Christianity Explained - Study 2 - The Cross

Here we are again at the Crossroads. Christianity Explained is designed for the person who knows nothing about Jesus or his Gospel. 

Papatoetoe has an estimated 2.8% of its population in Church on a Sunday. Could you or I explain to the nearly 98% non-Christians in Papatoetoe (that’s 49 out of 50 people you see in the street) the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that helped them to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and gave them reason to change what they do on a Sunday morning? This course will equip you for the task.

In study one we established that the belief that Jesus is the Son of God is one of the 3 essential foundations to being a Christian. Knowing Jesus is the Son of God is life changing;

1. Jesus’ has great authority as God’s Son. He is the supreme Master in God’s world. 

2. Jesus has all authority as a teacher, over sickness, over nature, over evil spirits, over death and to forgive sins which only God can do is a claim that He is divine.

3. Jesus also has authority over you and me and will decide our eternal future. This means we need to come to a decision about him. 

CS Lewis famously said;

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

Now we turn to the 2nd leg in our illustration, the Cross. The Cross is at the centre of the Christian faith. An understanding and belief in the power of Christ’s death on the Cross is the 2nd of the 3 foundations to being a Christian.

Let’s read from the Gospel of Mark of Jesus’s final moments at the Cross of Calvary. Mark wants to convey to you how dark this moment was.

Mark 15:22-23

And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 

Golgotha & Calvary are the same place. They both mean 'place of the skull', one in Aramaic, the other in Latin. But the word Golgotha conveys the darkness better than Calvary doesn’t it?

Have you ever been to a place that gives you the creeps? They say that Dachau where the Germans murdered the Jews in concentration camps is an eerily cold place.

All the demons in Hell were celebrating the darkest of moments in human history when we crucified the Son of God.

Mark 15:23

Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. 

Myrrh mixed with wine was widely used in many ancient cultures to produce pleasurable feelings and as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller. But Jesus refused the drugs.

Mark 15:24

And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take. 

A crucifixion was very shameful as well as torturous. The soldiers removed Jesus’s clothes. All four New Testament gospels record he was stripped of his clothing at the cross. John includes the detail that Jesus was stripped not only of his outer garment but also his undergarment – his chiton, or tunic. Then the soldiers gambled for his clothes in front of him, how the Devil laughed.

Mark 15:25

Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. 

It was 9am in the morning when they crucified Jesus. It was too early for any but a few of his true supporters to know that he had been sentenced to death.

This was not the peaceful death scene that Jesus deserved but one of darkness and anguish.

Mark 15:26

And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS. 

The Romans mocked the Jews that this is what they had done to their King, their Messiah. They were effectively proclaiming that the Caesar and the gods of Rome were greater than the God of Israel.

Mark 15:27-28

With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.” 

This scripture is taken from Isaiah 53:12

Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53 was written more than 600 years before Christ was born and is called the forbidden chapter. The reason for this is that up until Christ came, the Jewish sages and rabbis agreed that Isaiah 53 was a prophecy about the Messiah. But once the Gospel started to spread, it began to cause problems within Judaism because of the clear resemblance to Jesus as the Messiah. So they say it is about Israel instead or jump from Isaiah 52 to Isaiah 54, skipping Isaiah 53 altogether. Read it for yourself and you be the judge of whom it is about.

Mark 15:29-32

And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

Mockers say that they will believe if God will do this or that but they are not genuine, they are lying. God will not respond to  a mocker who is essentially hostile in his unbelief and pride, but he always responds to true and humble faith. You’ll hear the mocker when you’re at your weakest, they are cowards. They mock because they think that they are safe to do so.

But God the Father turned Jesus’s weakest moment into his greatest triumph, laying the foundation stone of the Church.

The Cross became the most recognised symbol of the Christian faith. Every true Church lifts up the Cross as a message to the World. PCC does not own this building, if we did we would have the Cross up on the roof so everyone walking by could see it. Instead we have the Cross prominently up on the stage for all to see. The absence of the Cross is also an easy way to spot a false church. The so called church called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not have a Cross on their steeples. Observe carefully, it could save your soul.

I read this week of a UK study on more than 900 new churches established by 11 dioceses in the past 10 years, that none of them used the word "church plant" or "church." Instead they preferred the language of "worship" as their main descriptor for new church projects. Seven of the dioceses used "community," and only two used "congregation," according to the Reverend Dr. Will Foulger. The Church of England appears to be ashamed of the Cross of Christ. In nature, the fruit of a tree can look like an edible kind but be poisonous. So called churches without the Cross are the poisonous variety. Watch out !


