Tag: Sermon Snippets

The Penny Drops

Tuesday 4th June 2013

Sermon Snippets’ is an occasional series, taking bitesize chunks from our Sunday sermons.  The following excerpt is adapted from a sermon on Mark 8:11-30, preached by Nathan Burley last Sunday.  You can listen to the whole sermon here.

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In v18 of our passage, Jesus called His disciples ‘blind.’  They have eyes but can’t see, so spiritually they’re blind.

But then in v29 Peter finally sees!  The penny drops and he recognises Jesus, saying, “You are the Christ!”

And slap-bang in the middle of those two events, comes this story.  Of a blind man slowly being given his sight.

Jesus wanted us to link the two stories; the blind man eventually seeing, and Peter eventually seeing who Jesus is.

He’s making the point that seeing who Jesus is is supernatural.

Peter could no more work out by himself that Jesus is the Christ, than the blind man could work out yellow from green.

It takes Jesus to open our eyes before we can see.

We saw in chapter 7 how the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.

We all have something deeply wrong with us at the core of who we are.  Our hearts are hard to God.  That’s what Jesus told His friends was wrong with them.

Our physical eyes might work or they might not, but what the Bible calls “the eyes of our hearts”, those eyes are naturally blind.

We are in a desperate situation and nothing we can do can help.

Try being more religious?  That’s just a new pair of glasses for the blind man.  It will make no difference.

In fact it might make it worse because it’s an outward show of being clear-sighted which hides the reality.  And it might even make others follow you into oncoming traffic thinking you know where you’re going.

Religion and rules won’t help us.  It takes a miracle from Jesus to heal us.

Seeing who Jesus is really is supernatural.

Listen to the rest of the sermon here.

Mousetraps Or Brooms?

Tuesday 30th April 2013

Sermon Snippets’ is an occasional series, taking bitesize chunks from our Sunday sermons.  The following excerpt is adapted from a sermon on Mark 2:1-12, preached by Nigel Styles last Sunday.  You can listen to the whole sermon here.

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In our house, we often have problems with mice.  When we come across the nibbled carrot in the veg box or we find some mice droppings behind the chair… what should we do?

We could sweep up the mice droppings.  Yes, that would be a good idea.  We should throw away the nibbled veg.  Definitely!

But even if I clear up the evidence of mice every day, it’s of limited value.  I need to take more drastic action.  I need to get out our mouse traps, pull back the spring, set an appetising sultana in place, and wait for the ‘thwatch’!!!

In the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, no one got ill.  There were no wheelchairs, or cancer wards or Get Well Soon cards.  But then the world went horribly wrong.

Jesus could have come along and swept up the droppings.  A leper cleansed here.  A paralytic raised up there.

But when he forgives this man’s sins in Mark chapter 2, he is saying that he has come to deal not only with the symptoms of a broken world, but with the thing that broke it in first place.  He has come to deal with sin because that is the root cause.

When he says ‘your sins are forgiven’, like a guided missile locked onto its target, Jesus attacks the thing that really needs to be dealt with.

Jesus is saying that we need to look no further than inside ourselves.  That is real problem.

I am in the wrong.  And not just me, but all of us.  Everybody is like this.  Everybody has sins that need to be forgiven.  That’s where the problems of the world begin.

Listen to the rest of the sermon here.

 

Jesus At The Book Group

Tuesday 23rd April 2013

Sermon Snippets’ is an occasional series, taking bitesize chunks from our Sunday sermons.  The following excerpt is adapted from a sermon on Mark 1:14-34, preached by Nathan Burley last Sunday.  You can listen to the whole sermon here.

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Jesus went into town and taught in the synagogue.  If Jesus came to your church, He’s preaching!

What He’s preaching is probably “the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” (v15)

But Mark draws attention here to how Jesus teaches; with authority.

His hearers were astonished.  “they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” (v22)  It was unlike anything they’d ever heard.

Jesus didn’t need to refer to commentaries or give tentative interpretations of the Bible.  “I think it might mean this or that…”  He spoke with authority.

I know I’m the wrong age and the wrong gender to be its target audience, but this week I finished reading the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy.  I actually really enjoyed it.

