Last weekend, winds of at least 225 km/h from Cyclone devastated the isolated French overseas département of Mayotte, leaving an estimated 100,000 people without shelter or water and hundreds, possibly thousands, dead. Mayotte is small, 374 km2 which is less than 20km x 20km, and home to about 320,000 residents.
Mayotte is where my friend Galeb and his family and his sister Widaad, who came to PCC while she was here in New Zealand for a few months in 2014. The good news is they’re all ok and their homes. The bad news is that with a 1/3 of the island now homeless and basic utilities badly damaged, it’s going to be a while before life returns to normal.
Mayotte is the poorest of all the French départements, a far cry from the splendour of the Palace in Paris where the President of France lives. To his credit, President Emmanuel Macron made a visit to Mayotte this week and vowed to help with the rebuild. But he blew it when during his visit, Macron swore at the residents of Mayotte on Thursday night, telling a jeering crowd “If it wasn’t for France, you’d be 10,000 times deeper in s**t.”
Emmanuel means God with us. The true Emmanuel is Jesus not the one at the Palace de l’Élysée. Jesus left his throne in Heaven to come down to the Earth, not for a fleeting 2 day visit to tell us we’re nobodies without him but to be born in poverty and live his life amongst ordinary folk, not expecting any special privileges for the King he is. And eventually to give his life for all of us, so that we might find forgiveness for our sins and gain citizenship to live with him in Heaven.
There is so much to reflect on in the Christmas story.
Why the little town of Bethlehem and not the capital Jerusalem? Because that was the royal city where King David was born. The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Great things come from small beginnings.
Why the shepherds? Because Israel was being led by bad shepherds, the Good Shepherd came to the good shepherds doing their job out in the fields.
Why the swaddling clothes? To show he was one of us, just like all the other babies, wrapped in swaddling clothes to stop him moving about. He is Emmanuel, God with us.
Why the manger? Because there was no room at the inn. So many people don’t have room for Jesus. To show he was ready to go lower than us, to eat with us, to commune with us. He is the Servant King, telling us to take his yoke upon us because he is gentle and lowly of heart.
Jesus says to each one us today;
Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
We have now reached our final study in the Christianity Explained series.
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? After today, you are equipped for the task.
We established the 3 essential foundations to being a true Christian.
The belief that Jesus is the Son of God with all authority including final judgment over us, that his death on the Cross was the only way to forgive our sins and that after 3 days he rose back life, proving he really is the Son of God with even authority even over death itself. Christianity answers the most important question that we can ever ask. What must I do to be saved which is answered by;
Romans 10:9
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
But as we saw in our last study, repentance was a theme of Jesus’s preaching along with the necessity to believe.
Mark 1:14-15
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.”
He told the multitudes that unless they repented, they would all perish.
He likened them to an unfruitful fig tree, saying that unless they would start bearing fruit, they would be cut down.
The fruit of repentance shows that we have truly believed.
A biblical definition of repentance involves 4 things. To make a change of mind, heart, and action, by turning away from sin and self and returning to God.
We saw that repentance was a theme of each Gospel, emphasised in different ways.
Now we come to the second part of being a true Christian - believing. The question is « What is true belief? »
A lot of people think of believing is a kind of mental assent. They think that accepting something to be a fact is what belief is. Even the dictionary definition says the same thing. But that is not the full meaning of biblical belief.
Jean Francois Gravelot aka the Great Blondin was a famous tightrope walker. In the summer of 1859, he walked 1,100 feet across (335m), 160 feet above (49m) the falls several times back and forth between Canada and the United States as huge crowds on both sides looked on with shock and awe. Once he crossed in a sack, once on stilts, another time on a bicycle, and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet!
On July 15, Blondin walked backward across the tightrope to Canada and returned pushing a wheelbarrow. The story is told that it was after pushing a wheelbarrow across while blindfolded that Blondin asked for some audience participation. It is said that he asked his audience, "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?" The crowd shouted that yes, they believed! It was then that Blondin posed the question - "Who will get in the wheelbarrow?'
Of course...none did.