Mark’s Gospel tells the story with some very important details for people to understand about the Cross

Mark 15:33-39

Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 

The Crucifixion happened at Passover when there was the annual sacrifice made of lambs for the people’s sins as outlined in the law of Moses. This is why John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). But the Passover is always on a full moon, so when it says that it was dark from 12pm to 3pm, it shows that it could not have been an eclipse, that the darkness was supernatural and a supernatural act was taking place.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 

Some people say that Jesus lost faith when he cried « Why have you forsaken me? ». But the cry is evidence of Jesus taking our guilt and punishment in his body on the Cross. If we reject Christ’s offering for us, then this will be our cry too.

VOLTAIRE – Famous French anti-Christian atheist last words were “…I am abandoned by God and man.” He said to his physician, Dr. Fochin: “I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life.” When he was told this was impossible, he said, “Then I shall die and go to hell!” His nurse said: “For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever die! All night long he cried for forgiveness.”

Jesus suffered for the sins of you and I so we would not have to suffer in the same way as Voltaire did when we die.

Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!” Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.” And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”

The Centurion was in awe of all he witnessed that day, the supernatural darkness, the way Jesus died was not like any man he had executed before. A centurion is known for his bravery, for his readiness for battle, but this day shook him.  He said in awe and fear « Truly this Man was the Son of God !»

Meanwhile, at the same time inside the city walls, the temple curtain was torn in two. This was also a supernatural event.

The temple had very tight regulations about who could enter;

1. The Gentiles were not allowed into the temple, they could only go as far as the outside court of the Gentiles

2. Israelite women could go inside the temple as far as the Court of the Women

3. Israelite men could go up the steps and into the Court of the Israelites.

4. Priests could go further into the Court of the Priest and up some more steps into the Holy Place

5. Then once per year, the High Priest with a rope and bell attached went beyond the curtain into the Holy of Holies to make a sacrifice. Only he was allowed to do it. The rope and bell had to be attached because the place was so filled with God’s presence that if he was unclean and died there, they could pull him out with the rope.

But when Jesus died on the Cross, at that moment the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. 

Who else but the High Priest would have have dared to tear the curtain. But the curtain was very thick so it wasn’t humanly possible. Only God could have done torn the curtain and that was proven by the fact it was torn from the top down.

This is very significant, because it shows that Jesus death on the 

Cross was acceptable to God once and for all and no other High Priest would ever have to make an annual sacrifice ever again.

Since that moment nearly 2000 years ago the Holy of Holies is open to all believers who can enter into God’s presence because of the sacrifice Jesus made which is eternally acceptable to God.

That is why the Bible says about every believer in Christ;

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Through Jesus death on the Cross, the Good News is that God and people are restored to friendship.

Every person born is a captive to their sin, to this World and to the Devil. The Devil is the Strongman who has us captive. We cannot escape his grasp. We cannot free ourselves from sin and the darkness of our coming death in our own strength. Jesus said;

Mark 8:36-37

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Jesus has paid the ransom for your soul when he died on the Cross. But you have to want to go free! Stockholm syndrome is a theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors and don’t try to escape even when they have the chance. But Stockholm syndrome is a delusion, the Devil hates you in truth, but Jesus loves you, that’s why he died on the Cross for you. He paid the ransom for you with his life.

Many people have developed a bond with their captor, the Devil. But Jesus will set you free if you want him to! However, if you do not accept what Jesus has done for you, you are effectively saying to God, « I don’t want anyone to bear my sins - I’ll bear them myself » And so that person remains captive to the Devil and will bear their own sins on Judgement  Day.

You may be at a Crossroads today. You might think that what you’ve done, God can never forgive you for. Jesus’s death on the Cross is very Good News for you. Think about it. Since Jesus is the Son of God and paid the price for your sins, then who can ever question God on that ever again. He has paid the price himself. But the Cross is only Good News if you will accept His offer of the forgiveness of your sins and follow Him. If you continue on your own way, you will find eventually that way is Death.

After the belief that Jesus is the Son of God, the acceptance of Jesus’s death on the Cross as payment for your sins is the 2nd leg on the stool of the 3 legged stool.

Christianity Explained - Study One Q+A

Christianity Explained came out of an Australian study in the early 80’s that recognised there had been a decline of understanding about Jesus, the Bible and the Gospel in Australia. In New Zealand the decline in church attendance has been even greater.

