. We cant really expect change, or growth, or transformation. We get stuck in our old ways. You cant teach an old dog new tricks. Change is just not realistic after a certain point.

To some extent thats true.

When God speaks those words in Jeremiah, hes talking about his people when they were stuck in sin. They had rebelled against him and they had become accustomed to doing evil (Jeremiah 13:23).

That was Zacchaeus story, wasnt it? He had been stuck in the sin of stealing from his own people.

But look at what changes when Zacchaeus meets Jesus. (v8)

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. (Luke 19:8)

Zacchaeus turns his life around. He finds mercy and forgiveness from Jesus. Gods grace to cover his sins. And thats the catalyst for change.

Zacchaeus decides to make amends. He determines to stop sinning. Because Jesus brings transformation to his life. The leopard can change his spots.

And thats part of the hope of Jesus that we share here every week. Jesus can make a real difference in your life, and in the life of the community around us.

Im guessing it wasnt easy for Zacchaeus to turn his life around in an instant. In the chapter before this, Jesus had said how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God (Luke 18:24). But here we see Zacchaeus do that very thing.

Jesus declares in v9:

Today salvation has come to this house, [] For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Jesus doesnt come to save those who are already saved. He comes to save those who have lost their way. Those who are stuck in sin. Those who are slaves to whatever it is that drives them.

Jesus comes into the lives of the lost to help them find the way again. Jesus transforms lives. In a process that begins when we seek him, and welcome him in, and say yes to his new pattern for our lives. And that process isnt completed in a day, same as going to the gym once doesnt give you a perfect physique. But as we live with Jesus, as we let his word shape us, as we let his Holy Spirit teach and correct and train us in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16) we will see transformation in our own lives. We are conformed, or molded, into the image of Jesus, it says in Romans 8:29. (The Bible calls this sanctification a sermon for another day!)

And so thats the third big idea from the passage today. Changing because of Jesus.

This year, we can each expect to change because of Jesus. We can expect transformation in our own lives, as we follow Jesus faithfully. And we can expect to see transformation in the lives of those around us, as we bring that new Christlikeness into every relationship.

The New Year is always an opportunity to make a change. To make a new start. What will your new start be in 2023?Watch at: https://youtu.be/0eRTd9n0ups File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2023/01/19/19/43/49/c873ac1e-06c3-446d-9ea7-ffdeaac35c19/01.01.23%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf

Christmas Eve 2022 - Gifts of Christmas4. Gold: The Gift of a King Dan Bidwell, Senior Pastor Christmas Week 2022

All this December we have been thinking about the gifts of Christmas. It got me thinking about some of the best gifts Ive received over the years.- Walkie talkies- Skateboards- Body boards (Christmas is in summertime in Australia, and we lived near the beach!) In fact lots of surf wear, swimsuits, towels, snorkels, fins etc. Water babies!

My kids are 20 and 18 now, and of course Christmas gifts change as kids get older. The value of the gifts goes up, and usually were told what to buy (and what not to buy).

I love the idea of surprising the kids, or my wife, with an outrageous gift. Have you seen those holiday ads from car dealers, the ones where a couple will surprise one another with a brand new car, without ever telling the other person. Has anybody ever had that happen to them?

Perhaps my most valuable Christmas gift ever was finding out that my wife, Joanna, was pregnant with our first child. Such an exciting Christmas gift! Jo remembers the gift of morning sickness

As I said, all through December weve been thinking about the Gifts of Christmas, particularly the gift that the wise men brought to the baby Jesus.

Gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gifts that were of great value. But also gifts that had spiritual significance. They each point to a deeper truth about Jesus which would be revealed as he grew from Jesus the baby into Jesus the savior.

And today we come to our last gift the gift of Gold.

So why dont we ask God to speak to us and teach us as we open the Bible over the next few minutes.

Heavenly Father, as we open your Bible today/tonight, will you teach us about who Jesus is? Will you reveal him to us, as you revealed him to the wise men on that first Christmas? Will you show us Jesus the king, and will you help us to respond to him in worship? We pray this in Jesus mighty name. Amen

1. Revealing The King

As you may have guessed, I was not born in the US. I was born in Australia, and one of the stranger things about Australia is that we still belong to the British Commonwealth. So we still technically have the King of England as our head of state. (Feels strange to say The King after saying The Queen all my life!).

One of the big questions as the Queen got older and older was, who would become the next King of England?

Prince Charles was always the number 1 in line for the throne, but some people wondered if he would accept the role.

Next in line is Prince William, who for a long time was one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet. When I became a school teacher in 1998, Prince Wills (as he was known) was 18, and I remember the girls hoping they would meet him and fall in love and marry a prince (because thats the dream, right?). Its also a regular theme in Christmas Hallmark movies 

Why the lesson about the British royal family?

This year with the passing of the Queen, a new king was revealed King Charles III. And the coronation was this spectacle to behold uniforms and pageantry and ceremony and horses and chariots and crowds of people lining the streets, as the new King took the throne.

Because thats what we expect when the new king is revealed.

And thats why the story of Jesus birth is so unusual, so unexpected, so unceremonious.

Rather than a royal birth in a palace, surrounded by attendants and servants, instead Jesus is born in a stable, surrounded by animals. In fact it probably wasnt even a stable or a barn, but a cave where the animals sheltered. Jesus wasnt dressed in royal robes and laid in an ornate cradle instead he was wrapped in strips of cloth and laid in a manger, a feeding trough for cattle and donkeys. There was nothing to say that this birth was special if anything it looks the opposite. A desperate young mother and her husband with no family support, maybe because theyd heard that the baby wasnt Josephs.

I suspect thats what the scene looked like to the innkeeper who let them stay in his barn.

But thats not how God saw the birth of Jesus. He sends a legion of angels who fill the skies, singing Glory To God in the Highest. He places a star in the sky over Bethlehem, a sign to those who recognize it, a neon light to say here is the king!

Its funny who recognized the star, and what it meant.

Gods people had been waiting for hundreds of years for their king to be born. The one we read about in Isaiahs prophecy from 700 years before:

6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.Isaiah 9:6 (NLT)

(BTW did you know if you go to In N Out burger, and you look under the bottom of the soda cups, this verse reference is written there Isaiah 9:6!!)

Gods people were waiting for this Prince. But even those who studied the Scriptures faithfully didnt recognize what was happening in Bethlehem. Probably because it didnt look like what they thought it would look like. They wanted a royal birth, and a royal announcement, and a royal family, and instead Jesus was born to a carpenter and his virgin bride

But the Wise Men, they recognized what was happening. I said a few weeks ago that we dont know much about the wise men. They were from the east, probably Persia, certainly from a different religious background than Jesus we believe they were astrologers who worshiped the stars as well as studied them.

But from hundreds of miles away, from a different culture, from a different religion, they followed the star and came to understand that it revealed the birth of a king.

When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and said, Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. Matthew 2:1-2 (CEV

I love the wise men. Because they remind me that you dont have to grow up with a Christian background to be able to see the truth about Jesus. Somehow God made it clear to them that Jesus is very special. Dont be fooled by the manger. Dont be fooled by the humble circumstances. Jesus is quite extraordinary. He is a king like no other.

So what should you do when you meet the king?

2. Responding to the King

A few years ago back in Sydney, I took the family to the Broadway musical of The Lion King. Who has seen it?

Ill never forget the opening scene. Its sunrise on the African savannah and as the light slowly fills the room, animals appear on stage (well, actors dressed in animal costumes). There are bird puppets flying overhead inside the theater, and then giraffes walk down through the audience onto stage actors on stilts standing 15 feet tall. I actually got a bit emotional when we saw it, because it is so visually overwhelming

But then the focus switches to Pride Rock, where the baby lion Simba is revealed, the baby who will one day become king. And thats when the iconic scene happens - Rafiki the baboon holds Simba up, presenting him to all the animals. (Sing?) All the animals hoot and holler and then one by one, they bend their knees, and kneel down to honor their future king

Thats what the Wise Men did to Jesus. Did you see it there in Matthew 2:2?

They asked: Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him..

And this is where our third gift comes in. Gold. Gold is a gift fit for a king. And even though Jesus is born in a manger, the Wise Men recognize him for who he is. A King who deserves our worship. A King who deserves our best. A King who deserves our honor and our praise and our allegiance.

Look at what God says about Jesus. (Turn to the back page of your handout)

In Ephesians 2, it says this about Jesus:

21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything elsenot only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things

Ephesians 1:21-22 (NLT)

If you believe what the Bible says about Jesus, he is not some historical figure from 2000 years ago. One day Jesus will be revealed as the King over every other power and authority in the universe. Far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else. Not only in this world, bit the world to come. Because God has put all things under the authority of Christ.

Make no mistake. One day we will all see Jesus revealed like this. The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. In majesty and power and authority. Not a Christmas tradition, but the living and reigning ruler of all. The ruler of you, and me.

And on that day, something else will be revealed. Where you stand with the King. Or more to the point, whether you have bowed down before the King. Whether you have worshiped him. Whether you have given him your best

Philippians 2:9-10 says:

Then God gave Christ the highest placeand honored his name above all others.10 So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down,those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

Philippians 2:9-10 (CEV)

I love Christmas, and I love the decorating and the gifts, and the family traditions. But dont let that get in the way of the real reason for celebrating this year. Jesus, the King has been born. Jesus, who brings forgiveness, and healing into our lives. Jesus who brings the end of hostility between us and God. Jesus who makes an end to suffering and death. Jesus who can bring us into eternal life and happiness. That is the gift in the manger. The gold of Christmas is Jesus the King.

