Sermons Elsewhere

What is the biggest problem facing the church today? How about, bringing it closer to home, what is the biggest issue we have as individual Christians today? I suppose you could give many answers, however, I want to focus on one important matter which is applicable to every Christian, every day of our lives. The problem is that most people do not know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ, they have little idea about what is in the Bible and except for a very occasional funeral perhaps they will never set foot inside a church building. To be frank, everything that we say and do as disciples of Jesus Christ seems completely alien to them. This is especially true of younger people. Now, this message is not about how to get people into our church buildings, although that can have an important place. I want us to consider for a few minutes how Jesus would have us relate as Christians to the people around us every day.

Year by year, we celebrate the birth of Christ. The carols, the readings, they are so familiar and I hope much loved. The birth of Jesus was a one-off event which transformed the world for ever. This good news demands a response from you.  It was the first step in the journey of his life's work, a work which continues to this day. As Luke puts it in Acts 1:1 "the former treaties have I made, oh Theophilus of all that Jesus both began to to do and teach." I want us to learn some things from Simeon and his encounter with the baby Jesus, which are very relevant for us today.

Things look dark. Great and powerful religious leaders have been despising the word of God. The ruling politicians seem to have no thought for the God of heaven before whom they must give account, extra taxation must be raised to pay for everything, and this burden seems to fall even on the lowest tradesmen. And, most people give no thought to what God has said, what he is doing and what he has promised. How dark the days appear to be indeed. Now, stop and think for a moment. The days we live in are dark, but what I have said applies to the days in which Jesus Christ was born. They apply to our day-to-day and I'm sure they will apply in the day on which the Lord Jesus Christ will return again. Technology changes, but people stay the same. The verses we read from Isaiah bring out some of the issues very clearly.

Christ's great commission to his church did not stop with the command to go and make disciples, he went on to command Matthew 28:19-20 "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." The church has the responsibility of baptising disciples. It is important to personally consider this command of our Lord and Saviour.

If you were asked to say in just a sentence what the Bible is all about, what would you say? In a typical printed copy of the Bible, there are more than 1000 pages with more than 750,000 words. That is a lot of words. It was written over a period of approximately 1500 years and covers creation to the final judgement and the glories of heaven. How can you squeeze all that into just a few words? When you look at the words of our text, John 3:16, you will see that this job has already been done for you. It is a summary of God’s dealings with mankind. John 3:16 brings us the central message of Scripture, God promised Adam and Eve that one would come who would win the victory, the sacrifices, rituals and promises given to ancient Israel all pointed to the coming saviour.