In fact church attendance was at its highest in the 1890’s when it was sitting around 30% compared to between 5% and 10% today.

My family arrived in November of 1974 and Mhairi’s family in 1975. I remember with rose tinted glasses admittedly, that all of Papatoetoe’s churches were pretty full on a Sunday back then and so we would have been sitting close to the national average of around 20%. 

For a number of reasons since then, the demographic has shifted and church attendance in Papatoetoe is well below the average now at an estimated 2.8%. The reality is that we are living in a godless zone.

If we drill into the census from 2006 - 2018, we see a dramatic shift in the religious affiliation in Papatoetoe in just 12 years. Remember, this is only affiliation, the number in Church on a Sunday is a lot lower.  

• We see that Christian affiliation decreased from just over 50% in 2006 to just over 30% by 2018.
• This was offset by an increase in Hinduism from 10% of the population to 20%
• An increase in other beliefs from 5% to just over 15% (note this is not Buddhism, Islam, New age or Judaism so these other beliefs maybe people who say they have their own religion)
• Islam is only around 5%, this is actually a relief and I’ll tell you why.

This is from a Muslim Q+A website 

Is Jesus the Son of God?

• Saying that ‘Isa is the son of God is a monstrous saying and a great evil.  
• Whereby the heavens are almost torn, and the earth is split asunder, and the mountains fall in ruins,
• But it is not suitable for (the Majesty of) the Most Gracious (Allah) that He should beget a son (or offspring or children).

Is Jesus God? 

• Whoever says that the Messiah is the son of God or the third of three is also a disbeliever: 
• And if they cease not from what they say, verily, a painful torment will befall on the disbelievers among them” [al-Maidah 5:73] 

Papatoetoe is at a Crossroads. 

The situation is that there is a lot of work to do for Christianity to regain ground. We have to go back to the beginning, till the ground as in the winter, remove any rocks, prepare the soil, plant the seed in early Spring, add some fertiliser, water the soil when it doesn’t rain, tend to the weeds and wait for the harvest to finally come on Summer and then bring in the crop!

Christianity Explained is designed for the person who knows nothing about Jesus or his Gospel. Could you or I explain to the nearly 98% non-Christians in Papatoetoe the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that helped them believe that Jesus is the Son of God and gave them reason to change what they do on a Sunday morning? This course will equip you for the task.

In summary of last week we remembered that belief that Jesus is the Son of God is one of the 3 essential foundations to being a Christian. Knowing Jesus is the Son of God is life changing;

1. Jesus’ has great authority as God’s Son. He is the supreme Master in God’s world. 

2. The claim that Jesus has all authority as a teacher, over sickness, over nature, over evil spirits, over death and to forgive sins which only God can do is a claim that He is divine.

3. He also has authority over you and me and will decide our eternal future. This means we need to come to a decision about him. 

CS Lewis famously said;

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

With the Papatoetoe census in mind, I found a 7 minute testimony of how a Hindu woman called Deepa Srinivas became a Christian. This is the first of other testimonies we will hear of people from different religions who became Christians. You need to work with the soil that you’ve been given. Listen very carefully to the things that attracted this Hindu woman to Christ. For other religions it may not be the same things.

Could you answer the Hindu woman’s questions;

1. Why do Christians worship God alone and believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God?
2. Can God speak to you? 
3. Will God curse you if you do not perform religious rituals?
4. Does God love us and give us things if we don’t do these rituals?
5. Does Jesus have authority over all other gods and demons?
6. Can God by my father, does he love me?

We are going to break into small groups for about 30 mins. Paul, Matthew and I will lead the groups. You had some homework this week from Mark 1-5. Whatever you didn’t finish last week you can finish this week before our next study. Put yourself in the position of having to explain to a Hindu Man or Woman the answers to these 6 frequently asked questions questions.

FAQ from Mark 1-5

1. What are demons, or evil spirits? Mark 1 v 23-27

The Bible takes seriously the reality of an unseen spiritual world. This spiritual world has both a good side and an evil or malignant side. The devil, or Satan, is not just some impersonal evil force at work in the world. The Bible depicts Satan as personal and powerful. His work is totally opposed to God and directed against God’s people. Evil spirits and demons mentioned in the Gospels are the devil’s agents in this work. Although Satan and his angels are immensely powerful, the New Testament shows Jesus to be Lord over Satan, and to have defeated him through his death and resurrection. 