And he deserves your worship. Your very best. Not just in the holiday season, but every day.

I know we already sung O Holy Night, but I just love that line: Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices.

This Christmas, will you fall on your knees for Jesus? Will you worship him and honor him with all that you are and all that you have?

Shall we pray?Watch at: https://youtu.be/IWroHgQpDJk File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2023/01/28/05/57/49/a998426f-e1b2-4083-93a1-4164293ebfa9/12.24.22%20Sunday%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf

Gifts of Christmas3. Myrrh: The Gift of a Lamb Dan Bidwell, Senior PastorIsaiah 53:3-7 18 December 2022

My wife, Joanna, was at her work Christmas party this week, and they each had to bring a gift for the White Elephant game, that game where you open a present but the next person can steal it if they like it more than their present. Anyway almost half the gifts were scented candles, so there was a lot of negotiating about who wanted French Oak, and White Bergamot, and Carmel Spice.

So as we start, a question for the people sitting around you. If you could only burn one scented candle for the rest of your life what would it be?

~

I bring up scented candles because the Christmas gift were talking about today had one use as a perfume.

Over these three weeks leading into Christmas, we are thinking about the gifts that the Wise Men brought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. And particularly the significance of the gift, beyond just being valuable and useful.

Last week we talked about frankincense, which was a gift pointing to Jesus as the High Priest.

Today we are going to talk about the gift of myrrh.

So what do you do with a gift of myrrh? What was myrrh was used for?

It's unusual one again. Myrrh is actually quite similar to frankincense. It's another aromatic resin. Like frankincense, myrrh comes from a tree that grows in the Arabian Peninsula. It grows on a bush with lots of thorns and they cut the bark and the sap comes out and they use that to make the myrrh.

In the ancient world it was used as an antiseptic, and even today apparently myrrh is used in some mouthwash and toothpaste. It's also used as a light analgesic to relieve pain from small injuries, or mixed into a topical skin product that you can rub on bruises and sore muscles.

The word in the original language means bitter. Compared to a frankincense which has a very sweet smell, apparently myrrh smells kind of woody and earthy but a little bit medicinal. But it was also used as a perfume. And as you read through the Bible, myrrh is mentioned 17 times, about 10 of those references are in the Song of Songs where myrrh is described almost like an aphrodisiac.

But when you come to the crucifixion scene of Jesus, myrrh is referred to twice for a different purpose.

Look Mark 15:22-24

22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of the skull). 23 Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him. (Mark 15:22-24)

They were offering Jesus this wine mixed with myrrh as a kind of pain reliever to help him with the pain before they crucified him. But Jesus wouldn't take it. We assume that Jesus wanted to be completely lucid as he went to his death.

And then after his death we see myrrh again in John chapter 19 at verse 38

38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilates permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.(John 19:38-42)

Myrrh plays this big role in the crucifixion scene of Jesus. And so when we think about the significance of this gift to the baby Jesus, the gift of myrrh actually points forward to the end of his life.

There's a kind of tragic irony that this gift given to Jesus at birth becomes the same thing that he's wrapped in in his death. One commentator wrote: the die is cast early in Jesus life, pointing ahead to an early death.

So why do I bring this up as a Christmas sermon? I've been asking myself the same thing. Well partly because the wise men brought this as a gift to Jesus. And partly because we cant separate Jesus the baby from Jesus the savior. I think God intended this gift to remind us that the die was cast but not by the Wise Mens gifts. The die was cast by God, in a plan that was announced some 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

And so Ive called the sermon today: the gift of a lamb, based in Isaiah 53:6.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

But why dont we pray that God would teach us now, as we open the Bible.

Heavenly Father, will you speak to us today as we open your word. Will you teach us about your son Jesus, and his significance in our lives. Will you grow us in faith, trust and obedience to him. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

1. The Gift of a Lamb

I want to start by talking about sheep. As an Australian I grew up seeing sheep in fields. Thats because Australia has almost 3 sheep for every human. 25 million people, 70 million sheep. (Only 5 million sheep in the US explains the price of lamb!)

Sheep are not very clever. Sheep are one of the only animals that need a shepherd. Most animals can manage themselves in the fields but sheep need protection. The mainly stick together in a flock, but occasionally a sheep will wander off on its own (just like in the Bible stories). Even when sheep are together, if wolves come, or if a bear comes, or if a lion comes, the sheep just huddle together and hope that they are not the one who gets eaten. And thats why they need a shepherd.

Sheep are not very clever. There was a story from 2005 somewhere in Turkey where 1500 sheep wandered off a cliff together. Only 400 died because the first 400 made a big pillow for the other sheep.

Back in Australia we have friends who are sheep farmers. One day we were on their farm, driving through the fields, and we approached the dam (which I think you call a pond or water reservoir). Anyway it was a very dry year and most of the water had evaporated out of the dam so there was thick mud. And there's this sheep up to his neck in mud, completely stuck. There's no way he could move and so my friend takes off his boots and he just had to wade in and drag his sheep out to safety. Thats what shepherds will do for the sake of the sheep. They go to rescue the one, because they're all valuable.

So sheep get themselves into trouble. And Isaiah 53 six says we are all like sheep. We all wander off. We all go astray. We to go our own way. We turn to whatever we feel like doing. And just like sheep end up in danger, we end up in danger.

We're endangered by what we do, and where we walk, and where we go, when we wander away from God.

But the problem is we're different from sheep. Unlike sheep, were not stupid or innocent in our wandering. This is made very clear in verse 6, where it says our wandering results in iniquity.

Iniquity is one of those strange words from the Bible. It means something like gross injustice or wickedness. So our wandering is not trivial. Its actually something that's very offensive to God. Another definition of iniquity is something that is disrespectful. Our wandering away from God is disrespectful to him. We talked about that last week as sin. And so God tells us in Isaiah 53:6 that we wander away from Him into gross injustice, wickedness, and sin that leaves us open to death.

But here's the gift in v7:

And the Lord has laid on himThe iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:7)

God lays our iniquity, he lays our wickedness, he lays our sin and he lays our wandering unto Jesus.

And a couple of verses later in v10 it will say that the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, and in v12 that he bears our sin.

Thats why we keep the cross in the church all year long. This feels like an Easter sermon but the cross reminds us that Jesus death is the reason that we're forgiven, and the cross is where Jesus takes on our sin.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 it says

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)

There's this great exchange that happens. Jesus takes on our sin so that we can become righteousness.

Isaiah describes how it happens in verses 5 to 7. BTW remember this is a prophecy that was written 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

Look at vv5-7: it says

He was pierced for our transgressions

Do you remember when Jesus had died on the cross, the soldiers pierced his side with a spear.

He was crushed for iniquities

I think of the way the soldiers beat Jesus, how they mocked him, how they scourged him with whips

And the punishment that brought us peace was upon him

Jesus allowed himself to be punished. Punished in our place. He was wounded:

And by his wounds we are healed.

And then if you have a look at verse 7:

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Jesus goes to the cross like a lamb, and we're like sheep and wander away. So Jesus becomes a sheep for us.

We wander, and he becomes a sheep, he becomes a lamb in our place.

Last week we saw that Jesus was the high priest. This week we've seen that Jesus is not only the high priest but also the sacrificial lamb.

At the beginning of John's gospel, when John the Baptist sees Jesus in chapter 1, he says:

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

And again were reminded of the Passover when God asked his people to kill a lamb and paint the blood on the doors. This lamb that would mean that God's wrath would pass over his people, that Gods wrath is averted, that God's judgment won't fall on us. The lamb protects Gods people.

So thats why our first gift is the gift of a lamb. The myrrh reminds us that Jesus will die for us, so that we can be saved.

2. The Gift of Peace

Here's the bigger gift. Maybe not the bigger gift, but here's the gift that you get to open today. And its the gift of peace.

You know the holiday season is meant to be a season of love and joy and hope and peace; and that everything is supposed to be merry and bright, and holly and jolly.

But the older that we get, the more we realize that Christmas is not always holly and jolly. It's not always full of love and joy and peace and hope. Sometimes it feels the opposite. It might be filled with sorrow or hurt or turmoil or despair or hopelessness.

For some of us this might be one of the first Christmases after a loved one has passed. Or it might be a number of years, but still the holidays remind you of what you're missing. For some it's divorce. For some it's estrangement with your kids. For others it's illness or mental health.

The holidays often bring back the feeling that something is missing, and that it is not all love and joy and peace and hope and holly and jolly and happy and merry. And you're not alone. If you feel that, you're not alone. Actually Jesus understands your pain. And Jesus understands your pain because (and this I think was what was missing in the sermon last week) because when Jesus comes to earth, he is God in human flesh. God the son steps down out of heaven, and he steps into our world, and he steps into our pain, and he steps into our suffering, and he bears our suffering. Have a look at v4 there in Isaiah 53:

Surely he took up our painAnd bore our suffering (Isaiah 53:4)

Jesus takes up our pain and he bears our suffering. He entered into our pain so that he could deal with the root source of our pain. He came to deal with sin.