Now imagine I was at a book group and one person says, “I think the series is a social commentary on the dangers of reality television.”

And someone else says, “It’s more historical than that, asking what the Roman Empire would have looked like in the 21st Century.”

I pipe up with something about it being, “A critique of capitalism on the one hand and then, in the final book, also critiquing communism on the other.”

Someone else says, “Come on, it’s just a good page-turner with a love triangle and plenty of fighting!”

And then, lo and behold, Suzanne Collins walks in.  The writer of The Hunger Games.

If she weighs into the discussion, it’s not a debate anymore.  She can tell you what it’s about.

In the same way, when Jesus picks up a Bible and teaches, He has authority because He is the author.

Other people say, “according to so-and-so…”  Jesus says, “But I say to you…”

And if v15 is what He taught, then He’s more than the author, He’s the main character!  He’s the promised king the whole Bible is about!

We preach the Bible saying, “Look at Jesus.”  Jesus preaches the Bible saying, “Yes, look at me!”

He teaches with authority.

Listen to the rest of the sermon here.

Jesus Was Cursed So We Can Be Blessed

Tuesday 12th March 2013

Sermon Snippets’ is an occasional series, taking bitesize chunks from our Sunday sermons.  The following excerpt is adapted from a sermon on Deuteronomy 28, preached by Nigel Styles last Sunday.  You can listen to the whole sermon here.

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The Lord Jesus was sold, to buy us back;

captive, to deliver us;

condemned, to absolve us.

 

He was made a sin offering for our righteousness, so that by him fury is made gentle,

wrath pacified,

darkness turned to light,

fear reassured,

debt cancelled,

heaviness lightened,

sadness made merry,

misfortune made fortunate,

difficulty easy,

disorder ordered,

division united,

humiliation made noble,

rebellion quashed,

intimidation intimidated,

ambush uncovered,

force forced back,

combat combated,

war warred against,

vengeance avenged,

torment tormented,

damnation damned,

the abyss sunk into the abyss,

hell transfixed,

death dead,

mortality made immortal.

 

In short, he was cursed so we can be blessed.

(adapted from John Calvin’s preface to a 1534 French translation of the New Testament )

Listen to the rest of the sermon here.

 

I Wonder What Mood God’s In?

Tuesday 22nd January 2013

Sermon Snippets’ is an occasional series, taking bitesize chunks from our Sunday sermons.  We’ve pulled one from the archives this week!  The following excerpt is adapted from a sermon on Lamentations 3:1-31, preached by Nathan Burley in January 2012.  You can listen to the whole sermon here.

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“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.”

As you read through the weeping of Lamentations, when you finally get to these verses, it’s like somebody has opened up the curtains and the sun has started pouring in.

There are beautiful roses flourishing and growing between the cracks in the rubble.

The song Great Is Thy Faithfulness takes its chorus straight from these verses.  But we almost need to sing funeral dirges non-stop for 2 hours and then, out of nowhere, start singing it!  Only then will we feel as refreshed as we’re meant to feel by it.

I think Lamentations has a bad reputation.  As if you need to keep the Samaritans hotline number handy if you ever find yourself doing your Quiet Times in Lamentations.  Things might get a bit dark…

But the structure of the book shows that we’re meant to focus on these few verses in this chapter, these verses of hope.

The firm foundation during the earthquake is the endless mercy of God.

God’s love never ceases.  It never takes a holiday.

God’s heart is always pumping out love, overflowing with it, never ceasing with it from one year to the next.

And this isn’t a love you need to earn.  It’s mercy.  Mercy which never runs out.

Every morning we wake up and there is fresh mercy and grace waiting and ready for us.

Have you seen those mugs that say, “Some mornings I wake up grumpy.  Other mornings I let him lie-in.”?  We never have that with God.  “I wonder what kind of mood He’ll be in today.”

This passage tells you what kind of mood He’ll be in.  He’ll be endlessly merciful.

When you get up early cos the baby’s crying or you’re sat in traffic on the way to work, God got up before you did and is already being merciful.

He has been, He is, and He always will be completely & utterly faithful.

God’s unchanging character is always to have mercy on those who turn back to Him.  So turn to Him!

Listen to the rest of the sermon here.