2. Why did Jesus tell healed people not to tell anyone? Mark 1 v 34; 7 v 36 

Jesus did not want to become like a side show with people coming just to see signs and wonders. He rejected such people (Mark 8 v 11-13, John 4 v 48). If people would not respond to the preaching of the kingdom of God calling for repentance and faith (Mark 1 v 15), miracles alone would not convince them. Miracles attract people, and it is possible that Jesus saw that the curious crowds would hamper his ministry, which is just what happened (Mark 1 v 45).

3. Why did Jesus call himself the Son of Man? Mark 2 v 10 

Jesus wanted to identify with mankind, so he preferred to be called Son of Man rather than being called Son of God. Son of Man is a Jewish term meaning simply “a man”. The prophet Ezekiel was often called “son of man” in this sense (Ezekiel 33 v 1). Son of Man is also a well known title used in the Old Testament for the Messiah. See Daniel 7 v 13-14. In this vision Daniel saw “one like a son of man” (ie: like a human being). God then gives to this son of man an eternal kingship over all the nations of the earth. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day would have interpreted Jesus’ use of Son of Man as a veiled claim to be the coming Messiah, the fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy. 

4. New cloth, old coat; new wine, old skins. Mark 2 v 21-22 

People were complaining that Jesus was not observing the religious rules and traditions of his day (Mark 2 v 18). The Pharisees had literally thousands of laws and religious regulations, and they taught that a person had to observe these rigorously in order to please God. Jesus was saying that the faith he had come to bring was totally incompatible with the Pharisees’ system. Jesus could not be “fit ted into” their legalistic religion. He came to bring a living relationship with God, not rules; grace, love and peace, not religious formulas. Christianity is not a religion. “Religion” is from the Latin word meaning “rules”. Chris tianity is not a set of rules, but a personal relationship with the living God.

5. What is the “eternal sin”? Mark 3 v 29 

The context here is the key. The religious leaders had observed Jesus’ miracles and heard his teaching at first hand. However, their assessment of Jesus was: “He is possessed by Beelzebub” (Mark 3 v 22) – an old name for the devil. They had hardened their hearts against the work of God’s Spirit through the ministry of Jesus. This unrepentant, continuous attitude is the “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (Mark 3 v 29). This has nothing to do with swearing at the Holy Spirit – in simple terms it means to continuously reject Jesus’ claim upon a person’s heart and life. For this there can be no forgiveness, for they have refused the only way of forgiveness that God has provided. Of course, it is only unforgivable for as long as a person goes on doing it. Many of the religious leaders did repent later on, and so were forgiven (Acts 6 v 7). This is a vital personal concept. If I reject Jesus, I can never be forgiven! 

6. Why did Jesus teach in parables? Mark 4 v 10-12 

Many people have trouble with this passage. On the surface it sounds as if Jesus taught in parables so that people would not understand, which would be very strange indeed. However, we need to see that there are two groups mentioned here: the disciples and “those on the outside”. The disciples were spiritually intrigued by the parables and drawn nearer to Jesus to hear the explanation. There is a spiritual principle here – “to everyone who has more will be given”. However, to “those outside” the band of disciples, the parables just remained baffling stories. Their spiritual interest was not aroused. They “hear, but do not understand”. 64 All people are either like moths or bats. They are either attracted to the light of Jesus’ teaching, or repelled by it. Jesus’ words, including his parables, always act in this two fold way. See also Mark 4 v 33-34.

Christianity Explained - Study 1 - Son of God

Last week we started a course called Christianity Explained. An Australian study in the early 80’s recognised there had been a decline of understanding about Jesus, the Bible and the Gospel in Australia. Most people last week guessed that church attendance peaked in New Zealand in the 1950s and declined since then.

In fact church attendance was at its highest in the 1890’s as this graph shows when it was sitting around 30% compared to between 5% and 10% today. Mhairi and I arrived from the UK with our families to Papatoetoe in the 70’s and remember when the township was thriving before Manukau shopping centre was built in 1977.

My family arrived in November of 1974 and Mhairi’s family in 1975. I remember with rose tinted glasses admittedly, that all of Papatoetoe’s churches were pretty full on a Sunday back then and so we would have been sitting close to the national average of around 20%. 

Where does Papatoetoe sit today?

For a number of reasons since then, the demographic has shifted and church attendance in Papatoetoe is well below the average now at an estimated 2.8%. The reality is that New Zealand is not a Christian country, it is secular. We are now living in a mission field.