So many people think that sin is not very important. But sin is the root cause of all of the pain and all of the sorrow and all of the suffering that we experience on earth. It's the root cause of death. Sin is behind it all. Sin is like a decay that goes all the way through creation, and until it's dealt with, we'll always have sorrow and suffering and pain. We'll have moments of peace and joy and hope and love, but it will always tempered with moments of pain.

But Jesus deals with this problem of sin by taking the only course of treatment that can deal with sin. Jesus takes all of the pain, and takes all of the suffering, and he takes all of its effects and he takes them upon himself until sin is exhausted, until there's no more power of sin and Jesus lays dead. He dies from bearing sin. It kills him.

And then hes embalmed in the spice that was the same gift that he received as a baby.

I think this was a film, the director would do a flashback to the motif of myrrh, and you would go oh wow I see what happened. Theres a tragic irony in the myrrh.

But the biggest surprise, of course, is that Jesus death isnt a tragedy. His death isnt the end of the story. Because we know that three days later Jesus rises to life and the grave clothes are abandoned and the myrrh is left behind because they arent needed in a world where Jesus is. Jesus rising to life shows that the grave is no longer the ending of the story. It tells us that in a world with Jesus, pain won't always have the last word in your life, and suffering won't always have the last word because on the cross Jesus says it is finished. It's finished.

Sin is dealt with and we can find peace.

Look at v5

The punishment that brought us peace was on himAnd by his wounds we are healed

Because of Jesus death we find peace. Not World Peace or the absence of all conflict. Not that kind of peace, not yet anyway. What we find is deep peace with God, knowing that our sins are dealt with, that we'll be with him forever.

And by his wounds we find healing. We find healing and forgiveness and the promise of justice. That the things that have hurt us will one day be dealt with. And for the hurts that we have caused others, his promise is that we will find forgiveness, and that peace will be restored one day

I love that promise going into the holiday season when so many of our relationships are wounded in one way or another. Jesus promises peace, perhaps not perfectly in this lifetime, but in his kingdom which lasts forever.

In that world, there will there be no more suffering and no more tears and no more death and no more pain because the old order has passed away, because Jesus dealt with it as the lamb.

And that means right now in the midst of our pain and in the midst of our suffering, we don't need to suffer without purpose. We don't need to suffer without hope. In fact we can look forward to the end of it, to something better. And in the middle of our pain and our suffering, even as it happens, we can point ourselves to Jesus, and we can point others to Jesus, to the hope of healing and peace.

The gift of a lamb really changes our story. It means that even if you're having a difficult year, Christmas can be full of peace and healing and hope.

And that's the hope that we find in the gift of myrrh. We find a lamb who dies a sacrificial death on our behalf, so that we can find peace and healing.

Shall we pray?

Heavenly father we thank you for this message of healing and hope thank you for the gift of the lamb and this little spice called myrrh that points us to Jesus death and resurrection. We pray that you would fill our hearts with resurrection hope, that you would be with us in our suffering and in our sorrow. We pray that you would bring us joy and healing and peace. We pray that we would be able to point others to Jesus and to healing and hope in him as well. We ask you to be with those who are missing a loved one this year, with those who are facing family troubles, with all who are suffering from illness and loneliness. Help us to bring healing and peace into those situations, wherever we might find ourselves this Christmas.

And Father, we pray for all our Christmas services: for the concert tonight, for the traditional service on Tuesday, for our Christmas Eve services and our Christmas Day service. We pray that you would fill this house with people who need to hear about the hope of Jesus. We ask you to provide everything we need, so that in all things we bring glory to the Lamb, Jesus our savior.

Jesus, we praise you, and we honor you, and we thank you for your gifts to us, at Christmas and everyday.

In your saving name we pray. AmenWatch at: https://youtu.be/UKzIRctqMzA File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2023/01/11/08/53/48/95fcab73-8cca-4f39-98ab-f2b72274901d/12.18.22%20Sunday%20Srmon%20Transcript.pdf

Gifts of Christmas2. Frankincense: The Gift of Understanding Dan Bidwell, Senior PastorIsaiah 40:3-5; Mark 1:1-8, 14-15 Sunday 11 December, 2022

In a small Southern town, the children in Sunday school were drawing pictures of the nativity. As the teacher went around, she complimented the children on their pictures of Mary, and Joseph and the baby Jesus. As she got to little Timmy, she noticed something unusual about his picture. The wise men were wearing firemens helmets.

She said to Timmy: Timmy, I love your picture. But why are the wisemen wearing firemens helmets?

Little Timmy says: Because, Miss, you told us that the wise men came from afar!

~

Well we are continuing today in our sermon series called Gifts of Christmas. Last week we began with the gift of preparation. And today we jump into the gifts that the Wise Men brought to Jesus, and from now until Christmas well look at one of those gifts each week.

Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

These were incredibly valuable gifts, but also very practical. Gold is money, and frankincense and myrrh had many uses in the ancient world.

But these gifts were not just valuable and practical. Each gift actually foreshadows something of what Jesus would become, some of the aspects of Jesus character that would be revealed as he grew into the savior of the world.

So those are the gifts were looking into over the next few weeks. Why dont we pray that God would reveal those insights to us now as we open the Scriptures?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for Christmas and the gift of a little baby who would bring forgiveness and life to the world. Will you reveal to us the gift that it is to have Jesus in our life. We pray in his name, Amen.

So I have a couple of little facts about the wise men before we continue. We often call them the three wise men, because of the three gifts they brought to Jesus (gold, frankincense, and wait theres myrrh). But actually the Bible doesnt say how many wise men there were it just says in Matthew 2 (on your handouts)

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. (Matthew 2:1-2)

We actually dont know much about the magi. The word magi has the same root as our word magic, so it could refer to magicians or sorcerers. However in this case, it probably refers to those wise in interpreting the stars. Modern academic consensus is that the magi were astrologers from Persia (modern-day Iran).

Early Christian tradition said that they were kings (carol: We three kings from orient are bearing gifts weve traveled so far) They were given names Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. It was speculated that they might have been the kings of Persia, and then later that they were kings representing Europe, Asia and Africa.

But that is all speculation. We just have what is recorded for us here in Matthew 2, and so we have to live with the mystery. I read somewhere that wise men and women are still seeking Jesus. I like that.

So, onto our gift for today. Frankincense.

What is frankincense?

Frankincense is the resin from a species of tree that grows on the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa. The sap dries out into a resin, and the resin is very fragrant, very aromatic. The resin was added to essential oils, and became a very expensive perfume. The ancient Egyptians used frankincense as one of the embalming ingredients when a person died. It was used in the preparation of mummies. It also had many other uses. Here are some other uses I read online:

Antiseptic; astringent; carminative; diuretic; digestive; sedative; and vulnerary therapeutic properties.

In some parts of the world frankincense is still used to treat diabetes, and asthma, and blood disorders. A very useful product.

But there's a second use for frankincense and I think this is what points to Jesus.

In God's temple, the priests would burn frankincense or incense or as part of the priests duties. They would burn incense and the smoke would rise, and as it rose it represents the prayers of the people going up to God as a fragrant offering that he would accept that their prayers in faith. So frankincense is a kind of representative idea. The gift of frankincense foreshadows the fact that Jesus would be the high priest over all of God's people.

1. The Gift of a High Priest

So why do we need a High Priest?

This comes back to the Old Testament. We need to understand priests and what they did.

In the Old Testament the priest had two functions and basically what they did is they represented the people to God. They did that by presenting sacrifices to God on the behalf of the people, so that God would forgive them. And they prayed on behalf of the people, interceding for them, raising prayers for the people so that God would accept them. The priest was an intermediary between the people and God.

Now why do we need a priest?

The reason is that sinful people can't approach a holy God and hope to survive. God in His Holiness, God in his purity, God in his goodness, God in all of the radiance of his pure holiness can't stand anything to come into his presence that is impure or unclean or sinful. And so sinful people can't approach God on their own. If we did we would die.

(Do you remember that image in Isaiah 6 where Isaiah sees God on his throne, in all his holiness, and Isaiah falls down on his knees and says: I am ruined, Im a man of unclean lips and Im a sinful man, and my eyes have seen the King Isaiah was in the presence of the Holy God and he thought he would die until God sends the angel to cleanse him by touching a burning coal to his mouth)

You see, sinful people cant come into the presence of God, otherwise we would die. And this is a difficult concept for the world to understand. Because we think of sin as something trivial, something a bit old fashioned, just an idea to scare kids into behaving.

A bit like Santa Claus making a list and checking it twice. Sin is just there to find out if were naughty or nice.

Speaking of which, have you heard about Elf on a Shelf? (Check if there are kids in the room) We didnt have this when my kids were growing up, perhaps its something that Santa launched more recently. But basically the Elf on a Shelf is there to keep an eye on the kids behavior and sends a daily report to the North Pole. The elves move around each night as well, and sometimes play tricks on the kids

So we often see sin as something trivial.

But when we look at the Old Testament temple, we see that sin is anything but trivial. Sin is so serious that it required the sacrifice of an animal. It required the shedding of blood in order for sinful people to be able to approach the holy God. It required death as an atonement for sin. An innocent animal would die in place of the guilty person.

It worked like this. A person would bring an animal to the temple, which was kind of a representative of themselves. They would pay for the animal, they would bring it to the priest and the priest would slaughter the animal, and he would sprinkle the blood around. There was something in the temple called the mercy seat. And the priest would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat and it represented God accepting the sacrifice of the animals blood, the sacrifice on the persons behalf so that they could receive mercy and forgiveness. And then the priest would light the frankincense and pray for the people. And those prayers would go up in faith and trust that God would offer his forgiveness.

