What a gift to have Isaiah visit us.

His input and wisdom, his vision and experience with the God of all heaven and earth is having a significant impact on us. We have seen afresh the heart and mind of God. He loves justice and is appalled when justice is not expressed – particularly by those to whom much has been given. And though his indignation is  clear it is also very clear that he continues to set his affection on his people (as Deuteronomy expresses it in Dt 10:15); he continues to tell us he will forgive us.

And that brings us to a great puzzle.

How can God be so livered about injustice and then simply tell us he will forgive us?  Is it enough for the victims of injustice to hear God will forgive the guilty ones? Is God not consistent?  If he expresses very strong indignation about the lack of justice emanating from his people surely he must express the same against all injustice and all sin!  And he does.  Isaiah reminds us that God expressed his severe indignation when he subbed the Servant for us. Then he crushed the Servant … to death. God did this SO THAT we might be justified (Is 53:11).  When I see what the Servant endured, and why; when I come to him grateful he subbed for me, God considers me just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned. And God considers anyone the same when they come to him.

Even a man like Duch. When he was a young man, Duch was warden of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious Tuol Sleng prison. Duch was one of the bloodiest mass murderers the world has ever known. He was responsible for torture and death of 17,000 Cambodians: men, women, children and infants. In 1996 the enormous weight of his past led to a profound depression and Duch approached Pastor LaPel in Cambodia to receive forgiveness of his sins. Duch is now in Cambodian prison awaiting the outcome of trial for his crimes. He will have to suffer the consequences of his crimes against his countrymen. He will do so willingly.

He will do so knowing God has forgiven him. He will do so knowing God meted out justice – even for his crimes – on his Son 2000 yrs ago – God subbed Jesus even for Duch.

This is the heart of the Christian message found even in the Old Testament.  It is an astounding truth.  It is so profound Isaiah told us that the kings and leaders of the earth would stand in silence because of this Servant (Is 52:15).

This is the message we broadcast.

People need to know that there is forgiveness for sins.  They need to know there is a gracious God who will forgive because he has already paid an awful price for sin.  People need to know that when forgiven they join the Kingdom of God which is marked by justice, peace and joy and one day will see God face to face and enjoy the gracious favour of God – forever.

The poor and oppressed who make up a very significant proportion of the earth will only ever hear about this grace as we act with justice. While we are growing in this area there are two simple things to do:  sign the Cocoa petition; ask others to sign.

We need 100,000 signatures to liberate 200,000 child slaves and labourers on the Ivory Coast and in Ghana.

William Clarke College students are calling on fellow students to sign. The Bishop of Canberra Goulburn, Stuart Robinson, is calling on the whole of his Diocese to sign. North Sydney’s Bishop, Glenn Davies, has signed. Visit the Cocoa Petition Website and sign up (your info will NOT be passed onto anyone nor will it be kept once the Federal minister has responded to the petition).

Why do all this?  To set slaves free?  Yes!  But more!

It’s so 200,000 children, and their families, might hear of the Servant who wants to liberate them not just from the oppression of slavery to men. He wants to justify them, too.

Then they will also join the celebratory community around the throne of God forever (Is 25:6 – 8).

Last Sunday night a couple of questions cycled around the Sabbath.

They essentially were asking what does the Sabbath mean for us?  Do the rules about housekeeping, collecting firewood etc still apply?  These are great questions and reflect a growing biblical literacy.

I think the way ahead to take a few things into account.

1. When the Sabbath was first referred to it was in Gen 2:4.

It was the ideal for all human beings for all human beings lived in God’s place and under his rule.  Ie they lived in the Kingdom of God (KOG).  The KOG norm then was for God’s people to enjoy Sabbath rest (a 4 dimension peace: peace with God, peace with each other, peace within themselves and peace with Creation).

2. With the Fall everything was significantly affected.

The ideal Sabbath rest was destroyed.  There was no longer peace with God (rebellion, sin, had ensured this), with each other (sin again …) nor within self (sin again) nor with Creation (sin again)

3. When the LORD redeemed his people from Egypt he established a post Fall expression of the KOG.

His intention was that there would be a people on the earth who would so live in the KOG they would serve as a beacon of hope. They would then drawn people to the LORD because they were to be a living, breathing working model of the KOG.  Part of this model therefore included the keeping of the Sabbath.  Sabbath observance reminded people: God was sanctifying them, God was Sovereign and a gracious provider and so they did not need to work 7 days a week. It also reminded people of the call to justice – they were once slaves in Egypt: they were now to ensure foreigners and slaves in their midst also enjoyed Sabbath rest so they, too, could enjoy the gracious provisions of the LORD.

4. This expression of the KOG did not last long. God’s people ended up in exile because of their rebellion and sin (sound familiar? It’s like Adam and Eve all over again). But in the Exile they could still observe the Sabbath. They could still worship the LORD. But being in a foreign land they were not the full expression of the KOG planned in the Exodus.  They were not in their own “sovereign state”. Yet they could still enjoy some expression of the Sabbath by gathering to worship God.

5. To be sure,

the words of Isaiah 56 – 57 concerning the Sabbath were addressed to Exiles as they were to return to their land. And no doubt that meant all the LORD laid out in the Pentetuch concerning the Sabbath was to be observed. But, the return from Exile never did see the enjoyment of the full orbed Sabbath observance. (Sin again …)

6. In the NT, we see the Sabbath is observed

by no less a person than Jesus.