So the situation in Papatoetoe now is that we have to go back to the beginning, till the ground as in the winter, removing any rocks, prepare the soil, plant the seed in early Spring, add some fertiliser, water the soil when it doesn’t rain, tend to the weeds and wait for the harvest to finally come on Summer and then bring in the crop!

Christianity Explained is designed for the person who knows nothing about Jesus or his Gospel. Could you or I explain to the nearly 98% non-Christians in Papatoetoe the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that helped them believe that Jesus is the Son of God and gave them reason to change what they do on a Sunday morning? In the parable of the lost sheep, the Shepherd left the 99 to go looking for the 1 lost sheep. In Papatoetoe today, the one needs to go out search for the 99.

Let’s move to today’s study from the Gospel of Mark. 

Mark 1:1

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

What a great opening line for a book. It’s right up there with;

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

And

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Immediately it grabs you and makes you want to know more. What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? How do we know Jesus is the Son of God. Is Jesus the answer to what we are looking for?

That is what this series on Christianity Explained is all about. It presents the Gospel with the 3 solid foundations that must be in place for someone to be a true Christian. Like a stool which must have 3 legs to stand. The first leg on the stool is that someone must believe that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore has authority over all creation including our lives. When Jesus came into the World, it was under oppression a lot like now. Israel was under oppressive Roman rule. People were struggling in their daily lives. There was sickness and there was spiritual oppression. Religion was hurting not helping people. People were looking for an answer, for a Messiah to save them from their troubles. But saving the people meant addressing the main root of their problems, sin.

Mark 1:2-8

As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 

How did John prepare the way for Jesus? John preached a message of repentance. This is where we are at today. If we want people to see Jesus, have Peace and the Holy Spirit in their lives, they have to repent. This means they have to turn from the direction they are going, which is the way of Death and turn to Jesus, the way to Life. This is not going to be easy for us because it is such a counter cultural message. The World does not want to change, it loves to hear the false message that all people are basically good. We on the other hand need to rock the boat but we like to be comfortable. John was not comfortable in the wilderness, the barren place.

Mark 2:9-13

It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him. 

Getting baptised marks us out, even Jesus got baptised. We make a declaration that we have turned from sin and turned to the Lord. We belong to God, we are beloved of God. We have to know that every Christian is at war with the Devil. The Devil will throw everything at us. When someone comes to Christ, the path is not an easy one. There are many people suffering in Papatoetoe today. The Gospel that Jesus is the Son of God is good news. He has victory over the Devil. They can have victory too. 

Mark 1:14-20

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 

Many people don’t realise that Jesus preached a message of repentance. It didn’t matter who they voted for, the area they lived in, their religion, everyone needed to repent. Everyone thinks they are right, it’s offensive to be told you are wrong. This is why the World hated him and will hate us too. The Kingdom of God is at hand but people will miss out if they don’t repent. Again, this means they have to turn from the direction they are going, which is the way of Death and turn to Jesus, the way to Life. This means agreeing with God about our sin.

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him. 

Jesus is Lord. He has authority to call us from our jobs to follow him and to make us fishers of men. Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John were called to follow him in pairs and they did. Two is better than one! The call of Jesus comes with a sense of urgency. You have to make an instant decision. Leave it until Monday and you’ll be back in the daily grind, soon swept up in worldly troubles. Jesus’s message is, today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow.

Mark 1: 21-28

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee. 

Jesus has authority above all other principalities and powers. The man with the unclean spirit was an enemy in the synagogue.  We have been living in an age where the Church has not been very discerning. When that happens, it is easy for an unclean spirit to come in. Ecumenism, coexistence, new age teaching, prosperity doctrine, yoga classes, universalism, Gnosticism you name it, false doctrine has crept into the Church. It was prophesied there would be doctrines of devils in the last days. The unclean spirit was very comfortable in the synagogue until Jesus walked in, then it manifested and cried out in fear. Religion is an easy disguise for a wolf but the Shepherd is not fooled like the sheep. Jesus has all authority over unclean spirits which have to leave at his command. That’s why we pray and preach in the name of Jesus.

Mark 1: 29-34

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them. At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him. 