Thats how the Old Testament sacrificial system worked. And it reminds us that sin is anything but trivial. Sin requires death. God is so holy and sin is so bad, that God requires death in order for sin to be atoned for.

You might be asking where is the gift in all of this gore?

Well the gift is that God doesn't want us to die. God didn't create us so that he could punish us. He didnt create us so that he could kill us. He didnt create us in order to say well you've been terrible, you're bad. That's not it at all. God created us, and he loves us, and he wants us to be able to approach him and be confident and know that were loved. Thats what the whole story of the Bible is about God overcoming our sin problem so that we can return to him.

Have a look at the Hebrews 10 reading:

10 For Gods will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. (Hebrews 10:10)

So God actually wants us to be holy, and he will be the one who provides the sacrifice in Jesus Christ. Jesus body will be the sacrifice for us and it's not a sacrifice that has to happen again and again. It is once for all, once for all time.

And this also marks a change to the old covenant. Under the Old Covenant, in Old Testament times, people had to keep coming back to the temple and they had to keep buying animals and to keep bringing sacrifices and to keep the to keep killing things. It's kind of an abhorrent idea, isn't it? I mean it's very bloody, they splashed the blood around, and it's a very vivid illustration of the punishment for sin. But that was the old covenant and so read on.

BTW Ive chosen the New Living Translation for this reading today because it really helps to bring the idea through clearly. Other translations wont say under the old covenant but it gives the context for v11.

11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. (Hebrews 10:11)

In the Old Testament the sacrifices were never finished. You had to keep coming back year after year, sacrificing animal after animal. Because it says there that old system could never take away sins. Elsewhere in Hebrews it says the blood of bulls and goats can never atone for human sin. But look at v12:

12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.

Jesus doesnt offer the blood of an animal. He offers his own blood. And that one sacrifice is good for all time. It is enough. His blood alone can pay for our sin. Jesus alone can make us right with God.

And that is our first gift for today the gift of Jesus as High Priest, who lays down his life for us.

2. The Gift of Understanding

British statesman and financier Cecil Rhodes was famous for endowing the Rhodes Scholarship, a prestigious scholarship to the University of Oxford. He was also renowned as a stickler for correct dress.

One night a young man was invited to dine with Rhodes, and he arrived by train and had to go directly to Rhodes's home in his travel-stained clothes. Once he arrived he was embarrassed to find the other guests already assembled, wearing full evening dress. After what seemed a long time Rhodes appeared, in a shabby old blue suit. Later the young man learned that his host had been dressed in evening clothes, but put on the old suit when he heard of his young guest's dilemma.

Cecil Rhodes had empathy, didnt he? He had empathy for the young mans situation. He didnt want him to be exposed and publicly shamed.

And thats the second gift we receive when Jesus is our high priest. Just like Cecil Rhodes had empathy for that young man, Jesus has empathy for us. And he doesnt want us to be exposed and publicly shamed.

Look at Hebrews chapter 4:13. Because it exposes a truth about sin and a truth about us that would potentially bring us to public shame:

13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. (Hebrews 4:13)

Its not the Elf on the Shelf that we need to worry about. Its God. Because he sees everything about us. And one day well be held to account for everything weve done. Every sin. Every unkind word. Every hurtful deed. The things weve done and failed to do. He sees them all.

And on the day of judgment, for those exposed in sin it will be far more uncomfortable than turning up to a party in the wrong clothes.

But heres the thing. Jesus doesnt want us to be left exposed. He doesnt want us to be publicly humiliated. He wont stand and point a finger in judgment, because he knows what it is like to be us.

Have a look at v15:

15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

In chapter 5 of Hebrews, it tells us about the High Priests back in the Old Testament temple. It says that the High Priest is able to treat us gently when we go astray, because he knows what it is to be subject to weakness. Hes human, just like us. I think thats why Im not a fire and brimstone preacher I couldnt imagine speaking words of judgment when I know that I deserve the very same judgment. Im subject to weakness, and I know how hard it is to live a life obedient to God.

And so does Jesus. Thats what it says there in Hebrews 4:15. Jesus knows what it is like to be human, to be tempted. He understands the pull of all those things that we know arent good for us. He understands us in our weakness.

With Jesus, we sometimes think of Jesus turning up on earth as the Son of God, completely impervious to all the temptations that we face. Like the Terminator, this robotic, unfeeling, unmoveable cyborg. But that wasnt Jesus at all. Jesus knows what its like to be us. He gets us. He gets you.

Whatever your go-to sin is, Jesus felt all the same inducements to sin. He felt all the same pressures, all the same triggers, all the same temptations.

And thats why he treats us gently. He doesnt stand back in his priestly robes shaking his finger. No, he has walked a mile in our shoes and he knows what its like to be us.

Jesus understands us. Jesus isnt surprised by our weakness. He embraced it, and he overcame it.

And thats why we dont need to fear God. We dont need to fear judgment, if Jesus is our High Priest. Read from v15 with me again:

15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

When Jesus is our High Priest, we can come to God boldly. We can approach his throne, not with trembling, but with confidence because of Gods grace. Do you see it there twice?

16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Just like Jesus understands us, God understands us. And he treats us gently. He offers grace, not judgment. Mercy, not condemnation, to all who are friends with Jesus.

And that leads us to our third gift when we have Jesus as our high priest. The third gift is a new understanding of our relationship with God.

3. The Gift of Grace

When I was in High School, the Deputy Principal was the school disciplinarian. If he called your name, you knew you were in trouble. And I found myself on the wrong side of his discipline once when I was in my first year or two at the school.

But as a senior, it was a great joy to see another side to that teacher. The gruff exterior disappeared completely when he took over our homeroom when our regular homeroom teacher fell ill. And it turned out this disciplinarian figure was actually very friendly, very kind, very humorous and he became a huge support to me in a difficult time of my life.

Sometimes we get the entirely wrong impression of a person, and it only changes when you get to know them personally that you find out the truth.

And thats what Jesus wants us to understand. God is not an angry judge. Hes a loving advocate. Hes not a disciplinarian, he is a grace-filled friend. And when we know God like that, our whole relationship changes. From fear to freedom. From terror to trust. From exposure to embrace.

And if you understand God like that, thats a true gift. A gift I hope youll unwrap this Christmas.

Shall we pray?

~

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of Jesus, the gift of a high priest who understands, the gift of a high priest who brings forgiveness. We pray that we would be able to approach you with confidence and boldness. We know that we have sinned and we confess the things that we've done that are unpleasing, and we plead for you to forgive us by the blood of Christ. We thank you for your promise that you will forgive. Help us to live that truth. Help us not to feel shame anymore, but to come to you with confidence, and more than that, Lord, help us to live a new life to the glory of Christ alone. Amen

Watch at: https://youtu.be/dGxpjokaLHI File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2023/01/07/08/05/08/f3532e35-c417-4eea-8d5a-7a5fc5a49759/12.11.22%20Sunday%20Srmon%20Transcript.pdf

Gifts of Christmas1. The Gift of Preparation Dan Bidwell, Senior PastorIsaiah 40:3-5; Mark 1:1-8, 14-15 Tuesday 29 November, 2022

How many observe Christs birthday! How few, His precepts! O! tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.- Benjamin Franklin -

If we get too caught up in the traditions, expectations, gifts and good cheer of Christmas, we could well be missing the reason for the season and begin to worship the very things that point towards Christ, not Christ himself- Illuminate Advent -

I want to start the sermon today by saying that Ive had a breakthrough this year. An achievement in my level of adulting. I confessed in my Christmas eve sermon last year that I had not done any Christmas shopping until a few days before Christmas. This year there will be no confession. I started my Christmas shopping early!

There are two kinds of Christmas shoppers, according to statistics. There are those who start early. 28.8% of Americans start their Christmas shopping in November. (Im proud to say that was me this year Courtesy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I bought one gift for one of my children. It arrived and hopefully come Christmas well remember that we purchased this little gift!)

So 28% of us start our Christmas shopping in November.

And then there are those of us who leave our Christmas shopping until the week before Christmas. Can you guess how many Americans leave their shopping until the last minute? 62% of us! (Im sure thats when Ill end up doing the rest of my shopping)

And then there are the brave 7% who wait until Christmas Eve.

~

Christmas is one of those times of the year that takes lots of preparation. Aside from the gift shopping, theres the Christmas tree, and the decorations, maybe the Christmas lights on your house. And then there are the family logistics. Where are you spending Christmas day? Who is cooking? What are you cooking? Perhaps the kids are flying in from interstate. Or your parents. Then you have to work out whos staying at your house. Do you have enough towels, and sheets? There can so much to prepare!

But thats the nature of the season. Thats advent for you. Advent is the season of getting ready, the season of waiting. A season that is focused on the arrival of that special day, the arrival of your guests, the arrival of your family, the arrival of a time of celebration.

And so today, I want to focus on the gift of preparation. The gift of getting yourself ready for the special season thats coming. And not just the gift of preparing for your family celebration, but the gift of preparing for the arrival of Jesus. Because (of course) there is no Christmas without Jesus.

So why dont we pray that God would help us to be prepared for everything that advent brings?