Just like repentance, biblical belief is an action word. If I truly believe something to be true, then I will live my life accordingly. Following on from the chapter on Faith in Hebrews 11, Paul opens the next chapter with;
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
If I really believe then I will run the race with endurance and not give up.
True faith is foolishness to the World. Not everyone admired Blondin’s feat. The New York Times condemned “such reckless and aimless exposure of life” and the “thoughtless people” who enjoyed “looking at a fellow creature in deadly peril.” Mark Twain later dismissed Blondin as “that adventurous ass.”
The World says “seeing is believing”. The Christian says “believing is seeing”. The World cannot understand when someone gives up a successful life in Worldly terms, money, possessions, power and leaves it all behind to follow Christ.
But as we heard last week, Jim Elliot, the American missionary killed by tribesmen in South America said of his mission;
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose".
What are these things we cannot lose that Jim Elliot is referring to? God promises at least 3 gifts to those who repent and believe.
1.The Holy Spirit
Mark 1:8
I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
We discussed last week the illustration of a house. When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit moves in. That is what we called « moving day ». Then the Holy Spirit begins the ongoing renovations of the different rooms in our house. These renovations continue for the rest of our lives on Earth.
2.Forgiveness of Sins
Mark 2:10-11
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.”
The forgiveness of all our sins is such an important thing and only Jesus can give it through his death on the Cross. Many will not suffer your sins at all. People go to Psychiatrists and therapists because they have guilt from their sins or unforgiveness issues. Jesus said unless we forgive others, we can’t be forgiven. Some of us last week said that trauma in our lives is a room that we keep locked and don’t want any guest to go into. Only forgiveness can open the door to such a room.
3.Eternal Life
Mark 10:29-30
So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
Becoming a Christian will often separate us from our old life completely. We can no longer go to places or look at things that were once appealing. Some family and friends will no longer want to associate with us and we may experience persecution for our faith. Real Christians experience the kind of trouble and persecution that goes with eternal life. But Jesus promises the newness of eternal life in exchange for our old life.
Leaving our old life takes faith, real belief. There will be a genuine significant change from our life before we were a Christian. This is what separates the true believers from the make believers.
Genuine faith trusts the Lord when scientific facts and our feelings might be telling us otherwise. Jairus’s 12 year old daughter was dying when he went to see Jesus.
Faith is
1.Taking Jesus at his word
Mark 5:35-36
While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
How would Jairus have felt when the message came that his daughter was dead? Faith required him to trust in Jesus’ word despite all the evidence to the contrary. Faith is based, not on how we feel, but on the facts of what Jesus says “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
I wish we didn’t have to face such moments in our lives but when we do, we can put our faith in Jesus, not the circumstance in front of us even if our faith is a small as a mustard seed. It’s not the size of our faith that is important, it is the size of the One we are putting our faith in. Nothing is too big for Jesus.
Faith is
2.Reaching out to Jesus
On the way to Jairus’s house a woman who’d been sick for 12 years reached out and touched Jesus’s garment, reasoning if only she could touch his clothes, she would be healed, and sure enough, she was.
Mark 5:34
And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
Jesus made her faith public when she would probably have preferred to keep it quiet. Real faith is made public.
Faith is
3.Trusting in the face of opposition
Mark 5:38-43
Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him.
Real belief often has to overcome the scepticism of those without faith, the vast majority including family and friends.
But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.
Faith is;
4.Having childlike trust
Often we have to put aside adult reasoning and just trust in the way a child trusts their parents. As soon as a child looks into their parents eyes, they feel no fear.
Mark 10:13-16
Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
Taking that first step to follow Jesus takes courage for many people. A person can only do so if they are convinced that
1.Jesus is the Son of God with all authority including final judgment over us.
2.Jesus’s death on the Cross was the only way to forgive our sins and
3.After 3 days Jesus rose back life, proving he really is the Son of God with even authority even over death itself.
Believing is;
1.Taking Jesus at his Word
2.Reaching out to Jesus
3.Trusting in the face of opposition
4.Having childlike trust
In spite of our fears, the apparent facts and our feelings