Jesus has authority over sickness as well as the Devil, he is the Son of God. The fact that Jesus has authority over sickness and the Devil is part of the Gospel, it is really good news for many people in Papatoetoe. Please note that sickness and the Devil are not the same thing. Simon’s mother in law was sick, she did not have a demon. Others had demons, they were not sick. The Church can fall into the trap of thinking everyone’s illness is caused by the Devil. Nevertheless, the message that Jesus the Son of God has authority over sickness and the Devil is very good news to all and when people are being healed, it doesn’t take long for Jesus to bring in the crowds.

Mark 1:35-39

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.” And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. 

Though huge numbers of people were being healed, Jesus took time out to be alone and pray. Being a Christian, especially those in Ministry, means you need to take time out. You cannot continue 24/7, you need to set aside time to be alone with God and to pray. Unfortunately we live in an age of constant distractions from our mobile phones. Setting aside time to be alone with God, means leaving the phone behind. That’s going to annoy a few people but God will be pleased. This is a message for myself. 

We can also rest for too long. Resting is recharging. But once charged, it’s back to work! Jesus purpose was to preach repentance and the Good News about the Kingdom of God to all the towns in Israel. You probably already realise that God’s work is never ending but at least we can keep chipping away.

Mark 1:40-45

Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

Jesus has authority to make us clean. Some things make us feel feel dirty. We don’t have leprosy in New Zealand but we do know people who feel unclean because of sexual abuse that has happened to them. Jesus has compassion for victims of sexual abuse and anger towards the perpetrators. Jesus said;

Luke 17:2

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Jesus will address this evil when he returns, but the good news is he has the authority to heal now.

Mark 2:1-7

And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Jesus has authority to forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. You hear some people today, especially Muslims, saying that Jesus never claimed to be God. The fact that he forgave sins is a proof that he did claim to be God and notice something else. Jesus can hear what they are thinking, it says the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts that Jesus was speaking blasphemously. 

Mark 2:8-12

But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘ Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

He has authority over nature, he commanded the wind and the waves to be quiet, he commanded sickness and demons to leave, the dead to be raised, sins forgiven, declared himself Lord of the Sabbath and the Son of Man (Mark 2:28).

He preached with authority, his words could not be refuted.

He commanded people to leave their jobs and follow him.

Who are we exactly to challenge his authority over our lives ?

In all this time, we still come back to the things that Jesus said, realising that the truth he spoke is true for all time. In fact he said

Matthew 24:35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

How true that remains !

Christianity Explained - Crossroads

Today we have an introductory message to a course we would like to run called “Christianity Explained”.  In an Australian study in the early 80’s it was recognised there had been a decline of understanding about Jesus, the Bible and the Gospel in Australia. Between 1955 and 1980, weekly church attendance had dipped from 33% to 18.8% of the population. 

What about New Zealand?

When would you guess church attendance was highest in New Zealand? Most people would guess that church attendance peaked in New Zealand in the 1950s, so before the significant social changes that occurred in the 1960s. Some people suggest the 1930s, so pre-World War Two. But the truth is it was much earlier than that. In fact it was the 1890’s. New Zealand has been an increasingly secular country as this graph shows.

According to Wikipedia, there are 52,910 people in Papatoetoe as at June 2023. How many people do you suppose are in Church on a Sunday in Papatoetoe. Would it be 1500 do you think? That would be around 2.8%. The reality is that New Zealand is not a Christian country, it is secular. We are now living in a mission field.

When you see someone in the street or at the shopping mall, you can guess very well that they have not been to Church this year, maybe never and know next to nothing about Jesus or the Gospel.

This made us think that perhaps we need to change tack. When we did our recent series on Daniel, how many people in Papatoetoe would be able to understand the end times message for us about Jesus coming soon if they don’t even know who Jesus is.

The implication is that we have to go back to the beginning, tilling the ground in the winter, removing any rocks, prepare the soil, plant the seed in early Spring, add some fertiliser, water the soil when it doesn’t rain, tend to the weeds and wait for the harvest to finally come on Summer and then bring in the crop!

Australians and New Zealanders are very laid back, we like to go with the flow. That’s great, to have success with evangelism requires the Holy Spirit. but there are things we also need do to get a harvest;

1. Pray for opportunities 

2. Look for opportunities

3. Equipped for opportunities

The preparation for the course begins by looking at the passage in Chapter 4 of John about the woman who met Jesus at the well. It’s a great insight into witnessing your faith to anyone in an everyday situation, you may recognise a lot of the stages in the conversation yourself.

John 4:1-6

Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

The sixth hour is midday or lunchtime.