While there is not a lot of information given to us what is clear is that Jesus was in the habit of gathering with his people every Sabbath (Luke 4:16.  “Custom” means habitual practice. IE if you wanted to find Jesus on the Sabbath you’d find him with his people.  Paul had the same custom – Acts 17:2.  Both stand in stark contrast to the church addressed in Hebrews that was in danger of getting our of the custom or habit of meeting together – see Hebrews 10:25).  Jesus was not stressed out by Sabbath rules like not healing on the Sabbath or carrying something like a mat (after being healed!) on the Sabbath.  He noted Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

It was made so that men and women might be reminded of the core matters:  God is Sovereign and a gracious provider and he is sanctifying us; it is a matter of rightness – or justice – to down tools and rest.  It provides people with the opportunity to rest and refocus, reconnect with the LORD.  It’s an opportunity to still a restless soul before the LORD of Creation.

Does the Sabbath have to be a Saturday?  It was in the OT but come the early church the Sabbath rest changed to Sunday to capitalise on the Resurrection. It became a day of celebration because with the resurrection sin was clearly dealt with and all the hopes Jesus awakened within us were guaranteed.

Gathering to worship God reminds us of the core matters outlined above.

In addition, we seem to function better as a human race when rest is taken into account.  When we do not rest well we burn out. Far too many end up with anxiety disorders and depression – or worse. So at a purely human point of view it is important to rest.  This is how God created us.  And the best rest is when we take time to reconnect with God.  It is in this reconnection our souls are stilled and enjoy rest ( Ps 42:5,11; 43:5; 131; Matthew 11:28 – 30).

If we find you need to work on a Sunday I would encourage you to negotiate with your boss an arrangement which ensured you could be at worship.  At St Paul’s there are services at 8am, 10am, 5pm and 7pm. My guess is most could arrange work life so they can get to one of these.  I see people come to 8am dressed for work at the Towers (they come in uniform), I know of one man whose wife comes to 10am but because of work he cannot. So he comes to 7pm – straight after work.  He and his wife then talk about what they learnt in church – very impressive!

As we enourage one another to keep the Sabbath we will be encouraging one another to continue on in Jesus til he returns – or till his calls us home.  It’s Hebrews 10:19 – 25 in action!

Finally, one of the things that weighs on me constantly is this:

I see people begin to develop an irregular attendance at church on a Sunday.  We seek to encourage them ala Heb 10:25 but to little avail. They move from once a week to twice a month to once a month then once every 6 weeks or so.  At that point I know it’s less than 6 months til they are no longer gathering to worship the LORD.  They no longer gather to worship the one who loved them so he would rather die than live without them.

And so,

“Do not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. Hebrews 10:25

A question from last Sunday night was:  What are some of the other road blocks for Gen x and Gen y?

This came because I was speaking on Isaiah 57:14 and God’s call to remove road blocks so “foreigners and enuchs”  would not be prevented from coming to Christ.

It seems to me that road blocks might be found in the lifestyle arena.  Not only in the area of greed like I mentioned on Sunday.  But in any area where life is on, one hand no different to those around us, and, on the other hand, not as God calls us to live.  So here are one or two examples:

* Having friends “with benefits”. If we have friends we sleep with rather than marry we are dishonouring God and we are no different to others

* How we treat those in authority.

* Where we spend we our money.

* Our preparedness – or otherwise – to take risks.  God calls us to follow his lead – to take risks in relationships, ventures etc.  With increasing measure our society suffers from an OH&S mentality – it kills off risk taking which is so needed for leadership and advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Where these matters exist we leave road blocks for each one communiciates to those looking into Jesus Christ that we do not think him to be LORD or potent and someone we cannot – or do not – trust?

As we trust him we will trust our intiamte relational life to him – or we might take the step of faith to marry someone with a committment to love them with increasing measure as we see them reach their potential in Christ.  As we trust him we will submit to those in authority as we drive, pay taxes, observe copyright laws, sit under their leadership in the church etc.  As we trust him we will use the money he has placed in our hands as he intends.  As we trust him we will take the risks associated with obeying him – that might might moving overseas, interstate or out of home. It might mean entering into the dark tunnel of white water of relational conflict in order to restore relationship and be reconciled.

As we trust Jesus then we will be light in a dark world. No road blocks.  Just light which will draw people to Jesus.

Together we have sponsored 208 children through Compassion.  Way to go St Paul’s!

And these are in addition to all the other children sponsored through other organisations like World Vision.

What a church we belong to!

Last week we sponsored 155 children in Nairobi.  This means in the last 12 months we, as a church, have sponsored 191 children.  This means 191 families will experience the blessing of God from us.  If the averages are a guide this translates into some 955 individuals who will be blessed.  Imagine with me … it is just possible there will be 191 “Dianah’s”. Boys and girls will hear about Jesus in Compassion’s Saturday Schools, they will receive and education and medical care AND, through your letters, they will receive encouragement and a growing relationship from a kind and interested Christian.  Not only so, but because each of the 155 children we sponsored last week live in and around Nairobi, the next time we send a team to Nairobi to further engage in ministry in Kibera and with Esau and Alfred along with Psts Faith, Janet and Oscar, if you sign up and go, you could meet your child!  That will be a day to cherish.

Jerusa, Oscar and Diana.  Leadership Development Program participants.  Oscar is now a lawyer in Nairobi, Dianah a banker in Nairobi and Jerusa is an undergraduate.  All are keen Christ followers and seeking to influence their nation.  Picture taken by Sarah Crawford at a Compassion Dinner, Nairobi, 2009.