Our heavenly Father, will you speak to us today as we open the Bible? Will you teach our hearts to be prepared for the arrival of Jesus? Will you open us up to his presence in our lives, and will you help us to make room for Jesus this Christmas? Speak to us now, in Jesus name. Amen

Well, I can hardly believe its December already. But I am excited. The Board and I have spent months planning and praying and preparing all of the events that we have on the church calendar this holiday season! We want Christmas to be a time of celebration for us as a church, a time of celebrating Jesus and the gift he is to us.

But we also want our friends and neighbors to join the celebration.

And so weve carefully curated our Christmas program so that youll feel confident to invite your loved ones to any of the events on offer, as well as any of our regular Sunday services. Our mission as a church is to share the hope of Jesus in the Napa Valley and beyond. So thanks for being part of the mission I love what God is doing already through you and your prayers. So keep praying, keep inviting, and well trust God with the rest!

Now lets get into the Bible.

December is traditionally known as advent. The four Sundays leading up to Christmas are all about getting ready for the advent, or the arrival of Jesus.

And to help us get ready this year, well be thinking about four different Gifts of Christmas. Thats what were calling our Advent series Gifts of Christmas. Gifts that will keep our focus on the reason for the season. Gifts that will point us to Jesus.

And todays gift is The Gift of Preparation.

1. Preparing for glory

Before I went into the ministry, I was a school teacher for a number of years. And I remember one year we got news that the school would receive a very important visitor the Governor General, who is the most senior government officer, even above the Prime Minister. The GG is the Queens representative in the Australian parliament.

Anyway the Governor General was scheduled to visit our school to present a prestigious award to a student. It was only a 15 minute visit, but the protocol for those 15 minutes amounted to almost three months of work for the staff member who coordinated the visit.

She had to provide plans and drawings and maps that showed where the town car would park, where the exits and fire escapes were situated. She had to measure the number of steps the GG would take from his car to the Theatre where the presentation would take place. She had to provide guest lists and seating charts and the names of dignitaries for the reception line. The school had to provide round the clock extra security in the days leading up to the visit, and then we had federal agents on site sweeping the buildings and grounds.

We were all ready and then at the last minute the GG got called away to State business, and somebody far less recognizable came to do the job.

It was months of preparation for the arrival of a dignitary.

For Gods people, it was years of preparation, years of waiting for the arrival of not just a human dignitary, but one shrouded in the glory of the Lord himself.

Look at Isaiah 40 with me:

3 A voice of one calling:In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord;make straight in the desert a highway for our God.4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 40:3-5)

Isaiah was writing some 700 years before the birth of Jesus, at a time when half of Gods people were in exile. Sent out of the promised land because of their sinful disregard for the Lord.

But even in the midst of their sin, God sent the prophet Isaiah to speak these words of comfort to his people in their distress.

(v3) Prepare the way for the Lord. Make a highway in the desert because the king is coming.

You can imagine what it would have been like when the Assyrian armies had turned up to capture the northern tribes of Israel. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers marching in step through the desert, the clouds of dust rising as the columns advanced, their footsteps the rhythmical drumbeat of impending doom.Those ancient armies were terrifying.

But this prophecy speaks of an even greater king, an even greater victory to come. So earth-shattering that the landscape is literally rearranged, with the mountains sinking and the valleys rising so that all the earth becomes like a plain.

And (v5) that is when the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all the people will see it together.

Can you imagine how good it must have been to hear that prophecy while Gods people were still in exile? This wont last forever, is what it promises. Prepare the way for the king. Prepare for the day he returns. Prepare for his glorious return. A day when all the people, everyone in the whole world, will see the King unveiled in glory and power and majesty

Are you good at waiting? Im not very good at waiting. When I was a kid, I was always the one who would lift up the gifts under the Christmas tree, and shake them and try to guess what they were. When I was about 10, I actually woke up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and snuck downstairs and unwrapped one of my presents. I remember it was a tennis racket and I probably could have guessed what it was just from the shape. But you dont think about that when youre 10.

Waiting for Christmas is not that hard, because you can count down the days. But what about waiting when you dont know the end date?

For Gods people, they had these words of Isaiah with them for almost 700 years before they came to fulfilment. And those 700 years werent always easy. More armies came, more people were taken into exile, the temple was destroyed and then the voice of God was silent for almost 400 years

You might be going through a period of waiting right now, and you dont know when it will end. Perhaps youre waiting for God to show up but you havent heard his voice. Perhaps youre waiting for his glory to be revealed but right now all you see is immoveable mountains and the deepest of valleys

Part of preparing is waiting.

But when God speaks, he will always do what he said he was going to do.

Even if it feels like youve been waiting forever Gods glory will appear.

2. Prepare your hearts

At the start of 2015 I ran the furthest I have ever run. Just over 21km, 13.1 miles, the same distance as a half marathon. You might guess from my physique that I am not naturally gifted for running. Im gifted at eating, but running I have to work at that.

Anyway I ran those 13.1 miles as part of my training for a half Ironman triathlon just a few weeks later, when I would have to run the same distance after a 1.2mi swim and 56mi bike ride.

The race was great I finished, I didnt set any records but it was a good personal achievement. And I even did a bit better the next year.

But so much of triathlon is about preparing your heart. You spend months working on the capacity of your heart to pump blood around the body. If you havent trained enough, on race day you are found out. There is nowhere to hide when you have to keep pushing for hours and hours. The state of your heart is revealed when race day arrives.

And the same will happen on the day the glory of the Lord appears for all to see. The state of our hearts will be revealed on that day, and there will be nowhere to hide.

So lets go back 2000 years, to the voice of one calling in the wilderness. Another prophet, this time the cousin of Jesus himself. Born just months apart, their mothers had both been visited by angels who told them about the role they would play in fulfilling Isaiahs prophecies. John the Baptist would become the voice calling in the wilderness, the messenger announcing the arrival of Lord

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way3 a voice of one calling in the wilderness,Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Mark 1:1-5)

Johns ministry was not about preparing a highway for the Lord. It was about preparing hearts for the Lord.

His whole message was about checking the state of your heart.

You see, the arrival of the glory of the Lord means we need to get our hearts right. [PAUSE] No sinful heart can stand before the holiness of the Lord. We must check our hearts before we meet God. (And Im going to talk more about how Jesus helps with that when we open next weeks gift)

But for now, look at Johns preaching. He preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Repentance. The key to repentance is turning our hearts back to God.

The trajectory of sin leads us away from God, but repentance leads us back to him.

And we see that repentance in the people who flocked to John the Baptist (v5).

People from all over Judea and Jerusalem went out to John, confessing their sins, and getting baptized this symbol of being cleansed, and reborn, and rededicating their lives to God.

John was asking people to prepare their hearts for the glory that was to be revealed

And he speaks the same message to us today. Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus too, theyre all speaking the same message to us today.

Listen to Jesus first sermon, in Mark 1:14-15 (on your handout)

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mark 1:14-15)

Jesus wants us to prepare our hearts, because the kingdom of God is near. He wants us to repent, to turn back to God.

And I love how Jesus finishes. Its not just repent. Its not just fire and brimstone. Jesus says you can believe the good news, which is that when you repent, God will bring forgiveness into your life. God will make your heart ready for his kingdom. This is good news for everybody who believes it.

Do you believe it? Have you had that John the Baptist moment where you. Confessed your sins, and repented and dedicated your life to God. Perhaps it was the day you were baptized, maybe youve never been baptized. We would love to help you make that public commitment, if its something that the Holy Spirit is leading you to do.

Perhaps a small step is to take communion today, maybe for the first time. A little step to say, Jesus I want to trust in you, I want to eat at your table in the kingdom, I want you to deal with my sin.

Perhaps youre not ready for that I encourage you to stay on the journey. Come and get a coffee with me and tell me your concerns. Or sign up for our 3 week course in January called Explore. A place to keep thinking through what this good news of Jesus is all about. You can find more information on our website under Ministries and Explore Groups.

But we all need to prepare our hearts for God.

3. Let every heart prepare him room

At my house weve been listening to Christmas music since October. And one of my favorite songs is Joy To The World. (Great new version by Phil Wickham well be singing next week in church).

The line that sticks with me from Joy To The World is there on your sheets:

Joy to the world, the Lord is comeLet Earth receive her KingLet every heart prepare Him room

Let every heart prepare him room.

I love that idea of making space for Jesus in our hearts. Its such a practical image. Preparing room for Jesus is like preparing for the arrival of a special guest. We get things ready, and we tidy up for them, just like we do at Christmas for our families and friends. How much more should we get ready for Jesus!

Let every heart prepare him room.

So here are my three practical tips for making room for Jesus in your heart this holiday season.

1. Make room for Jesus during the preparation.

As you think about all the things you need to prepare for the holidays, put Jesus on the list. Literally, if youre a list person, put him on the list, so that you deliberately plan to give thought to Jesus this month. Its so easy to let Jesus slip off the radar when youre busy shopping and cleaning, so youll need to be deliberate.

- You could look for an advent devotional. There are some great books you can buy, or devotionals you can read online. Ive just finished one called Illuminate Advent it was 10 days about making sure your Christmas shines a light on Jesus, not just on the festivities.

- You could buy or make an advent calendar, with a Bible verse a day.

- You could read all the nativity stories in the Bible again.

Whatever you do, the idea is to be deliberate. You literally have to make room for Jesus in your mental preparation, otherwise it will never happen. And that would be a missed opportunity.