The Gospel of John describes Jesus' journey to Jacob’s well; He'd been down in Jerusalem for the Passover (John 2:23), then baptising people alongside John (John 3:26) and was heading back to Galilee where Nazareth is, passing through Samaria about halfway between the two.

Jacob’s well pinpoints an exact location that Jesus sat down to rest.   

This is a modern photo of the exact location. You can see from the geography how it is a crossroads. There is Sychar over to the bottom of right with Jacob’s well over to the bottom left. In the middle of the photo is Shechem. At the top left is Mt Gerizim which is important later in today’s story and at the top right Mount Ebal. You can see it is not a big place. Seven years ago we studied the little town of Shechem, the place where the Lord first appeared to Abraham in Canaan and where Abraham built his first altar. There are at least 6 interesting things about Shechem which make it biblically very significant.

1. The first is that Shechem is where Abraham's grandson Jacob bought a field (Genesis 33)

2. The second is that Shechem is the place where Jacob sent Joseph to where his brothers threw him down the well, probably the same field that Jacob had purchased (Genesis 37)

3. The third is that Joseph is buried there based on a prophecy given to Abraham in Genesis 15 and mentioned in Joshua 24.

4. The fourth is that Shechem is the place where not long after entering the Promised Land and gaining victories at Jericho and Ai, Joshua renewed Israel's covenant with the Lord and gave instruction about what the Israelites had to do to receive the blessings or cursing of God as per Moses' instructions (Joshua 8)

5. The fifth is that Shechem is geographically at a Crossroads. At the end of his life, Joshua gave one final challenge to the Israelites to decide who will they serve. (Joshua 24)

6. The sixth is that Stephen referred to this history in his lengthy speech to the Council in Jerusalem in Acts 7 just before they stoned him to death.

John 4:7-8

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 

Jesus was not very polite was he? He didn’t say please. Here we see the human side of Jesus. He was tired, he was hot and he was thirsty. And a woman turns up to fetch some water. I can relate to that, when I’m tired, hot and thirsty, I just want to rest and get refreshed. The last thing I’d want to do is expend more effort witnessing to a stranger. But she does have some water. 

The question catches the woman off guard. She had noticed he wasn’t from around town, that he was a Jew. And she may have wondered what was a Jew doing in a no go zone like Shechem?

John 4:9

Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. 

Who were the Samaritans? There on the map are the the locations given to the 12 tribes of Israel.

In Jesus day, these were the people that the Jews despised. This is true to this day as Samaria is now part of the West Bank.

Samaria comprised the territory given to Joseph's 2 sons - Manasseh and Ephraim, there in the centre of the map. The Samaritans live in the West Bank to this day and are the 4th religion after the Muslims (83%), Jewish (13%), the Christians number just under the percentage of Christians in Papatoetoe at 2%.  The West Bank Territory today includes Bethlehem and Eastern Jerusalem but is mostly ancient Samaria.

1. The Samaritans claim descent from the tribes of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim) and the Levites and are therefore Israelites 

2. Part of the group that split away from the House of David at the time of Jeroboam 

3. Governed by the Palestinian National Authority (PLO/Israel Government) today. Think Yasser Arafat.

Why did the Jews hate them? 

The Samaritans were a mix from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim who had inter-married with the pagan nations. In 1 Kings 11, when Jeroboam rebelled against the House of David and set up the Northern Kingdom, he created a base at Shechem and designated nearby Mt Gerazim as the place to worship.  

But thanks to Jeroboam, the Northern Kingdom continued worshiping false gods alongside the true God and the 2 won't mix.  

Because of this in Jesus' time, the Samaritans believed the correct place of worship and indeed Isaac's sacrifice was at Mt Gerazim next to Shechem. Mt Gerazim is in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank about 50km north of Jerusalem. 

John 4:10-15

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” 

Opportunities to share the Gospel are there in every part of life if we’re looking and willing. So often we are hot, tired and too thirsty ourselves to pay attention to someone else’s need or even to realise that our own need isn’t physical, a change of job, or clothes or hair or another place to live. Do we even realise that Jesus has living water for us that we can have eternal life and never thirst again?

John 4:16-19

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.

Jesus knew the truth that the woman was living in sin, in at least her 6th relationship. We can’t hide our secrets from the Lord.

This woman was at a Crossroads in her life when she met Jesus there at the Crossroads at Shechem.    

There always comes a point in someone’s life when God brings them to a Crossroads and then what will they choose. The narrow way or the Broad road?