2. Make room for Jesus during the busy season

December is one of the busiest months in the calendar for most of us. And we often find ourselves pushed and pulled with all the demands on our time and attention. And again, it can be easy to say: Ill get back to Jesus when the craziness of Christmas dies down. Ill have more time for him in the New Year.

Do you know what? In reality it never gets less busy. There will always be demands on our time and attention, and so we need to be deliberate every day to make room for Jesus. And this season of all seasons this holiday that is all about the birth of the king and the arrival of Gods glory, this should be the one that makes us focus on the reason for the busyness.

So how do we make room for Jesus during the busy season? I think we need to make a commitment to continuing the spiritual practices that we do throughout the year. Keep coming to church. Keep reading your Bible in the morning. Dont let Jesus get pushed out by other demands.

3. The hardest one of all: make room for Jesus in your family traditions.

I want to say this carefully, because I know from personal experience how hard it can be to be a Christian when your extended family doesnt share the same understanding of faith. It is difficult, and I get that.

But heres what Id like to challenge you with. Id encourage you to consider how you can gently and respectfully make room for Jesus in your family traditions. Because when you gently and respectfully bring it up with your family, youll be making a powerful statement about your own hearts conviction, and the importance of Jesus in your life.

How might that conversation go?

- Maybe its asking if it would be alright to say grace at the Christmas table. Broach it with your kids, or your parents before the day, so that they are prepared. And if you get to pray, keep it short and sweet and filled with love and grace and mercy.

- What about going to church at Christmas? Mom and I would love for you to come to church with us at Christmas, but we understand if youre not comfortable with that. But were planning to go, and the service is only an hour, so we hope you can respect our wishes.

- And if they dont want to pray or come to church, then you should respect their wishes also. That shouldnt stop you praying for them privately, that maybe next year they would be more open

At the end of the day, we do all this because we know that one day Jesus will return.

Hell come back in person. Because Jesus is not just a story or a tradition. Hes a king who will bring Gods kingdom on the day when his glory appears. And you dont want to be caught unpreparedWatch at: https://youtu.be/zsr_FFxBdgI File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2022/12/21/04/19/16/19e52512-3963-45b4-9cac-910c13e784df/12.4.22%20%20Sunday%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf

30 Days of Thankfulness4. An Invitation the Feast Dan Bidwell, Senior PastorIsaiah 25:6-8; Isaiah 55:1-3, 6-7 Sunday 20 November, 2022

Intro: Whats your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

I tried a dish Id never tried before dressing. Its stuffing that was never stuffed inside the turkey. Pretty great!

Thanksgiving is a time where we look forward to a feast with our family and friends. A time of wonderful warmth and enjoyment and love.

And our Bible passage today is also about looking forward to a feast a feast that God is preparing for all those who are his family and friends. A feast that lasts not just for a day, but for all eternity.

A feast we dont want to miss.

So why dont we pray and ask God to teach us about this feast.

Our heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the joy of feasting with our family and friends this past week. But we long to know more about the heavenly banquet, and your invitation to feast with you forever. Will you teach us now as we open Bible. In Jesus name we pray. Amen

1. Anticipating the Feast

This is the last day of our 30 Days of Thankfulness. All month here at church we have been focusing on growing in gratitude, by practicing thankfulness daily.

Many of us have been doing daily devotions with our 30 Days of Thankfulness prayer guide. Im still working through it, but I wanted to skip ahead to the last page because its about being thankful for how the story ends. Listen to what it says:

Sometimes it may look like the enemy is winning. But we know the Truth. We have read the ending of the Book of Truth. The Truth is that when its all said and done, God will prevail. There will be a day when theres no more pain, sorrow, suffering, and all thats wrong will be made right.

Our Bible passage today was written at a time when it seemed like the enemy was winning.

Isaiah was written somewhere between 700 and 740BC, when the northern tribes of God's people had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians. They had been taken away from the promised land, and kind of taken away from God. God was punishing them for their sinfulness. And so in Isaiah, Gods people are hoping for restoration and they're anticipating a rescue from God.

And so God gives the prophet Isaiah the words that we just read, a promise of restoration.

Imagine that you you're taken away from your people, and you're taken away from your home. And God says I'm preparing something for you. Im preparing a banquet. I'm preparing a feast. I'm preparing a party or a celebration.

It's a celebration of coming home (verse 6):

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples,a banquet of aged wine the best of meats and the finest of wines. (Isaiah 25:6)

It sounds like a good party doesn't it? When he says the finest of wines I'm sure it will be a Napa cab, and who knows maybe a French champagne? And the finest of meats. Perhaps a Turkey. Or lamb

Do you know when I was growing up in Australia lamb was so cheap that we used to eat it every night of the week. We were so bored of it. Oh, were having lamb chops again??? Can you imagine?

This feast that God is preparing this feast, this celebration it marks the end of trouble for God's people. And his rescue. Its God bringing his people back, bringing his people home and bringing them back into his family.

So I have a question do you think this is a literal feast or is it a metaphor?

When we look at the Old Testament we see all kinds of different real feasts. God's people in the Old Testament had seven different feast that they enjoyed every year the feast of Tabernacles, the feast of weeks, Passover (there was four more that I can't remember). But seven times a year Gods people stopped to feast and to remember that God feeds them. God fed them in the desert and God feeds them every day. There's something about feasting and eating that reminds us of family and celebration. And so perhaps in heaven there will be a literal feast every day

Back in Australia Jo's grandmother lived at a house by the beach. And in the house next door there was a Polynesian family (Tongan or Samoan?). Anyway every Christmas they would have a feast, and this feast basically lasted three or four or five days. All day and late into the night, there would be people sitting out in the yard (Christmas is in the middle of our summertime). Somebody would play guitar and other people would be singing. They would cook meat and fish in the ground like a luau. People would come and go there was singing and praying and laughing and it lasted days. It was a wonderful feast with the family gathered all together.

And I think heaven might be like that.

It was the same in Jesus story when the prodigal son returned home. Do you remember what the father did? They killed the prize calf and they had a feast. They celebrated the return of their son who was lost and was now home.

Feasting literally is a wonderful metaphor for being invited home and being returned and welcomed. Our family was invited to a feast this week in St Helena. We were invited into somebodys family Thanksgiving meal. Its such a tangible expression of being included, and loved

So come back to the Bible passage in Isaiah 25. Is this a literal feast or is there something more going on?

Actually when you look at vv7-8 there is something metaphorical about this feast. In v7 God says:7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,the sheet that covers all nations; (Isaiah 25:7)

God is talking about death. He's going to destroy death on the mountain. Part of this celebration is not just a return from exile but it's the end of suffering. And it's the end of death and it's the end of sorrow. Verse 8

8 he will swallow up death forever.The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;he will remove his peoples disgrace from all the earth.The Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 25:8)

Isn't that wonderful? The Lord has spoken When God says something is going to happen, it does.

Isaiah 25 is a word of prophecy a promise of God about something that is yet to come. And if youve read the end of the Bible, Revelation 21 paints a very similar picture of the end of all things. Where the new heavens and the new earth come down and God is with his people and he wipes away every tear. And there'll be no more death and no more mourning and no more crying and no more pain because the old order has passed away and the new has come.

This is an eternal promise. And so the feast in Isaiah points forward to the celebration of the end of all that is bad in this world, and signals the beginning of an eternity of only goodness. Isn't that wonderful?

2. Responding to the Fast

So how do you respond to Gods invitation to the feast?

Do you remember being a kid and at school and somebody has a birthday party. And they hand out invitations. Do they still do that or do the moms just text? In the olden days you used to get a paper invitation.

It was so exciting. Everybody in the class got an invitation (except sometimes they didn't - that causes trouble!)

But in Gods kingdom everybody gets an invitation. God says, I want to invite everybody to the celebration. He doesn't go around the classroom and say, Not you. Actually he invites everybody to this big party - the party that lasts forever, the celebration for all eternity.

Have a look at a verse 6. It says there:

6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples,

At the time that God wrote this, he had his special people, his chosen people, the Israelites. But actually this promise is not just for his chosen people, it's a promise for everybody.

And anybody who answers this invitation can come to the party.

Wouldn't you want to go to this party? You wouldn't want to miss it, would you?

So come to the Isaiah 55 reading. How do we respond to God's invitation to come to the party? God says:

1 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

God issues this invitation, and to come to the party you dont have to buy a ticket. It's not a party where you have to pay your way in. He actually offers it to people who are thirsty and hungry, people have no money, people who have nothing to bring, and nothing to offer. They're not friends with God because of anything good they've done. He just loves them as they are, and he says: I want you to come to my party

When we come back to Matthews gospel next year, our very first chapter when we come back in Matthew 22 is this story of a wedding feast. The groom invites people but lots of them say, well I've been too busy I can't come. And so the groom sends his servants out onto the street and says we've got all this beautiful food I want everybody to come. And there's still room so he sends his servants out again and more and more people come into the feast.

You see, God wants us to come and all he says is just come if you're thirsty. Come if you're hungry. You don't need to have money, I just want you at my party. You don't need to bring a present, you don't need to pay me back. Just come

So how do we respond to Gods invitation?

Look at all of the verbs in vv1-3:- V1 Come; buy; eat

It's kind of strange to buy when you don't have money, isn't it. But it's almost like a free shop. God wants to give you everything. This is Gods grace in action!

And then in v2:- listen

We need to listen to God to respond to him. Then he says in v3

give ear and come to me

Give ear means listen. And then he says it again

listen that you may live

When we come to God, when we listen to God, the result is that we find life. Eternal life. We get life that is true life. And I don't think it's just life into eternity, I think it's life right now. We don't have to wait until eternity to receive these blessings. We get them now. We get to live.

And again have a look at v1. This is a promise for all people. Come all you who are thirsty.

This is a message for all people everywhere, not just special people sitting in the church today. It's not just a message for people who identify as Christian.

You know sometimes you look around and think, Oh well that person they wouldn't be interested in Jesus because they have a different cultural background, or a different religious background, or a different socioeconomic background. And so I don't need to share Jesus with them. That's not true at all!

This invitation is for all people! This is a message for all people to come to God, to find life. And it's free and it's good and it's not just about food but it's about truly living and enjoying life the way that God made us to live. In the way that God intended it to be, to be with him around his table sharing at the feast.

And do you know, for 2000 years people everywhere have been responding to this invitation.

In Matthew 8, Jesus said:

11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 8:11)

Jesus promises this wonderful party with people coming from everywhere, from all over the earth and every culture and every religion when they find their hope in Him

But I do need to mention a caveat at this point. Even though Gods invitation is an invitation to all people, there is something very exclusive about what God is offering.

To find this life that God offers, you need to come to him. You need to choose him, rather than trying to find life and satisfaction elsewhere. Look at v2:

2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. (Isaiah 55:2-3)

This is a hard word in a pluralistic world. Id love to say all roads lead to Rome, and all religions end in the same place. But thats not what the God of the Bible says. Here in Isaiah 55, God says you have to come to him if you want to find life. Jesus made it even more explicit when he said:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

We need to know Jesus if we want to respond to the invitation. Thats why we spend so much of our energy learning about Jesus here at church every Sunday. Hes the key. Hes the way we find life. And forgiveness. And all of Gods gracious blessings We need to come to him.

3. Enjoying the Feast

So how do we enjoy the feast every day?

I think it's a shame that we wait until Thanksgiving to eat turkey. I imagine you can probably buy turkey all year round, but we just don't and maybe it wouldn't be special if we did.

But we don't need to wait until Thanksgiving, or we don't need to wait until Christmas, to enjoy God. We don't need to wait until we die to enjoy God. And in fact we shouldn't.

Do you remember that fantastic movie with Robin Williams The Dead Poets Society? If you need to cry today you should watch that film. Its this beautifully directed film about a group of boys at a private Academy in their senior year of school. Set in the 1960s. And they have this teacher who inspires them (Robin Williams) to make the most of every day. Carpe Diem. Seize the day. Dont put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

And so with God, we don't want to put it off until tomorrow. We don't want to put it off until after we're busy or after the holidays or after I've got over this medical issue. We don't want to put off enjoying God. We want to do it everyday.

Have a look what it says at the end of Isaiah 55 in verse 6. It's just like the Dead Poets Society. I think they might have copied from the Bible.

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Seek the Lord while he may be found Now is the time for people to find God. And actually this is the easiest time of year to help people find God. Because Christmas is the easiest time to talk about Jesus. We've got all these wonderful events at church that will gently put Jesus and the holidays together for our family and friends. And this is not just a plug for our events, this is how we help you invite people to the feast.

You know when you get invited to dinner at somebody's house, it's very special. It indicates something about your relationship. It is an honor, in some ways, to be invited into someones home.

I think when we invite people to church, we want it to feel the same as inviting them to a feast. You might need to actually invite them to a feast first. You might need to invite them to your home for a meal to show them that you love them and that you want them to be part of your family. But eventually that will also mean inviting them to share in your bigger family, this family here at church which is Jesus family.

Because you dont want your friends to miss the party.

When I was a kid, we missed a birthday party once. We received the invitation, and we RSVPd. We bought a present. But it got to Saturday afternoon and somehow with 4 kids at home we forgot to go to the party. We missed it. And I was so upset.

When it comes to Gods party, you dont want to miss the invitation. You dont want to miss the RSVP date, you dont want to forget that this feast is coming.

You want to seek the Lord while he may be found, and we want to help our friends seek the Lord while he may be found. We don't want to wait until they die before taking the chance to have that conversation with them. Don't wait until it's too late because there's a beautiful feast for everybody who responds. And God wants us to help invite people to his big feast.

Let's pray.

Heavenly father we thank you for the feast that we enjoyed on Thursday and we thank you for the feast that we'll enjoy in heaven forever and ever. Help us enjoy you today to have life to the full. And we pray that we might enjoy life with you forever. And father please, please will you help us to invite people to the feast of Jesus Christ, the feast where there is pardon where the disgrace that we had from our sin is washed away. Where people who have nothing to bring, nothing to offer, no money to buy salvation find forgiveness in your Son. We pray Father that you would help us to invite them to come with empty hands and to enjoy your gracious provision. We pray this in Jesus name, AmenWatch at: https://youtu.be/71x8Tt8IC6Y File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2022/12/17/14/52/34/5074cc31-df01-4ac0-b7fd-fe2756126fc9/11.27.22%20%20Sunday%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf

30 Days of Thankfulness3. Thankful for what we have

Dan Bidwell, Senior Pastor

Deuteronomy 6:4-12; Hebrews 13:5 Sunday 20 November, 2022

I was looking for something in my desk drawer this week when I found this a wad of cash from different countries Ive travelled to.

Theres money from Fiji, and the United Arab Emirates, and Tanzania. But this stack means the most to me. Its from Rwanda.

Right before I moved here to become your pastor, I had the privilege of traveling back and forth to Rwanda for 2 weeks each year, teaching a theology certificate course to pastors and church workers, most of whom had no formal theological education. It was a super rewarding experience.

But one of the things Im reminded of when I hold this stack of 1000 RWF notes, is how cheap everything feels when youre in a country like that.

You can buy a coffee for 1,500RWF ($1.50), or a burger and fries for $4. A meal at this amazing rooftop bar in the city is $8. And at the best restaurant in Kigali, dinner and drinks still comes out less than $35pp. Like I said, it feels cheap compared to here.

Until you realize what the average Rwandan earns. Some earn as little as 1000RWF, or USD$1 a day. So my spare change is worth a days work for someone else. If you tipped $1 on your coffee order, it would be like giving a $100 tip to the person receiving it.

To put it in perspective, at the end of my last visit to Rwanda, we were having a celebration dinner, and one of my students leaned over the table to ask me a question privately. She said: Is it true in your country, that you have a machine that washes the clothes. Yes, I said. And do you have one?

Can you imagine a world without a washing machine? How much longer it would take to do everyday tasks?

That was the world that many of my students were living in. Still are living in, I would think.

To somebody in Rwanda, if you own a washing machine, that makes you an incredibly wealthy person.

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Do you own a washing machine? A dishwasher? By some standards, that makes you an incredibly wealthy person...

But thats not how we measure wealth, is it?In the Western mindset, wealth is abundance. Excess. Luxury. Opulence. With that definition, not many of us would class ourselves as wealthy.

But as we enter into Thanksgiving week, I want to challenge that definition of wealth. I want us to understand how much we truly have, so that we can be thankful for it. And more to the point, to be thankful to the one who gave it to us.

So why dont we pray that the Giver of all things would speak to us now as we open his word.

Our heavenly Father, you are the giver of all things. Will you teach us now as we open the Bible. Teach us how to view our wealth, and how to be truly thankful. Challenge us and change us, we ask. In Jesus name. Amen

Well, we are in the middle of our 30 Days of Thankfulness. This series is all about deepening our gratitude in daily ways.

To help, we have our 30 Days of Thankfulness prayer guide (which you can download or pick up a paper copy on the welcome desk).

Im on Day 18 which is Thank God for the Bible. It says:

We are so blessed to have access to [Gods] word, to be able to own it, house it in our homes and in our hearts, to read it and experience its life-giving power. It is the guide by which we are to live [...] Thank God that you have access to God-breathed, supernatural knowledge through his Holy Word.

Here at Yountville Community Church, we are thankful for the Bible! And every Sunday at church, we read the Bible carefully to hear what God says to us in it. And so today as we think about being thankful, I want to base what I say on what God says. This is his wisdom, shared with us, because he loves us.

So Ive entitled this sermon: Thankful for what we have.

Premise: Redefining Wealth

Lets start by coming back to our definition of wealth. Like I said a moment ago, in the Western mindset, we think of wealth as abundance, excess, luxury and opulence. And not many of us live that lifestyle, at least not all the time, and so we dont think of ourselves as wealthy.

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But what if we defined wealth in a different way. What if wealth was about having enough...? David Kotter in his book For the Least of These: A Biblical Answer to Poverty defines wealth like

this:

Wealth ... will be defined as a suitable accumulation of resources and possessions of value. Under this simple definition, one is wealthy to the extent that one has sufficient food of good quality, clothing appropriate to keeping cool or warm, and shelter for protection from the elements. In a modern economy, this definition is often extended to include access to safe and reliable transportation and communication that enables one to work. Wealth includes adequate physical possessions to live and flourish as a human being created in the image of God, and it also requires a specific heart attitude toward the purpose of possessions. (David Kotter, For the Least of These: A Biblical Answer to Poverty)

If we start with a different definition of wealth, that wealth is about having enough, then by that definition, all of us here are wealthy. Is your home secure and dry? Do you have food in the pantry? Were you able to get here today? Then you are wealthy. I am wealthy.