Our response to Jesus is so crucial. Was she going to continue in her life of sin or would she follow Jesus? 

The woman could have got angry with Jesus - "Who are you to judge?" 

Or she got have embarrassed and lied. "We're going to get married soon".  

But she tried instead to change the subject. She didn't want to talk about it! 

First she tried small talk asking him about his job - "You must be a prophet". 

John 4:20-24

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” 

So she moved on to a subject that everyone liked talking about in her day - religion. She assumed a prophet would love to talk about religion. In our day we might move it quickly on to Donald Trump. But Jesus wasn’t going to be sidetracked by another topic. He was not going to let her off the hook. 

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

He used the topic she brought up to make a point about worship not being about the right place but about how we worship, whether we have the Holy Spirit it or not. She knew she didn't have the Holy Spirit, that she wasn’t born again, that was her real need.

John 4:25-30

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He. ” 

She didn't know who the Messiah was, she was lost. But Jesus was there for her. He told the woman "I am the Messiah, I'm the one you've been looking for". It was checkmate. 

And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” 

Isn’t it strange that when you are witnessing to someone and you reach that crucial point in the conversation where the person is captured in their thought about God, that just at that moment there’s a disruption, a distraction and the moment is lost. At this point, the disciples come blundering in, killing the moment. How ever the moment was in the Lord’s hands. When it is in the Lord’s hands, the moment is not wasted, so we need to hand it over to Him. We shouldn’t feel we have to rush the person to the altar. Take it that God has done what he needed to do. We look with our eyes. God looks on the heart. The woman was already changed.

The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him. 

In that short conversation with the woman, she had experienced the miracle of prophecy in her life and her eyes had been opened and now she wanted to bring others to Christ.

John 4:31-38

In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” 

The disciples seemed completely oblivious to the spiritual conversation and what had just taken place in the woman’s life. Instead all they were interested in was eating because it was lunchtime. Isn’t that so often the case for us as well, not really in tune with the spiritual need around us, concerned only for ourselves. Jesus, was hot, tired and thirsty and you would have thought hungry too as it was midday and lunchtime. But he had only asked for a drink. He didn’t ask for food. He told them that his food was to do the will of God his Father. He also wanted to open their eyes and see that there was a spiritual harvest that they weren’t even aware of. Not only that but there was great wages to be earned by those who would get on with the work. In fact there’s another great truth here. When a person gets saved, it’s not necessarily the one who did all the hard work who gets to see it. Maybe there are some in your life who you often pray for and even witness to but they never seem to respond to you. Others will reap the harvest. We just need to be ready to reap when our turn comes. The disciples were preoccupied with other matters.

After Covid, and with all the horrible things happening in the world today, the harvest fields are ripe again. People need to hear and understand the Gospel and only we can explain it to them. But who is prepared to put their own wants aside and do the hard work! Maybe we can’t change the world but we could impact Papatoetoe.

John 4:39-42

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

It's not about the right religion, it's not about the place being Jerusalem, Mecca, Mt Gerazim or anywhere else for that matter and it's not about the well. It's about Jesus. 

But you've got to decide! Sychar is beneath the Mountain of Ebal but Jacobs Well is beneath Mt Gerizim. Are you going to go back to Sychar to live under a curse or are you going to come to Jacob's well to live under under God's blessing? 

Satan picked you up and threw you down a dry well to die. But Jesus arrives at the well to rescue you and give you living water 😊 

Come to the living water, come to the blessing, come to Jesus! 

Do you remember exactly where you were when you first met Jesus? Maybe you haven't met him yet! 

Right There at that well in Shechem was a reconciliation and peace. It's about Jesus. The Crossroads is where we meet him.

We saw at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics last week a tragedy of national and international proportions. The Last Supper is Jesus’s message to us of his body being broken for us and his blood poured out for our sin. The most basic starting point to us stepping out on the narrow path to Heaven is to recognise that we are sinners and that Christ died for us. The mockery of the Last Supper was a rejection of the Way Jesus offers. The message to the whole World from France was that living a life of pleasure and sin is salvation. Anything goes when it comes to “Love”. Jesus stands at the Crossroads. In my day, the old Sunday School song was

“I met Jesus at the Crossroads, 

where the 2 ways meet.

Satan too was standing there and he said come this way.

Lots and lots of pleasures I will give to you today.

But I said No, there’s Jesus here

See what he offers me.

Down here my sins forgiven, up there a home in Heaven.

Praise God, that’s the way for me.”