And the first step to being thankful for what we have is acknowledging that we are wealthy. We might not have everything we want, but we have a lot to be thankful for...

So thats the premise I want to begin with: we need to redefine wealth. We need to see what we have with fresh eyes, and understand that we have great wealth.

1. Remember where our wealth comes from

In an old episode of the Simpsons, Bart is asked to say grace. He says:Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing. Amen.

The watching adults gasp. Mr Burns chuckles and says, Only an innocent child could get away with such blasphemy. God bless them all.

But Barts caustic honesty is funny because, as comedy so often does, it pierces through the veneer of polite sentiment and says aloud what many of the watching adults are actually thinking anyway.We did go to work. We did earn the money. We did pay for this stuff ourselves. So why all the thanksgiving to a God we cant see?1

1 The Generosity Project, p21

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The Bibles answer is that the God we cant see created everything we can see. And touch and hear and feel, including us. He created it all.

In Psalm 50:12, God says:the world is mine, and all that is in it. (Psalm 50:12)

Everything that is in the world belongs to God. And the Bible goes on to say that he is the one who feeds, and sustains us. He is the one who gives us everything we have.

In James 1:17, it says:

7 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father... (James 1:17)

In the OT, Gods people had to learn that lesson in a very tangible way. When they were too afraid to enter the Promised Land, God caused his people to wander in the desert for 40 years. But every day he fed them, causing mana to fall down like dew from the sky a good and perfect gift from above. And do you remember that he gave them just enough for one day a time, so that they would remember who it was that fed them...

Do you know who feeds you, day to day? Who gives you your daily bread? Who gives you every breath you take? Who sustains you and keeps you and watches over you while you sleep?

When we think about what we have, we need to remember where it came from. It comes from our Father in heaven.

And our Father says its especially important to remember that truth, when we have more than just our daily bread.

And thats where our Deuteronomy reading comes into play.

One of the big storylines of the OT is Gods promise to bring his people into a land they could call their own. The Promised Land, the land that God originally promised to Abraham. And hundreds of years later, Gods people would finally enter that Promised Land a land flowing with milk and honey, this place that symbolized Gods blessing and Gods provision and Gods generosity towards his people.

He was going to make them rich.But listen to the warning he gives them in Deuteronomy 6 (reading from v10):

10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give youa land with large, flourishing cities you did not

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houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not

build,dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plantthen when you eat and are

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be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt,

satisfied,out of the land of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:10-12)

Can you imagine that Gods people get to move into this country where they get to enjoy the fruits of somebody elses work. They move into houses they did not build, they get to drink from wells they didnt dig, eat from orchards they didnt plant. They receive this inheritance that comes from the hard work of someone else.

Actually it comes from God.

And God warns them not to forget him when they receive their inheritance! When he blesses them with all kinds of wealth, they must be careful not to forget him.

PAUSE

What if the wealth we have is just like the wealth they had? What if we have what we have because God has chosen to bring us into the place where we find ourselves?

What if our success is not just the product of our own hard work. Its also because God chose to bless you in the ways that he has.

We are living on the tail-end of the greatest wealth-generating period in history. Since WWII,

Baby

Now I know youve worked hard for what you earned, but every other generation in history also worked hard. You just happened to live through a period of unprecedented economic growth. Have you stopped to remember where that extraordinary growth comes from? Have you thanked God for including you in the greatest wealth-generating period in history? And have you thought about how you might give back some of the wealth that he has given you?

2. The art of contentment

John D. Rockefeller, arguably the worlds richest person in the early 1900s, was asked by a reporter how much money is enough. He replied, Just a little bit more!

Just a little bit more...

2 https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhall/2019/11/11/the-greatest-wealth-transfer-in-history-whats-happening-and- what-are-the-implications/

2 Boomers (those born between 1944 and 1964) this is your generation, isnt it?

the US (and Australia too) have seen decades of prosperity and economic growth.

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At our house, we love renovation TV. Theres this couple out of Utah who just design amazing homes (Studio McGee). And then theres Chip and Jo from Waco, Texas who bring this farmhouse chic to everything they do. And theyre Christians too, so we like them even more for that.

We love watching those shows. But Ive realized they arent necessarily good for us. Because renovation TV is built on the premise of just a little bit more... Just a little bit more decoration, and youll be a happier person. Just little bit more kitchen, and youll have a better family life. Just a little bit more, and your life will be fulfilled...

Just a little bit more... But how much more will be enough?

A survey of regular churchgoers in the USA found that almost 90% say greed is a sin; only 20% say they were ever taught that wanting a lot of money is wrong; and almost 80% wish they had

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Now theres nothing wrong with having money. We are embodied creatures, we have physical needs for food and shelter, and the way we meet those needs in this world is usually through the exchange of work for money so that we can buy what we need. Anthropology Economy 101.

The danger is when our desire for money becomes greed.Perhaps the richest man who ever lived, King Solomon, wrote this in his book Ecclesiastes:

Whoever loves money never has enough;whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. (Ecclesiastes 5:10)

Solomon was just like Rockefeller. The danger is that no matter how much we have, its never enough...

And the Bible warns us that this never enough attitude can have destructive consequences in our lives.

The Apostle Paul writes:9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and

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more money than they do.Seems 80% of us share the spirit of John D. Rockefeller. Just a little bit more...

harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

3 Brian Rosner, Beyond Greed, p18

For the love of money is

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This is strong language, isnt it?

- Temptation

- A trap

- Foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin

- Destruction

- A root of evil

- Wandering away from the faith

- Causing all kinds of grief

If this was an ad for medication on the television, there is no way you would ask your doctor to prescribe you the love of money. The love of money wont bring happiness. It will kill you!

We only need to look at crippling debt, and crippling work hours that plunge individuals into ruin. Then there are the industries that prey on the financially vulnerable, modern slavery and human trafficking, which are financially motivated and nothing short of evil. And then there are Christians who get so focused on work and financial success that they let their faith go along the way... One compromise after another until one day they wake up and God isnt even in the picture anymore. Thats if they even notice that God was missing.

Jesus said we can only worship one thing well either choose God, or money. Gordon Gecko was wrong. Greed is not good. Greed is a killer.And so whats the antidote?The answer is: Contentment.

Have a look at Hebrews 13:5 with me:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,Never will I leave you;

never will I forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)Did you see that right in the middle? Be content with what you have... Theologian Dr Brian Rosner in his book Beyond Greed says:

be content with what you have: these six words form one of the most difficult commands in the Bible, especially in our day of ingrained consumerism and unquestioned materialism. The worlds approach to contentment is by way of addition.

4 Brian Rosner, Beyond Greed, p90

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The worlds approach to contentment is by way of addition. Getting more things. But God says be content with what you have. Look at what you have and be happy.

I was thinking about how to do this practically for myself. I dont know about you, but I look around my home and Im often thinking what I would change. Or fix. What if instead we looked around our home and picked up one of our possessions and just enjoyed it. Or thanked God for it? What if you got in your car and played I Spy with all the things that bring you joy?

People often ask me what I miss about Australia. I miss living near the ocean. Somebody who was over at our house recently said, when you drive through the vineyards, thats your ocean. Do you see how just a little mental adjustment can shift your attitude?

You could buy a gratitude journal and spend a few minutes each day writing down all the things youre thankful for. You could make a habit of sharing something youre grateful for before dinner each day make your grace a real thanksgiving.

And then when it comes to contentment, I really think we have to break the stranglehold of consumerism. The idea that more will make me happier: it never does. It just leaves us wanting more.

And so perhaps we choose to live with less. We simplify. If you dont spend enough time on your boat to justify the expense, perhaps you could live without it. If you dont get to the gym or the country club often enough, is it worth keeping the membership? Do you really need a new car, or new golf clubs, or new shoes? Or could you find contentment with what you have already?

And this brings me to the last idea.

3. Enjoy the One who gives you wealth

Weve been thinking about how to be thankful for what we have. So we started with the premise that we all enjoy considerable wealth, just by virtue of having enough to live comfortably. Then we were reminded that all we have is the gift of God. He has given us everything we have, and so we ought not forget him, especially when we find ourselves very well off. Because greed is destructive. And so instead we need to cultivate contentment.

But heres the catch. God wants us to enjoy the things that he gives us. And to find contentment in them. But he doesnt just want to watch on from a distance. God wants to be part of our lives. We shouldnt just enjoy the gifts God gives us we should enjoy the Giver as well!

Years ago, a friend at church gave me his guitar. We played in a band together, and I had a guitar that wasnt that great. And when Tom bought a beautiful new guitar, he gave me his old

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one. I love that guitar. Its a great instrument. And when I play it, I often remember who it came from. And the generosity of Tom to pass it on to me. The guitar is kind of a symbol of our friendship. The gift and the giver are tied together.

And thats the conclusion that Solomon came to. If were to be content with what we have, if were to enjoy what we have, we have to enjoy it with the Giver.

24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own

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toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)

for without him, who can eat or find

This Thanksgiving, where will you find your enjoyment? Shall we pray?

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Watch at: https://youtu.be/N7CBpUjqebU File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2022/11/26/23/33/19/cff644ca-f524-4825-bda9-09c1b8600823/11.20.22%20%20Sunday%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf